She sat in the kitchen and picked up her phone to call up Jenny. It was Sunday, but she had to let her know that she was taking the opportunity and running with it. “Hello?”
“Hey, Jenny. Sorry for calling you at home.”
Jenny laughed on the other end of the line. “No need to apologize. Nothing going on here. What’s up?”
“Well, I have given New York City a lot of thought and I was wondering if the job was still available. I could use the opportunity as a learning experience. So...is it?”
“I can call for sure, but I’m confident it is. They were going to have a hard time filling the position. It’s great that you are thinking about it. I’ll call them right away and text you when it’s all set.”
“OK. Thanks.” She was happy that she had come to the decision she had. It would certainly make things easier if she could get out of L.A. for a little while.
She only had to wait twenty minutes before getting the text from Jenny.
Jenny: It’s all set. You’ll have a plane ticket waiting for you tomorrow morning at 10. I’ll take care of letting everyone know here. Have a good one and knock them dead.
Aria stared at the phone. She hadn’t expected things to come together so quickly but it was even better. She just had to let Devon know. She took the cowardly way out and texted him.
Aria: I have to go to NYC for work. I leave tomorrow.
It was a simple enough message. She kept thinking about the message though. It wasn’t exactly how she thought she should let him know. He obviously thought the same thing, because he ultimately called her. She looked at the phone, momentarily thinking about not answering it. Instead, she picked it up.
“Hello?”
“What do you mean you have to go to NYC tomorrow? That seems awfully sudden, don’t you think?” He didn’t like the idea of her leaving and going three thousand miles away, especially when they had taken a turn in their relationship. He couldn’t imagine watching her go.
“It was sudden. I wasn’t going to take the job opportunity, but it’s something I can’t pass up.”
“Well ... how long will you be gone?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” she stammered. “I’ll keep you posted but I leave in the morning and I look forward to it. Please just be happy for me.”
He hesitated before giving his response. “It’s not that I’m not happy for you. I’m just surprised, that’s all. I trust that we will talk over the course of your time away.”
“We will,” she said. “I need to go and pack for the trip. I’ll call you when I get there.” She was about to hang up, when he spoke again.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow. What time do you want me to be there?”
“Devon, it’s not necessary.” He didn’t agree, but he could feel the insistence in her voice and he relented. The time away from her wasn’t going to be good but it would give him a chance to plan his next move with her.
“All right then. Please take care of yourself, Aria.”
“I will,” she said. “Goodbye, Devon.” She hung up the phone, a feeling of relief washing over her. However, there was also a feeling of regret. It was going to be good for her, she just needed to keep telling herself that.
THE FLIGHT WAS QUICK enough, despite flying across the country. When she arrived at the airport and gathered her luggage, she made her way out of the building. She had received a text message that stated she was to meet a car outside of the airport.
Once she got outside, she spotted the sign that had her name written on it. She walked over and greeted the driver. “Hello. I’m Aria.”
He nodded. “Hello, Ms. Aria. Allow me to get your bags.” He collected them and loaded them into the back of the car. She waited by the door and he opened it for her. “I hope your flight went well,” he said as he got back into the driver’s seat.
“It did.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry but I didn’t catch your name.”
“It’s Ralph. The studio was wondering if you would be able to stop by on your way to the hotel.”
She just wanted to crash but she knew it would be good to get some understanding as to what she was to do there. “That would be fine, Ralph. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Ma’am,” he said.
“Please call me, Aria? It would make me feel better.”
“Of course, Aria. Are you ready?” She nodded and looked out of the window as he pulled away from the curb. She dug her phone from her purse and pulled up Devon’s phone number. She had said she would call him when she got there but she now questioned that. She was supposed to be taking a break from him, not finding reasons to keep in touch.
Without dialing up his number, she slipped the phone back into her purse. She would wait until she was settled into the hotel before she would contact him. She leaned back in her seat and tried to not think about anything else but the job she had to work on.
When the car pulling into a parking lot of a large building she sat up. “Are we here?” she asked him.
“We are. I’ll wait for you until you’re ready to go to your hotel,” he said.
He got out of the car and walked around to open the door for her. “Thank you, Ralph,” she said.
She got up and looked at the building in front of her. She took a deep breath, feeling a little panicked that she was there and didn’t even know if she would be able to handle it. The doorman opened the door for her.
Two women were working at the large concierge desk. Aria walked up to the one of them. The woman looked up.
“Hello. May I help you?”
“Uh, yes. The name is Aria Nolan. I’m supposed to be meeting with Francisco Jackson.”
“Right. I’ll call him.” She picked up the phone and waited for him to answer. “Hello, Mr. Jackson. I have an Aria Nolan here. She said you’re expecting her.”
She paused and listened to his voice on the other end. “Oh ... OK ... sure, I’ll tell her. Sorry for wasting your time, Mr. Jackson.” She hung up the phone and looked at Aria. “I’m sorry but you’re supposed to be meeting with Barbara Manning. She’s the associate producer. I didn’t think he was the one you would meet.” She laughed, making Aria feel pretty small. She then picked up the phone again. “Hello. I have Aria Nolan here to see you.”
