Chapter 124 – Ogden

I got the ball rolling. I asked her to come have dinner with me this evening. Just the two of us. Willow looked confused, unsure why I would ask her something like that. I knew that we have been spending a lot of our evenings together, but this one was going to be different.

I left her awake in bed. I knew she was faking when I kissed her on her forehead and left the bedroom. But I wasn’t going to call her out on that. I knew she was stewing about what I asked her, and I smiled at the fact that she didn’t know what was coming. And I hoped that she would be just as excited as I was.

I made breakfast quickly. I pulled out a piece of paper to write a note, but everything I scribbled down seemed needy. Or gave away too much. My phone buzzed.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mr. Moore.” Marsha said, she sounded breathless.

“What’s going on?” I knew by the way she sounded something was up and I wasn’t sure exactly.

“Beijing called and are pushing their meeting up by an hour.” There was a commotion at the other end. In the background, I could hear Marsha apologize to someone. “I’m making my way to the office now.”

“Great.” I let out a long breath. “I’ll be in the office in fifteen minutes.” I hung up, tossed the letter that I was writing into the trash, and made my way to work.

Of course, they had to push up their meeting. Why wouldn’t they? The sun wasn’t even up yet, and I was maneuvering through the streets of New York to get to the office in time to set up for the meeting.

It would be close, but I knew I would make it. I have had less time to prepare for other meetings. This wasn’t new to me. I had back-to-back meetings until twelve and then the rest of the afternoon was dedicated to Willow.

I hoped she wouldn’t stress to much throughout the day. I knew she didn’t like secrets being kept from her, but I hoped that she wouldn’t mind too much since I was going to give her a ring.

Marsha ran up to meet me at the front of the building. Her arms were full of folders, and she looked harried as if she didn’t have enough time to get ready this morning.

“You look…rushed.” I looked over at her as we got into the elevator. “Let me help you.” I grabbed a few folders from her so she could straighten up a little.

“Yeah, as soon as I got that call from the Beijing company I had to literally run out of the apartment.” She pulled at her hair to straighten it. By the time we excited the elevator she was looking more presentable.

She grabbed the folders that I was now holding. “Thank you.” She gave me a smile. “Are you excited about tonight?” Her eyes were practically glittering with excitement.

“Excited…nervous. I’m not sure exactly what the feeling is, but it is there. I have never felt like this in my life. I am usually so sure about everything. I know that she is keeping something from me too. And I hope that it doesn’t foil my plans.” I walked into my office, and she followed.

“I’m sure it is going to be fine.” She held up a notepad, ready to take notes.

I stared at her for a moment. “Do you by chance know what she is keeping from me?” I cocked an eyebrow at her.

She shook her head. “I can one hundred percent tell you that I have no idea what she is keeping from you. Did you want me to ask?”

I waved a hand in front of me. “No, I’ll ask her tonight. Maybe after I propose she will feel compelled to reveal her secret.”

Marsha gave me a nod and smiled at me. I knew she and Sophia were beyond excited about me proposing to Willow. I knew that Sophia knew about Willow’s secret, and she wasn’t about to betray her friend. And I knew that no matter what I did, she wouldn’t change her mind.

The first meeting started and finished in the blink of an eye. I was doing my best to be present at every meeting after, but my mind would wander on occasion to about tonight. I wished we could fast forward through the day so we could just be together this evening.

I had a break between my fourth and fifth meeting. I took a moment to catch up on emails and texts.

I had one from Gabe. [Everything is set up, Og. I’ll arrive at twelve thirty and I will see you here at one.]

I quickly typed back. [Thanks, Gabe. Let me know if you need anything.]

[Open bar tab?]

I snorted at his response. [You are already getting one of my favorite cars…do you really need an open bar tab?]

[Worth a shot.] I could almost see him shrug.

The rest of my meetings went by seamlessly. Everyone asked the same questions, I put them at ease, and I had Marsha send over contracts to each company. By the end of this week, we should have twenty new companies signed on. And it was mostly because of me.

“Marsha?” I yelled as I typed a new contract up.

“Yes, Mr. Moore?” She walked into my office.

“Please call Willow up here. We won’t be back this afternoon. And you are squared away to keep her distracted for a bit this afternoon?” I steepled my fingers in front of me.

“Yes, Tiffany is beyond excited to be part of a plan.” She laughed. “We have just the right amount of drama to keep her busy this afternoon.”

“Great.” I took a deep breath. We were getting closer to the moment I was going to officially propose.

Marsha left the office and called down to have Willow come up. I opened my safe and pulled out the briefcase that contained the ring I was going to give her. I opened it, just to confirm the ring was safely tucked away. I knew no one had my safe combination, but I still felt like by some stroke of luck, it wasn’t going to be there.

I heard the elevator ding; I glanced up quickly and saw Willow emerge and walked toward Marsha. By the look on her face, she was skeptical. She knew something was up and she wanted to drag it out of Marsha. She walked into my office.

I needed to finish this last contract and then I would give Willow my full undivided attention. “Just a second.” I needed to focus on what was in front of me. But what I really wanted to do was drink her in, smile at her, and then pull her into my arms.

She sat down across from me. I typed the final line and submitted it into our system. I looked over at Willow. She was looking around the room, taking in the décor. I wanted to know what she was thinking. What she was feeling. She looked a little sick, but I didn’t want to bring that up.

She brought her attention back to me. I smiled at her. “I thought we could grab a quick lunch before we made our way over to that other meeting.” I wanted to make sure that she had something in her stomach because the afternoon was going to be stressful, and I didn’t want her to worry about being hungry.

She shrugged her shoulders at me, “that sounds good.” Willow didn’t seem enthusiastic. I knew she was worried about the whole meet up with Clara. But I was going to be there, and I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.

I organized for a couple of police officers to be waiting near our meeting place, just so they would be ready in case Willow wanted her arrested for trying to kill her mom. With my best friend there as well, I felt more comfortable. I didn’t think Clara was stupid enough to do anything while there were so many people there.

I stood and grabbed the briefcase that had the ring. I wished I had a pair of handcuffs so I could handcuff it to my wrist. I didn’t want to leave it out of my sight for the rest of the day. “Are you ready?” I raised my eyebrows at her. She looked like she was far away, thinking about other things. Maybe it was the secret she was keeping from me.

“Yes, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” She stood and followed me out. I offered her my hand and she took it. At least she took my hand. The way she was acting right now, I didn’t think she would. That was a small victory. I would take anything that I could get right now.