by Nicki Night
“This is our mom you’re talking about. Ms. Elnora Chandler. Have you met her?” Chloe’s sarcasm made Jewel laugh. “The whole thought of that gives me heartburn.” Chloe thumped her chest with her fist.
“It doesn’t have to be today but it needs to happen soon. Most men wouldn’t be willing to wait too long. I imagine it’s a bit of a blow to his ego as well.”
Chloe had never thought about that. For weeks, Chloe and Donovan had been spending time together as if they were in a serious relationship. Last night definitely took things to another level. However, they never actually talked about putting a label on what they were doing.
“I’ll call you back.” Chloe ended the call before Jewel could respond. She had so much to think about now. She needed to have a serious talk with Donovan. They would have that talk tonight over dinner.
When Chloe reached Chandlers, she could tell something was up. Karen, their restaurant and catering manager, had a strained look on her face, the way it did when El was uptight. Her mother’s mood had a way of permeating the entire staff. Chloe often tried to lighten the atmosphere when her mother got like this.
Chloe marched right to her mother’s office but she wasn’t there. She headed to her own office and bumped right into her.
“You finally made it. Come to my office.” El grabbed Chloe by the hand. “There’s so much going on. We have a deal on the table and it needs to happen the right way.” El sat and searched through papers on her desk. “Where are those ladies you were working with? Maybe we need to call a meeting with them.” She lifted her head toward her open office door. “Karen, I need you. Get me the number to MarComm, right away.”
Chloe looked at her mother confused. She hadn’t been able to get a word in yet.
“Mom,” Chloe called her name.
“There’s a meeting today. Last minute, but we need to be prepared.” El found the paper she was searching for and reached for her desk phone but stopped midway. She put the paper in front of Chloe.
“Mom.”
“Take a look at this. If we don’t have time to talk to MarComm before we leave, we need to figure out what to present.”
“Mom!” Chloe shouted. “What’s this all about?”
El’s head snapped up. She looked at Chloe as if she’d seen her for the first time. She put her hand to her forehead. “Oh dear! I’m frantic.”
“Yes, you are. What’s going on?”
El looked at her watch. “Jacqueline Bosley wants to do an event here.” El jabbed a finger on her mahogany desk. “Here! Can you believe that? She has a foundation and wants to host their annual benefit here. At Chandlers. She asked for a meeting. We need to be in her office at noon.”
Chloe understood. Chandlers had done well and hosted many events for the prominent people across Long Island, including local celebrities. Some of them were friends of the Chandlers, but having an A-list actress like Jacqueline Bosley do an event at their venue would take their business to a new dimension. The exposure would be life changing.
El didn’t come undone about much but she was clearly elated about the opportunity. It wasn’t often that the consumer goods industry crossed paths with Hollywood in this way.
“Okay. I’ll grab the materials on our different packages. We can go over what we’d like to offer before we get there. I’ll be back.” Chloe headed to her office, happy that she had a reason to put this situation with Donovan on the back burner for a while. She loved having new projects that she could delve into.
For the next hour, El and Chloe deliberated over what to offer Jacqueline Bosley and came up with a package they were both pleased with. They agreed to go all out with what they would propose, believing that only the best would do for the likes of Jacqueline. Details made the difference in situations like this.
The two arrived at the office of The Jacqueline Bosley Foundation a few minutes early. The office was located in a storefront on a main strip in The Hamptons. It shared the block with galleries, swank eateries, coffee bars and upscale clothing boutiques. A young receptionist with large brown eyes ushered them to the rear of the rectangular-shaped space into a conference room and promised that Jacqueline would be with them shortly. Pictures of Jacqueline with dignitaries, politicians and other actors adorned the wall alongside images of her with children surrounding her in different theatrical settings.
From what Chloe had researched, Jacqueline’s foundation funded organizations that served underserved youth through the arts. Jacqueline had come from troubled meager beginnings and credited a local theater arts program for turning her life around and setting her on the path to success. She was committed to making a similar impact in the lives of young people who saw theater arts as a way out. The foundation was fairly new and this gala would be the second of its kind. The first was held in New York City and was well attended by Hollywood actors supporting the cause.
Jacqueline stepped in the room and for a moment Chloe paused. Never one to be starstruck, Chloe was still captured by Jacqueline’s raw beauty and kind eyes. Shapely and svelte, Jacqueline had thick brown hair that flowed endlessly. She moved like liquid in a way that was almost mesmerizing.
“Thank you for coming. I’m Jacqueline.” She stretched out her hand. “This is Marie Blakely. She is the executive director of my foundation and handles things in my absence. However, for this particular event, I will speak directly with you. This gala is my pride and joy. It’s my pleasure to take this on—especially now that I have some downtime.”
El stood, straightening to her fully refined self. With her head lifted high and a welcoming but tight smile, she shook Jacqueline’s and Marie’s hands in turn. “Pleasure to meet you. This is a lovely office you have here.”
“Yes.” Chloe shook Jacqueline’s hand. “We’re excited to show you what we have to offer.”
