20

Bianca

I stopped at a coffee shop on my way to work to freshen up my makeup before heading back to the office. I knew Jager would read the distress on my face, and I didn’t want to talk about it right now. I just wanted to focus on moving forward in my life, and that included concentrating on the big launch event tomorrow.

A couple of employees were talking in the office foyer when I arrived. I pressed my thumb to the scanner, and the light turned green. The makeshift turnstile opened, and I walked through toward the elevators. My heart beat normally again as the familiarity of the office surrounded me. I was good at my job, and I felt confident here, more than anywhere else.

As soon as the elevator door opened onto the tenth floor, I spotted Jager in the hallway. His head whipped toward me and his eyes zeroed in on my face. My cheeks flushed as I worried his concern would be my undoing. I didn’t want to lose my composure here, of all places.

He walked toward me. His black suit clung to him in all the right places, including his chest and thighs. He was beautiful. He'd always been. But his strength gave me comfort now as I’d laid my head on that chest every night this week. And it meant more to me than I could have imagined.

“Hey,” he said when he reached me. He raised his hand mere inches from my face, but dropped it when I looked behind him at the receptionist. “Are you all right?”

I stared at him, searching his face. His eyes held so much compassion I knew I would break if I said more. “I will be.”

His hand brushed mine. “We’ll talk tonight.”

I nodded and forced a smile so he wouldn’t worry. I would be okay. It just hurt for a little while, but I always got over it. And this time, I would have him to help me get through it.

I dropped my purse on one of the chairs in my office and sat down at my desk. I knew I would be late this morning, so I had sent my team the event task list last night to work through in my absence. While I booted up my laptop, I emailed a meeting request to my team to meet in the small boardroom in an hour.

Over the next forty-five minutes, I checked the RSVPs for the event—fortunately only one person had to cancel—and replied to emails requesting one-on-one interviews with Mr. Towers at the event.

When it was time, I walked over to the boardroom and sat at the head of the table. My team slowly poured in over the next few minutes. There were six of us, including me.

“All right folks, there’s a lot to do before our event tomorrow. Has everyone had a chance to review the shared document on the event?”

They all nodded.

“All right. Claire, I need you to create the check-in list along with headshots of our guests and their titles for Mr. Towers to review before the event tomorrow. I want him to be familiar with the guests when he greets them.”

“Not a problem,” said Claire, taking notes on her laptop.

“Oh, the New Yorker will not be attending. I received a cancellation from them this morning, so you can remove them from the list,” I added.

Then, I turned to the others. “Tanya, Jackson, and Troy, you guys come with me to the hotel. We are going to set up the event space. The furniture was delivered this morning. We’ll leave in ten minutes.”

I stood from the table, but Jeremy stopped me before I could go. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

I hadn’t given him a task since Jager told me to stay away from him as much as possible, but I had to give him something. “I’d almost forgotten. Jeremy. I need you to pick up the press releases from the printer and insert them in their folders, along with the photos we developed.”

He frowned but didn’t comment further.

“Whose car are we taking?” asked Tanya.

“Shoot. My car has been making strange sounds lately. Let’s just take a cab. I’ll schedule one right away.”

“I’ll grab my coat and meet you in the lobby,” said Troy.

I nodded while opening the car service app.

The team filed out of the room, but one person remained. “Is this about the photos?”

I looked up. Jeremy stood two feet in front of me with his arms crossed.

“Excuse me?”

“Are you icing me out because of the photos Jager found on my computer? They were innocent pictures. I’ll even show them to you if you want.”

“I don’t want to see them, Jeremy. And since you brought it up, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take any more ‘innocent’ pictures of me from now on.”

He shook his head and narrowed his eyes before leaving the room.

I exhaled the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The man made me uncomfortable, but I couldn’t place it on any one thing.

My phone pinged. The car had arrived. I shot a message over to the team and headed back to my office to grab my coat.

I picked up the black wool coat and felt a hand on my shoulder. “Are you heading out?”

I jumped despite his soothing voice. “I’m sorry. Today’s been a long day, and it’s only noon. I’m not feeling a hundred percent.”

“Maybe you should go home and rest.”

