CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
My pulse seemed to be throbbing in my head, blocking out all sound. I realized that Sunny had said my name and forced myself to pay attention. She asked, “Does Max know about the charity part of it?”
“No, I wanted to run it past you first to see if it was something you wanted to do.”
“I do. And he’s going to be so happy when you tell him,” she said.
When I told him? She said it so casually, like he and I were in constant contact and of course I’d be filling him in.
Like we were dating or something.
Before I could ask why she wouldn’t tell him herself, someone walked into the office who almost made my jaw drop to the floor. I jumped out of Adrian’s chair, standing there awkwardly.
It was the CEO, Topher Crawley. He was a middle-aged man in a well-tailored suit who had been bald the last time I’d seen him. I wondered if he’d gotten hair plugs. Maybe that was why he hadn’t been in the office for so long.
“Is Adrian here?” he asked.
I was so befuddled by him being there that it took me a bit longer to respond than it should have. “He’s in France,” I finally managed.
What was Mr. Crawley doing in the office? I wondered if Claudia’s changes had anything to do with it.
“I need to get in touch with Adrian,” he said, and I nodded. I picked up my phone and sent the message immediately just so that I wouldn’t forget.
Then, as if he had suddenly remembered his manners, Mr. Crawley stepped farther into the office and offered his hand to Sunny. “I’m Topher Crawley, CEO of Elevated.”
“Sunny Belmont.”
“Any relation to Frank Belmont?” he asked.
“That’s my father-in-law.”
“We have golfed together a few times. Small world. Well, it was good to meet you.” Then he directed his attention back to me. “Have Adrian call.”
“I’ve already texted him,” I said. He nodded and then left.
Sunny got up slowly, one hand on her stomach. “I should get going. I have to pee for the fortieth time today. Thank you so much for doing this.”
“I’m happy to help.”
“Could you come over tomorrow night to see the apartment? My in-laws will be out.”
“I need to take measurements, so that works for me.” I walked her to the lobby and showed her where the bathrooms were. She hugged me and thanked me again.
Vella wasn’t at her desk, and I went into the break room to grab something from the vending machine because I wasn’t going to have enough time to go out. I brought my chips and soda back to my desk. Not exactly nutritious, but better than the air and water Vella had wanted to serve at the conference room meeting.
My phone buzzed and I saw that I had a text from Max.
I HEARD THINGS WENT WELL AND I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING THE END RESULT.
Had Sunny texted him from the bathroom? Or the cab? How did he already know? Then I wondered why he was shouting at me.
Why are you texting me in all caps?
Isn’t that what your mother does? Plus, you said you didn’t like small talk. So ...
I didn’t want to be amused. I wanted to be upset that he thought I was boring. But he was so charming it was hard to resist.
My guess is the party won’t be coed, given the Belmonts and their traditions. You’re not invited.
I know the event planner. I think she can sneak me in.
I grinned, and then laughed out loud when I saw the next text.
You’re smiling right now, aren’t you?
Nope. Serious as a preacher.
I don’t think that’s a saying.
Somber as a preacher?
What do you have against preachers?
I got yelled at by one, remember?
Now I was wondering whether he was smiling, imagining him doing just that.
Sunny said to tell you that you’re perfect.
That shouldn’t have hurt. I should have been pleased. But if anything, it felt ironic, given what he’d told her.
She’s biased.
So am I.
What did that mean?
And why did it seem like the exact opposite of what he’d told Sunny?
Despite my best friend’s assertion that men shouldn’t be treated like skittish horses, I was going to do just that. If I asked him to explain himself, he might bolt. Better to wonder in private.
A voice inside me whispered that this was not what Kat would do.
But I didn’t know how to be braver without scaring him off.
Claudia signed off on my presentation for Hyacinth’s party, and both Hyacinth and her mother approved my plans. When I mentioned my recent idea to hire Italian and Monterran models to dress up in royal uniforms to mingle with the guests, Hyacinth even managed to look up from her phone with one of her eyebrows slightly lifted—was that interest? It was hard to tell since the rest of her face was so impassive.
Tuesday evening I met with Sunny to look at the Belmonts’ massive apartment. “They want it to be outside,” she said.
“Are they aware that it’s winter?” I asked.
She showed me the terrace. It was very large, but weather was the bane of every outdoor event. Snow and rain I could handle—I could put up tents and have space heaters. It just meant that I’d have to make multiple contingency plans. I asked Sunny to verify her final guest count as soon as possible because nothing else could be organized until we knew exactly how many people would be there.
Adrian kept texting me with inane requests, like wanting me to tell the staff at his hotel not to chew spearmint gum around him and for me to find out whether or not the water in France was different than New York because he thought it tasted so much better.
I wasn’t sure if he wanted an environmental report or what, so I told him I’d look into it when I had the chance.
And in between all of this, Max was texting me.
While I had to remind myself on an almost hourly basis that we were just friends, it was so hard to remember.
