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With those words, that she wasn’t quite sure what they meant, he turned and walked away.
She spent most of the rest of the night smiling. It helped that she moved about, finding a seat at a table in the corner where she could look out over most of the room and caught lots of glimpses of Franklin. Him laughing and mingling, him working with what she assumed was the event coordinator behind the scenes as he directed different things. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but she could see his hands move, see him point, see him smile and nod.
Funny how much she enjoyed just watching.
Then, an hour after the silent auction closed, a woman that Eleanor assumed was Maisie called for everyone’s attention from the low stage at the front of the room.
By that time, Noah and Sunday had joined her at the table, and they each had a glass of punch in front of them as well as some hors d’oeuvres from the side table.
“Can I have your attention please?” Maisie said, sounding confident and totally at ease standing in front of such a huge crowd of people and talking.
Of course she sounded confident; she’d done this before with Franklin, and that was part of the reason he continued to have her. She did a good job. She was good at what she did.
Eleanor hoped it wasn’t jealousy that ran through her.
She was good at what she did too. Grooming animals, mostly dogs. This certainly wasn’t anything that she was good at. She’d felt uncomfortable most of the evening and had had to push that feeling aside. She did enjoy herself, sure, but she had been thankful more than once that she hadn’t actually had to do anything. She wouldn’t have had the first idea of how to handle all the things that Maisie had been doing all evening.
Maisie had been as busy as Franklin, and Eleanor would be remiss if she didn’t give Maisie credit for being busy the entire evening.
“Congratulations, Franklin, on another successful charity event. Let’s give him a round of applause.”
The entire room erupted in clapping. Including Eleanor and Sunday and Noah. Noah especially looked proud of his friend and business partner.
“I have the results of the silent auction, and everyone who won will be sent a text message shortly. Everything is automated this year, which made things a lot quicker and easier.” There was laughter that rippled through the crowd.
“I’ll put the winners up on the screen so everyone can see, and I’ll put the winning bids up as well. So you can see how far you fell short.” More laughter.
“And now, since we have some extra time, I have a little personal thing I want to do.” She took a breath, and for the first time, Eleanor wondered if maybe she was nervous and just really good at hiding it. “For years, Franklin and I have been doing this together. Actually, Franklin and I have been doing a lot of things together. We’ve gone to different business functions together, holiday parties, and this is the crowning moment every year. It’s been a joy to have him by my side, and...” She smiled and turned to Franklin, the hand that wasn’t holding her microphone reaching out and clasping his.
Franklin’s expression could only be described as shocked as her fingers touched his and their hands clasped. Up until that point, he’d been smiling and laughing with everyone else, enjoying Maisie doing what she was obviously very good at.
“I’ve been thinking for a while that I want us to be more. How about it, Franklin? Do you want to make our successful business collaboration a more personal and successful collaboration? I’d like to be exclusive.”
Somehow her voice dropped on that last sentence, and she made it sound almost sexy.
Eleanor’s eyes blinked. Her heart fluttered. She hadn’t been expecting this. Not at all. And after the way Franklin had talked to her, asking her out again, making her feel like he actually wanted to be with her, she’d allowed herself to think that maybe the little bit that she was falling for him was okay.
Lord, I thought You threw us together for a reason. I thought I was walking in the exact spot You wanted me to be. I thought... I thought my feelings were actually right for once.
She wanted Franklin to renounce everything that Maisie had said or at least to let her down. She didn’t want Maisie to be embarrassed. She didn’t want Franklin to do the verbal equivalent of a body slam on the carpet. But she did want Franklin to be very clear that he wasn’t interested in Maisie. Not like that. Only in a business sense.
But Franklin didn’t say anything.
The crowd erupted in cheers as the smile on Maisie’s face grew large, and she tugged on his hand.
Maybe she caught him off balance, that’s what Eleanor wanted to think, because he took a step forward, although it wasn’t very graceful.
She finished closing the distance between them, threw her arms around his neck, and...
Eleanor looked away. It was like a car accident, only she couldn’t watch. She didn’t want to see how it ended. She didn’t want that image to be seared into her mind; she didn’t want to feel worse than what she already did.
Would it be terrible for her to leave now?
She wanted to go. She just wanted to go and hide in her hotel room, crawl under the covers, cry into her pillow. This felt worse than it had felt earlier, because she thought Franklin had given her hope.
The orchestra struck up a romantic song, and the dance floor was flooded with bodies. People stood from their tables, and Eleanor no longer had to worry about averting her eyes because she couldn’t see anything.
“Do you think we could go? I... I’m so tired,” Sunday said, and Eleanor wanted to reach over the table and hug her.
