Page 108 of The One I Need
Oliver and I share a smile as Hazel tries to scold me. “We got…held up.”
Knox holds up his drink to us. “Yeah you did.”
The three of us laugh, because, well, it’s funny. But apparently my boss doesn’t find it as amusing as we do. “You know Edwin from the London office is here, and he’s been asking all night when you’re getting here.”
“Why’s he asking for me?” I ask as we all walk into the ballroom of the downtown Nashville Hyatt. “Is Bridget here?”
“Nope. Just Edwin. And his lackey,” Hazel says.
Huh. That’s odd. Bridget is the me in London. Also known as, all things communications. I was actually looking forward to meeting her. We’ve been talking for so long over email and Zoom I feel like I know her already. Then again, we haven’t talked in a while because of me having to suddenly take off for the funeral.
“All right then, let’s go find him. No sense in his boxers getting in a bunch.”
“How about I go get us a drink,” Oliver says. “You two go conquer the world like you always do. Knox and I will be your personal waiters and arm candy.”
I smile and kiss Oliver on the cheek. “You’re the best husband ever.”
“That’s what the T-shirt says.”
He returns the kiss as he and Knox walk toward the bar. When I turn back to face Hazel, there is a big-ass smile on her face.
“Go ahead,” I say. “Say what you want to say.”
She smugly shrugs. “I don’t know what you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb. It’s not a good look on you.”
“I don’t have anything to say. Except that I was right all along on so many things that we don’t have time to get into tonight. But, to highlight a few, I was right about Oliver. I was right about him being different from the jump. And I was right about love looking good on you.”
“For someone who didn’t have anything to say, you just said a whole lot.”
“I know,” she says, giving me a side hug as we make our way to where the members of the London team are sitting. “But it’s all out of love.”
“I know. And thank you.”
“For what?”
“Seeing what I didn’t see.”
Hazel smiles and gives me one last squeeze as the three members of the London division stand up to shake our hands.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I say. “Had a little bit of a hold up this evening.”
“Things happen,” says Edwin. He’s what I expected him to look like in person. Mid to late 50s, the air about him that he’s been in the corporate world his entire life. Hazel hired him to oversee the London branch once we decided to expand. He came highly recommended and knew the London tech scene. We both felt like we were lucky to snag him.
“Ladies, I needed to talk to you about something. Now, before I begin, I want you to know that I’ve dealt with the situation, but I felt you needed to know.”
Hazel and I give each other a concerned look as we take a seat.
“As you know, the launch for Left for Love: London, is in two months.”
“We do,” Hazel says. “Everything is right on track. Right?”
“Of course it is,” Edwin says, but judging by the way he’s squirming in his chair, something is definitely not right. “Though we did have a personnel issue that I needed to take care of.”
Oh, shit. What the hell is going on?
“Edwin, you have five seconds to tell me what’s going on or you might not make a plane back to London,” Hazel says.
