A Summer to Remember(18)
I bit my lip before I walked over to the large window that overlooked the second floor of the gallery and showed all the activity below. “As in France? Why?”
“You don’t keep up on world events, do you? The whole country is on the verge of collapse along with dire situations in Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. The government is actually raiding private citizen’s bank accounts to prevent default and my parents moved their money out of the country back in January.
“It’s a scary situation for quite a few European countries and although we all love Cyprus, it has become untenable for them to stay there for the time being. They are moving in July and I told them I would try to get away and help them but…if it is inconvenient then I’ll just roll with the punches—”
“Don’t say that. You should go in July as planned. We’ll Skype and figure out something but go and help your parents. You gave them your word.”
Alastor placed his right hand on his heart and breathed a sigh of relief. “What happened to you in the Hamptons? It’s like you came back a whole different person.”
I smiled at him though I know it never reached my eyes. “Perhaps I did…and you don’t want to know what happened there, not really.”
I walked out of Alastor’s office and thought about my weekend in the Hamptons. I did come back a different person but I wasn’t sure if she was someone I wanted to be and that hurt the most.
I was in love with my brother’s best friend and I didn’t have a clue what to do about it because he had a perfect girlfriend and he certainly couldn’t handle me and all my various complications. I was a walking disaster—so beautiful and vibrant on the outside but so broken and conflicted on the inside. If I was smart, I would try to stay away as far from Paul as possible.
Unfortunately, time conspired against me and as I walked down the metal staircase, the man himself was standing there speaking to the receptionist. She busily paged through the appointment registrar and continuously told him he didn’t have an appointment and I was booked all afternoon.
“Paul, what are you doing here?” I greeted and tried to keep the bite out of my voice. “I’m busy all day today and I don’t have any time for small talk I’m afraid.”
He looked up at me and smiled, his bright crystal blue eyes shined with happiness. “Can I at least take you out to a quick lunch? I really need to talk to you.”
I would have said no but there was something in his eyes which implied what ever he needed to tell me was serious. I looked towards Claudia, my diligent receptionist and grinned at her conspiratorially before I winked.
“Sure but it has to be a quick one. I have another client coming in…an hour.”
“Don’t worry, I promise not to keep you for too long.”
“If you stay a little bit past the hour, is it okay for me to hand over Doctor Winters to Ms. Adams?” Claudia inquired.
Andrea Adams, my assistant, was competent at best but her cold demeanor and her knowledge of art sometimes threw certain clients off and unfortunately for me, Dr. Winters was one such client. He was a neurosurgeon and liked to believe he knew everything about everything; he was a client I definitely handled with kid gloves because not only was he an arrogant bastard but he was cheap too.
“No, you may not because I will be back in time for our appointment,” I replied before I joined Paul at the reception desk.
I glared at him and he finally met my gaze, albeit reluctantly. “Look…I just wanted to apologize about this past weekend—”
“I do believe this a conversation best had on the go because you’re on the clock and I don’t have an infinite amount of time,” I interrupted brusquely.
“Of course.”
Men, they could be so completely and utterly clueless sometimes. Did he really think I wanted Claudia to know about what was going on in my personal life? I was her employer and no way did I want her to have that kind of gossip in her arsenal that I had made a complete and utter fool of myself in the Hamptons the previous weekend. I might as well have taken out an ad in The New York Post and saved myself and my family a bit of embarrassment.
We walked out together side by side though I was more than satisfied when he didn’t attempt to grab my hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a bitch back there but Claudia is a walking ‘gossip columnist’ in the making and I don’t want her to know about our weekend in the Hamptons.”