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Andrea fought to hold back the snicker at the woman’s act.
“No, it’s fine,” Tim assured her with a tight-lipped smile. “It wasn’t that important. We can discuss it another time,” he offered, giving Andrea a hopeful look.
Andrea inclined her head to the side with an apologetic smile and a slight shrug of her shoulder as Tim gave her one last fleeting look before walking away.
“What did I tell you? I knew he was going to make a move on you. Now pay up,” the woman who now stood directly in the position Tim had just been standing spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
Andrea laughed at her colleague’s antics.
“Kathy, you are incorrigible,” she replied, shaking her head at the woman.
“But was I wrong?” Kathy asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No, you weren’t.”
Andrea sighed with relief at how close she’d come to hurting the feelings of the man that had given her the opportunity to host the biggest event of her entire career. She was grateful for his faith in her capabilities and for giving her a chance, but she didn’t want to lead him into thinking she was interested in anything more than a platonic friendship.
“Anyway, I did come to break up your little hookup for a legit reason.”
Andrea looked at her expectantly.
“Facebook’s head has booked the El Chato restaurant on the fourth floor for an after-party and networking get-together, but only a hundred can get in. I just heard that your name is on the guests’ list,” her colleague informed her.
Andrea was surprised that there was an after-party as it hadn’t been a part of the itinerary for the evening. She supposed a tech mogul like Facebook was entitled to do whatever they wanted. She was also pleased that she was added to the VIP list.
“If you don’t want to be harassed by Tim or any of the other gentlemen I’ve seen eyeing you with stars in their eyes, then I suggest you stick with me. I’m a natural repellent of their affections. Who knows, maybe some of it’ll rub off on you,” Kathy continued to say.
Andrea could not deny that she was trying to avoid any form of entanglement, and if that meant sitting by the very chatty Kathy, then that’s what she would be doing.
The restaurant, as unassuming as it looked on the outside, was more than enthralling on the inside. The first thing Andrea noticed as she stepped into the space were the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that provided the perfect view of the pink and blue skyline, the slightly darkened street below, and the glittering city spread out as far as the eyes could see.
Andrea and Kathy were ushered to their seat, where four other people, two of whom she recognized, were already seated. She realized that the natural arrangement was six people to a table.
After some time of making small talk with the people around her, Andrea excused herself to the bathroom.
She spent some time staring at her reflection in the mirror. A lot had happened in the past month. Her father had passed away, which had triggered her return to her hometown of Oak Harbor, the one place she’d pledged never to return to. Being back had brought up a lot of memories, both good and bad, but she couldn’t deny how great it had felt to have had all her family around her. Her dad’s death was still fresh, and she wasn’t over it, but each day she was learning to cope with the loss.
Her mobile phone rang. Fishing it out of her small purse, she placed the device to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Mom.”
A smile danced across her lips at the sound of her daughter’s voice. “Hi, sweetie. How are you?” she asked, already perking up.
“I’m really good. How was the conference?”
“It was amazing.” A huge smile graced her lips while she recounted to Aurora the success of the conference and her own elevation by it.
“I’m happy for you, Mom. I know how hard you’ve worked for this. You deserve it,” her daughter expressed.
Andrea’s daughter’s support warmed her heart. Since the day she found out she was pregnant with her, it had always been just the two of them. That was, until Rory, the nickname Andrea had used since she’d been two, met her boyfriend James, and the two moved to a different state for work. Nevertheless, the bond they had was still very strong. Not one day went by that they didn’t call or text to make sure the other was okay.
Even though she now had to share her daughter’s affections with someone else, she had no complaints. James was a lovely young man that loved her daughter and treated her as if she was the most important person in his life. At twenty-three and twenty-five, they were young, but their level of maturity was reflected in the way they took care of each other. She never got the chance to experience anything like it, but her daughter was fortunate to find it so early in her life, and for that, she was grateful. If anything happened to her, she knew there was one person aside from her that would always be there for her daughter.
Andrea remembered when Rory was just six years old and had confided in her how she was going to marry a handsome prince and have a big family so they would never be alone again. It seemed her daughter’s dream was shaping up just as she’d imagined it. She’d loved James, and she knew that someday in the future, he would indeed officially turn her daughter into his princess.
Her mind flashed to an unpleasant memory just then, causing her to grip the phone a little tighter at its sudden, unheralded presence in her mind. Shaking it away, she focused on the conversation once more.
