She’s the best, isn’t she? “Perfect. I’ll pick you up around six this evening?”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“I hope the meeting goes well.”
“It won’t, but at least we’ll be together soon.”
With that, she rings off, and I lie back down, worry clouding over the warmth of the last bit of our conversation. If this is how badly the next five weeks are going to be, she and I will have to work extra hard to make this work. I am most definitely going to have to pull off a magical evening that will remind her exactly why we’re so perfect together.
Getting up, I throw on a T-shirt and make my way down the hall to the washroom, only to find Dwight standing in the shower, wearing shorts, a T-shirt, water shoes, and a snorkeling mask. He’s holding a toothbrush in one hand and a small glass container filled with what I know is bleach in the other. I watch him for a moment while he dips the toothbrush into the liquid, then begins to vigorously scrub the grout between the gleaming white tiles.
“A little early morning cleaning?” I ask him.
He turns to me, his eyes bulging out from behind the lens of his rubber mask. “You take rather long showers, so I’m concerned about mildew forming on the grout. Prevention is key to maintaining a clean home.”
“Want me to take a turn?”
He wrinkles up his nose and shakes his head. “Thank you, but I have a system.”
Of course he does. He told me the same thing when I offered to load the dishwasher. “Okay, but if you think of something I can do to help around here, please let me know.”
“My new favourite client doesn’t have to help out at all,” he says, dipping the toothbrush and getting back to work.
“Favourite? I take it the ratings were decent last night?”
Grinning over his shoulder, he says, “Better than decent. You knockedNewlyweds in the Wildright off their pedestal. ABN hasn’t had ratings that good… well, ever, now that I think of it.”
A slow smile spreads across my face.
“This is it, William. Your ship has come in, my friend. You are going to be huge—bigger than huge. And I never say that to any of my clients.”
“You told me that the first day we met.”
“Oh, did I?” he asks. “I was just blowing sunshine up your arse, but this time I actually mean it.” He gets distracted by an invisible mould spore and repeatedly scrubs the same spot. “In about twelve minutes, you’re going to get a call from Kenneth Abernathy, the CEO of Abernathy & Co. Mountaineering Equipment. They’re looking for a spokesman for an all-new line of carabiner clips they’re launching.”
“Are you serious?” I ask, my heart rate picking up.
“I would never kid about anything like this. He wants you to fly to London to have dinner with his team tonight.”
“Tonight?” My stomach drops. “Is there any way we can put it off by a day? I promised I’d take Arabella out for a much-needed escape from reality.”
Dwight slowly turns to me. “Will, the CEO of Abernathy & Co. Mountaineering Equipment wants to meet you, and you want me to tell him that you have a date?”
“Obviously not. We could come up with some other reason, couldn’t we?”
“No, we can’t. I’m sure Princess Arabella will understand, and if she doesn’t, you have bigger issues to deal with than some hurt feelings about last night’s show.”
“Obviously she’ll understand,” I say, feeling slightly defensive. “It’s just that at this very moment, she’s being raked over the coals by the royal advisors and I promised I’d make it up to her.”
Dwight pauses for a moment and stares up at the ceiling. “How about this? You make the most of this unbelievably rare opportunity that’s being offered to you so that you can become fabulously rich. Then she won’t have to worry about what anyone thinks anymore because you’ll be able to buy your very own palace and spend the rest of your lives playing by your own rules.”
I stare at him for a long moment, considering his words. “When you put it that way…”
12
Know-it-all Mannies and Very Disappointed Lady Bits…
Arabella
