Page 29 of Seventeen Years Ago

“He sat on the couch,” she said.

I went over and sure enough, it was wedged between the cushions. I held it up and said, “He’ll be happy it is here.”

“Delivering it to him tonight?” she asked.

“Unless he has a way to come get it himself right now, I guess I will.”

“Where is he?” she asked.

“At the resort,” I replied.

“Why don’t you take it to him now?” she suggested.

“He didn’t make it sound urgent. Just concerned he’d lost it,” I said.

“Aiza, the man runs multiple luxurious hotels. He can’t be without his phone,” she stated. “It would be like me not having mine. As soon as you don’t, that is when a crisis occurs.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll take it to him now and I’ll be back shortly.”

“No point. I’m going to be on a call for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll just see you in the morning. Have a good night,” she said.

“Reesa, you gave me the afternoon off on Tuesday, and then let me leave early yesterday. I won’t have put in a full week at this rate.”

“Aiza, you never complain when I ask you to come in early or stay late. So don’t argue when I send you home early,” she stated.

“Thank you. See you in the morning,” I said, leaving her office and closing the door behind me. I picked up my cell phone from my desk and said, “Found it. It was in the couch.”

“Great. I can get it from you when I see you tonight,” he said.

“Reesa just instructed me to bring it to you now. Something about a businessman should never be without his phone. Maybe we can have an early dinner at the resort instead tonight.”

“If you’d like to do that, it’s fine with me. How about you stop at home first, change and we can enjoy our dinner on the beach and take a walk after if you like,” he suggested.

“Sounds nice. I’ll see you shortly.”

I grabbed my purse and headed to my car. Before leaving I called my grandmother.

“Aiza, is everything okay?”

“Yes, Grandma. I wanted to let you know that my plans changed, and I will be having dinner with Steven at New Hope instead.”

I heard a sigh of relief over the phone. “Good. But you still must call me at eight, so I know you made it home safe.”

“Yes, Grandma,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Have a good time.”

But not too good. I know.

I ended the call and headed home to change. Fate had intervened and I no longer needed an excuse to cancel.

Thank you, universe, for being on my side for once.

CHAPTER13

Steven

I was glad I’d forgotten my phone because I wanted to see her, but someplace neutral. Not that the resort was exactly that, but the beach was as close as I could get. It was semi-private. Which took away any worries of something getting out of hand. Not that I should worry about that, because after dinner I was going to tell Aiza everything.

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