Fall into my Heart (The Subzero Series, #1) (7 page)

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S
kylar
and Jocalyn were both impatiently waiting in my office for me when I got to
work the next morning.

“Well?”
Skylar asked.

“Well
what?” I asked modestly as I hung up my coat and tossed my purse on my desk.

Skylar
rolled her eyes. “Don’t toy with me. Was it a date or not you cheeky girl?”

“It
was definitely a date.” I said grinning from ear to ear.

“Sit
and spill.” Skylar instructed pointing to my chair.

I
sat down and they both leaned in as I told them everything from how I
embarrassingly asked Jack if it was a date to the kiss.

“Okay
so you mean to tell me Jack Riley kisses you goodnight and you wave to him?
Real smooth Chloe.” Skylar said.

“Tell
me about it. It could have been worse though. At least I didn’t fall or slobber
on him or something.” I said.

“I
can’t believe you kissed him! Is he a good kisser? Was his breath all minty? I
bet he has minty breath.” Jocalyn said.

“Great
kisser. Amazing.” I said.

“Minty?”
She asked.

I
looked at her as her phone rang. “Minty.”

Jocalyn
looked satisfied as she turned to answer it, moments later she buzzed my phone.

“Yes
Jocalyn.” I said.

“Julissa
Patton is on the phone.”

I
groaned. Fantastic, just the person I wanted to talk to first thing in the
morning. Skylar and I looked at each other, stuck out our tongues and rolled
our eyes at the same time.

“Good
morning Julissa. How are you?” I asked faking cheerfulness as best as I could.

“That
bloody bastard is dating my sister.” Julissa screamed into the phone.

I
pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it. Skylar shot me a look that
told me she was partially amused and partially pitying me.

“Oh
my gosh!” She mouthed to me.

“You
have no idea.” I mouthed back, rolling my eyes.

“Who
are you talking about?” I asked innocently.

“You
know damn well who I am talking about. Kyle “I’ll shag anything that moves” Anderson.
She is dating my ex-husband. What happened to sister loyalty?”  Julissa
screeched.

“Julissa
you guys were barely married and it was annulled.” I said matter-of-factly.

“That
is beside the point,” She huffed. “What are they going to write about me in the
papers? I need you to set me up with that guy to turn the spot light back on
me.” She whined.

“You
know I heard he has a girlfriend and besides you don’t need to date some guy to
turn this back on you.  We’ll tell them that you introduced Kyle and your
sister, which is true, and that you couldn’t be happier for them.”

“I
don’t give two bananas what you do just fix it!” She howled before slamming the
phone down.

I
looked at Skylar and shook my head. I wished there was some way I could put off
talking to the demanding diva so early in the morning. I’d just tell Jocalyn to
hold her calls until after lunch but I knew that wouldn’t deter her. She would
just keep calling and calling until she was put through to me.

“Wait
until she finds out I am gonna arrange a publicity photo of the three of them
together!” I said.

“No
wait until she finds out you’re the one seeing Jack.” Skylar pointed out.

Oh
good lord, I could already picture that phone call. I wondered if there was any
way I could trade her to another firm and she wouldn’t notice. Probably not but
it would be nice if I could.

Skylar
stood up and smooth the front of her black pants with the palms of her hands.
“Well I’ve got an actor I need to sign up to do volunteer work with an anti-drunk
driving organization.”

“Have
fun.” I called to her as she left the room.

I
was in the middle of putting together a list of tabloids I needed to call to
start spreading the word about Julissa and Kyle’s big photo op when Jonathan
popped his head into my office.

“Hey
Chloe, sorry to interrupt.” He said.

“That’s
okay come on in.” I told him.

Jonathan
walked over to my desk and put his hands on the top of one of my chairs.

“I
just wanted to remind you about the Best in Business networking luncheon
scheduled for tomorrow.” He said.

What the heck is he talking about?
I tried to think quickly. I
didn’t remember anything about this from my interview or my first day. I didn’t
recall getting a message, but I can double check with Jocalyn. Jonathan gave me
a curious look.

