Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
Hope
I’d lost count of how many times Charlie took me last night. I hadn’t eaten much, and honestly, I wasn’t hungry for anything except more of Charlie. Somehow, we’d both made it through the morning.
He'd gone to work, and here I was, on the street, walking in my black flats and heading down the street to the magazine office. Everyone around me walked fast, and my head was up in the high-rises. My heart and body were still full.
Falling for him was a horrible, horrible idea. I told myself to focus on work. I needed a job to see me through. That way, whenever we shattered, I would have a safety net.
So I took a deep breath. Today, I needed to focus on me. As I reached for the door, my phone rang. I saw my old boss’s name. I walked to the edge of the sidewalk and answered, “Layla, I wasn’t expecting to ever hear from you again.”
People passed me, and I closed my eyes to listen as Layla said, “It seems I was too hard on you, and the partners at Horner and Wallace Advertising want to hire you back. You’d get paid for the days off and keep all your vacation time for whenever you need it.”
My entire body froze. Go back to work like nothing happened? They’d tossed out intimate photos taken of me illegally and said I’d been fraternizing. I shook my head, but I needed backup plans, and Charlie wasn’t sure he had commitment in him. “That’s a nice offer. Can I think it over?”
Layla sounded frantic. “Yes, call me back and let me know. If there is something we can do for you, let me know.”
I squared my shoulders. A few days ago, I would never have agreed to Charlie’s plan. Now, I marched inside and decided to focus on the job interview.
If I got this job, then at least I had a better backup plan. I was supposed to work, not start companies. My heart beat faster as I checked in and they brought me to a waiting room.
As I sat in the chair, I imagined a life where I was beside Charlie and making important decisions, not just watching a clock. It would be nice to be the boss.
My phone rang. I silenced the ringer but answered my friend, “Britney, hey.”
She asked, “How was the interview?”
The magazine office looked busy, but I whispered the crazy morning’s events. “Oh, I’m going in now, but Karla called me and offered my job back.”
“That’s good?” she asked as the secretary who'd checked me in pointed me to a conference room.
I stood and fixed my black skirt. “Maybe. I think it’s because they want the Norouzi family back as clients, and it has nothing to do with me. Look, they’re calling me, and I was in shock. Talk to you soon.”
I hung up and smiled. As I passed the frantic workers, my shoulders tightened. The office felt like the street, where everyone was on a different mission, but we all shared the same space on the way there.
I sat in the mesh chair, and a younger woman with perfectly straight shiny hair bounced as she walked out. “Ms. Williams, nice to meet you. I’m Brianna.”
First name, got it . I held out my hand to shake. “Nice to meet you, Brianna. Call me Hope.”
She shook my hand then sat next to me, reading my resume. She tapped the paper. “So I saw you worked at Horner and Wallace Advertising. What did you do there?”
Time to sell myself to pay the condo monthly fees and keep electricity on . Charlie flew into my mind, but I shook it off. “They mostly kept me on ad copy, to be completely honest, but I pitched tons of ideas, and some were picked.”
Her eyebrow rose. “Some?”
I nodded. “Many more of my pitches were credited to my boss, but that’s how the game is played. I’d love to talk about recruiting people for the magazine.”
And I hadn’t even tried to sell myself. My heart whispered that this wasn’t for me.
Brianna sat back and put the paper down. “Honestly, you’re qualified, but I don’t know if client pitching is exactly the same thing.”
“I understand entirely.” I turned my chair. It was better to go home, figure out numbers, and show Charlie the airline might be a profitable idea. “I really don’t know anything about magazines and how y’all work or talk about fashion and stuff.”
“You clearly dress well.”
“I’m a label girl, if I’m honest, and I just like to feel… pretty.”
“We want our readers to feel wonderful on the inside so that shines out.”
“Right. Maybe I should go.” Charlie was paying me to fix him, and I should handle him first.
“Wait… I’d like to offer you a trial run for thirty days to see what you can deliver.”
My eyes widened. I’d failed this interview entirely. But I smiled. “That’s amazing. Can I have a few days to think about it?”
She beamed like she'd won the lottery. “Of course.”
My stomach twisted. I worried that all the job offers were because of Charlie or his family. There was no way I would have been offered a job after I continued to screw up like that.
