I put a hand on my hip and stare at him. His eyes shift to me and a small grin tugs at his lips. “What?” he says.
“Are you really okay?” I ask. “You seem too stressed. This is a good day, the gala is all ready to go, and the interview went well.”
“Yourinterview went well. You looked like a total pro on camera.”
A nervous flutter flits in my stomach. “Really?”
He nods, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You were a natural. Your boss is going to love it.”
The smile falls right off my face. I forgot about Jenny. Not sure how I forgot about her—she’s been a constant thorn in my side ever since she chose to utilize this event as her ploy to make the company more popular.
“I don’t want to tell her about this.”
“Why not? You might get a raise or something.”
I shake my head. “She’ll use it to get herself a raise. What are the odds that I cannottell her and she’ll never find out?”
Caleb’s indecisive thinking face makes him even hotter. “Not very good,” he says after a moment. “If she finds out from someone other than you, will she be mad?”
I heave a sigh. “Probably.”
Joan walks up to us with a big smile on her perfectly polished lips. “That’s a wrap on our Alden K9 story,” she says. “Thank you so much for having us out.”
“Thank you for covering this,” Caleb says, shaking her hand.
“Charlotte, walk with me,” Joan says.
My eyes widen and I glance at Caleb who’s giving me an equally wide-eyed stare. With a little shrug, I walk with her back to the van where Manny is loading up his equipment.
“You ever thought of a job in television?”
I bark out a single laugh. “No… no way. That’s not me.”
“Really? Because you were stunning today. You spoke so eloquently to the camera, all perfect takes the first try. You’re young and pretty. You would be a producer’s dream.”
“I appreciate that, but I don’t want to work in television. I’m a party planner, and I love my job.”
Joan’s brow lifts. “I know burnout when I see it.”
My shoulders fall. “Am I that easy to read?”
Her smile softens. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and I’ve interviewed a lot of important people.” She shrugs her shoulders. “And some people who weren’t so important. I know people. You’re a woman on the brink of a crash out, I suspect. Sorry to be so blunt.”
“It’s okay… you’re probably right. I love what I do, but I’ve been a little sick of my boss lately.”
“So get a new boss,” she says as she climbs into the passenger seat. “Or become your own boss. And if you ever want an interview with Houston News, give me a call.”
Caleb watches me walk back, his gaze so intense it makes my whole body warm. “What was that about?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say, walking into the barn and opening my laptop.
“Was it about me?”
“Just because two women were talking doesn’t mean they were talking about you,” I tease.
“I’m just concerned that maybe she hated me and hated the foundation and doesn’t want to air the story.”
I sit at table seventeen, the one near the stage, and peer up at him. “What happened to that confident, overly cocky man I met two and a half weeks ago?”
