Chapter Twenty-Three
Me: He said YES!!!
Sky: Hurray!
Me: Make me a list of food items you think we should serve, and I’ll talk to Gerard.
Sky: I don’t care about the food. I say we let Gerard make whatever he wants. You know, within reason. We should have a signature drink tho. Like Sex on the Beach or a Slippery Nipple.
Me: Yuck, no. This is a classy affair. Let’s do champagne cocktails or something.
Sky: I guess, but I want a girly drink, too. We could name it whatever we want.
Me: How about The Love Affair or Happily Ever After?
Sky: Nice. Hey, Lucy said to tell you that she’s having lunch with Jonathan tomorrow and that she’s going to steal him away from you. Do you think he’s really having lunch with her?
Me: There’s only one way to find out. I’ll ask him. In the meantime, you can tell Lucy to pound sand. You might also mention that I’m not threatened by her. I could beat her in a street fight with both hands tied behind my back while wearing heels.
Sky: We both know that’s a lie. I mean, you in heels? 😂 How about I just wish her luck on your behalf?
Me: How about if you trip her?
Sky: Done. Oh, and Frederic has been hounding me to tell you to show Jonathan those houses before he fires you.
Me: Psh. Whatever. Freddie will never fire me. I make him too much money.
Sky: Whoops, my client just walked in. Talk to you later.
Instead of going into the kitchen to talk to Gerard about our party, I march back into the dining room to talk to Jonathan. It’s like I have no boundaries around the guy. Not only do I foist my party on him at an inappropriate time, but now I’m on my way to pick a fight with him.
“What now?” He sounds annoyed when he sees me.
“Who are you having lunch with tomorrow?”
“How is that any of your business?” he retaliates.
“Am I, or am I not, your love doctor?” I blush as soon as the words come out of my mouth. “I mean your realtor.”
Jonathan laughs seemingly, despite himself. He pulls out his phone to look at his calendar and says, “I’m not having lunch with anyone tomorrow.”
“Want to have lunch with me?” I ask. “But only so I can take you to this little place near my house. Who knows, maybe the love of your life is one of the many beautiful waitresses that work there.”
“Where do you live?” Justin asks.
“Off of Burton Way,” I tell him.
“Are you by any chance talking about Charmeuse?” When I nod my head, he tells Jonathan, “Get their club sandwich. It’s the best I’ve ever had.”
“I’ve got a busy day tomorrow at the studio,” Jonathan tells me. “But if you want to stop off and get a couple of those sandwiches for take-out, we can eat in my office.”
“How is that going to get you to see if one of the waitresses is the love of your life?” I want to know.
“It’s not, but it is going to get me a fabulous sandwich delivered in time for lunch.”
Jonathan could have any number of people deliver lunch for him, but I have an idea. “Maybe I’ll get a halo around the right woman if I see her,” I suggest.
“Halo?” Justin asks.
“She gets these auras around people and places. It’s part of her charm.” The rolling of his eyes underscores any unintentional compliment given.
“Cool,” Justin says before asking, “Do I have a halo?”
I squint my eyes slightly and look at the top of his head before letting my vision blur. “You have a nice yellow aura.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you’re happy. I assume that means you’re happily married and most likely in the home that will help facilitate the continuation of such a state.”
“What color is my aura?” Jonathan demands.
I turn to look at him before answering, “Ugh. Brown.”
“What does brown mean?” He sounds borderline offended, like his halo color has anything to do with me.
“It means your life is uncertain. Which makes sense if you think about it. Your love life is certainly a wild card.”
Justin laughs before telling Jonathan, “My halo is prettier than yours.” Jonathan throws a roll at him.
“I’m going to start planning our party now,” I tell them. As I scurry out of the room, I hear a muffled whisper and then laughter. Gah, Jonathan makes me crazy.
I decide to take my laptop up to the Depot room and work in Jonathan’s fort under his train set. Sky is good with leaving the menu up to Gerard, but I’d like to have him make a couple things that I love, like those mini cocktail weenies with the sauce made from ketchup and grape jam. It’s the grossest sounding combination, but it’s wickedly delicious.
Knowing that I’ve been forbidden solo entrance, I take particular pleasure venturing into Jonathan’s inner sanctum. I turn on the lights before crawling under the train table. It’s so snug and secure under here, I decide to lie down. Then I cover myself with a plush throw. Then I fall asleep.
So much for planning my party.
I have no idea how long I sleep; I just know that when I wake up there’s a string of drool running down my chin. Classy. There are also train noises indicating I’m not in this room alone.
Peeking under the table drape, I see what I suspect are Jonathan’s feet walking around. I have confirmation that it’s him when I hear him mumble, “I have got to get this ski lift fixed.” There’s a ski lift in his train setup? How did I miss that?
I quickly open my computer and see that an hour has elapsed since I came up here. Jonathan’s house appears to have quite the sedative effect on me. I wasn’t even tired, having overslept this morning and all.
I open a new document and finally do what I came up here to do. I start with a list.
Decide on the menu
Order flowers
Order champagne
Hire servers
Find a valet
I’m about to start working on the menu, when Jonathan turns off the train and asks, “Did you have a nice nap?”
“Oh, hey, yeah,” I reply at a loss as to how to explain why I’ve been sleeping in the room I’ve been forbidden entrance into. Then I ask, “How did you know I was here?” I mean there’s no way he could have heard me over the train noises unless he’s part wax moth—they have wickedly good hearing, which I know thanks to an episode of Nature that Sky made me watch.
“I came up here after lunch in hopes of taking a little siesta of my own, only to discover my favorite spot already taken.” He lifts the drape and crawls underneath.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say as I’m clearly in the wrong here.
“Why are you here?” He doesn’t come right out and mention his direct orders forbidding me to come into his playroom without him.
“I wanted to plan my party and I thought this would be the perfect place to do that. It’s like the ideal little thinking nest.”
“It is,” he tells me. “I spend a lot of time up here.”
“You’d think you’d like being at my house then. I mean, the whole place is like a snug little thinking nest.”
“You don’t have a train.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Scoot over,” Jonathan says. Holy heck, is he going to lie down next to me? My palms start to sweat as zings of excitement shoot through to my extremities.
“Are you going to take a nap?” My voice sounds breathless.
“I’m going to think.”
Hurrying to close my computer, I sit up and announce, “I’ll get out of your hair then. And again, I’m sorry I got in your way.”
“You’re not sorry you came up here?” It sounds like he’s laughing at me.
“No, but I am sorry I got caught.” The truth is, I plan on coming here a lot while I’m staying in Jonathan’s house.
“You don’t have to go,” he says quietly.
“You want me to stay?”
He doesn’t answer my question directly. “There’s enough room under here for us both to think.”
“What are you here to think about?” My voice is no louder than a whisper.
“My love life.”
Those darn zings are getting stronger. “What about your love life?” I hurry to clarify, “I’m asking as your realtor.”
“Not as my love doctor?” he chuckles. “I was thinking that maybe the person I’m meant to be with is different than I thought she’d be.”
“What did you think she’d be?”
“Easy to get along with. Now, if you don’t mind, I need you to quiet down so I can contemplate my dilemma.”
“It’s a dilemma, huh?” So much for me quieting down.
Jonathan doesn’t answer. Instead, he lies an arm’s length from me, radiating all his manly energy. While I had come up here to plan a party, I’m no longer able to do that. All of my focus is back to wondering if something is meant to happen between us. Is Jonathan Silver my soulmate? And if so, why don’t I see our energies combining?