‘He sounds horrible,’ Angel said. She drank some of her orange juice.
‘Maybe the meeting won’t be like you think. It might be a good thing,’ Hayley suggested.
‘He’s delayed the sign-off for months now. Before too long, the project just won’t be viable and me and everyone else working on it will have wasted so much time and money.’
‘What exactly is the Globe?’ Angel asked.
Dean smiled. ‘It’s like the iPad, only better because… I helped design it.’
‘Wow!’ Angel said.
‘Listen, I promise, no matter how this meeting goes, I’ll bring one home and show it to you later.’ Dean got down from his stool and hurriedly finished his coffee. ‘I’ve got to go, get the heads-up on this meeting.’ He smiled at them both. ‘Anything you want, anything you need, eat it, drink it, play with it, treat this place as your place, OK?’
‘OK,’ Angel replied, putting her hand out for a high five.
Dean connected his hand then bent to kiss Hayley on the cheek. ‘Have that long shower and don’t do too much.’
‘Angel, did you hear that? We aren’t to do too much.’
‘Did you know Solomon Guggenheim’s first collections ofpaintings were displayed at the Plaza Hotel? Can we go there too?’ Angel raised her head out of her book.
‘Sounds like wearedoing too much,’ Hayley said.
‘See you later. I’ll be back by three. Enjoy the Guggenheim.’ Dean waved a hand as he headed out the door.
‘Please tell me it has a café.’ Hayley picked up her teacup and put it to her mouth again.
Angel nodded her head, looking up again. ‘It does. And they sell fizzy wine.’
‘Perfect,’ Hayley answered.
Angel smiled. ‘Did you bring your ideas book to New York?’
‘I did.’
‘So maybe we could go to some fashion-y places too,’ Angel suggested.
‘Maybe,’ Hayley answered.
‘Oh no, fashion alert. Uncle Dean’s forgotten his jacket.’ Angel’s eyes went to the dining area.
Hayley looked at the tailored, grey suit jacket hanging over the back of the chair. Stylish, expensive – everything Dean had was top of the range to her bargain basement.
‘Can we drop it in to him?’ Angel asked.
‘Are we going to have time between all this culture?’
‘We might have to miss out the fizzy wine.’
Hayley slid down from the stool. ‘Going for a shower. Make the Xbox game quick! Reasons Christmas is better in New York number eighty-nine: there’s so much to do!’
13
DRUMMOND GLOBAL OFFICES, DOWNTOWN MANHATTAN
How was the chick in the red dress? Did she have a favourite animal ;)
Oliver smiled and shook his head at Tony’s attempt at text humour. Ten o’clock was nearing and he was nervous. He worked the fingers of both hands over the pliable material of his stress ball, trying to grind out the tension. He leant forward in his chair and pressed a button on his phone.
