Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “Just the one. My dad died when I was three—heart attack at thirty-nine. Mom never really got over it or remarried. Although, she moved down to Florida to be near her sister two years ago, and lately she’s been mentioning she goes for walks with some dude named Arthur. Figured I should probably take a trip down there soon, see if I need to be kicking Artie’s ass.”
“That’s oddly sweet.”
“Yeah, that’s me. Oddly sweet.”
The waitress came and took our lunch order. Annalise ordered a soup, appetizer, and lunch.
“You sure as shit can eat for a little thing.”
“I didn’t eat anything this morning because of my nerves about flying. And I won’t be eating until eight tonight, so I figured I better stockpile.”
The reminder of her dinner with Tobias tonight ruined my appetite. “So where is this date tonight?”
She frowned. “It’s not a date.”
“Oh, that’s right. Let me rephrase. Where is the business meeting with the guy who wants to get in your pants?”
She folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t want to tell you.”
“A romantic little Italian bistro with candles? Maybe a corner booth next to the fireplace.”
“Jerk.”
“French? Maybe Chez Affaire.”
“It’s at the same place we ate last time. The same exact restaurant where both of us shared a meal and discussed business with the entire team from Star. The same place that seemed like a logical and convenient choice for a meeting just two weeks ago. Yet I’m sure you’ll be convinced that now he has an ulterior motive by picking it.”
I’d been teasing her, but fuck, the thought of the two of them having dinner at the hotel she’d be staying at really yanked me. And I wasn’t even going to attempt to convince myself it had anything to do with business. I’d already admitted once that I was jealous. There was no point in exposing my weakness to the competition a second time. So I sucked it up. At least I tried to.
“It is a convenient choice. Very convenient.”
***
Maybe I hadn’t given the guy a chance.
Tobias patted me on the back as we left the office of the Director of Film Acquisitions. He’d raved about the marketing plan I’d come up with, including the new logo and taglines. And now it was the third office he’d walked me around to that seemed to love my ideas.
“I’ve been here three weeks, and that was the first time I saw Bob Nixon smile. You either hit it out of the ballpark, or that guy started on new meds recently.”
“Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. I know you had something come up earlier today, so I appreciate you still fitting us in.”
We walked back into his office. “Anytime. Glad I can help. Now that I’ve seen some of your great ideas, I’m really looking forward to seeing your final concepts when we come up to tour your office in a few weeks. I’ve heard great things about your work from Annalise, and now I know why.”
I was beginning to feel like a total idiot. I’d let my personal feelings get in the way of business—let it cloud my judgment toward Tobias—and God knows I’d ridden Annalise hard about this guy. And here she was building me up to the guy who was going to pick the campaign that would go a long way toward keeping my damn job.
“I’m sure her presentation will be just as on point, if not more so. She’s incredibly talented,” I said.
Tobias’s office phone rang. He picked it up and told whoever was on the line that he needed a minute and then held the receiver to his chest. “Why don’t you pour us two celebratory drinks?” He lifted his chin, pointing to a long credenza positioned under the windows. “Middle cabinet has a nice brandy and some glasses.”
While he talked on the phone, I took out two crystal highball glasses and a decanter filled with amber-colored alcohol. The top of the cabinet had a bunch of framed photographs, so I perused while I waited. One had a little blond boy and an older girl sitting on a rock somewhere in the mountains. A few were of various celebrities and Tobias at different movie premieres. The last was a photo of a woman with the same two little kids from the first framed photo, only they were older in this shot, and all three had their hands up in the air as they barreled down a drop on a rollercoaster. Their smiles were huge.
I shook my head. I’d been really blinded by jealousy. This guy was obviously happily married, and had a nice little family. I’d totally misread the situation last time.
Or…maybe I didn’t.
Tobias hung up as I set down the last framed photo.
“You have a beautiful family,” I said.