She laughed softly. “I don’t know if Warren has the range to be more than satisfied.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Well, if I can get a nod of approval, I’ll be content with that.”
“You’re skilled at managing expectations, Mr. Collinder. We’ll be there at ten o’clock. Will that work for you?”
“Absolutely. I’ll see you then. Have a nice weekend.”
“You too,” Sylvie said before hanging up.
Before leaving my office to grab lunch in the break room, I added my appointment with Sylvie and her husband to my calendar. I had to shuffle some things around, but nothing was more important than their contract, and I resigned myself to working late that night to make sure I got everything done.
I left my office and resisted the urge to swivel my head around and look for Kathryn. If I was going to run into her, I didn’t want to be caught by surprise.
She was nowhere in sight as I made my way over to the break room that overlooked the harbor down below and the train station. A mile or so to the left, I spied the sparkling lights of the Vancouver Christmas Market. The Olympic torch from the 2010 Olympics glowed purple in the midst of pop-up stands and tents.
I was about to duck into the break room and brew some coffee when an idea slammed into me. What if I used the market as part of my ad campaign?
A smile curled my lips.
What if I used the market as a date night out for long-term couples to renew or kick off the Christmas romance in their relationship? There was nothing quite like the idea of a second-chance romance around the holidays or the pull of a rekindled spark in a relationship while sitting by the fireside listening to old Christmas songs that reminded you of the first Christmas you spent together. Effective marketing was all about making people feel something. It was my specialty.
And Christmas? Well, when done properly, there was no feeling quite like Christmas.
If I could convince Kathryn to go in on it with me, it might be a game-changer for our project. Her matchmaking app could host ten meetups for potential couples who met on the platform. Their date could take place at the market and Kathryn and I could partner up and run a double ad about new and old love over the holidays.
It would work. I knew that as clearly as I knew I wanted to kiss Kathryn again.
All I had to do was convince her.
There was only one way I could think of to do that. She wasn’t going to listen to me. I was sure of that. She’d ignored me all day yesterday most likely because she felt uncomfortable about our kiss. I didn’t blame her. I was unsure, too. But that didn’t mean we could stop communicating. Not right then. I needed to sway her over to my side and there was only one thing I could do that felt promising.
I had to take her to the market myself.
I doubled back from the break room and walked briskly past all my colleagues’ offices until I reached her office door. It was open by a crack and I could hear her furiously typing away on the other side of the door. I knocked softly before stepping in and waiting for her to tear her gaze from her computer screen and look up at me.
“Just one minute,” she said, not realizing it was me standing at her threshold.
I waited and didn’t say a word. She was clearly on a roll with her thoughts and needed to get it on the page.
Finally, she stopped typing and looked up. Her cheeks immediately flushed. “Ethan,” she said curtly. “Do you need something?”
“You.”
She stammered. “S-sorry?”
“I need you to come with me.”
“No thank you.”
I pushed into her office and sat down across from her in the same place I’d sat when we shared drinks two nights ago. “Please, it’s work related. I promise. I won’t bring up the fact that I—”
“Don’t say it.”
“Fine.” I swallowed the word kiss and buried it deep down in my gut. “This is about our clients. I have an idea of an ad we could run along with an activity to get people engaged. I have a good feeling about this but I need you to be on board. I need you to see it.”
Her eyes darted back and forth between mine and her lips pressed together in a