“Right
the Best in Business networking luncheon. I’m looking forward to it!” I tried
to sound as convincing as possible. I certainly didn’t want him to know that I
had no idea what he was talking about.

“That
is good to hear. I’m looking forward to you getting out there and meeting
people. You never know when doors might open up for you.” He said. He patted
the top of the chair twice before he turned to leave.

I
got up and poked my head around my doorway. As soon as Jonathan was out of
sight, I ran into Skylar’s office.

“What’s
this about a luncheon tomorrow?” I asked with obvious panic in my voice.

“It
was scheduled before you came. Jonathan gave a reminder at the meeting the
other day.” Skylar replied without looking up from her computer.

I
made a face. “Right, I wasn’t paying attention.”

Skylar
looked up at me a smiled. “Yeah I noticed.”

“So
do we come here first or do we go straight there?” I asked.

“Come
in normal time. We’ll all leave here together right about 11:00. Jonathan
usually lets us leave for the day right afterwards. I hope he does anyway so I
can hit the shops before we go out. Are you still going to Barnaby’s?”

“Yup,
what time are you getting there?”

“Wes
and I will probably get there around 8.”

I
looked at her a raised my eyebrows.

“What?”
Skylar asked.

I
wanted to ask her if they were dating but I figured if they were, they
obviously didn’t want anyone to know. I wonder if I could get anything out of
Jocalyn. That was a silly question of course. If she knew anything at all, it
would be so easy to get it out of her. I glanced at Skylar who was giving me an
odd look.

“Oh
nothing.” I said as I turned to leave.

~*~

I
went straight to my closet as soon as I got home. I had to find two outfits.
One outfit was to wear to the luncheon, and another one to wear to Barnaby’s.

The
luncheon outfit was easy. I pulled out my black suit with pink pinstripes and a
pink dress shirt. It was my favorite suit to wear. It says I’m all business,
yet loads of fun.

Now
to figure out what I was going to wear tomorrow night. I had to dress as if I
was positive Jack was coming. I mean, if he wasn’t I honestly wouldn’t care so
much. I’d just wear any old jeans and t-shirt. Just in case he does come though
I had to make sure I didn’t look like a total hag. I started pulling out all of
the clothes in my closet, which was starting to become a weekly ritual.

Since
I was going to see a rock band in which I didn’t have an insane crush on one of
the members, I decided to go more casual. You would think that would be an easy
outfit to pick out, but you’d be wrong. I tried on every shirt and pants in my
closet. Nothing seemed to scream out “Hey this chick is so awesome!”

Two
hours later, I finally decided on a pair of tan corduroy pants, a long sleeve
white shirt, a striped pink t-shirt and brown boots. This didn’t exactly scream
out awesome chick either, but I have nothing else to try on and I was starting
to get irritated with my clothes. As I stood there twisting a gray waffle knit
shirt in my hands, I realized the reason I was so annoyed was because I was
starving. 

After
hanging up both my day and night outfits, I went into the kitchen to make
myself a toasted egg and cheese sandwich. I quickly realized that was the wrong
meal to make when I was in that “so hungry I am angry at everything” mood. The
sandwich went completely wrong. I couldn’t get the egg to flip quite right and
the cheese kind of slid off of the egg and into the pan. My toast burnt when I
put my bread in the toaster and didn’t pay attention to the setting that I
turned the knob to. I ended up with 2 pieces of coal black bread, weirdly
scrambled eggs and scorched cheese. Feeling defeated, I gave up and ate a piece
of chocolate cake instead.

~*~

I
felt so professional in my suit the next morning. I mean I knew I was a
professional, but there was something about wearing a really great suit that just
added to it. Jocalyn looked like she was going to burst out of her seat when I
walked into work.

“What’s
up Jocalyn?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“I’m
just so excited about Barnaby’s tonight! I can’t wait and you guys are gonna be
gone today, which will make the day seem even longer!” She squealed.

Jonathan
walked out of his office rubbing his temples. “Jocalyn.” He grumbled.

“I
know I know volume.” She said.

