Love Redesigned - Jenny Proctor Page 0,4

eyes wide, then he slowly started to laugh. He shook his head as he pulled out a sandwich, peeling back the paper before taking a large bite. “I don’t feel sorry for you, man. You know you had that coming.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re the idiot who never called her.”

“But she was right there, in person, without any warning,” I said. “That’s not how it was supposed to be the first time I . . .”

“The first time you what? Saw her again? How was it supposed to be?”

I ran a hand across my face, frustrated that Isaac was being so casual about the entire thing.

“I just thought I would have the chance to explain myself before actually seeing her.”

Isaac crumpled the wrapper of his sandwich. “You’re delusional, man. She lives here. Like three blocks away. You had to have considered the possibility of running into her.”

“Millions of people live in this city. I just . . .” A thought suddenly occurred to me. “Does she know you’re in town?”

“Yeah.” Isaac looked away quickly, like he’d been hiding something and was finally going to fess up. “We’re um, we’re actually having dinner tonight.”

“Really?”

That was surprising. Isaac and his twin sister rarely got along. They tried, but the entire time I’d known them, the trying had usually dissolved into fighting somewhere around hour two.

“It was her idea,” Isaac said. “Apparently her boss gave her this reservation at some fancy place in East Harlem. I still need to meet with Rizzo to go over plans for the scavenger hunt, so I figured, why not take advantage of the opportunity, meet with Rizzo and knock out obligatory family time all at once?”

I still couldn’t get used to Isaac speaking seriously about someone named Rizzo. When he’d called me and offered me a job three weeks after I’d left New York, I had known saying yes meant entering a sphere completely different than the buttoned-up financial world I was used to. But I’d underestimated just how different. Rizzo didn’t even have a last name. Apparently, you didn’t need one on YouTube, not according to the millions of subscribers his channel boasted.

Rizzo was the only YouTuber more successful than Isaac who was participating in the upcoming scavenger hunt—Isaac’s recent effort to diversify his brand and make more of a positive social impact. The entire thing would benefit a charity organization chosen by the YouTube personalities participating in the event. To have Rizzo onboard was a big deal.

“Two things,” I said to Isaac. “First, what else does Rizzo need to know? He was here for the promotional photos and he’s already agreed to the terms. Why do you need another meeting? Second, you’re having dinner with him and with Dani at the same time?”

“Rizzo is in. He gave me his word and he’s good for it. And why not have dinner together?”

“You haven’t seen your sister in over a year. I’m not sure she’ll appreciate having you bring a business associate to what I’m sure she assumes will be a family dinner.”

He rolled his eyes. “Why do you suddenly care so much about Dani’s feelings? It’ll be fine. Rizzo’s coming an hour late, so I’ll do the family thing with her, then when Rizzo shows up, I’ll do the business thing with him. And if I’m lucky, I’ll still make it to Carlie’s party before midnight.”

“Carlie?”

“Carlie the lighting assistant? With the—” Isaac raised his hands and traced the imagined silhouette of a generously curved woman.

I cut him off. “I get it.”

“She said you can come too. I think her exact words were, ‘bring your stuffy assistant if you want.’”

My jaw tightened. It had been bad enough watching the photographer’s lighting assistant fawn all over Isaac for the better part of the photoshoot. I didn’t need to see how bad she’d be in a less professional setting. “I’m not your assistant. Also, how did you make all of these arrangements for dinner and a meeting with Rizzo without my knowledge? I thought you hired me to be your manager.”

“I hired you to be my business manager,” Isaac said. “This dinner is mostly . . . social.”

“Rizzo counts as business. I should be there for your meeting.”

“I was planning on you being there. The reservation is for four.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You just said this was a social dinner. Why are you expecting me to be there if I’m your business manager?”

Isaac rolled his eyes. “For the first part of dinner, you can