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“What do you mean? We were always fine,” Charlie said sweetly, cutting into her steak. Rick remained quiet, which she assumed was his way of agreeing.
“More so than usual,” Alex said. “You don’t really stay too long when he’s around.”
Charlie blinked at him. “Well, that’s a rude thing to bring up. One that isn’t true.”
“I think a friendship blossomed when Rick helped you escape,” Alex said, throwing a smile at Rick. “I’m happy you two found a middle ground.”
A middle ground. That was probably the perfect way to put it. She felt Rick’s gaze on her, but kept hers on her food. Sarah was too hungry to notice anything else.
As they continued to eat and talk, Charlie concentrated on her food as if she was writing a thesis on it. She had to turn off her mind from replaying how only days ago she was kissing the man sitting across from her. The man who shedidn’t stick around for.
And how much she enjoyed kissing him. And how much she wanted to do it again and again. But that was a story for another meal.
Thirteen
“I found our marketing director,”Aera said over the phone.
“Really? Who?” Charlie asked. Punching her keyboard, she set her phone down and turned on speaker mode.
Their spa’s grand opening was a week away, and they were short staffed. The countdown ticked by each day while Charlie handled the logistics. She tasked Aera in searching for the last of their employees, a marketing person and a front desk.
“She’s an undergrad, still attending school, so she’ll mostly be part time. I don’t think we’ll need more than that for now.”
Charlie wasn’t sure if she agreed with that. “Marketing is a full-time thing.”
“I think this girl’s a strong candidate. She’s sharp as a whip and her social media following is over six hundred thousand.”
“What does she sell?”
Aera hesitated. “She’s a food blogger.”
“Afoodie?” Charlie huffed. “I’m sorry, but a foodie is hardly the same as being an expert on advertising a beauty spa.”
“Product is irrelevant. It’s the methods that count.”
Charlie almost wanted to take the petty route and argue abouther business background, but held back. However, she couldn’t discount Aera’s keen sense. If Aera put emphasis on something or someone, then she held them in higher regard.
“Send me her résumé.”
“She doesn’t have one,” Aera said almost sheepishly.
“Seriously?”
“Listen, let me handle this. You’ve been working your butt off while I was dealing with my divorce. Let me go over our business model with her, have her do a couple of posts and see what it gets us,” Aera suggested. “If we don’t get results, I’ll drop her.”
Thinking for less than a second, Charlie figured she should trust her own business partner. As co-owner, Aera should be more involved, which meant Charlie had to give up some control.
“All right, I’ll give you access to our social accounts. Please refer to the spreadsheet of the proposed contents and its scheduled run before deciding on anything. Also, run things by me before publishing.”
“You sound so professional. It’s so sexy,” Aera teased. “Send me ‘the stuff’. I won’t disappoint.”
They ended the call, and Charlie opened the cloud storage where paperwork was perfectly organized the way she liked them. As she prepped an email for Aera, her phone rang again.
This time, her brother’s face appeared on the screen. Groaning, she contemplated whether to answer. Ryan didn’t call unless he needed something.
Did she want to know?
“This better be good.”
