“Look inside, there’s more.” She pursed her lips in a smile and gave me an ”oh no, you didn’t” look, as she retrieved a tissue wrapped ball and swiftly removed the paper.
“Ah, look at that,” she said, holding the cup at a distance from her body, as if everyone in the cafe needed a view. “A picture of the Eiffel tower. You are the best friend a girl could have. How did you know I really wanted a mug with a picture of the Eiffel Tower?”
We both laughed out loud at the cheesy tourist gift, knowing darn well she was really thanking me for the elaborate Vanessa Bruno tote bag and it warmed my heart to see her happy.
“So girl, tell me everything. I’m dying to know what happened in Paris. Why‘d you come back early?” She set the mug down on the table and cocked her head quizzically at me.
Leaning in, I launched into my story, spilling my guts, as any good BFF would do, and told Elyse everything that had happened, well, everything except a couple of incriminating details, that if told, might come back to kick me in the ass later. There were just a few things that no one else really needed to know, like how an airplane restroom can be used to relieve oneself in more than one way. It occurred to me that air space must be considered outside of any legal jurisdiction of a state or country, as if one is at liberty to behave in spontaneous ways, and bodies that are being propelled above the clouds are not held accountable to the rules of earth. If ever asked, I would plead the Fifth and apply the old Vegas saying, also appropriate here, but with a twist, “What happens in the air, stays in the air.”
As I recounted my escapades to Elyse, it almost felt like I was describing another person’s life. Elyse oohed and awed, raised her eyebrows, and gaped wide eyed, as the story unfolded and even I was surprised at how much had happened to me in the short span of a month. It all seemed so surreal hearing the words come out of my mouth, as if I were talking about someone other than myself, almost like it never really happened. But it did, and despite the unnerving events with Francisco, I was blessed to have found my way back to Patrick, or rather, he had found his way back to me.
“I’m so happy for you, Chloe,” Elyse said, smiling warmly at me, and I could tell her voice was filled with genuine feelings of joy for me. “Patrick is a great guy, and you two are perfect for each other.” She sighed, propping her elbow on the table, chin in hand. “Maybe I’ll find my prince charming one day. What’s Ryan like, is he hot? she asked with a little laugh.
“He
is
hot....in a gay sort of way,” I smiled back, crinkling up my nose.
“Damn, I think you told me that. Why are all the good ones all either married or gay? Can’t life give a girl a break sometime?”
Laughing, we reached over the table and gave each other a big hug. It was so good to be back in New York. I had missed Elyse, she was my best friend, and I wanted the best for her too.
“Don’t worry, we will find you a nice guy,” I said. “There are millions of people here in New York and there
has
to be one somewhere just waiting for you. Once we find him, we can have some fun double dates.”
“God, I hope so...and someday
soon
, cause I’m tired of this single-girl life and my massaging shower head, if you know what I mean.” We both rocked back in laughter again, thoroughly enjoying our girl time together. “Anyway, gotta get back,” Elyse replied, still reeling from the giggles. “With Anna Von Stinkenberg in charge, there is no being late. That woman is a bitch all right.” We had already paid the bill and collecting up all our stuff, we stood up to leave.
“Hopefully, she won't be in charge for long,” I said, with a comforting smile and giving a little pat on her back, we hugged goodbye.
“Let’s hope so. Ciao bella. See you soon, hun and text me when you can,” she sang out, as he hurried off to go back to the office. I stood there watching her figure disappear into the crowd of people on the sidewalk, with my arms folded across my chest. Closing my eyes, I turned my face up to the heavens to absorb every last bit of the warm rays of the summer sun, content with my place in this moment in time.
*~*~*
The bubbles in the pale golden champagne rose to the rim of the stemmed glass like a miniature Morse code. My pale, pink salon-polished nail absentmindedly tapped at the crystal stemware. Patrick had brought me to Scalinis, his favorite restaurant. Not my favorite though. Not because the food or service was bad, on the contrary, it’s great, but the last time I was here, well, let’s just say I’d rather bury that secret with the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I felt wrapped in an invisible warmth, sitting across the table from Patrick and my heart sang with delight knowing that I was now on the threshold of a new chapter in my life. Tony, the always handsome, tall and slender waiter in a crisp black uniform, delivered champagne to our table, languidly presenting the bottle for Patrick’s approval.
