Alan, one of the other executives, was sitting next to Jurnee with a huge grin on his face when I opened the conference room door. “Alan.”
“Anderson.” He said without tearing his eyes off Jurnee.
“Morning, Jurnee. Thanks for joining me for dinner last night. Did you enjoy the Russian Tea Room?” Sitting at the table across from Jurnee, I scanned her outfit before my eyes landed on Alan. He got a slight head nod.
She looked between the two of us, “It was delicious. Thank you again.”
“I’ll let you get to work.” He rose. “Jurnee, let’s get lunch and finish our conversation.”
“I had Martin make reservations for lunch.” What the hell are you doing?
Alan smiled. He knew I was lying but didn’t call me on it. As he said goodbye to Jurnee, I shot off a text to Martin to make a reservation. What the hell is happening?
“Good morning.” She was a little overly professional in her tone this morning. I hoped like hell it wasn’t because she was stood up the night before. “I wanted to apologize for getting a little introspective last night.”
“Jurnee, it happens to everyone. Don’t worry about it.”
“You’ve been stood up before?” She asked.
“Well, no, but…” I didn’t want to finish the sentence, but it was too late.
“You’ve stood someone up.” The hurt expression on her face was worse than last night’s sad face.
“I have. I’m not proud of it, but I have stood women up.”
“What would make you do that?”
Looking in her face, I almost cracked and told her I canceled her date. But she might not talk to me after, and that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. So, I just told her I was young and stupid in the past.
“Let’s change the subject and dive into the contract.”
Her face lost any expression, “I’m so sorry. Of course.”
Shit. Now she thinks I don’t want to talk to her about personal stuff. Shit.
“No apologies. I just wanted to change the subject so you wouldn’t keep focusing on it. Maybe him not showing up last night was a positive.”
“I don’t mean to waste your time with my problems.” An invisible wall popped up between us as Jurnee sat up in her chair and picked up a pen. “Where should we start?”
Time flew by as we discussed the ownership and control, shares of profit breakdown, and had an in-depth discussion of the artistic versus financial control as was detailed in the contract draft. Jurnee asked great questions and took several pages of notes. The worry I had when she tried to sign the contract the day before diminished. She had a working understanding of the concepts, her role in the partnership, and the overall scope of the agreement. We were about to tackle the timetable when the door of the conference room swung open.
“Anderson, we need you,” Soraya stated. “Hi Jurnee. You look pretty. Love that top on you.”
She was correct. Jurnee did look pretty in the brick red shirt. Man, you need to relax on this a bit. Try to find a sliver of cool.
We both said hi at the same time.
“Thank you. Is there anything I can do to help?” Jurnee’s eyes followed Soraya as she sank into the chair Alan had been in earlier.
“Actually, yes.” It was surprising how quickly Soraya got close to Jurnee.
“Graham and I have,” she stopped for a moment, “something we need to do, and I didn't realize Chloe has a half-day today. Genevieve is in the Hamptons, her grandmother is at a funeral in Florida, and Avery is tied up again. Is there any way you guys can hang out with Chloe for a few hours?”
“Of course.”
“Ummmm.” I glanced at Jurnee, processing the fact that she and I would be watching my boss’s kid.
“Great.” Soraya was out of her chair and headed for the doorway. “She’s a great kid. Promise.”
“Don’t give it another thought. Is there anything she’s allergic to that we should know about?”
What? That added another layer of concern.
“No. But she’s Graham’s daughter, Chloe will definitely let you know if she doesn’t like something. Do you have time to come meet her? She’s in Graham’s office, thinking of new ways to decorate the space.”
Jurnee jumped out of her seat, and the two were heading down the hall toward my boss’s office before I knew what was happening. I gathered the documents and headed back to my office. Martin checked his watch as I approached.