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“Still too full for dessert?” David asks slowly. “I get it.”
I’m not thinking about ice cream though. David’s comment sparked a memory in my mind, and I just realized that I saved the wrong version of the presentation I’m making first thing in the morning.
My pitch is tomorrow. What I’ve been preparing for. It’s what Dynasty’s entire social media marketing strategy is going to hinge on—if it goes right—and now I’m worried that I’ll end up floundering in front of the entire team, trying to recall things that should be in the pitch but aren’t.
I need to go and fix it. Right now. I can’t leave it to chance. Not something this important.
“Sophie, are you okay?”
I actually jump at the touch of David’s hand on my elbow. “I’m sorry!” I say. “I’m not ignoring you. I just have this work thing. I just remembered about it. It’s incredibly urgent.”
David laughs. “You know, you could always just say that you don’t want any ice cream.”
“I swear I’m not making excuses,” I tell him, already angling my body in the direction it wants to go—to the nearest train stop that will get me to the Dynasty offices. I really, really need to go. “I had a really… nice time. I did. It’s just that I need to correct something before tomorrow. It has to happen.”
His shoulders slump, and I know I’ve disappointed him. “That’s okay. We can always get ice cream for our next date—dessert first, so we don’t miss out on the good stuff.”
“Okay,” I say quickly, more to get going on my way to work than actually wanting to go on a second date with David. I feel terrible to admit it to myself, but there it is. He’s just not the one for me.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he says, leaning in. Before I can really register what’s happening—I’m already visualizing the quickest path through the office to the conference room where the presentation will take place tomorrow—David’s lips are brushing against mine.
A kiss.
It’s small and short and sweet and… dammit. It doesn’t sear like Declan. It’s nowhere near what I prefer. If anything, it makes me ache for something I can’t have.
“Want to share a cab?” David asks, lips still close to mine. “We’re headed in the same direction.”
“I’m just going to run for the train, actually,” I tell him, scooting away as quickly as I can without actually running. “Bye!”
I just barely make the train, turning sideways to sidle in the closing doors, and plop down in the seat to breathe. I’m so fixated on the presentation that it’s hard to think about what just happened with David. That I very nearly literally ran away from him in order to perfect something that Declan is going to see tomorrow.
Will this happen with other men if I decided to keep trying out the dating pool? Will I never be able to get over what could’ve been with Declan?
As I leave the train and climb the stairs to get to the street level, I can’t help but consider what David said in jest at dinner. That he didn’t date customers, so maybe he should quit—or I should get a new coffee shop. It was a joke, but there was some truth in it. Truth that David has no way of understanding.
If I really think there’s something there with Declan—something meaningful and life-changing—should I back out of Dynasty?
The night air is cool on my face as I walk toward the building, and it has the same effect as a bucket of cold water dumped over my head.
Just because this date tonight wasn’t everything I hoped for, that doesn’t mean I should throw my career away for someone who doesn’t care at all about me.
It’s loneliness talking. Longing. The span of time that has unspooled since the last time I…
Shit.
The door is locked.
I peer inside to see if I can pinpoint a security guard in the lobby, but there’s no one there.
This is a problem I didn’t think I’d have.
New York is supposed to be the city that never sleeps. Clearly someone is sleeping at Dynasty—the person who’s supposed to be here and let me in to fix my presentation.
I take a lap around the building, trying various alternative entrances, but I’m locked out completely. No one appears in the lobby.
The presentation isn’t going to get fixed. I’m going to have to worry about this all night. I probably won’t even be able to sleep, and I’ll come in tomorrow haggard and panicked and screw everything up.
This is too big. Too important.