With an approving nod for the selection, Tony expertly popped the bottle and poured the bubbly. Turning on his heels, he left us alone.
“Baby, I have to let you know how much I feel you have changed my life. Ever since that very first day when I interviewed you for your job at Meyer and Meyer I could see how special you were. That’s one of the reasons I picked you for the job, well, that and your work experience.”
A smile erupted for a moment, then his face became serious again and his gaze traveled over my face, searching my eyes. “I'll tell you a secret. Before I met you, I was just an empty shell of a man. I lived for the moment, went to all the parties, rubbed elbows with rich socialites, thinking it would bring me happiness, or some kind of fifteen minutes of joy.” He shook his head in disbelief and exhaled a short breath. “That kind of lifestyle seems so empty now, so false and pretentious. All it brought was brief moments of false happiness but it all eluded me, until you came into my life. You gave me new hope, motivation and something to strive towards. You were the missing connection that I had been searching for. Without you I am incomplete.”
His words tugged at my heartstrings and I felt wonderfully frozen in time, drinking in the vibrations of his nearness. “I feel the same way too, Patrick,” I said looking up from beneath my lashes. “Actually, I find it rather hard to believe that a desirable guy like you wouldn’t already be snatched up. You can have any woman you want and I feel so lucky that you want to be with me. You have such a crazy, fast and exciting life and I can’t believe that you are interested in someone so...average as me.”
“Chloe, baby, you’re not average,” he shook his head and chuckled. “You are
anything
but average, my God, you are beautiful, intelligent, level headed, big hearted and...” he reached across to touch my face, “
incredibly
sexy. You light up my whole world.”
His words were like the glow of golden sunshine adorning my face, and yet in the very moment his words were spoken and I was built up, a turbid thought crept in, bitterly coming to the surface. I gained the realization that this was the first time I had heard such beautiful words spoken to me. No one in the past had appreciated me, or touched my heart, or just got me, as much as Patrick did. I knew that we were made for each other and that I would do anything for him.
“I hope you realize how much you mean to me,” I said. “You make me feel very special, like I’m the only one in the world for you, even though I know you’ve had many others before me. You make me feel like I’m the only girl who knows your heart. I’m the luckiest woman who ever walked the earth. Just promise me this. Don’t break my heart.”
He drew his hand back and smiled, relaxing back into his chair.
“Baby, I promise you that would never happen. He paused while the waiter placed the bread tray on the table.
“Listen, I want to tell you a little bit more about the plan. The new company. But first, let’s toast to the beginning of something great.” Leaning in, we tipped our glasses and took a sip, smiling at each other.
“So, I talked to Ryan on the phone and he has agreed to move forward with our business.”
“That’s fantastic, Patrick.” I saw the sparkle in his eyes and was ignited by his enthusiasm. Breathlessly, I listened as Patrick spelled out the details.
“As I told you on the flight, I will have to lay low for now with regards to the Baroness, until I can convince the larger clients of Meyer and Meyer, or I guess it’s “Lamberg Advertisement Agency” now, that they should jump ship and go with our new agency instead.”
I could see from the expression on his face that he already had visions of his new company, much like sugar plums at Christmas, dancing in his head.
“There is one small hitch, though. If I leave Meyer and Meyer, I’m contractually barred from creating a competing company for the next six months. But we have found a way around that. Ryan suggested that he will fund the new company, be the sole owner and hire me as the senior director. Then, six month later, when the clause has expired, I will become a partner in the company, and it will become the ad agency of Barrick and Collins.”
“That’s awesome, baby,” I complied. This was the best news I had heard in a long time. I was hoping and trusting that Ryan would come through for us, and he did. I was excited for Patrick and I knew that if anyone could pull off a stunt like this, it was him, he was one of the best in the advertisement business. I was so proud of him, I was bursting.
