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Keep nodding, and they'll nod along, and when they think back on the meeting, all they remember is how they felt, and that it was positive.
I end my little speech with a smile that could make the Empire State Building look like a night light.
She beams back in response. "Well, we certainly had a good night. The music was phenomenal. I hadn't ever heard the band before."
I lean back, nodding. "Oh, if you're here for the music, well, I'll let the owner tell you. I'm sorry, I'm just so excited." I laugh and gesture toward my new fake fiancée. "Darling, tell her about tomorrow night."
Clarissa grins, the mood of the conversation infectious, and she clasps her hands together. "We have a really special guest tomorrow. You actually might have seen him around. It's Tyson. With a T." The name is ridiculous, there's no arguing against that, but it fits him. What else would you expect of a guy who rides around Manhattan pulling a full-size piano behind him?
Annette claps her hands together, speaking for the first time. "You're kidding me! Not the guy who has singalongs in the park."
Clarissa nods. "One and the same, but that is only one aspect of his talent. He is going to blow your mind. His voice sounds like he was raised in a club in New Orleans, so, so soulful."
"We look forward to it," they both say in unison and then laugh.
"We'll reserve a spot for you," Clarissa delivers smoothly. "We're actually all booked up but my table is still free. That is, if Matthias doesn't mind sitting at the bar for a bit."
I pretend to be shocked, and then break out into the friendliest smile I can muster. "Of course. But only if I can buy you a round of drinks."
"Of course," Marissa twitters, and the two ladies share a look as if they're in on a joke that we're not privy to. What they don't actually know is that we were the ones telling the joke the whole time. "We can't wait to come tomorrow. This place is amazing. It's just so nice to see someone run this place who has a true vision."
We have them.
I get up and press a kiss to Clarissa's temple, whispering into her ear, "Good job."
She turns toward me, gratitude in her eyes, and it fills me with an emotion I can't name. Time to step back.
"Well, ladies, I'll leave you to it. I think there's a cognac sitting on the bar that needs to my attention. I'll see you later, darling."
I walk away feeling six eyes on me.
But I only care about Clarissa's.
"James. Impress me," I say, sitting in my seat, twenty feet away, but I can still hear her voice through all the noise.
She falls asleep on my shoulder in the back seat of the car as soon as Kevin turns into traffic. Somehow, I'd convinced her to leave the cleaning to her crew. After a night like tonight, she could afford to tip them a big bonus, while she gets some much-needed rest.
Even then, she's chattered excitedly, at a mile a minute, as she emptied the till and added the money to her locked bag to take to the bank tomorrow.
"And even with the extra ice order, we had to get four more bags! I never thought that I would own a business that would go through sixteen forty-pound bags of ice in a night! James said that with that much, it might actually be worth it to get an ice machine! He said he had someone he might be able to talk to! Oh, wait, that person is the person you introduced him to. Do you really think that Jaxon can help us get an ice machine for a good deal? And then the girls sold almost twice as many cigars as we did on opening night and I thought that was pretty exciting. And I think with the ladies from Heard It Here coming tomorrow night then—"
I'd cut her off, laughing. "Darling, take a breath."
She'd stopped and given me a grin. "Sorry. I'm just so excited, I don't think I'm going to get any sleep tonight."
Thirty seconds in the car proved her wrong.
But this time, her sleep is peaceful, a soft smile on her lips.
I wrap an arm around her, pulling her tightly against me so that her head doesn't bobble from the car's movement.
She murmurs, "Are we there?"
I brush the hair from her face. "No, darling, we're not. Just get a little more sleep."
"I wasn't sleeping," she murmurs, most definitely sleepily.
"Sure," I chuckle. "Go back to not sleeping."
