They would be landing late in
Cleveland
and Jason knew that there’d be a town car waiting for them again to take them to
their hotel. By now, all he wanted was to be alone. His tie was choking him, his
head was pounding and he had no desire to make small talk anymore. Tomorrow would
be here soon enough and they’d have to go back into schmoozing mode and do their best
to kiss up to another group of potential clients that might be worse than what they’d
dealt with in
Chicago
.
Maggie stayed silent for the remainder of the trip and during the ride to the hotel.
When Jason handed her the key to her room, she took it and quietly followed him into
the elevator. “Look, Maggie, I’m sorry that I snapped at you earlier. I know that
none of this is your fault. I just had so much hope for this trip and none of it
is going like I planned.”
“It’s okay, Jason,” she said meekly. “I know you have a lot on your mind. You don’t
need to add worrying about me to the list.”
“Dammit, Maggie, that’s not what I’m saying!” he yelled and then caught himself.
“Let’s just meet up in the morning down in the restaurant for breakfast. Maybe a
good night’s sleep with help.”
They stepped off the elevator and Jason noted that this time Maggie’s room was across
the hall from him. “Good night, Jason,” she said softly, her eyes not meeting his
and Jason felt ten kinds of crappy.
****
She had to admit, a good night’s sleep did seem to help. But then again she hadn’t
had the opportunity to speak to Jason yet. For all Maggie knew, her good mood was
going to be shot right to hell before her first cup of coffee.
They met up at eight in the restaurant and Jason took great care to be overly polite.
He held her chair for her, asked how she slept, what she wanted to order, did she
want anything special…by the time he unfolded her napkin for her she was ready to
scream.
“Okay, enough!” she said. “Look, we were both on edge last night but today is another
day. Not all of these meetings are going to garner the results that we want but we
can’t let it freak us out. We’ve got another two and a half weeks to get through
and we’ll never make it if we get into a funk when things go wrong.”
Jason took a deep breath and then seemed to relax. “You’re right. I know you’re
right. I’m just a damn perfectionist and it’s been a long time since things didn’t
go exactly as I had planned.”
She reached out and placed her hand on his and then gasped. Before she could pull
her hand away, Jason’s eyes met hers. Had he felt it too? It was like a spark; a
warmth that wasn’t there before and now suddenly was. “Um, you shouldn’t be so hard
on yourself, Jason. I’m sure that there are going to be a lot more successes than
disappointments on this trip. You can’t take it personally.”
Pulling her hand away, Maggie scanned the room for their waitress and prayed their
food would arrive quickly. She needed the distraction.
“Did you tell your husband what a jerk I was?” he asked sheepishly. Honestly he didn’t
want to talk about the man Maggie was married to but he needed to remind himself of
the fact that she was, indeed, married. Especially after whatever has just passed
between them.
“You weren’t a jerk, Jason,” she said kindly. “You were disappointed.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” he returned. “Did you tell him?’
“It didn’t come up,” she said, averting her eyes.
Luckily their food arrived and Maggie put all of her attention on that. “I have to
admit, I don’t normally indulge in a big breakfast but sometimes it’s a real treat.”
Jason nodded. “I don’t normally eat a large breakfast either; but when I’m on the
road I try to just in case I end up missing lunch due to a meeting. Back at home,
if we’re deep in work mode, Rose makes sure that food comes in. I can’t guarantee
that same thing when I’m relying on somebody else’s time table.”
“I can only hope that we don’t have anymore mishaps like that meal at
Claremont
’s. I think I’d rather skip eating all together than have to eat something like that
again.”
Jason agreed.
Within an hour they were climbing into a cab and heading for their first meeting of
the day. “Remind me again how tight of a schedule we’re on today?”
Maggie pulled out her tablet. “Okay, we’ve got a ten a.m. with Nick Austin, a one
o’clock lunch meeting with the Smith Group and then we have to head back to the hotel
and change because we’ve got the charity auction at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I’ve got your tux and my gown with the concierge to be pressed and ready to go. We
have a limo coming and picking us up at seven so we should have plenty of time after
lunch to go over the two meetings and get a little time to relax before heading out
for the night.”
Jason was exhausted just thinking about it. “I really packed the schedule, didn’t
I?”
Maggie laughed. “Just a little.”
“If it had been you doing all of the planning, what would you have done differently?”
“So far?”
That didn’t sound good. “With the whole trip,” he answered.
“Well, I understand that you’re trying to maximize your time and really, you’ve done
that with military precision.”
“But…”
“But,” she chimed in, “you really didn’t leave a lot of time for incidentals.”
“Like what?”
“Well let’s say that this meeting with Nick Austin is going well and we need more
time with him. We don’t really have it because three hours after the start of our
meeting, we’re due to start another one. I would make sure that we worked in four-hour
time blocks, nothing less.”
“Okay,” he said slowly. “How often do I give us less than four hours?”
Maggie scrolled through their itinerary and frowned. “Quite often. You have several
appointments that are right on top of each other and then other times you have up
to eight hours between appointments. I realize that sometimes that’s all that is
available but it is going to have us in and out of the car a lot more than is effective.”
“I didn’t even think to look at it that way. I was more concerned with getting the
appointments made than thinking about how efficiently I was spending my time.” His
tone was slightly defensive and he hated feeling like he’d made a mistake.
“It’s okay, Jason. This was something that you needed an assistant for. It’s all
going to work out just fine; some days it will seem like an adventure,” she teased
and was relieved to see him visibly relax.
