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The first move was mine.
After calling in Jake to work with Nick and Ella on drafting a press release, I slipped out into the hall to make some calls of my own. The first was to a local moving company. The second was to the doorman at Nick’s building. The third was to a landlord up in Queens.
By the time I headed back into the office, the meeting was just breaking up.
“You get everything you needed?” I asked Jake.
He glanced reflexively at Ella, before nodding his head.
“More than enough.”
Yeah—I bet she had a bit to say.
I dismissed him with a thank you, and proceeded to walk the two of them back down to the lobby. There was still probably a fifth of liquor churning away in my stomach, but for the first time all morning, I felt like I didn’t have a care in the world.
Plotting will do that to you. It’s why I got into this line of work.
“So, it’s just dinner tonight at the Solay?” Nick asked when we got outside.
“Yep,” I flashed them each a smile, “I made a reservation for two. You guys should have just enough time to make it across town.”
Ella nodded and started scampering towards the car, but Nick held her back—looking like some of his own drinking had suddenly caught up with him.
“A reservation...for two?”
There was an unmistakable note of panic in his voice. As if he’d just now realized that in dating this woman, the two of them would occasionally have to spend time alone. He cast a quick look down at her, before pulling out his phone.
“Why don’t I see if I can’t make it for a few more people—”
“Why would you do that?” I asked innocently.
“Yeah—why would you do that?” Ella echoed, sounding distinctly more cross.
Nick glanced between us, thinking fast.
“I just thought...I could introduce Ella to some of my friends. Get her name out there, you know? There’s no need to...”
To be with her by yourself?
I cocked my head with a grin, pushing him closer and closer to the edge.
“No need to...?”
We locked eyes, before he turned to Ella with a calming smile.
“No need to keep you all to myself. We want people to get to know you. I shouldn’t have all the...the fun by myself. You’re in this to make connections too, right?”
It was both persuasive and casually said, and at first, it looked like she might have actually been swayed. But I was quick to nip that little con in the bud.
“Aw Nick—that’s sweet of you to worry, but the entire point of this is to present you and Ella to the public as a couple. Candlelight dinners. Tables for two. The whole nine yards.”
A sudden shadow dimmed his bright face, but he rose to the challenge.
“You know, before we go—I just wanted to say thank you, Abby.” He flashed me a deceptively sweet smile. “I know that it’s a lot of work—creating an entire relationship from scratch. Especially one like this. The eyes of the whole world will be upon us. The eyes of the company. The eyes of my father.”
He let that sink in for a second, before flashing me a wicked grin.
“I’m just glad that you’re the one who will be held responsible.”
My nausea was back. So was that cup of coffee I’d stolen from Allison.
Unable to speak, I simply smiled and waved them off—standing on the side of the curb until they’d disappeared round the bend. The second they did, I bent over—hands on my knees.
After forcing a swallow, I took several deep breaths. In and out. In and out.
Dick move...mentioning his father.
But after I got over the initial shock of it, the thought of Mitchell only strengthened my resolve. Nick was right. I was going to be held responsible. But that just meant that this was going to be the best damn relationship the world had ever seen.
And on that note, I glanced down at my watch with a little smile.
...the fun was about to start.