I sighed the second I was back on the street. Charlie had offered the limo in the morning, but I’d wanted to walk and get my head on. Now I needed to think.
Sex with Charlie was thrilling. I would never have enough of him. And if I pushed him toward a career he would be good at, he wouldn’t need a fake date, but I needed to know if the job thing was real and lasting for him. And I still had to pay for my life because my bank account was close to zero.
My entire body was tense as I walked. When I was almost home, Britney rang me out of my reverie. After I answered, "Hello," she asked, “So how did it go?”
I rocked on my feet then continued to the building. “They offered me a trial run.”
“Decisions, decisions. At least it’s not entirely over.”
I gazed up and decided I was here to help Charlie. I would figure out my mess of a life later. The doorman opened the door for me, and I said, “You’re right. Look, I have to go.”
I stepped into the elevator as she asked, “Drinks tonight?”
The doors closed as I said, “Let me ask Charlie, but probably.”
“Sounds good. Talk to you soon.”
I walked in, and Mr. Fuller directed me to an office. Now it was time to prove my worth.
In the office, Fuller set up coffee, snacks, water, and anything I might need. I curled into the leather chair and opened the laptop.
Starting an airline was work. So I decided to check out profitability as a way to talk to Charlie.
And there was lots of information online.
I found one link then another and opened a spreadsheet to keep track.
"So, these are the fastest-growing airports. These are the unserved routes. These are the GDP data of the regions.”
He would understand numbers. I wrote down abandoned routes, available routes, metropolitan area information, and everything else. As I read my notes, I realized this was a plausible plan of action if we decided to really start an airline.
Then I heard the door open. I pivoted, and Charlie popped his head in the office.
I jumped up and hugged him. “Charlie, you’re home early.”
“I missed you.” He kissed my cheek.
The rules of our relationship were gone now. I had no answers to anything except how he made me feel. I showed him the papers. “I was printing my research.”
He read the spreadsheet. “This is good.” He handed me papers.
I asked, “What’s this?”
He met my gaze. “My research on the recent profitability of newer airline launches of the past ten years.”
My heart thundered, and excitement strummed in my veins. “And?”
He nodded. “We’ll need to hire people to handle the legal stuff, and the financial area will be more than I know what to do with—there's a lot.”
I wasn’t sure what was happening. I raised my eyebrow. “So?”
He took my hands. “If you’re willing to take me on as a partner, I’d like you at my side.”
My heart stirred, and my body trembled. I was his for this ride. “Even if I have no experience?”
He kissed my hand. “I don’t, either, but we can hire experienced people to handle things as long as we know what generally needs to be done.”
I needed to be sure. I squeezed his palm. “So we’re doing it.”
He tugged me closer. “You want me?”
“Always.” I realized I was falling hard.
Then his phone beeped. He let me go. “So let’s go meet your friends.”
I rubbed my head. I hadn’t expected him to want happy hour, and I hadn’t asked. “What?”
He showed me his phone. “Britney included me in the group chat, and without mentioning it, I invited Kir.”
Life with Charlie was always interesting. This surprise was easy to forgive as I imagined how all my friends might react to a single man in their midst. I closed the laptop. “You did?”
Charlie walked me out of the office. “He had nothing going on, and I told him I was meeting you and your friends.”
I headed to the guest bedroom for clothes, but nothing was there. “Tonight will be interesting.”
Charlie waved me to the master bedroom. I followed him and found all the girlfriend attire was hung in the master suite.
Fuller had worked all day, and I hadn’t noticed.
I ignored that thought and changed into something more springy—a purple and black cocktail dress with a lower neckline. Charlie’s eyes would be on me.
He changed his shirt. “And when we get home, it’ll be just you and me.”
He offered me some jewelry. I turned to let him fasten the gold pendant around my neck. “Sounds perfect.”
He kissed my nape then let me go.
As we headed out, I asked, “Oh, how did the job interview go?”
Fuller was cleaning out the office treats. Charlie and I waved him off. The research and agreement had sealed the deal for me to take a chance at life. I waited until we were near the foyer to grab my shoes from the shoe closet there. “They offered, but I’d rather take my chances with you.”
He whispered, “Me too.”
I had no idea how we would handle the future, but for now, we had a project, and this mattered more. I was here for him, paycheck or not.