“And
pitch.” He muttered as he closed his door.

“Do
you want me to meet you at the tube station?” She asked me.

“Actually
Barnaby’s is right around the corner from me. I’m just gonna walk there.” I
said.

Jocalyn’s
mouth turned down in obvious disappointment. For a moment I felt kind of bad
and wondered if I should just walk to the subway and meet her. Then I realized
that was ridiculous as I would be walking the opposite way to Barnaby’s only to
turn around and walk all the way back.

“You
could meet me at my place.” I offered.

“Oh
my gosh really? That would be so awesome!” Jocalyn started shaking with
excitement again.

I
gave her directions to my condo and went into my office. After quickly checking
my emails, and returning a call regarding Tyler and a rogue golf cart, I made a
list of things I needed to do on Monday.

The
first thing on the list was setting up the Julissa/Kyle/sister photo opp. Maybe
this is a little mean, but I kind of feel like this a way for me to get back at
her for being.....well.....her.

I
added follow up with prospects I may find today. Next on the list was to return
any messages I may receive. I looked at my list. It looked awfully short. I
needed at longer list that way if anyone was standing in front of me and I had
the list on my desk, they might glance at it and think I must be terribly busy.
I started to add non work items on the list. I mean people were supposed to
glance at it and not read it right?

By
the time I was done my list looked something like this:

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C
hloe’s to do list for Monday

1. Set up photo for Julissa, Kyle &
sister. 
 

2. Follow up with luncheon
prospects.   

3. Return
messages 

4. Go to the grocery
store 

5. Purchase more face cleanser and
moisturizer   

6.Start thinking of things to do when Abby
comes 

7. Clean
condo. 

8. Check and send
email   

9. Start Christmas
shopping 
 

10. Call mom so she knows I am still alive.

Okay
I’ll admit, I had to struggle to come up with things to put on my list, but I
figured ten was a good number of items. I don’t appear to be overworked but at
the same time I don’t want it to look as though I need more work to do.

I
glanced at the clock and realized it was about time to go. I hid my list away
in my desk and grabbed some business cards, a pen and a notepad. Grabbing my
purse and coat, I said goodbye to Jocalyn before I headed down to meet the rest
of the group.

There
were six of us going, including me and Jonathan. After we were all in the
lobby, we walked over to Jonathan’s gigantic SUV. Veronica, who was apparently
quite the office suck up, immediately jumped into the front seat next to
Jonathan. Wes and some guy named Norman, who pretty much kept to himself,
climbed into the back, which left me and Skylar in the middle.

We
were all pretty silent during the ride to the hotel, with the exception of
Veronica who talked about herself and how amazing it is to work for Drayton
McGuire the entire time. I wanted to kick the back of her seat. At first I
wanted to just lightly kick it, but the more she rambled on and on the more I
wanted to kick it as hard as I could. I imagined ramming my feet into the back
of her seat so hard, she broke through her seat belt and flew forward nearly
hitting her head on the dashboard and everyone would start clapping out of
gratitude. I had actually started pulling my legs back to do it when we pulled
into the parking lot of the hotel.

“Thank
god!” I heard Norman mutter.

Once
we were inside and checked in, the group pretty much split up. Since the others
had done this before, they knew the majority of the people here. All of the
sudden I felt really awkward. I didn’t know a single person here and I was
beginning to feel like the wallflower at the high school dance.  Everyone
seemed to be really consumed in their conversations and I felt weird about
jumping right in to one.

I
was still standing there staring, when all of the sudden a woman with long
blonde hair, a stern pointy face and a crisp white suit came walking up to me.
“Fiona Appleby, you look lost.” She said extending her hand.

“Chloe
Carver. Not lost, just new.” I said. I was relieved to find that she seemed
nicer then she looked.

“So
which company are you here with?”

“Drayton
McGuire.”

“Oh
that’s the entertainment P.R. firm,” Fiona said with an interested look on her
face. “Are you a publicist then?”

“Yes,
I am. Who are you with?” I asked her.

“Who
do you currently represent?” She asked ignoring my question.