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I was thinking maybe I was losing my mind. I wasn’t quite sure if what I was feeling was because this was us, that it was just something special with him and me, or if it was because I hadn’t been with anyone for so long.
‘This isn’t exactly something I like about you, but it also is.’
‘Keep going.’
‘You remember how this morning, after you went upstairs and got Pepp for me from Josh? We did something right before you left and then when we were outside walking him: I love resting my body against yours and putting my chin on your chest and looking up when I’m talking to you. And you look down at me too, and push my hair back.’ I closed my eyes for a quick moment, savouring the phantom sensation of his fingers in my hair.
When I opened my eyes he had moved a step closer; his jaw muscle ticking, his chest falling and rising with his heavy breathing.
‘I guess I like being that close to you and touching you. I also love that you look at me like that. As if you’re happy just looking at me.’
He took another step forward, his arm brushing mine.
‘I am happy just looking at you, sweetheart. That is more than enough to be happy.’
I cleared my throat when I heard someone passing my door while they almost shouted into their phone. William took a step back; the heavy tension broken.
I cleared my throat. ‘I’ll eat the rest when I come back actually. We have thirty minutes till our next call with Mr Dunne.’ I popped one last fry into my mouth and then quickly another, because I was very hungry. ‘Any idea what my dad wants?’ Giving my French fries one last longing look, I put everything back in the paper bag.
His eyes bore into mine, his expression a new one that I couldn’t name.
‘No idea. Can you give me a piece of paper, please.’
Confused at his hard tone, I nodded and handed him one. He reached for a pen himself, bent down to write something on the paper and then as his back brushed my front, he got my book, pushed the paper in and straightened again. I hadn’t seen what he had written at all.
‘Ready to leave?’ he asked.
‘What was that?’
‘Something for you to read after.’
We were already heading out of my office when we saw Gayle coming towards us.
‘You know what this is about?’ I asked as we fell in step with her.
‘New account, I think.’ She leaned forward a little and threw a glance at William, who was to my left and looking at his phone with a frown etched into his eyebrows. ‘Someone he knows I believe.’
We stopped in front of my dad’s office and Gayle started chatting to Wilma.
William was still staring at his phone, but his frown had gotten deeper. ‘Everything okay?’ I whispered. ‘Bad news?’
He looked up at me and was almost surprised to find me next to him. Shaking his head slightly, he turned off his phone and put it back into his pocket. ‘No. It’s fine.’
I wanted to ask what was wrong and smooth out the frown on his face with my fingers, but this wasn’t the place or the best time to pull him aside for a quick chat.
‘Let’s head in,’ Gayle murmured, following Wilma into my dad’s office so I had to move, leaving a distracted William to follow behind us.
Just as we filed into his office, all three of us choosing to stand up, my dad ended his phone call.
‘Did you let Kimberly know?’ he asked Wilma. She murmured her yes and left the room after leaving some documents in front of him.
My dad got up, rounded his desk and leaned against it as Kimberly and Dean walked in.
‘Good, everyone is here. William, one of the companies you worked with a few years ago called today after your firm in California told them you were here. Ephesus Airlines. Apparently, someone is blackmailing them, accusing them of using old plane parts for their new fleet. They want to work with you again.’
‘When were they contacted?’ William asked next to me while I was still trying to understand what Kimberly was doing in here if they had called for William.
‘This morning. A few hours ago.’
‘I’ll call them right away. Charlie.’
He took a step forward, but my dad lifted his hand, stopping him.
‘You and your team’, he gestured towards Gayle and me, ‘are already working with another airline company at the moment. I don’t want you to lose focus on that. Kimberly was interested in this one, so I thought you could fill her in about the company and she’ll take over from there.’
26 Charlie
William frowned, confusion emanating from his features. And a little anger too, if I wasn’t mistaken. ‘Excuse me? Doesn’t Kimberly focus on risk management consulting, rather than this?’
