Page 107 of Mine Forever
“Well, well. Nice to hear from the Golden Boy.”
Her voice is both welcoming and fear-inducing for me. Under that snarky tone, she’s glad I called.
Lord knows she bothered me enough.
“Yeah. Listen, I need your help.” I blow out a breath. “I’m ready.”
I don’t need to tell her more.
She knows exactly what I mean. By the tone of her voice, she has that feline ready-to-take-on-the-world smile on her face. The one no one wants to see from the other side of the negotiating table.
It’s part of the reason I hired her.
Maybe I should name my cat Liz.
“It’s about damn time, Hanover. What you got in mind?”
TWENTY-THREE
eden
The ballroomof the hotel resembles an anthill.
People from the catering company, hotel staff, and my company staff move all over the place setting up the last-minute touches.
I wear a headset, listening in on various conversations that are happening between different groups setting up.
Only a few minor blips have occurred so far, but they’ve been easy to fix. So far, everyone who needs to be here is here or en route.
Except Chase and that has my stomach in knots.
I’m still stunned by the turn of events over the last few days.
Just days after I left Cape Sands, Liz called me to let me know that Chase would be the speaker if I still needed one.
At that point, I’d been desperate, not knowing how I was going to explain to my clients that I still had no keynote speaker.
So, in spite of the fact that I’m still raw emotionally, I agreed to whatever his terms were, which had been surprisingly few.
Eden the professional is doing the happy dance and wishes Chase would hurry up and arrive.
But Eden the woman is riddled with nerves and isn’t ready to see him.
I’m not sure I ever will be.
I lay a hand on my stomach, hoping to loosen the knots that are so tight in my gut it’s painful.
“DJ is two minutes out,” Katie’s voice comes through the headset.
“Copy that,” I respond.
I blow out a breath and focus back on my job. I haven’t come this far to screw it all up now.
With a tablet in hand, I click off a couple of boxes on my checklist and scan the room.
I find one of the waitstaff putting out the wrong silverware and rush to correct it.
I’m walking away to check sound when my cell phone rings and Liz’s name pops up.
