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‘Yeah,’ Charlie murmured, putting her phone back into her pocket without sending a reply.
I don’t know if her reply surprised me or what, but I didn’t know what to say. After a moment, I asked, ‘The one who made you wait or a new one?’
She stole another glance at me and gave me a small smile. ‘I’m not that good at saying no. It’s the one who didn’t show up. Gayle gave him my number and we texted a little. It wouldn’t hurt to go out once, right? It’d be good for me. A change.’
We had reached our street and we stopped in front of Charlie’s place. The ten-minute walk back with Charlie next to me felt like only a minute or two.
‘Sure,’ I agreed, not actually sure if I agreed or not. ‘Change can be good.’
‘Yeah, I guess.’ We stared at each other for a beat, and she gave me a small smile. ‘It was nice bumping into you again, William. Thank you for keeping us company.’
‘Anytime, Charlie.’ I handed her pizza and scratched Pepperoni’s head one last time as he gave me a quick lick.
‘You’re such a good boy,’ Charlie said. ‘Let’s go home.’
The pup listened and pranced around her.
‘Goodnight, William.’
‘Goodnight.’ I stopped her before she could go into the building. ‘Charlie.’ She turned around with a smile on her face, her key in her hand. ‘When is the date?’
‘He has an out-of-town thing for two weeks. Maybe when he comes back. Maybe. I’m not sure. Why?’
‘Just curious.’ I had no legitimate reason to ask. None whatsoever. ‘You guys are keeping in touch then?’
‘Texting. A little. Sometimes.’
That was a lot of maybes and sometimes. ‘Hope it works out this time.’
After one last goodbye, I watched as she walked into the building with a still excited pup beside her. I crossed the street and walked into an empty home – not all that hungry anymore.
12 Charlie
The day after the meeting with Laurel, which took us almost the entire day, things didn’t start off so well for me. After taking Pepp out for his morning walk, I said a pretty long goodbye to him and rushed to the office so I could start on the proposal my dad wanted me to work on. Since I was in William’s team, it wasn’t my job to woo my dad’s clients anymore, but that was only one of my other skills my dad and Kimberly didn’t like to acknowledge but used plenty of times. When I reached our floor only two other people were there, drinking their coffee and just turning on their laptops.
I popped into the kitchen area, poured myself a cup of coffee. Sitting down at my desk, I turned on my laptop, pulled up the file my dad had emailed me the night before and started to work on it.
Before I noticed, an hour and a half had passed and when I finished preparing the proposal I started working on some research on Laurel Nielson that William had asked me to do.
There was a knock on my door, and I looked up from my laptop. Gayle and Rick burst in before I could utter a word.
‘Meeting,’ they said at the same time, Gayle almost shouldering Rick away.
Gayle looked at Rick and scowled. ‘I said I’ll get her. You get Stan.’
Rick huffed and left – Gayle was scary when she wanted to be so I didn’t blame him. I saved my Laurel Nielson file and picked up my laptop as I rose from my seat. ‘New case?’
‘Yes,’ Gayle answered, watching my movements. I stretched my back and winced. ‘When did you come in?’ she asked.
‘Early. I needed to prepare something for my dad.’ I made it to her side and we started heading towards the small meeting room where I could already see William and Trisha talking. ‘What’s the case about?’
‘Did you text Ralph?’
‘No,’ I huffed out and gave her a quick look. ‘Like I said, we texted a little last night, but that was it. He wants me to give him another chance.’
‘Will you?’
‘Not sure yet. The case?’
‘A private company data breach. On top of that, it looks like some of their execs sold their shares before the word got out. They’re scrambling. He asked me about you again.’
William? I thought for some stupid reason. ‘Who?’
‘Ralph. This is the last time I’m asking you about him, promise. Just wanted you to know he wants to hear back.’
‘Okay, I’ll text him.’
‘Yeah?’
I nodded and we walked into the meeting room. I was about to follow Gayle and walk around the desk to take a seat while we waited for Rick and Stan, but William was standing at the head of the table and as soon as he looked my way, he pulled out the seat next to him, gesturing for me to sit down.