I ran my hand through my hair. “I wish I could, but there’s a lot to do before tomorrow. Besides, rest isn’t going to fix what’s going on. I need to find my own place, potentially fix my car with money I don’t have, and oh yeah, probably never speak to my mother again. Trust me, rest isn’t what I need. I just need a break.”

Jager cupped my cheeks with both hands.

“Jager, please. Someone will see you.”

“I want to help you. What can I do?”

“You can let me go so I can take care of business.”

He dropped his hands, and I felt his heart sink along with his arms. I looked down both sides of the hallway, ensuring no one was there.

Then I stood on my toes and kissed him hard on the mouth. “I just need time to get my shit together. I love you.”

He bit his lip, and his chest rumbled. “I love you, too. Let’s go out to dinner tonight. Come to my place after work at six.”

“Make it seven. I think it’s going to be a busy afternoon preparing for tomorrow.”

“All right, seven.”

He kissed me again, and I nearly melted in his arms. I pulled away, but he wouldn’t let me go. I wiggled out of his arms and untangled myself from his grasp. “Bye, babe.”

He winked. “Bye, babe.”

I scurried out of the office toward the elevator. I was in such a rush that I hadn’t realized I’d left my purse in the office until we were in the cab.

But I did catch the look on Jeremy’s face when he spotted me kissing Jager.

*

“Take those boxes and move them to the storage room. We need to tidy up the reception area before we move onto the next steps.”

Troy and Jackson picked up the empty boxes and took them away. Tanya helped me lift one of the high-top tables closer to the podium, should Mr. Towers need a sip of water during his presentation or refer to his notes. “Okay. Let’s walk through the event again. Everyone will come through these doors and a server will be here offering them a drink.” I pointed to the left of me. “Then one of us will greet them and usher them to some fellow journalists or influencers so they will have someone to talk to while they wait for the event to begin. Networking is very important at these events. Some people come just for that as they can get the press release emailed to them. So, make sure those introductions happen.”

“Got it,” said Tanya, making a note on her phone.

“If you’re not networking, then you’re not working,” a voice said behind me. The hair at the back of my neck stood on end. “I’m pretty sure Denis Waitley said that.”

Tanya looked over my shoulder. “Thanks,” she said cautiously.

I turned around. “What are you doing here, Jeremy?”

“What do you mean? I picked up the press releases and now I’m putting them together.”

“Here?”

“Why not? We’ll need to bring them tomorrow so, might as well do them here.”

“We do have to assemble the swag bags here,” said Tanya. “Jeremy can help me with those.”

Jeremy smiled. “I’d love to be of service, Tanya.”

Tanya’s smile faltered. Despite his words, there was something creepy in his tone.

“Do them out here,” I said. “There’s more room.”

And I wouldn’t want Tanya alone with him in some back room. “In fact, we’ll all help you.”

I called Troy and Jackson over and we opened the boxes containing water tumblers, phone chargers, earbuds, and other merchandise to be included as gifts to our attendants.

“Ms. Rimoli,” one of the hotel staff appeared at the door. “The artificial grapes and vines you ordered have arrived.”

I wiped my brow with the back of my hand. “Thank God. I was worried they wouldn’t arrive in time. You can bring the boxes into the room.”

“Will do.”

I went to grab my phone for the décor inspiration I had saved to my photos. “Shit. I left my phone in my office. Jackson, can you access the drive from your laptop? I think I may have saved a copy of the photo on there.”

“I think so. Let me check.”

Jeremy looked up at me, but quickly dropped his gaze. I moved onto the next box and emptied that one until the hotel staff returned with the new delivery. “You can set them here. Thanks.”

Troy walked over beside me. “Jackson was able to access the drive. He’s just pulling up the photo now.”

“Ok great.” With my hands on my hips, I surveyed the room. The ceilings were high, so it would be difficult to place the vines over the tables. But I had ordered an arch, just in case. “Let’s set up the arch at the entrance doors so people have to walk through the grapevines as they walk into the event.”

“I like that,” said Troy.

We assembled the arch together. I’d been assembling furniture at home for years, so using an Allen key was second nature to me.

After about an hour, we were nearly finished with the arch and the décor.

“How does it look?”

“Great,” said Tanya.

I stood back and walked in a circle. The white chairs blended in with the white tablecloths, making the green foliage and grapes stand out on the tables and archway. It looked beautiful.

