“Hey,” she said on a breath.
“Hi,” I muttered.
Ignoring her, I grabbed my laptop and headphones, busying myself with listening to some of the music repped by SoulTime Records, the label I was meeting with later.
“Ooh, I like that song.” She reached across the center armrest and pointed at my screen. Her arm was covered in bangles and a large Darth Vader tattoo. My type. Usually.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked, my eyebrow raised.
“Yeah. That song, ‘Loving Like a Hero,’ is the bomb.”
“Say it ain’t so?” I said, my voice condescending and gruff.
She crinkled her nose up at my rebuff. When did I become a dick?
“Yeah.” This time her response was muted, and I decided to never take seat 2D again.
Nothing good ever came of it.
My meetings were a blur of wooing, fancy food and beverages, and music. These SoulTime dudes meant business; they had a full roster of clients and they wanted to get maximum exposure. They’d gotten my name from a guy on a few movies back—that one had made the chick from reality TV famous, and I’d put her song in the credits.
Finally, back in my hotel room on Wednesday afternoon after twenty-four hours of being pursued, I sat down at the small desk, kicked off my Chucks, and opened up my e-mail. I’d purposely avoided checking it while in meetings. Mostly out of fear that Charli would cancel.
I had a few messages from the studio about filming updates and when they would be sending some footage, and there was the one I was both fearing and wishing for.
FROM:[emailprotected]
TO:[emailprotected]
SUBJECT: Re: Dinner
Hi, Layton –
Hope you are having fun here. I have a staff meeting until six, and then I’m free. How about Chowww? It’s close to where you said you were staying, and I can easily grab a cab up that way. I probably can’t get there until about seven. See you then.
—Charli
That was all she wrote, and I started to climb the walls trying to decipher what that meant. Curious, I googled Chowww and found it was a sushi restaurant.Shit. But I’d gone and suggested that.
It was hip.Shit again. All I had was T-shirts and jeans, and of course my Chucks.
But she hadn’t said no. That was a start. She’d agreed to a second dinner with me.
Pacing my hotel room, I found myself absently reaching for Harriette’s leash. Where was the damn dog when I needed her? And when had walking become a source of tension relief for me?
Where was the freaking minibar?
Oh, fuck it.
I grabbed my earbuds and phone from the desk, shoved them in my pocket, and stomped toward the elevators. Outside the hotel, I stuck in my earbuds and hit the pavement.
With a bundle of nervous energy in my gut like a high school girl on prom night, I crossed to Central Park and merged with a group of runners, joggers, power walkers, and narrowly avoiding a bicyclist.
People passed me on the left and the right, and I quickly was lost in the pack of pedestrians sweating it out in the park, but I kept walking. I passed an iconic rock, the reservoir, and the dormant ice skating rink. It was closer to summer than spring and the park was in full bloom, kids and New Yorkers getting their fitness on and roaming every nook and cranny of the park, dressed to impress in their brightly colored workout gear.
I stuck out like a sore thumb in my Converse sneakers, loose jeans, tee, and hoodie, but I kept going. Soon, I was in the Upper East and then Harlem. I went until the bend in the road and headed back toward where I came from. As I passed the Upper West, Central Park South came into view. As dusk fell on the city, I could see the rooftop of my hotel peeking out above the trees.
Drenched in sweat, I looked at my phone.Fuck, I had forty-five minutes to get to Chowww. I ran across the street to my hotel and headed toward the elevators before changing course to catch the attention of the bellman.
“Excuse me, but how far is the big loop of the park? All the way around?”
“Six,” he barked.
“Six what?”
“Miles,” he said curtly, frowning at me like I was the weird one.
Hmmm. Six miles, and I’d successfully avoided the minibar.
As I stepped onto the elevator, I fist-bumped the air. Harriette was in trouble when I got back home.
