SEVEN
LUNCH WITH SHANNA was a regular affair. That day was a little different. They grabbed food-to-go from their favorite corner deli, rather than sitting in, because they were on their way to the offices of a PI Shanna found.
Shanna’s optimism was a welcome bright spot. Along with the apparel and glitter delivered before dinner the previous night came a cashier’s check for fifty thousand dollars. Not a lot, no, but more than they’d had before.
Gia cashed it on her way to meet the overjoyed Shanna, delighted that Spurn came through. Blinded by that elation, her friend hadn’t asked Spurn’s terms and she hadn’t volunteered any information. Lies by omission were still lies. God, she hated this.
If Shanna needed more money, Gia wouldn’t hesitate to ask Spurn for it. Though she may not need to be direct. A credit card with her name on it had been delivered too, no reason it couldn’t be used for Shanna’s search as well.
“Do you think we should tell this investigator about Jarrod’s past or let him find out for himself? I don’t want Jarrod pre-judged. People always pre-judge him.”
“I think you should answer the investigator’s questions honestly,” Gia said. “The more you tell him, the better chance he has of finding Jarrod. You don’t know how much time he has.”
Color draining from her face, Shanna stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. “Do you think he’s dead?”
“No,” she said, snatching her friend’s hand.
“No! I’m sorry, honey, I didn’t mean to…
There’s just no point trusting this guy to find the man you love if you can’t trust him with Jarrod’s history.
And we want to pay him to find out things we don’t know.
No point him using our money to investigate what we already do know. ”
Pondering, Shanna nodded. “That’s a good point.”
Her phone chirped. Gia shifted the small paper bag containing her lunch onto the opposite wrist and took her cell from the front pocket of her purse.
“It’s Jenna,” she said, surprised.
“Who’s Jenna?”
“Spurn’s assistant,” she said and quickly typed a reply to the message. “Can you handle this meeting alone? It’s a 9-1-1 to SG.”
If Spurn was really her boyfriend, she would have no qualms about dropping everything to rush to his office. Except he wasn’t. Signed from Jenna, this wasn’t a message from Spurn. Not from him, no, but it had to be about him and curiosity fueled interest.
“What did you agree to do for him?” Shanna asked.
“It’s nothing,” she said, pulling her friend into a hug. “I’ll call you when I’m done and we’ll go to dinner tonight, okay?”
“On you,” Shanna said.
Gia grinned and lifted her shoulders. “I have Spurn’s credit card. Maybe we’ll have dinner on him.”
Shanna laughed and kissed her cheek. “Sounds good.”
Holding onto Shanna’s hand, Gia got serious. “Tell the investigator everything; take notes if you can. I want a full report tonight.”
“Thank you, Gia. I wouldn’t have got this far without you.”
“What are friends for?”
Shanna went her way and Gia went hers. On the walk to Spurn’s office, questions upon questions littered her mind. What could he want? Shanna wouldn’t have gotten the meeting with the PI if it hadn’t been for Spurn’s funds. If Jarrod was found, it would be down to Spurn’s generosity, no one else’s.
Truth was, she’d done very little.
She hadn’t convinced her parents to help; Shanna hadn’t convinced Jarrod’s family. The people who were supposed to care didn’t. Spurn was the only one who’d listened to them… though his price still baffled.
Walking into Spurn Global was no less intimidating on the second visit. At least this time, she knew the route upstairs. Or did she?
Security intercepted her mid-lobby.
“Miss Sear,” one guy said, holding something out that…
A metal security badge with her name, her picture, how did they…?
“This way,” the other guard said.
Flanking her, they guided her to an elevator she hadn’t known existed. Smaller. More private? It opened into a square hallway with a doorway to somewhere and a stairway leading upward. A security agent passed the latter to open the door opposite the elevator.
He didn’t go inside, just gestured her into the new room that—not a new room. Spurn’s empty office. A moment later, the main door, the public one she’d used before, opened and Jenna came in.
“Thanks for coming,” Jenna said. “I hope I didn’t pull you away from anything.”
“What’s going on?”
“Do you want something to eat?” The assistant went to sit in the guest chair at the desk. “This shouldn’t take too long, but it is lunchtime.”
“I have food,” she said, holding up her arm to show her paper bag.
“Ah, good. Please sit.”
Jenna produced a tablet and laid it on the desk to type. What was she supposed to…? Sit where? Behind Jenna? The assistant pointed to Spurn’s chair, then returned to her tablet.
The CEO’s chair? Uh… she couldn’t—had she ever sat in a chair in Sear Incorporated? Like at all? Ever? She couldn’t make a big deal of this. Jenna thought she was sleeping with the head man. Gia couldn’t tell her that he wouldn’t like her ass in his seat.
