I joked and said, “Are you sure you want to bring a blond-haired girlfriend to this event? Aren’t you concerned about her snapping up too much attention? And you say she’s taller than you, too?”

It sounded like the wrong idea to me.

Victoria laughed it off. “I hope she does get some attention. I mean, Jill’s pretty shy, so she always draws people to us that I end up having to talk to for the both of us. So it really works out well.”

“Okay, if you say so. But she doesn’t have to talk to take pictures. A lot of photographers like shy girls better.”

“She doesn’t like taking pictures either.”

“Okay, well, I’ll see you there in about an hour or so,” I told her. There was no sense in prolonging the small talk.

“Okay, we’ll see you there.”

Victoria had picked up the tickets from the front desk of my hotel the day before. I didn’t bother to meet up or try and hang out with her. There was just too much going on around me to sneak in time for her. The lung cancer group had kept me out until after two in the morning. I wasn’t calling Victoria after that. I was feeling apprehensive about inviting her to the banquet and how the others would respond to her as it was.

When I arrived in the hotel lobby, I found that Paula and TaShay would be sharing the limo ride with me and a few of the other models who were ready.

“So what happens if one of us wants to go back to the hotel early? Do we all have to wait for the group or what?” Andrew Todd asked our driver. Andrew was the handsome white guy of the group.

I was sure he already knew the answer to his question. He was only showboating.

The driver, a short, round-bellied European immigrant, had to answer his question anyway. “No, you just let me know and I’ll bring you back to the hotel.”

I looked over at TaShay and smiled. She wore a white-and-black-striped zebra dress with matching shoes.

“Out to steal the attention again, huh?” I commented.

“That’s what she does,” Andrew responded before she did.

“You should always strive to make a statement,” her aunt spoke up. Paula was wearing all white again, which complemented her niece.

She said, “And I like your lime green combo. It was a good choice.”

“Yeah, he looks like a Christmas tree lightbulb,” Andrew joked again, laughing at his own humor. I think he must have had some wine in his room before we left the hotel. He was buzzed already.

“Yeah, I like to stand out as much as TaShay does,” I joked back to him.

“We will stand out,” she commented with a grin.

Did she mean that individually or as a couple? I asked myself. And is she referring to more than just the clothes?

The girl really knew how to get to me, and she did it so cleverly. I began to wonder what she would think about me inviting Victoria to the banquet. It was the number-one concern on my mind when we arrived at The Millennium Ballroom, a huge place built from plate glass.