Aria looked around. She heard her voice again and turned her attention back to the woman.
“I’ll tell her. Thanks.” She hung up. “Wait in the waiting room. She’ll be out to get you in a minute.”
“Thank you.” Aria walked away but she could feel her eyes on her. She took a deep breath and sat down in the chair. She waited for nearly twenty minutes before she saw a woman heading in her direction.
“Aria Nolan?” she asked as she approached her. Aria stood up and nodded. She presented her hand to the woman and she shook it. “It’s nice to meet you. Follow me.”
As Aria followed her, she was talking a mile a minute. Aria didn’t catch most of what she said, outside of the fact that they were having a casting for a New York City drama based around crime life. That’s original, Aria thought, but she didn’t make her thoughts known to Barbara. The woman stopped at a room and pointed. “This will be your office for the next three months.”
Aria started to cough, choking on the thoughts. “Three months?” she asked. She had thought perhaps three weeks, maybe a month, but that was longer than she would have anticipated.
Barbara nodded. “Will that be a problem?” she asked.
“Um ... no. I suppose not.” The fact was though that she was worried that three months would mean that Devon would forget about her. If it’s meant to be, it will be. She had to believe that. This was still going to be a golden opportunity for her and one she couldn’t just give up.
“OK. Well, everything you need is on your desk. You have contact information and resumes. You should read through everything within the next couple days and then start getting people called in to come in for interviews. Sylvia will be your assistant and you can utilize he
r in any way that you think is necessary. I’ll take you to her,” she said.
Aria followed her to a long hallway. They kept going, to the point where Aria thought she would lose her way but then came to a clearing. There was a desk and a woman sitting behind it. She looked to be around twenty-one years old.
She eventually looked up and then stood up. “Hello,” she said.
“Sylvia this is Aria. She’s going to be in charge of casting for The Night Life. You will be helping her as she needs it, making calls or whatever.”
Sylvia glanced in Aria’s direction and she smiled. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise, Sylvia. I look forward to working with you.”
Sylvia smiled and then sat down behind her desk. She looked at Barbara. “Do you have any questions for me?” Barbara asked.
Aria shook her head. “I’m going to head to the hotel and get checked in. I’ll be back tomorrow morning to get started right away.”
She frowned. “You don’t want to start now?” she asked.
Aria recalled that her car was still outside. “Well, I don’t know. My driver is waiting outside.”
Barbara put her nose up. “Oh well ... you have a driver.” She was acting snooty and Aria didn’t know why she seemed annoyed by her. She tried not to think too much on it.
“I can take the resumes home with me and read over them this evening.”
The woman nodded. “That will have to do,” she said. “Very well. Good day.” She left her standing there. Aria turned around and frowned. She was hopeful that she would be able to find her way back. When she reached her hallway, or the one she thought was her hallway, she looked into the rooms that weren’t locked and finally found her office.
She walked over to her desk and picked up the stack of resumes. She heaved a sigh and looked around her office. It was going to be a long three months. She groaned as the thought hit her again. Three months? How could she possibly stay away from Devon for that long? She wasn’t confident she could stay away from the man she loved. Only time would tell.
AFTER CHECKING IN TO her hotel, she sat on her bed. She grabbed a pencil and started to jot down notes on the various resumes. As she skimmed through each one, she spotted a name on one of the resumes. The name was Devon Blakely. She immediately thought of Devon. She reached across her bed and grabbed her purse. She pulled her phone out and looked at it. She had missed two text messages and a voicemail from him. The first text read.
Devon: Haven’t heard from you. I assume you’re there by now. Please at least text me.
She moved onto the next text message and read it.
Devon: OK. I’m officially worried. Please call me.
She felt a tug in her heart. It wasn’t characteristic of him to get all dramatic. She pulled up her voicemail and listened to his message. “Hey, Aria. It’s two hours past the time you were supposed to be there. I’m going to assume only good things and believe you got so busy with work and forgot to call me. I will forgive you this time but just call. Goodbye.”
She erased the message and hit the button to call his number. It rang three times and went to his voicemail. She waited for his message to clear, then spoke her message. “Hey, Devon. Sorry, but I did get involved with work. It’s kind of crazy over here. I didn’t want you to worry, so I’ll apologize for that. I am here, and things are going well so far.” Well, she exaggerated the truth on that one. “But I do have something to tell you about this trip. Perhaps we’ll talk soon. Take care of you.” She hung up the phone. She looked over at the resumes and she felt a tug at her heart.
He listened to the message. He had a meeting, so he didn’t bother calling her right back. He put his phone back into his pocket and looked up when Jessica knocked on his door. “Brandon Hathaway is here to see you. He said that he has a meeting.”
He nodded. “You can send him in.
The moment Aria left town, Devon decided to set things into motion to push through all of Aria’s sexual limits. It would wait until she got back but it would take some planning and that’s where Brandon came into the picture. He saw him at her office a couple of times and he was the epitome of the pretty boy Hollywood type that she didn’t like, but that’s what made him perfect for what he had in store.
