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But not without making plans to see her again.
He reminded her of that plan, “Text me after your dinner with your dad tomorrow. I’ll head over.”
“Will do.”
“I’ll touch base with you again tonight, sweetheart.”
“Looking forward to it. Have a good day, Hale. And enjoy your time with your family tonight.”
“I will. And you have a good day too, baby.”
After they hung up, he snoozed for an hour before he got up. He made himself a smoothie and some oatmeal, put on some running pants and a long-sleeved half zip, a pair of running shoes, grabbed his phone, stuck his ear buds in, and headed out.
He ignored the photographers that were waiting for him outside his building, and in a few blocks, as usual, he’d outrun them anyway.
He returned, went to the gym that was housed in an upstairs room in his apartment. There, he did some sit ups, pushups, pull-ups, burpees, went to the machine and worked his back, shoulders and chest. Back downstairs to mix some protein powder and grab some water. He took it back upstairs to his bedroom where he showered, got dressed, texted his driver, and headed into his father’s office.
He then endured four hours of Zoom meetings he should have been attending in person, but his change of plans meant he was sitting at a computer, not in a conference room.
He didn’t have a preference of one or the other.
He hated them both equally.
He then had lunch with the executive director of an urban greenspace non-profit who was courting a big donation, then back to the office for another two hours of Zoom meetings. After that, he had a sit down with all three of his assistants to polish the finishing touches on his week’s reschedule, and discuss the next week, and the month beyond. That took two hours as well.
Another two hours of returning emails, texts, and then he was back in the car with his driver and headed to Mika and Tom’s place.
He walked up the steps to their brownstone, more than ready for the only good part of his day to commence (outside the brief phone call with Elsa).
Cadence, Mika’s daughter, opened the door.
“Day made,” he said in greeting.
She shot him a brilliant smile before she fell into his arms.
He gave her a tight hug as he shuffled them in and kicked the door closed.
“You’re here now and couldn’t make the gala?” he asked her.
She tipped her head back. “I had some reshoots to do. The movie is almost finished, those were what was holding us back in editing. I didn’t want to delay. And I didn’t think you’d miss me.”
She was making a documentary with her mom about mothers and daughters.
He was looking forward to seeing it.
“We missed you,” he refuted.
Still holding onto him, she gave him a grin along with a shrug.
He heard voices in the living room and knew he was in for it even before Cadence broke their hug and whispered conspiratorially, “Chloe and Judge are here. So is Jamie. And Rix and Alex. Heads up, I think they mean to ambush you, though not Judge, Rix and Alex. And Chloe and Jamie seem to have different reasons for whatever they’re up to.”
Fabulous.
“Thanks for the warning,” he replied.
His arm around her shoulders, hers around his waist, they walked into the living room.
When they entered, it wasn’t the first time he thought Mika’s pad was the shit.
