Chapter 42
CHAPTER 42
ABIGAIL
J effrey wasn’t nearly as much fun to work with as Simon, but we still made a pretty good team. With my creativity and his analytical, numbers-driven approach, at least we didn’t clash.
As soon as we sat down in a smaller, bright pink conference room down the hall from the larger one where we’d met with Blake and Ashley, we got to work. I smiled at my team partner from across the table, noticing that Jeffrey seemed incredibly ill at ease.
He kept fidgeting with his glasses and his knit swear, picking at lint and darting his gaze around the room. I leaned forward and covered his wrists on the table with my fingers, applying deep pressure but not squeezing so tight as to hurt him.
“Calm down, Jeffrey,” I said gently. “It’s all going to be okay. We’re going to have to work hard, but we can get it done.”
“Did you see the email they sent last night?” He bent over to retrieve his red-backed laptop from the satchel he carried it around in. “Both teams will be expected to visit the event of the other team. We’re going to have to attend Simon and Karen’s outreach day.”
“Yes, and they’re going to have to attend our ball.” I flashed him my most confident, comforting smile. “We’re going to have a hit on our hands, my friend. I promise you that. I can’t promise that we’ll win, but I will do everything in my power to make sure we’re not the ones who lose.”
Simon pulled his glasses off his face, resting them on the table with a soft clatter. As he rubbed his eyes with the thumb and forefinger of one hand, I realized that the only way to get his mind off the nerves was to focus that brilliant brain on the reason why we were here.
“Do you want to hear what I’ve got in mind?” I asked as I stood up from my chair to fill us each a glass of water from the cooler in the corner. “I’m really going to need your help with the logistics, the finances, and pulling it all together.”
Jeffrey’s hand dropped away from his face, his gaze suddenly sharply focused on mine. “Sure, I can do that. What do you need?”
I set the water down in front of him and went back to my seat, the cold water inside the paper cup in my palm serving to ground me and keep me focused. Simon had seemed very distant this morning when we’d spoken in our office and then he’d barely said another word until he’d wished me luck with this challenge.
While I knew I could have fun planning this event with Jeffrey, the back of my head was on Simon and how strangely he’d behaved. It kind of felt like something had happened between us getting home from Florida and now, and it was weird.
“Okay, so what I was thinking is that we make it a masquerade ball.” I looked across the table at Jeffrey and his collared shirt underneath his brown, knit sweater, and I was glad I’d gotten him instead of Karen. Even if we’d have to give him a bit of a glow-up before the event. “I’d like to make it feel very elite. Very bougie and classy.”
Jeffrey frowned. “That sounds expensive, Abigail.”
“It will be, but I’m willing to cover any shortfall we may encounter personally.” I shot him a smile when he blinked rapidly. “I mean it. I’m all in on this. Whatever it takes. If you can keep me on track, I’m sure we’ll be able to get it done on budget, but if not, I give you my word that you will not be held to account.”
He tugged at his yellow and brown checkered collar. “Okay, but that’s only our first hurdle. In order to make the event elite, we need the actual elite . Do you know anyone we can invite who fits that bill?”
I smiled at him. “As it happens, my younger sister is friends with most of the current who’s who on the social scene and my mother and grandmother are socialites. Quite a few of those people drink Fit Gal. I’ve seen them on my runs, and at yoga with my sisters, and when I’ve had lunch with my mom or my grammy. We’re lucky to have a very popular product to work with that actually tastes really good.”
Jeffrey slowly seemed to be coming around to the idea. “Do you really think you’d be able to get those people to come?”
“I’ll invite them all,” I promised. “Now all we need to do is make sure we give them an event to post about online and we’re home free.”
Two long days of planning and booking later, everything was finally ready. Most of the people I’d invited had accepted my invitation, and while we weren’t allowed to make any more changes to our events come Friday morning, Jeffrey and I still spent most of the day going over our plans with a fine-toothed comb.
Tonight, the night before the events, Fit Gal was hosting a dinner for both teams to congratulate us on managing to pull together two massive events in such a short amount of time. After spending all day making sure we hadn’t missed anything, Jeffrey and I headed home to get ready and I arrived at the restaurant where the dinner was being held seconds before Simon’s car pulled up.
I grinned when I saw him skidding into a parking spot in the outdoor lot, my head shaking as I remembered how many times I’d admonished him for doing just that. When he climbed out of the car, however, my mouth dried up and all the moisture that had been there fled elsewhere.
