Chapter 34 Annabelle
Annabelle
“Are you okay?” the man asked, looking confused.
Annabelle did her best to recover. “I’m so sorry. I lost my grip on the glass.” Someone came over and started clearing the area. She put a hand out. “Annabelle Reynolds. You must be Chase.”
He shook her hand, and she felt herself blush as she looked into his eyes. This was a disaster. Her insides felt like jelly. What the hell is happening to me?
“Chase, please sit down,” Riggs said, shooting Annabelle an annoyed look.
Annabelle felt like she was outside her body watching as they ordered lunch, discussed strategy, and outlined the next steps. She had to get off this account. There was no way she could work with this man.
“Annabelle and I were discussing your website and your socials. How would you feel about including pictures from your home life?”
Chase leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know.
My podcast draws people from all walks of life.
I like to protect my privacy—especially for my family.
It’s the reason I do my podcasts under ‘Chase Storm’ instead of ‘Sommers.’ I get my share of death threats.
I like to keep my professional and personal life separate. ”
“That’s terrible. Must be frightening,” Annabelle said.
“Comes with the territory. When you cover serial killers and murder cases, it’s bound to rub some people the wrong way. Most of the time it’s only people making noise, but I can’t put my wife and son in jeopardy.”
“If we do our jobs right, you’re only going to get more popular. And if we get Hollywood interest, it will be difficult to keep you anonymous,” Riggs said.
Chase laughed. “Hollywood? Let’s burn that bridge when we get to it.”
When their lunch finally ended, they all stood and shook hands again. As Annabelle’s hand went into Chase’s, the memory of her dream exploded in her mind. It was almost as if she were back on that beach running toward the surf with him.
“We’ll be in touch soon. Thank you so much for entrusting your business to us. We’ll get something set up for early next week in our offices,” Riggs said.
Fortunately, Riggs hadn’t noticed her discomfort. She didn’t know how she had gotten through the lunch without revealing her distress. How was she going to get out of this, she wondered, thinking up excuses as they walked.
“Annabelle, I asked you a question.”
“Huh?” She looked over at Riggs.
“What’s up with you? First, you dropped your glass for no reason, and then you kept spacing out through lunch. Is everything all right at home? You seem like you’re a thousand miles away.”
Okay, so he had noticed. “I’m sorry. My oldest daughter is having some problems at school. I’m a bit distracted. Maybe you should reassign the client.”
He stopped walking and stared at her, open-mouthed. “You can’t be serious. You’re the social media expert, which makes you uniquely qualified. You have all the skills that Chase is looking for. You can’t let your personal problems interfere with your job.”
Riggs had the empathy of a robot.
“I’m feeling a bit scattered lately. I want to make sure Chase gets the best service.”
“Take the rest of the day off and go relax over the weekend. I’m not reassigning him.”
Annabelle simply nodded, but she had a lot of thinking to do.
She loved her job, although with Riggs as her new boss, she wasn’t sure she would continue to.
But this was not the time to switch companies: She’d been here for nine years, and her stock options matured in another year.
If she left now, she’d be leaving a lot of money on the table.
Even though James did well, it wasn’t as though they had unlimited funds.
And she knew all too well that all it took was an unexpected sickness to bring financial ruin.
Could she afford to squander all that money because she was worried about a dream she had?
Her actions were in her control. Just because she’d been attracted to the man in her dream didn’t mean she was going to have an affair with Chase.
If she quit and went somewhere else, maybe something worse would happen.
What kind of a person was she if she couldn’t resist a little temptation?
And, besides, Chase was married too. She could always decide to quit if things did start to get out of control.
But they wouldn’t. Her dreams aside, Chase seemed like a decent guy, and he was in desperate need of a social makeover.
She loved a challenge. At least that’s what she told herself.