I smiled with relief. My smile faltered when a man appeared at the door. “Mr. Walsh. We weren’t expecting you, sir. Is everything all right?”

Grapevine’s VP walked in wearing a blue suit and a yellow tie. I never liked that combination. I should find a way to suggest he wear the gray shirt he wore to the holiday party last year for the event.

“Everything’s fine. I just wanted to pop in and see how everything looks for tomorrow.” He crossed his arms and looked around the room. I held my breath as he pursed his lips.

“It looks good, Bianca. Very good.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“Now, where will I be when I give my speech?”

“At this podium. Here, let me show you.” I walked Mr. Walsh over to the front of the room where the head table was set up. “You’ll speak first, as we discussed, and introduce Mr. Towers.”

He nodded while inspecting the podium and adjusting the height of the microphone to his mouth.

“Bianca,” Jeremy called, holding his phone. “It’s the New Yorker. They want to send over a reporter.”

“What?”

“Since they can’t make it tomorrow, they want to interview Towers today. They can meet us at our office in thirty minutes.”

“But we don’t know who is doing the interview and we haven’t cleared them with security.”

“Do you really want to miss an interview with the New Yorker?”

My hands tightened on my hips. No, I didn’t. But I didn’t want to sidestep security, either.

“Who will be interviewing Mr. Towers?”

Jeremy checked his phone. “The journalist’s name is Imani Adebayo.”

“Okay. I’ll send it over to Jager right away—Shit. I don’t have my phone. Jeremy, can you send it to Jager? This is his cell number.” I gave him the number. “Tell him what’s happening, and that it is very important we move forward with this interview. He can be present if he wishes. Actually, I should be there, too. In case Mr. Towers needs me.”

“I can drive you back to the office.”

I stared at Jeremy. I didn’t want to get into a car alone with him, but was I overreacting? No. I would listen to my gut on this. “You should stay here and help the team finish up. I’ll just call a cab.”

Jeremy stared back. He couldn’t hide the anger rising in his cheeks. I didn’t care, though. He shouldn’t have taken those photos.

“I can take you back,” said Mr. Walsh. “I’m heading there now, if you’re ready.”

I looked out the window. Traffic was building downtown and would be at a standstill in a few minutes. “Thank you. I just need to grab my coat.”

I grabbed it on my way out the door.

“My car’s parked with the valet. It will only take a minute.”

Mr. Walsh had left that part out when he offered the ride, but I waited quietly next to him as he handed his ticket to the man at the desk outside of the hotel.

I pulled my collar up and clasped it together at the neck. “It sure is getting cold,” I said, rocking on my feet. I didn’t wear boots today, just flats.

“Here’s my car.”

A black sedan pulled up in front of us, and the valet hopped out. I opened the passenger door and climbed inside. Fortunately, Mr. Walsh turned on the heat immediately.

I sat back, blowing hot air into my hands and then rubbing them along my thighs.

As expected, traffic moved slowly, and I looked out the window at the tall buildings on either side of us. I loved working in the city, but I never imagined living here. I was glad I was looking at places outside of Manhattan. It wasn’t just about affordability.

“Bianca, there is something you should know.”

I turned toward him. His face was serene, as though he was describing the weather. “Oh, what’s that?” I asked.

“The company isn’t going in the direction I think it should be moving, and I’d like to make some changes.”

“What sort of changes?”

Despite his even tone, my heart started beating quickly, and I wondered if Mr. Walsh had the authority to fire me. We hadn’t had many meetings together as I reported directly to Towers.

“The company and its day-to-day business will remain the same. The changes will only affect a couple of people.”

“Which people?”

He turned his head to the left to check oncoming traffic before turning right.

“Mr. Walsh?”

He stared ahead. “You’ll find out soon enough. We’re almost there.”

Walsh turned right again, and then left. We were no longer in traffic, but we were heading in the opposite direction from the office. I turned back in my seat, trying to read the street sign we’d just passed, but it was too far. The next turn brought us into an alleyway, and I had no idea where we were.

“You’re going the wrong way, Mr. Walsh. You made a left at Third when we were supposed to go right.”

“I didn’t make a wrong turn, Ms. Rimoli. I know exactly where I’m taking you.”