Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147128 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 736(@200wpm)___ 589(@250wpm)___ 490(@300wpm)
I wasn’t sure whether I should cry or be relieved. I felt the need to offer my hand to seal the deal on our fate of just being friends, but I held it together. ‘I think we’ll be good friends. I can see our potential,’ I said, almost believing my own words. ‘At least until I move.’
Another smile danced on his lips and I moved my eyes away from the sight.
My phone pinged with a new message.
Valerie: Updates, please. Updates. You’re hogging information.
Charlie: We officially friend-zoned each other a minute ago. You can calm down.
‘Something important?’ William asked, and I put my phone down.
‘Nope.’
‘Anyway, we need to prepare his statement together,’ he continued. ‘He’s never had media training so you’re gonna have to walk him through it since he is more comfortable with you. I need him to look confident and like someone who knows what they’re doing in front of the camera while also looking apologetic. We can’t have him breaking apart from the stress.’
‘I can do that.’ I reached for my notepad and opened my laptop. ‘Where should we start…’
He stood up. ‘Let’s get out of here.’
‘We’re not working here?’ I asked.
He shook his head. ‘Let’s take ten first though. I need to clear my head and make a call to another contact.’
He was right – taking ten sounded like the best idea since I’d been sitting on my ass for the last two hours, and as padded as it was, it was starting to hurt. After leaving William to his phone call, I dropped my laptop in my office, then took that ten to go and find Gayle to talk about Ralph the no-show. It turns out he had had a family emergency and was apparently extremely upset that he had stood me up.
‘He wants to make it up to you,’ she said. ‘He also wanted your number to call and apologize in person, but I didn’t want to give it without your permission. I really think you should go on a date with him, Charlie, it’ll be good for you. It’s my fault that I didn’t pick up his call and let you know he wasn’t gonna make it. Go on another date with him.’
Sitting on the edge of her desk, I winced, because I couldn’t tell her about my plans for moving yet. ‘You’re not pushy at all. I don’t know about another date. Let me think about it for a while, and I’ll let you know.’
Seeing as my ten minutes were up, and Gayle was heading out for a short lunch date with her husband – which I wasn’t jealous of at all – I was on my way back to my room when I spotted my dad talking to Wilma, his assistant, right in front of Kimberly’s office. I ducked my head and hoped that he wouldn’t notice me passing them, but I wasn’t lucky.
‘Charlie, wait a minute.’
I met his eyes and nodded. I could already tell from his flat tone and disapproving look that he wasn’t happy with me about something and it wasn’t about work. He had a completely different tone of voice when he wanted to talk to me about work-related stuff. Standing to the side and waiting for them to finish their conversation, I glanced towards William’s office, but he wasn’t there. Done with their talk, Wilma walked past me, offering a small smile. Preparing myself for whatever he was about to say, I turned to my dad.
‘How is it going with William?’
Oh. Maybe I’d misread the tone after all. I relaxed. ‘It’s good. I like his style. And you picked a good team to work with him. It’s going pretty smooth, I think he’ll be good for the firm.’
He nodded. ‘Of course he will. The others are good with working with him too, then?’
I shrugged. ‘So far it looks like they are. They like the case and Michael Ashton. It’s a little messy and there’s a lot to fix. Someone in his team talked to the media so we’re trying to get ahead of that and today Mrs Combs called Michael and basically asked for a bribe, threatening him…’
‘Good. Good. William will give me a report on that. I need you to call the manager of that singer we worked with a few months back.’
I quickly glanced over my shoulder to check William’s office, then faced my dad again. ‘I was about to go into a meeting with William. We need to work on the statement for tomorrow and I’ll coach Michael through…’
‘Charlie, call the manager. I think William can handle things without you just fine.’
Swallowing a bitter response, I just nodded. I didn’t have the time to argue with him. ‘Anything else you want from me?’
One of the interns, whose name I didn’t know, walked past just as my dad asked, ‘How is your diet going?’