Chapter 4

Jake rubbed the back of his neck and wished he had a couple Motrin on hand as he exited the Governor's mansion the following afternoon. As he'd expected Governor Wentworth had asked him to meet more because he wanted his father's support than because he appreciated the foundation's aid. The Governor would be running for a second term in the next election and figured the backing of a popular President would help his cause. The entire two hours had been miserable. In fact it would've been unbearable if not for Charlie's company. She kept rather quiet during the conversation. Actually, he got the impression that politics wasn't her thing either, but the little she did contribute was insightful. And just her presence there lifted his spirits because he knew once they left he had her all to himself for the rest of the day.

Opening the passenger door for Charlie, he briefly wondered if they should head back to town. Plenty of recovery work still needed to be done. Was it fair of them to skip town for the afternoon? Part of him said no. The more people working, the faster the town would return to normal. The devil in him said the town would survive without them for a few hours. It wasn't like they were skipping town for a week. Besides who knew how much longer he'd be in North Salem. He might not get another chance like this one.

By the time Jake walked around to the driver's door and climbed in his SUV, his mind was made up. Despite whatever misgivings he had, he just couldn't pass up spending time with this woman. Somehow he knew if they went back to work now, he would be kicking himself later.

Neither of them said a word as he drove towards the heart of Boston. Other than making dinner plans, he hadn't mapped out an itinerary for them.

“Any favorite spots you'd like to visit? Faneuil Hall, the North End, Newbury Street? We have some time before dinner.” Jake figured anyone could treat her to dinner at a restaurant; he wanted her to remember their time together. So instead of making a reservation at one of Boston's top notch restaurants, he'd arranged for a private dinner aboard a friend's yacht in the harbor. By sheer dumb luck the yacht had been in dry dock until two days earlier so it hadn't sustained any damage during the hurricane. Not that Boston Harbor had been damaged much anyway.

“Not really. I've never spent much time in Boston. Never had a real reason to, so whatever is fine.”

The yacht's captain didn't expect them until five o'clock but if they arrived early he knew the man wouldn't complain. “In that case let’s head over to the marina”

“The marina? Why are we going there?”

“You're just going to have to wait and see,” Jake said as he headed in the direction of Boston Yacht Haven one of the city's most exclusive marinas.

I definitely owe Christopher one. Jake looked around as he followed Charlie through the yacht and onto the port side deck. His friend had made sure no detail was overlooked. The scent of several dozen flowers placed around the yacht filled the air. A romantic table for two stood prepared on the deck and a bottle of fine French wine sat on ice waiting for them. Since no other detail seemed overlooked he guessed his friend had also made sure the main sleeping cabin was prepared just in case Jake needed it.

Whatever favor Christopher called in later, it'd be worth it.

“When you said dinner I thought you meant at a restaurant downtown,” Charlie said, her hazel eyes wide with astonishment as she took in her surroundings.

Jake pulled out Charlie's chair. “You can do that anytime. How often do you get to cruise around Boston Harbor at night and watch the sunset?”

“You've got me there,” she admitted looking up at him, her lips turned up in a smile. “Is this your yacht?”

“No. It belongs to a friend of mine.”

“He must be some friend.”

“Christopher and I were roommates in college. We've been good friends ever since.”

He couldn't keep himself from bending down and pressing his mouth against hers for what he intended to be a brief kiss. Soon the kiss turned hotter as she wrapped her arms around his neck and their tongues met.

Behind him Jake heard someone clear their throat. Pulling back, Jake stared down at Charlie, her eyes were closed and her lips were rosy from their kiss. Turning he looked at the woman who had interrupted them.

“The chef wants to know when you would like dinner served.”

“Tell him we're ready whenever he is.” Once they were alone again, he turned his attention back to Charlie. “I hope you are hungry. Christopher's chef is amazing.” He let his hand linger on her shoulder. The skin beneath his hand was soft and he loathed the idea of losing the physical connection he had with her.

When her eyes fluttered open they locked onto his. The desire he saw in them matched his own. “I'm starved.” She sounded breathless, and the cave man in him surged with pride because he knew he'd caused her current state of arousal.

“DID you always want to join the Navy?” The dinner plates were gone and they sat watching the final rays of sunshine disappear. The more they talked the more Jake wanted to know about Charlie. He'd been physically attracted to her from the first moment he saw her, but the more time he spent with her the more emotionally drawn to her he became. He found being around her intoxicating and hoped they could see each other after they both left Massachusetts.

Charlie shook her head without any hesitation. “I always wanted to be a doctor. Never even considered the Navy till I realized how expensive college and medical school were. A Navy recruiter came to my high school junior year and I knew that was the only way it would happen,” she said, her voice a mixture of anger and sadness. “Even with scholarships I wouldn't have been able to swing it without a ridiculous amount of debt waiting for me at the end.”