They pulled up to their first appointment and Maggie gave him a beaming smile. “Ready?”
she asked.
“As I’ll ever be,” he said as he exited the vehicle.
****
They arrived back at the hotel at three-thirty and Maggie already felt as if she’d
run a marathon. The first meeting had gone extremely well and their lunch meeting
was pleasant enough but the client was going to require a little more time before
he signed on with Jason. All in all she was pleased and knew that Jason was, too.
“I’ll call the concierge and make sure our clothes are back up to us by six,” she
said as they walked toward their rooms. “Is there anything else you need before then?”
“I think we’re good for now. What are you going to do with yourself this afternoon?”
Maggie thought for a moment. “Well, since there isn’t much for me to do with the
files for today, I’m going to send what I have to Rose and then maybe catch a nap
and then take my time getting ready for tonight. What about you?”
“I’ve got some files I want to look over and a little research I want to do but a
nap certainly sounds appealing.”
Smiling, Maggie took out her key card and turned toward her door. “Listen,” Jason
said suddenly. “Why don’t you make an appointment with the hotel salon and go and
get a little pampered for tonight?”
Maggie looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Excuse me?”
“You’ve been putting in some long hours and have had to deal with an extremely grumpy
boss so why don’t you go and take a little time for yourself?” His words were spoken
lightly and Jason hoped that she’d take him up on his offer.
The thought was both appealing and unnerving at the same time. Was this how it was
going to start? Was Jason going to woo her with spa treatments and special favors
in hopes of her being indebted to him? The thought made her frown but when she looked
up at his face, which looked genuine and sincere, she knew that he was nothing like
her former boss.
“Are you sure?” she asked hesitantly.
“Of course I am,” he said. “You’ve got nothing to do for a couple of hours so call
down and see if they have an appointment and do whatever it is that women do before
they have to go to some formal charity event.”
She laughed. “Honestly, I have no idea what that is! I’ve never gone to one before.”
“Seriously? I would’ve thought that with your previous employer or even with your
husband that you would have done something similar to this at some point.”
At the mention of both the fake husband and her disgusting ex-boss, Maggie’s stomach
turned. Jason saw the look on her face and instantly stepped forward, concerned.
“Maggie? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she quietly lied. “Let me go make the call and see if they can squeeze
me in for something.” She opened her door and then turned back to Jason. “Thank
you. I appreciate your generosity.”
As the door closed Jason stood there and wondered, not for the first time, just what
went on in Maggie’s mind? There were times where she was outgoing and friendly and
seemingly full of joy, but it didn’t take much to make her completely shut that side
down. He was getting a little tired of not knowing what the trigger was but he had
a sinking sensation that it had to do with her marriage.
And that thought bothered him more than he was willing to admit.
****
At six forty-five, Jason knocked on Maggie’s door. His tux had arrived promptly at
six o’clock and he was dressed by six-fifteen and had found himself just pacing in
his room with nothing to do. The limo would be downstairs in five minutes and he
hoped that Maggie would be punctual. He knew her to be so when it was for work but
most women that Jason knew tended to take a lot longer to get ready when it was for
a social event.
When Maggie opened the door, Jason felt his jaw drop. She was stunning. In a navy
blue strapless evening gown that hugged her petite, curvy body, she took his breath
away.
“I wasn’t sure quite how formal I needed to be,” Maggie said as she tried to read
Jason’s expression. “I thought that this was understated enough to be formal and
classy.” She wished Jason would say something, anything.
When they had originally discussed this event, all Jason had told her was to bring
“some sort of gown”. That wasn’t much to go on. Maggie had researched previous events
for this particular charity and then had gone and done some major damage with her
Visa card. The gown was a knock off of a Christian Dior gown that some actress had
worn to the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards and though she normally didn’t go for such
a bold and sexy look, Maggie had simply fallen in love with the gown.
Down at the spa she had gotten a manicure, pedicure and facial before getting her
hair done. Gone was the severe ponytail of the workday and in its place was an elegant
chignon with a few loose tendrils that curled along the side of her face. All in
all she had been pleased with the look but Jason’s hard stare had her second guessing
herself.
“Jason?” she finally asked. “Are you okay?”
He quickly shook his head as if to clear it and then cleared his throat. “Yes, I’m
fine, sorry. You look lovely. Are you ready?”
It was the first real compliment Maggie had received from a man in over three years
and it made her blush. She ducked her head slightly as she turned and shut the door
and then managed to walk a few steps ahead of Jason to the elevators. They rode down
in silence and Maggie felt a little in awe of the stretch limo waiting for them.
She turned an inquisitive eye to Jason. “Tell me again why we needed a limo?”
He smiled. “This is a big event,” he said simply. “It required a limo.”
Whether that was true or not, Maggie didn’t know but in that moment she realized just
how big of a difference there was between her regular, ordinary life and the life
of the wealthy Montgomery’s. She felt a little inferior but knew that was of her
own doing. The
Montgomery
’s never flaunted their wealth or their position and if anything, they were beyond
generous. For this one night she was going to enjoy seeing how the other half lived
and pretend that it was nothing out of the ordinary for her.
That thought lasted until they pulled up to the venue and she found herself to be
more than a little star struck by the crowd. As they made their way up the red carpet,
Jason stopped and shook hands with many people and always introduced her but after
a few minutes, he stopped and pulled her over to the side.