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Did he want an answer to that? She looked up at him and he winked at her. Her breath caught and she swallowed, hard. She felt a little lightheaded.
„Piece of cake,“ he said, seeming not to notice the effect he had on her. „A pumpkin-and-ground-oatmeal bundt cake with rum-plumped raisins and a spiced-sugar glaze made from scratch, maybe. But cake nonetheless. And there’s so much to think about.“ He threw his arms wide. „Clothes. Hair. Makeup. We need to call that stylist in Bellevue right away, the one from the newspaper article. He probably has a waiting list. What about joining a gym? All this walking is fine but a little upper body workout wouldn’t hurt. Oh! Let’s take that trip to Victoria like we always wanted. And what about revamping the apartment, too, while we’re at it? It’s yours now, so you might as well claim it. And shoes… for both of us. We should make a list of the hot spots in town, see where people go to meet people. There’ll be plenty of dating tips in those magazines. We’ll ask around a little and…“
Charlotte listened as he mapped out a new life for her. She’d never known anyone like Mel before, no one whose sole purpose for existence was… her. Her life, her fulfillment, her dreams. She’d never been the epicenter of anyone’s universe before, the full focus of their energies. It was heady. Pleasing in a completely selfish way that she could easily get used to.
Mel saw her potential. He knew, as she had often wished, that there was so much more to her than a mind that was good with numbers and an overdeveloped sense of responsibility and duty. Her body and soul were starving for attention, and Mel pla
She pla
Six
Days slipped by and while the April weather remained wet, naturally, it also grew warm enough to shed her long, black wool coat for her old, tan trench coat.
„Halloween is six months off, Charlotte.“ Mel’s expression was bland, his tone dry, and when she frowned in confusion, he held his hands out toward her coat and added, „This is your best impersonation of Detective Columbo, isn’t it?“
„This happens to be a perfectly respectable Worthing-ton raincoat. These kinds of overcoats never go out of style.“
„Says who? And even if they didn’t, they still lose buttons and get worn until they look threadbare and ratty. Much like this one.“ The phone rang. „Give it to me. I’ll throw it in the trash.“
„No,“ she said, backing up toward the phone, clutching the front of her coat. „Not until I have something to replace it with, and then it’s going to someone who could use a perfectly good six-year-old coat. Along with everything else I own. Don’t you like anything I have? Hello?“
„Charlotte Gibson? This is Axel Burton. I hope I’m not disturbing you.“ The baritone voice in her ear caused a slight hitch in her breathing. The deep, dark, purely masculine tones shivered along her nerve endings, as if she’d been touched. „Hello?“
„Yes. I’m sorry. What?“
Mel’s thoughts were still in her closet. „I like that old, really soft fla
She tapped her closed lips with her index finger, listening intently.
„Is this Charlotte Gibson?“ The man put a heavy inflection on the Char part of her name; it made her heart flutter.
„Yes. I was… distracted. I’m sorry. What did you say your name was?“
„Axel Burton. I’m calling from Chicago but I’m pla
„Henry? Oh.“ Memory kicked in and her stomach sank to the floor. „Right. You’re his wife’s sister’s cousin’s nephew or something. I remember. Henry seemed very fond of you.“
He gave a soft laugh that made her want to weep with regret. It just wasn’t fair that the voice belonged to the very nice, quiet, single, young, unemployed, miserable, boring loser Henry told her about. Money isn’t everything? To a CFO? Get real.
And come to think of it, Axel?
„Actually, my mother’s sister divorced Henry’s wife’s brother. But before they did, Henry and I got to know each other pretty well. At the family reunions. On vacation. Things like that. Henry’s a good man.“
„Yes, he is. And because he thinks so highly of you, I’d be happy to recommend you to the clients I’m dropping from my practice. I don’t know if Henry explained the situation to you or not, but my – “
„Yes. He did.“ He spoke quickly to spare her the pain of explaining. „I’m sorry about your father.“
„Thank you. So you know that these companies are in transition, or permanently fixed in the 13 percent of all businesses that have between twenty and one hundred employees and no longer qualify as a small business?“ She winced. She was talking like… like an accountant.
„Yes, but I was hoping you might agree to meet with me next week to discuss all this. Friday evening maybe, for drinks or di
Oh, sure. Like she couldn’t smell a blind date buried under a business meeting from a mile away.
„I’m sorry. I have plans for next Friday. In fact, the next few weeks are going to be crazy busy for me, and I know you’re going to want to find a job fairly soon, so why don’t you give me an email address or a fax or even a street address and I’ll send you an overview and declaration of each company. You can take a few days to look them over and let me know which ones you’re interested in. Then I’ll write you a letter of introduction. How does that sound?“
„Like a lot of extra work for you, I’m sorry to say.“
„Not at all. It’s all right there on my computer. It’s no problem at all.“
„All right.“ He agreed and gave her his email address. „Maybe once we both get settled we can have that drink together anyway. Henry says, and I quote, that you’re ‘a pearl the oyster divers have somehow overlooked.’“
She rolled her eyes, Oh brother, then made a soft snorting noise in lieu of a laugh and brushed him off. „He has to say that. I do his taxes.“
Politely, he didn’t push the point and said good-bye.
She set the phone in its cradle and looked up to find Mel staring at her.
„What?“
„You’re not even going to give him a chance?“
„Oh, please. There’s a stigma to blind dating for a reason, you know. And it’s not just because they’re set up so you go into them blind.“ She picked up her briefcase, walked to the door, opened it and then waited for him. „It’s because once you get there, your date makes you wish you were blind. Or even worse, your poor date is blind, and you dressed up for nothing. Trust me,“ she said, following him through the door and down the stairs to the foyer. „I’ve been on enough blind dates to know they never work. No more blind dates for me. I want to meet someone on my own. I want our gazes to lock across a crowded room. I want our souls to mate before we even speak. I want… magic. Love at first sight.“ Watching him shrug into an expensive looking brown leather bomber jacket, she let loose a tiny, wistful sigh. „Why didn’t I conjure up a fairy godmother with a wand or a genie with a bottle full of wishes instead of a playmate with a fashion fetish?“
„Perhaps because, in your infinite wisdom, you knew it would be more fun to make your own magic.“ She gave him a look as he passed through the open door to the street. „Wait and see, my pet. When you do fall in love, you’ll be glad there isn’t any other magic around but your own.“
A few weeks after that, when Mel proposed burning both of her coats in celebration of sweater weather, they made their first massive trip to the Goodwill.