Page 33 of Park Avenue Princess

“That sounds delightful. Can I leave it up to you to contact Elodie and set another appointment?”

“You bet,” she answers with a smile.

I give her the information for the massages I booked while waiting for the data to transfer. Once complete, I hand over the flash drive. “Not sure if I’ll have a chance to snoop around Dad’s firm and get any more information on that retirement account, but I’ll see.”

“You just be careful and keep your wits about you with that man. He may be your father but he’s a scoundrel.”

I let out a weary breath, remaining silent.

Addy looks at her watch. “So, you have hours until you need to meet him. How about I order up some lunch, giving you a chance to relax?”

“Oh, Addy, I don’t want to take up more of your time. You must have your own work to do.”

“And I’ll get to it, don’t you worry your pretty bruised head about it.” I snort and stick my tongue out at her as she walks to her desk. “I saw that,” she says, sticking her tongue right back out at me.

I laugh as she reaches for her phone and asks Shonda to please order up her usual, times two. When she replaces the phone in its cradle, she smiles. “Done. Now, I need to pee. Be right out.”

“Classy as always,” I tease.

“That’s me,” she answers, flashing me a cheesy smile.

Once she closes the bathroom door, a crazy thought runs through my mind as I look at my laptop. I pull up the city’s government pages and type Guy’s name into the search bar, curious about what I’ll learn. When I see a few pertinent links, I click on one and read an article about his appointment as Chief Financial Officer to the Department of Design and Construction. Just as he said, he’d previously been with DOF and his accolades are impeccable.

Another recent article highlights him organizing an economic symposium at Queens College, where he also teaches.

“Damn, he’s a busy man,” I murmur.

“Who’s a busy man?” Addison asks as she appears by my side, causing me to jump. “That must be some article you’re reading.” She glances at my screen. “Ah, checking up on yourGuy?”

“He’s not my guy, and yes, I was, um, curious.”

She looks again at the article I have pulled up then looks at me. “He was telling me a bit about that symposium yesterday. Hollis actually spoke during the event when another scheduled speaker had to bail.”

“That was kind of him,” I say absently as I close the tab. Before I have a chance to scroll through more links, Addison’s folding up my laptop and removing it from my lap. “Hey,” I protest.

“Lynne, if you want to learn about the man, go directly to the source.” She sets my device on the table and turns back to me.

“Yeah, right. I barely kept it together earlier. I don’t know what I’m going to do when I have to be in the same room with him again.”

“What has you so afraid to try again with him?”

“You’re assuming he’ll even give me a chance. He either hates me for hurting him or he couldn’t care less.”

“And you’re making assumptions when you really don’t know. While talking with him yesterday, I think you’re wrong on both accounts. Like I told you, I think he still has feelings for you. He may be leery too, but it sure seems like there’s something that could be rekindled.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know, Addy. I… I…” I can’t seem to get the words out. Luckily I’m spared from trying to answer when a knock sounds at the door and Shonda is informing Addison our lunch has arrived. Once it’s placed on the table and Shonda exits, Addy pulls me up from the couch and over to eat.

“Eat up,” she instructs. “I’ll stop pushing for now.”

I chuckle as I sit down. The smells from the containers are fabulous and my stomach acknowledges that fact by producing a loud rumble.

“You obviously need nourishment.”

“Yeah, guess I do.”

We dig into the Asian cuisine, putting aside talk about Guy and the problems with the city funds. Instead, we chat about my upcoming trip to Toronto as well as her trip booked for Greece. Another hour goes by and I tell her I wish I could just stay here all afternoon.

“You’re not one for avoidance, Lynne. You’ll be fine at handling your father and whatever cockamamie story he tries to feed you. I do find it interesting about the break in-between these discrepancies. If there’s truly something fishy happening, and your father is caught up in it, did he stop knowing you were working with the city and would uncover the scandal? And if so, why now is the activity resuming?”

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