“Wonderful and please call me Jackie.” She sauntered over to the head of the table. “We’re just waiting on a few others.” Jacqueline sat as languidly as she walked. “I did some investigating this past month and identified several locations that I wanted to consider for my gala. Your place, which by the way has the most delicious food—” Jacqueline smiled “—is one of my top three choices. You’re a little early but the other two should be here shortly.”
El smiled but Chloe knew she wasn’t happy about what she’d just heard. The fact that El hadn’t mentioned competition meant she wasn’t aware of it. That bit of information would have affected their preparation for this meeting. Chloe wondered who the other companies were.
The receptionist walked in with the owners of the second place, The Crest, a beautiful place near the water as well. They greeted each other cordially and shook hands. Jacqueline gestured for them to sit on the opposite side of the conference table and they all engaged in small talk.
Several minutes later, they heard the receptionist approach with several footsteps accompanying her. A familiar voice lifted into the air and El froze. Jacqueline stood as the door opened.
“Ah, yes. It looks like we’re ready to start. Please have a seat.” She gestured for the two who just entered to sit at the other end of the table.
Greetings didn’t flow as cordially as it had when the second owners arrived. In fact, they almost didn’t flow at all when El stood and faced Joliet Rivers with Donovan at her side. Chloe swallowed hard and tried to maintain a professional demeanor.
“Elnora Chandler,” Joliet said with surprise.
“Joliet Rivers,” El said with slight disdain.
Donovan stepped toward Chloe and shook her hand. “Chloe.” He nodded his greeting. A jolt of energy surged through her hands.
“Donovan.” She barely recognized her own voice. Chloe pulled her hand from his but his eyes remained on her long after greetings made their way around the room and the meeting officially began.
Chloe wanted to di
sappear.
Chapter 16
Joliet paced for the better part of the day. El’s presence at the meeting had obviously perturbed her. Since their return to the office, she’d been off kilter.
Donovan walked into her office to catch her staring toward the window. Beyond the pane was a lush golf course but he was certain that Joliet wasn’t taking it in.
“Mom,” he called softly and took a seat in the chair across from her desk.
“Yes...yes, dear?” He’d drawn her in from some faraway place.
“Want to tell me what the deal is between our family and the Chandlers?”
Joliet nervously pushed documents around her desk. “That’s not important, dear. Getting that contract...” She pointed at him. “That’s important. Have you taken a look at any numbers based on our conversation? We have a week to present our package and I want to make sure that nothing is overlooked.”
Donovan sighed. “Once you’ve determined everything you want in the package, I can work out the numbers.”
“Great! This will be excellent exposure for La Belle Riviere. We have to get this.” Joliet picked up the phone and called the catering manager. “Harry? Hi. Any progress on that menu? It has to be impressive...Okay...Wonderful...Let me know as soon as it comes in.” Joliet put the phone down and sat back. Her red lips pressed together and her brow furrowed the way they often did when she was deep in thought.
Donovan stood. “Let me know when you get the information from Harry. We should probably call a meeting for Wednesday maybe. All departments should be able to have their parts worked out by then and we can finalize our numbers by Thursday. That will be more than enough time to lay out something impressive for Jacqueline.”
“Sounds good, dear.” Joliet was dismissive, which was weird since normally she and Donovan often had great camaraderie.
Donovan headed back to his office. He tried Chloe’s number again. There was still no answer. She hadn’t picked up her phone or responded to her texts since their meeting earlier. He could tell by her expression at the meeting that she and her mother were as shocked as they were. The timing couldn’t have been worse but with the way he felt about Chloe, he didn’t plan to give up.
After work, he drove by Chloe’s to see if her car was there. He dialed her number after spotting her car in the driveway.
“Can I come in?” he asked when she picked up.
Chloe paused for a moment before saying yes.
Chloe opened the door and Donovan kissed her as he usually did. Without saying much, Chloe headed for the kitchen. He followed behind her. The atmosphere had shifted dramatically since he’d been there earlier that morning. Neither of them could have anticipated the day they’d had. Donovan was sure El was acting just as strangely as Joliet had.
“What a day,” Chloe said, opening a pan releasing a fragrant aroma.
“Yeah.” Donovan sat on one of the stools at the island.
“Jacqueline was really pouring it on today.” Donovan sensed a twinge of jealousy from Chloe and he liked it.
“What? Pfft?” Donovan waved dismissively.
Chloe stopped flipping the fish in the pan. “Don’t act like you didn’t recognize Jacqueline flirting with you. Everyone at the table could see it even if we were all legally blind.”
“It wasn’t that obvious,” Donovan said with a mischievous grin.
“Oh, come on. She kept staring at you as if she were about to take a bite in front of everyone. I saw her batting those lashes at you. And when we were leaving, she practically stripped you with those bedroom eyes. ‘It was such a pleasure to meet you, Donovan.’” Chloe swayed, mocking Jacqueline with exaggerated flair. She batted her eyes excessively and laughed. “I thought she was going to jump your bones before we left there.”
“Hey! Can you blame her?” Donovan straightened, tugged on his collar confidently and winked.
“Whatever, hotshot.” Chloe gave him a sideways glance. “Just don’t try to use that to your advantage to get this deal. I need to win this contract fair and square.”