“Thank you, honey... anyway as I said,” Patrick continued. “Before we are able to even start the company, we need a major client or two to come along with us. Later, we can then convince the remaining to follow, along with the top employees of Meyer and Meyer. That will eventually destroy her new company. In the end, she’s not going to have me, her employees or any of the accounts.”
“So, what is the first step?”
“I am setting up a takeover meeting with one of our biggest clients. I want to present him with some new proposals and I could use your help with that. We need to really blow him away so I was hoping that you would help prepare the advertising proposal, I mean, if you would like to be involved?”
“Oh, yes. Are you kidding? This is what I do. I would love to help. I just need more details on the client and his products.” I gave a casual wave of my hand and relaxed back in my chair, pleased as punch with his offering of this business opportunity.
“Of course, I understand, and the proposal doesn’t need to be in final form right now, just the framework, so he can see that we truly are capable of taking his company to the next level with innovative ideas. I have no doubts that you are perfect for this job. Both Ryan and I love your ideas. You have such a great talent for advertising, and your work ethic is impeccable.” His stance was visibly more relaxed, now that he could see that I was on board with the idea. “So, what do you think of the plan?”
I sat upright on my chair again, as a troublesome notion invaded my mind. Before I had a chance to filter the thought, I blurted out, “It all sounds great, but I had planned to spend the next couple of week’s job hunting. It would be difficult for me to go much longer without an income. How will I pay my bills? I have rent to pay and stuff. I honestly can’t work for free,” I added innocently.
“Of course not, you’ll get a salary. At least enough to cover your expenses...and your tote bag fetish,” he snickered.
“Ha, ha, you’re funny, but it that case, it sounds wonderful. You can count me in.” I was jubilant.
“Great! That’s settled then,” he said, with satisfaction. “I’ll bring some files over to your apartment with information about the client, so you can get started. I suppose you would want to work at your place?”
“Yeah, I guess...only...” I looked around the room hesitantly.
“Only what, babe?”
“I find it really hard to focus at my apartment. You’ve met Andrea, so you can imagine how distracting her mess can be, not to mention her random house guests.”
“Oh yea, how could I not remember Andrea. She makes quite a first impression,” he said with a chuckle. “Say no more, you can work at my penthouse. I’ll get you a key.”
“Okay, but... I’m not officially moving in,” I firmly insisted. “The key is just so I can have a little breathing space away from Crazy Girl...”
“Right, got you. You are just working there.” I caught a glimpse of the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. I could see that he had enjoyed every minute of teasing me, now that I had finally agreed to take a key to his apartment. Our conversation paused when Tony, our waiter, brought us our appetizer, consisting of scallops in a white wine sauce, one of Scalini’s signature dishes.
“Enjoy, my love,” Patrick said with relish, spearing a scallop with his fork.
I hesitated as I stared at the plate for a moment. Scallops hadn’t been my favorite in the past. Politely, I took a dainty bite for a taste, smiling at Patrick, not wanting to hurt his feelings. The scallops were tender, not rubbery and the sauce was divine. As soon as the first bite hit my taste buds, I was persuaded, scallops were my new best friend. I guess a high class restaurant makes all the difference in the world.
Hmmm... a girl could get used to this.
“Enough talk about business. Let’s talk about something more interesting. Who’s your favorite actress?”
“Hmm, well, it’s hard to say which one is my favorite, there are so many and actually, I like the older actresses, like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, you know, the classic era actresses. Nothing beats an old fashioned romance. I have never really been into, horror movies or thrillers.”
“That’s good. I was hoping you would prefer the old classics to modern movies because I have a surprise for you. When I was a kid, 9 or 10 years old, my dad was always gone on a business trip, or working. It was mostly just my mom and I. One of the things we did together was going to the movies and it was always a classic movie, from the 50’s and 60’s, because that was my mom’s favorite.”
“That’s funny. That is actually my favorite era of movies too. So, what’s the surprise?”
“Patience, my love. Of all the movies my mom took me to, there was one in particular that she was crazy about. I think we saw it five times.”