He looked up when Brandon walked into the office. “Hello. Thank you for coming.”
Brandon was hesitant to move forward. “Did I have much of a choice? The letter said that I was demanded to show up to your office. Now, do you mind telling me what’s going on?”
“There’s always a choice young man. You can make the right one or the wrong one and it’s good to see that you have made the right one. I have a job for you,” he said.
Brandon frowned. “I’ll be paid for it?” he asked. “What kind of a job?”
Devon laughed as he took a seat behind his desk. “I should rephrase that. You are going to be volunteering your services because what I’m about to tell you, you will gladly volunteer. So, no...there will be no money exchanged.”
Brandon sighed and then tilted his head. “You look familiar,” he said. “You’re a friend of Ms. Nolan’s, right?”
Devon shrugged. “We’re more than friends but yes, you are on the right track and she is actually the reason I brought you here today. I need you to do something for her and because I have seen the way you look at her, I know that you’ll gladly volunteer. See how that works?”
Brandon was confused. He sat down in the chair across from the desk. “What do you need me to do?” he asked. “And what do you mean by the way I look at her? We’re just employer, employee. That’s all.
Devon knew that wasn’t the case, but he found it interesting that its how Brandon saw it. “Whether it’s true or not, I have a surprise I’m planning for her. I need you to be involved. So, listen to me carefully and I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do.” Devon began to tell him the plan.
DEVON WALKED INTO THE house. He sunk down into his couch before getting his phone. He dialed Aria’s number, not bothering to check how late it was in New York. She answered the phone right away.
“Hello?”
“Hey. How are things going over there, stranger?”
“Oh ... not bad. Just trying to acclimate myself to everything. I have to look through a bunch of resumes and start getting people called in for auditions. It’s a little overwhelming but I’m managing. How are things over there?”
“Great,” he said. “I realized that it’s a good thing that we’re getting this break. It will be nice to see how absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?”
She was taken aback by his cavalier attitude. She was still feeling sad about the fact that this experiment would take three months to accomplish. “Right. And we’re going to get plenty of that distance.”
There was a long pause on the other end. “How long?” he finally asked.
“Three months.”
The minute she said three months, he felt his mind whirl around with thoughts. He hadn’t anticipated it being that long. “What? Why?”
“I guess they want me here for much of the casting, basically until they start production. But it’s a good thing, right? You said it yourself.” The sarcasm was thick in her voice. He heard it coursing through the phone.
“I didn’t realize you’d be gone that long. I guess neither did you. It sucks.”
“Yeah,” she said, unable to think of anything else to say.
Neither one of them said anything for a minute.
“So, I really need to get to bed,” she finally said. “I have a busy day tomorrow. I’ll call you later.”
“OK. Goodnight, Aria. Good luck with everything.”
He hung up the call and he sat for a long time trying to process the information. That would derail things on his end but he believed it wouldn’t change anything. Unless she finds someone else. The minute the thought crossed his mind, he rolled his eyes. There was no reason to think that. He was going to get what he wanted, and he wanted Aria. It wo
uld go fast. He was certain of that.
He got up from the couch and went upstairs to his bedroom. He got dressed for bed and looked over at his clock by his bed. He laughed when he saw the time. Fuck. It’s early. What’s more, he couldn’t really sleep. Not after that news. He went back downstairs to his den and sat down in front of his laptop. He busied himself with work. She’d be back soon enough. It was only a matter of time
ARIA GOT UP EARLY THE next morning, so she could start her morning off better than the day before. She had the resumes in a briefcase and their notes all attached. She called for Ralph to come pick her up and she didn’t even bother to have any breakfast. When Ralph picked her up, her stomach growled proving that point.
“Will you please first stop at Starbucks?” she asked.
“Of course.” He pulled away from the curb of the hotel and sat back in her seat. She was determined to make the best of a sticky situation. Talking to Devon the night before left a stale taste in her mouth. She wanted him to be supportive of her dreams, but she didn’t want him to act nonchalant about the fact that she had to stay three months. That wasn’t a sign of a guy that loved her.
Ralph turned into the parking lot of a coffee shop. “Do you want anything?” she asked him.
“No, thank you,” he said. She jumped out of the car without waiting for him to open the door for her. She hurried in to the busy coffee shop and was fifth in line. She kept checking he time, wanting to make sure she wouldn’t be late. The line moved quickly and when she got to the front, she ordered a mocha and a bagel.
She dug the money out of her purse and handed it to the barista when he passed her the two items. “Thank you,” she said. “Keep the change.” She hurried out of the coffee shop and went over to Ralph’s vehicle. He had gotten out of the car and was holding the door open for her. “Thank you, Ralph.”
He nodded, and she got into the car. She drank her coffee and ate her bagel on the way to the studio. She was just finishing up her bagel when he pulled into the studio parking lot. She grabbed her briefcase and put it under her arm as he opened the door for her. “Have a good day, Aria,” he said.
When I Dream of You: A Valentine's Day Romance Page 20