Donovan shielded his body with his arms as if he were ashamed. “I feel like a piece of meat,” he whined jokingly. Donovan laughed with Chloe and shook his head. “How’s your mother doing?” he asked, happy to change the subject.
Chloe groaned. “She’s been on a rampage. I had to call my father to get her to calm down a little. She feels like she’d been blindsided. I told her there was no way that Jacqueline Bosley could have known about her and your mother’s strained relationship. What about your mom?”
“Nuts.” Donovan popped a piece of carrot that Chloe had been cutting for the salad into his mouth. “It makes me wonder what happened between them.”
“My mother refuses to tell us.” Chloe scooped the remaining carrots into a dish and proceeded to cut other vegetables.
“Mine, too.”
Chloe shook her head. “Hungry?” she asked without lifting her head.
“Smells amazing. I couldn’t say no if I wanted to.”
Chloe added strawberries and pecans to the salad and began plating it. She laid thick pieces of salmon next to the salad and poured two glasses of tea. For moments they ate in silence.
“Have you thought about what I said this morning?”
“I thought about it all day,” Chloe said, scooping a forkful of salad. “Especially after this afternoon’s fiasco.”
“Well?”
Chloe sat back. “I don’t know what to do. Mentioning this to my mother right now wouldn’t turn out well.”
“I understand. We can wait until after next week’s meeting with the foundation. Once that is out of the way, things should settle a bit.” Donovan sipped his tea and wiped his mouth with a cloth napkin. For a moment, he stared at Chloe as she ate.
Somewhere along the line, she’d opened him up to the possibility of serious dating once again. When they saw one another in Puerto Rico, he thought it was a good opportunity to indulge the curiosity he’d had about her since their high-school days. He assumed the most that would happen was that they might have a rendezvous like Jewel and his brother.
What Donovan hadn’t expected was to admire her so much. He couldn’t have predicted that being with her would feel like just the right fit in so many ways.
At this point, he wasn’t interested in playing games with her or their families. The past few weeks showed him that he wanted to be with her and it didn’t matter who had an issue with that. Yet he understood her position and didn’t mind giving it another week. After that, he wanted to claim his girl and didn’t care what anyone had to say about it.
Donovan wouldn’t push this issue tonight. In fact, he wanted things between them to feel normal again. They’d made significant strides in recent weeks—especially last night. He wanted to get back to that euphoric place they had arrived at this morning before El came knocking on Chloe’s door.
“Delicious!” Donovan sat back, feeling sated. “I have a nice after-dinner wine in my car. Let me run and get it.”
“Sounds good.” Chloe answered him shortly.
Donovan was about to change her attitude. He grabbed the prized bottle of wine from his trunk and returned quickly. Knowing where she kept things by now, he pulled an opener from the drawer and grabbed two glasses, pouring a little wine in each.
“Taste it.” He held one up to her. “Tell me what you think.”
Chloe put her fork down and took the glass. She swirled it, sniffed it and put it to her lips. Letting it roll around her tongue, she looked at Donovan smiling approvingly as she swallowed.
“Exquisite. It reminds me of an ice wine I once had in Canada.”
“Great palate. That’s exactly what it is. One of my favorites.” Donovan poured more in each glass. “I think it would go well with a good, fair game of chess.�
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“Fair!” Chloe narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you trying to say our other games weren’t fair?”
Donovan didn’t say anything with words, but said all he needed with his lifted brow and skeptical sneer.
Chloe slid off her stool, scraped her plate clean in the garbage and set it in the sink. She turned to Donovan and clapped her hands. “I think it’s time to beat that denial out of you. Shall we?” Chloe waved her hand toward the den.
“Ladies first.” Donovan swept his arm before her, stepped back and made room for her to pass.
“Humph! I can’t believe you think I cheated. It kills me that men can never believe when they’ve been crushed honestly. I’ll just have to beat you until you know for certain that I am simply the master.”
Donovan smiled at all her trash talking, happy to have shifted her mood. “That’s if you win tonight.”
“Oh, I’ll win all right! Bring that great-tasting wine in here. You’ll need it to soothe the pain of defeat.”
Two games later and Chloe was still the undefeated champion. Donovan shook his head, awed by her skills.
“Are you a believer now, Mr. Rivers?”
“I let you win again.” He smirked.
Chloe tossed a pillow from the couch at him. “Liar!”
Donovan caught the pillow and cast it aside. “You’ll never know, now will you?”
“One last game. This should seal the cap on all that unbelief. There’s no reason you should be in denial after this next game.”
“I’m done being a gentleman. I won’t let you win this time.” Donovan set the pieces on the board.
Chloe’s mouth fell open. She scooted to the edge of the couch. “You go first, Mr. Sore Loser.”
He loved fueling her trash talk.
“It won’t matter.”
“Watch closely. Maybe you’ll learn something,” he continued to tease, still awed by how well she played.
“What? How to lose sorely? Ha!” Chloe taunted him through the entire game and once again came out victorious. “Checkmate!” she yelled, thrusting two fists in the air and standing on her feet. “Are you a believer now? Huh?” She threw her head back and released a fake evil laugh.