A pool of orange light from the streetlight above shone down on him as if he was a movie star deserving of the spotlight, and frankly, he looked the part tonight. Dressed in all black, he was dark and mysterious, sexy as all heck as he hooked his hands into his pockets and strode to the front door of the restaurant.
Not to me or to where I was waiting on the sidewalk like a normal person who’d spotted a friend arriving, but to the door . I frowned, starting forward to intercept him on his storming of the gates. Forcing a smile when I reached him, I touched a hand to his forearm in the hopes of slowing him down, but while his jaw tightened, he kept right on moving.
“Hey, you,” I said, trying to keep my tone light and friendly. “How did it go working with Karen? Jeffrey and I made it through okay. He’s actually a really nice guy once you learn how to handle his quirks. Super talented too.”
“That’s great, Abs.” He kept his eyes straight ahead, and when we reached the door, he finally glanced at me and swept out a hand for me to precede him.
If I hadn’t known him as well as I did, I might’ve missed the quick double-take he did at seeing me in the floor-length, red dress London had insisted I wear, but I did know. Well enough to know that something was definitely wrong.
“Are you okay?” I asked, refusing to get distracted by that strong jawline or the way his gaze was raking across every inch of me. “It seems like something is bothering you.”
He gave his head a firm shake, eyes back to focusing on the door as he pulled it open for me. “I’m fine. Just got my head in the game. After you.”
Sighing as I walked into the dimly lit, extremely fancy steakhouse, I took in the bottles of wine lining the walls, the warm lighting in the recesses, and the leather-upholstered chairs, and I suddenly missed the heck out of my brother-in-law. This was a very Charlie kind of place, minus the fancy element of it, and I was pretty sure that he would have managed to get some proper answers out of my ex if he’d been here. He simply wouldn’t have taken no for an answer.
Fit Gal had reserved a private room for us, and Jeffrey, Blake, and Ashley were already in it when we arrived. Karen was hot on our heels, blustering about something as some poor waiter led her inside, but once the man left us alone, we all found our seats and Blake chimed his fork against a glass of champagne.
“Alright, everyone. We realize that it’s Friday night and that tomorrow is a big day, so we won’t waste any time or keep you too late.” He held up his glass where he stood at the head of the table and smiled at each of us in turn.
While I had to admit that he was very handsome in dark-wash jeans and a navy blazer with red trim, it was Simon I couldn’t keep my eyes off of. Even if he had chosen to take a seat next to Ashley on the opposite side of the table from me.
That stung. I wouldn’t have been human if I didn’t feel snubbed, but I refused to overthink it. Instead, I raised my glass to Blake’s and everyone else followed suit, but no one took a sip just yet.
“Thanks to all of you, two charities are going to be very, very happy come tomorrow and we cannot thank you enough for all your hard work. We really threw you into the deep end with this one, but from what we’ve seen of your marketing efforts so far, you’ve really outdone yourselves. Cheers!”
“Cheers,” I echoed after him, hearing the word repeated all around the table.
After his toast, the waiters came back with our menus. While everyone else was deciding what they wanted to eat, I took a look around the room. It was little more than a gilded glass cage, with more wine racks fully stocked around the edges and the delectable scent of garlic and grilling meat in the air.
Although it was entirely possible that it simply felt like a cage because I had to watch Ashley pawing at Simon and I couldn’t leave. Quickly averting my gaze, I picked up my menu and decided on a Beef Wellington that had apparently been perfected here by an award-winning chef. Then I made small talk with Karen, Jeffrey, and Blake while Ashley was in stitches about something Simon had said.
When she stopped laughing, however, she leaned forward and waited until we all gave her our attention. “Now, as you all know, this is a competition and not everyone will be a winner.”
She grimaced. “After both events are over tomorrow, we’ll announce the winners, but one member from the losing team will be sent home. The firm represented by that person will be disqualified from taking us on as a client in the future.”
The announcement put a bit of a damper on things, but to me, it hadn’t been much of a surprise. It’d been bound to happen at some point. Part of me was even glad we were finally there.
We ate a delicious dinner that ended up being rather pleasant under the circumstances, but Simon was definitely being distant. He didn’t speak to me much and he seemed to have a lot more to say to Ashley.
As I watched him pull her into yet another conversation, I felt my walls starting to go up. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Well, no. I definitely can’t have that.