Creeping around the desk, she lowered herself carefully onto the edge of the chair and was immediately compelled to slide deeper into its lush comfort. As a smile flirted, Jenna’s head tilted.
“Sorry,” Gia said, clearing her throat to erase the glee and gather her professionalism. “Why am I here?”
“Now that you’re going public, Mr. Spurn wanted me to coordinate your schedules,” Jenna said, opening a calendar on the tablet. “There’s the Laird Hospital benefit on Saturday night. Oh, and he wants to establish a standing dinner every Tuesday.”
“Tuesday?”
“Yes,” Jenna said then glanced at her purse and lunch bag. “Shouldn’t you be writing this down? Do you need me to keep your calendar for you? I can have an assistant—”
“No,” she said, getting with it enough to grab her phone from her purse to open her calendar. “Tuesdays are good. Should I make a reservation somewhere?”
Jenna smiled. “That’s my job, Miss Sear.”
“Gia,” she said. “Please just call me Gia.”
“Whatever you say, Miss Sear,” Jenna said. After Gia rolled her eyes, the women shared a smile. “Please, eat.”
Any other time, Gia wouldn’t consider eating in front of another person when they weren’t eating too, but she was starved.
“Would you like some?”
Taking the sandwich from the paper, she flattened out some napkins and kept half for herself while pushing the other half to the blank Jenna.
“Really?”
“It’s nothing fancy,” she said and held up the bottle of water she’d got from the deli. “I’ll share my water with you too.”
Jenna smiled and eventually laughed. “Thank you, Gia.”
So she’d broken through, that was good. Jenna took a bite of the sandwich while Gia went to get a glass from next to the decanter. She poured out some water and put it down by Jenna, then took her seat in Spurn’s chair again.
“Where were we?” Gia asked and picked up her phone. “Standing dinner on Tuesday, you’ll make the reservation. Spurn will pick me up?”
Jenna swallowed and nodded. “Yes, or he’ll send a car, is there anything I should know about your dietary requirements? Anything you’re allergic to?” Gia shook her head. “What about flowers or gifts? Anything you prefer or—”
“You don’t have to worry about that. I doubt Mr. Spurn will be sending me many gifts.”
“You might think he’d be perfect, but, unfortunately, he’s a man in demand. Sometimes there will be occasions he has to cancel on you last minute. When that happens—”
“I don’t want flowers or jewels,” she said. “If he has to cancel, all he has to do is call and apologize.”
For a second, it was like Jenna didn’t know what to say.
That was fine, the breathing space gave her a chance to taste her sandwich.
“Call you?” Jenna asked. “Himself?”
Gia picked some lettuce from the paper under her sandwich. “Not something he usually does with women?”
“Most of his girlfriends are happy with a show of wealth.”
“You know who my family are, right? Your boss probably dates a lot of affluent women, but money doesn’t impress me.”
“I thought you lived on their estate?”
“I do. It’s a long story, but needless to say…
I understand the importance of business; my father and brother prioritize it too.
If your boss must cancel a date, I won’t freak, I won’t make a scene.
” Partly because she wasn’t his girlfriend and had no expectations or aspirations.
That said, she was a human being and did appreciate common courtesy. “All he has to do is call me.”
Jenna licked her fingers. “I will… run that by him.”
Gia offered her the last clean napkin. “Anything else I need to put in my calendar?”
“Next weekend there are events Thursday through Sunday.”
Pausing with the sandwich on the way to her mouth, she tried not to groan. “This will mean a whole new wardrobe.”
Jenna laughed. “Do you like to dress up?”
Gia joined in with the assistant’s laughter. “Depends on the occasion.”
The office door opened and Spurn strode in with two suited men.
Jenna surged to her feet. “Sir, I—”
“Keep your seat,” Spurn said to her and turned to murmur something to the men that sent them shuffling off.
“I should be the one to leave,” Gia said, screwing the lid on her water bottle. “I’m in your seat.”
“Stay where you are,” he said, coming to scoop his laptop from the desk.
He took it to the large conference table and sat down to work there.
Jenna sat but needed a moment to find her place on the tablet. She pushed the sandwich away and although there were more than a few bites left, Gia knew the assistant wouldn’t go back to it. She cleared everything away into the paper bag, turning on her phone screen to read her calendar as she did.
“I’m unavailable the following weekend. I have dinner with my parents on the Friday,” Gia said, sticking on track. “It’s my brother’s birthday the first weekend in June. We have a family dinner on Friday and then there’s a big party at the house Saturday.”
“That weekend is full for Mr. Spurn—”
“Cancel whatever Gia needs us to cancel,” Spurn said, distracted by his work.