It started out with him asking me about Sunny’s shower and what he could do to help. When I told him I had it covered, he asked about my day. After I filled him in, I asked about his and we texted for hours. My evenings had turned into working on my projects and texting Max, giggling at the things he would say.
“You two text constantly. Like he’s your boyfriend,” Vella had commented one night while heating up a quesadilla in the microwave.
“That’s what friends do,” I countered. “It’s what you and I do.”
“I do not ask you about your day, and I am not at all interested in event planning. Unlike this lovesick fool who thinks you’re some goddess and every word you say is scripture he has to memorize.”
“That could not be further from the truth.”
“You only smile like that when Max is texting you,” she said.
“Do you not remember the part where I told you he said that I was ‘down-to-earth and simple’?” Saying it again made me feel sick to my stomach.
She shot me a look that implied something was wrong with me. “You told me that he was down-to-earth.”
“Yes, but I meant it in a humble, not-full-of-himself kind of way, which is surprising, given how he looks.”
“How do you know he didn’t mean it in the same way?”
For some reason, this literally had not occurred to me until Vella brought it up.
“You’re always telling me people should have the benefit of the doubt and so I recommend extending it to your new friend ,” she said. “You should also stop pretending that you want to be just friends with this man. If I fed that line into a lie detector, it would explode.” She took her food out of the kitchen and into her room, where she locked the door.
While I considered what she’d said, my phone rang and I answered without looking to see who was calling. I’d been on my phone nonstop over the last few days, trying to get everything lined up for the birthday party and the baby shower.
“Hello?”
“Everly?” Max’s voice made me happy sigh.
“Hi!” Was that too enthusiastic? Did I need to tone it down? I tried to modulate my tone. “How are you?”
“Good.” He paused and it felt a bit awkward. We never had any issues while we were texting, but this was different. It was the first time we’d spoken with our actual voices since I’d taken him out for a mini-tour of New York City.
Max cleared his throat. “So I talked to Sunny and she said she showed you around the Belmonts’ apartment.”
“Do you mean their palace?” I asked.
He laughed, and it was like that broke the tension for both of us. I lay down on the couch. “I haven’t personally been there, but I’ve heard the same thing.”
“It’s ridiculous-looking. I can see why she’s so worried about impressing them.” I’d only seen apartments like that on Gossip Girl . “But her in-laws want her to have it out on the terrace. Which I’m not thrilled about.”
“How come?”
“One, it’s winter, which is never good for an outdoor event, and two, I’m not very happy about how high up it is.”
“Everly Aprile, are you afraid of heights?”
“Yes, I would run the opposite direction if I encountered them in the wild.”
“You’re not supposed to run from heights,” he said. “You’re supposed to raise your arms above your head and make a lot of loud noises to scare them off first.”
“That’s bears.”
“Same thing,” he said, and I could hear his smile. I wished I could see his face. “So you do have an Achilles’ heel.”
“Everyone does.”
“Everyone has Achilles tendons, not heels. Heels means figuratively. That you have an actual weakness. And here I thought you were Wonder Woman.”
I sat straight up. Okay, that was freaky. How had he known about my Wonder Woman confidence-boosting thing?
There was no way he could know. It was a coincidence. “I have many flaws and weaknesses.”
“So do I,” he said, but I had a hard time believing him. “And one of my flaws is not being able to navigate the city easily on my own. I know you’re incredibly busy and that’s partially my fault, but today I was thinking about how you haven’t shown me everything yet.”
My mind immediately went to a very not-safe-for-work place and I managed to squeak out a “What?”
“Are you still my official tour guide?”
Oh, he wanted me to show him the city. “Yes, I’m your tour guide.” I would be anything he wanted me to be.
“Then I was hoping you might guide me through some of your culture.”
“My culture?” He wanted to watch reality shows and eat junk food?
“Something that’s southern, like where you grew up.”
“Oh! Like you want to fly to Alabama? I personally have neither the funds nor the time—”
He gently interrupted me. “No, I figured there must be someplace here that we could go.”
“There is! There’s this bar not too far that has live music and line dancing!” I’d always wanted to check it out, but Vella had said she’d rather have her fingernails torn off by a rabid monkey than go with me.
“This Friday? Are you free?” he asked.
I would be, no matter what it took. “Yes.”
“Do I need to dress up for this? Cowboy boots, hat, that kind of thing?”
“You can wear whatever you want. Or don’t want.” Oh no, impure thoughts again.
“I’ll keep that in mind. I just wanted to take you out to thank you for all that you’re doing for Sunny.”
That feeling of being a balloon with a fast leak returned. This was for the best. I knew that. Some part of me had still hoped, though. “Okay. I’ll text you the address and meet you there at nine o’clock, if that’s okay.” No coming to my door with flowers and being all charming and irresistible.
It wasn’t a date. I needed to make that clear.
To both him and me.
There was silence on his end and then he said, “That works. I’ll see you then.”
I hung up my phone, my heart ramming against my chest.
Why did it feel like I’d just made a big mistake?