I smile and munch on my bagel.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll drive you to work since I left you stranded here last night.”
“Thank you again.” I could argue, but why? If he wants to give me a ride to work, who am I to complain? “How is your bagel?”
“Fair. Once you’ve had bagels in New York, you get a bit spoiled.”
“True. And we’re a beignet town.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“You seem to remember everything.”
He simply smiles and sips his tea, and we settle in to enjoy the sunny morning, our food, and each other’s company.
Chapter Ten
~Simon~
“We need confirmation that you can be in LA on the twelfth of next month to appear on Kimmel and Ellen, and then on the fourteenth, we have you scheduled with Hoda and Kathy Lee.”
“That’s fine,” I reply to Todd and mark it out on my calendar. I keep a real paper agenda, mostly because I’m on the phone when I get the information, making it difficult to add to a phone calendar, and I used to forget to mark things down. “I have a deadline of September first for the next book, and my editor already gave me a three month extension, so don’t schedule me anything else in July and August.”
“Nothing?” he asks, surprised.
“I’ll still do the weekly videos and the radio show. We’ll be present on social media. But I can’t travel, Todd. I have to write the book.”
“Understood,” he says. “I also want to roll out the new webinar programs next month.”
“That means extra video time,” I reply with a sigh and scratch my chin. “We’ll have to do that the week after I return to London.”
“That was my thought as well. Have you done any scouting for the retreat later this year?”
“I did yesterday,” I reply. “I’ll email you some information this afternoon. I think I found the perfect hotel, but they’re rather expensive. Let’s see if we can’t get them talked down. I don’t want to have to drive the price of the retreat up for the ladies coming. It’s already expensive for them.”
“I agree,” he says, and I can hear Kelly speaking in the background. “I’ll be right there, darling.”
“I can let you go. I think we’ve covered it all.”
“One last thing,” he says before I can hang up. “How are things going with Charly?”
I sigh and rub my eyes. I’m not ready to get into this with him yet.
“You don’t have to give me all the details, man, but I need to know something.”
“Things are good,” I reply. “We’re taking things slow.”
“Slow? For fucksake, mate, you’re only there for the week. Don’t take it too slow.”
“Thank you for that, relationship expert.”
“Hey, my best friend is a relationship expert. I’ve learned a few things over the years. Don’t take it too slow.”
“Have a good evening,” I reply, rather than entertain him further, and hang up the phone.
I actually haven’t seen as much of her as I was hoping since I’ve been here. Yesterday, after our breakfast together and I drove her to work, we went our separate ways. I did the retreat research, and by the time we were both finished last night, we simply spoke on the phone for an hour, then called it a night.
And again this morning, I had to take early calls from London because of the time difference and I wasn’t able to take her breakfast the way I did yesterday.
I miss her.
And Todd is right; I’m only here for a week. I need to make the most of it. Today is Charly’s Friday, as she takes Sunday and Mondays off, and I plan to take advantage of it. No more nights alone, no more only getting an hour here or there. I’m going to spend some true, quality time with her.
I knew I admired her, and was so fucking attracted to her I ached with it, but now that I’ve seen her at work and with her family, I’m just completely taken with her. I need to know more.
I’m quickly realizing that this isn’t just a job for me, or a casual relationship. I want it to be so much more. Where that might lead, I’m not sure, but it’s time I take the kid gloves off and begin actively pursuing this woman.
I set my tray from breakfast outside my door and gather my wallet, sunglasses, and keys and set off for Charly’s shop.
“Hey there, sugar,” she says with a big smile when she sees me walk through her door a short time later.
“Good morning.”