Chapter 19: Business Lunch

After a candlelit dinner at the finest restaurant in town, confessions of love, and a long session of passionate expression of that love, Carly and I slept in until after nine. We then continued our weekend of romance on Sunday with breakfast at Jak’s, followed by a stroll around campus. After that, we drove to Micester for a walk around the lake in The Rec before I showed my Alabama Sweetheart where I grew up—my old home, now occupied by another family, my old primary school and Micester High, as well as the small row of shops outside which a group of us used to hang out as teenagers.

Then we had a late lunch at Millie’s, staying so long after the meal that my sister could come and sit with us for a chat while her staff began the after-service clean-up.

Then we headed home and watched movies on television all afternoon and into the evening before turning in early for another romantic session.

On Monday morning, after another breakfast at Jak’s, I drove Carly to Riverbank Studios and then headed back home to start revising for that week’s exams.

I probably wouldn’t see Carly again until after my exams were over on Friday afternoon.

That made me sad.

Very sad.

I didn’t want to wait a whole week to see her again.

I decided that spending a few evenings in her arms instead of studying would be fine. I already understood the material, and the extra studying probably wouldn’t benefit me much anyway. I sent her a message saying as much.

Her reply was one of those smiley-face emojis with the hearts for eyes.

When I returned home and sat at my desk, I opened the business plan I’d been working on instead of my lecture notes. I think I had a bare-bones business plan that was acceptable enough, but I really didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I probably needed Bobby or David to look over it for me.

Or Marie. She was my Executive Assistant, after all, and surely this was something she could assist me with. I smiled at the thought of spending an hour or so sitting and working through it with her.

Then my phone rang and Marie’s face appeared on the screen.

“Hi,” I said. “I was just thinking about you.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ve been working on a business plan for the student housing business and was wondering if my Executive Assistant would mind assisting me with it.”

“Oh, I’d love to! We covered business plans on my course before Christmas, so that would be ideal.”

“Course?”

“It’s an evening course. David’s paying for it. Well, the company is. It’s part of my training.” She paused, then added tentatively, “We’re covering company formation this term too.”

I smiled even though I knew she couldn’t see me.

“Really? So, if I had a new subsidiary company or two that needed setting up...”

“I’d really like to try doing that. I mean, obviously, I’d get David to check everyth—”

“Marie,” I said, cutting off her self-deprecation. “I trust you, okay?”

Quietly, she said, “Okay.”

“So, if you need to get anything you do for me checked with David, or Bobby, or your mother—”

“My mother?” She sounded incredulous.

“With whoever you think you need to get it checked by, then I trust you to get it checked. You don’t need to tell me that’s what you’ve done. I trust you.”

She was quiet for a couple of seconds, then said, “Thank you, Paul. That means a lot.”

I nodded. Even though she still couldn’t see me.

“So, can you come over and look at this business plan for me?”

“Actually, can you come to the office? Do you have the time? David’s gone out to see a client and I’m not really supposed to leave the office without his permission.”

“Sure. You’re on High Street, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, give me half an hour. Now, you rang me, if I recall.”

“Yes, about that meeting you asked me to set up. But I’ll give you the details when you get here.”

By the time I arrived, David had returned to his office and, as a fellow director of Wintersmith, asked if he could sit in on my meeting with Marie. But he didn’t utter a word as Marie went through my business plan, pulled it apart, and told me how to put it back together.

At the end of the meeting, I asked him what he thought, and all he said was, “I agree with everything Marie just said. She absolutely nailed it.”

That earned him a big, beaming smile from his trainee.

“Paul, if you email me the original document, then I can make all these changes for you.”

“Are you sure you have the time?”

“Paul, you’re paying for her time,” David said.

“Oh, good point. In that case, how do you feel about coming with me to this meeting you’ve arranged? You know, to take notes or whatever?”

Marie had been able to set up the meeting I wanted with Harry Taylor for that lunchtime. She looked at David.

“I think that’s a good idea,” he said. “Any time the client offers to buy lunch, you should take them up on it.”

“When did I say I was paying?”

David smiled. “It’s your meeting, Paul. You requested it. Who did you think was paying for it?”