Jake could understand her reason. Even though he'd never worried about it, he knew education was expensive. “Do you ever regret your decision?”

“Nope. I got what I wanted and I'm serving my country. But that doesn't mean I want to be in the Navy forever,” she said without pausing to consider her answer. “I keep going back and forth about staying. I finished filling out the paperwork, but it's still sitting in my room.

Must be nice not to have any regrets. He wouldn't mind trading places with her for a day or two. Although if he told her that, she’d probably fall off her chair laughing. Everyone thought he lived such a charmed life. No one ever stopped to think about how much a pain in the ass it could be with the media waiting for you to make a mistake.

“What about you? Did you always want to work for your family's company?”

“It wasn't anywhere on my radar.” Jake heard the bitterness in his voice but he couldn't keep it from creeping in. Although the foundation wasn't related to the hotel business, it was still tied to Sherbrooke Enterprises.

Charlie leaned forward, her interest obviously captured. “Really? What did you want to do?”

The last rays of sunshine danced across her hair and her astute gaze flickered over his face as if she could learn the answer on her own. And for some reason he sensed that perhaps she would truly understand; unlike anyone else he'd ever told.

“If you laugh I swear I'll toss you overboard,” he threatened.

“I'm in the Navy, remember? I can swim.”

Jake threw her a dirty look. “If that's the way you're going to be, forget it.”

“All right. No laughing. Promise.”

“I made up my mind when I was about twelve to go to the Naval Academy and be a SEAL. But it didn't happen.”

Charlie's jaw dropped open and her eyebrows shot up. “You didn't get in?” Her voice rang with astonishment.

At least she didn't laugh. The last person he'd told laughed his ass off. “I didn't apply. My parents had other plans for me, and eventually I realized people would always wonder if I'd gotten in thanks to the family name.”

The resentment he felt toward his parents whenever he thought about this crept through him. He loved them both and knew they loved him but their disappointment in the decisions he made cut him deep.

“They had it all figured out. My parents sent me to boarding school when I was fourteen. They wanted me to go to either Yale like my grandfather or Harvard like my father for undergrad and then Harvard for my MBA. After that I would join Sherbrooke Enterprises. And then eventually I'd transition into politics. That's been the basic life map for every Sherbrooke male for the past hundred years.” Jake found the truth just spilled out as he spoke to Charlie. Unlike so many people he spent time with, he didn't feel as though he needed to omit details to protect himself.

The corners of her pale pink lips turned downward in a frown. “You went to boarding school at fourteen?”

“Choate Rosemary Hall in Connecticut. My father and grandfather went there too. My mom wanted me to go to Eton in England like Dylan but my father refused. I still remember the arguments they had over it.”

“So which did you choose, Yale or Harvard?” Charlie reached across the table and took his hand.

“Neither. Went to Cal Tech. About as far away from an East Coast Ivy League school as I could get. Got my undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering. Worked for an engineering firm out in LA for a few years before moving to Virginia.”

Compassion and understanding spread across her face. Even though she hadn't said it, he knew that she understood why he'd made the decisions he had. Most people assumed he'd been rebelling against his parents, and to some extent he had. Yet there had been much more to his decisions than that. He'd been trying to prove to himself that he had some control over his future. That just because his last name was Sherbrooke he didn't have to follow the path so many in his family had.

“I left the engineering firm a few years ago to start the foundation.” It was one of the only decisions he'd made as an adult that he was proud of.

“Do you ever regret not becoming a SEAL?” Sometime during his explanation she came to stand next to him and now she placed a reassuring hand on his face.

Jake averted his gaze and focused instead on the city skyline, “Every damn day.”

Leaning closer she spoke in a tone filled with respect. “If you had, who knows what all those people your foundation helped would've done.” Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “And we might not have met.”

Jake was floored by the feelings her words and gentle touch evoked in him. They were so unfamiliar. Sure he'd desired plenty of women and enjoyed their company but he'd never felt such an emotional connection to one before. Of all the women he dated never had he confessed this regret. None of them had ever shown any interest. Most were more interested in what he could give them or what being seen with him meant. It didn't appear as if Charlie cared about either.

Pushing back his chair Jake pulled Charlie onto his lap. “I'm glad we did,” he said before lightly kissing her. Like it had earlier, desire hot and heavy swept through his body the second his lips touched hers. When she wrapped her arms around his neck and wiggled her sexy bottom in order to get closer, he instantly became hard. Thoughts of tossing her over his shoulder and finding the closest bed ran through is mind. How would she react if he did?

Raising his mouth from hers, he kissed a path down her neck. “Do you want to see the rest of the yacht now? We didn't check out the bedrooms, or would you rather have dessert?” he asked his voice low and purposefully seductive.

“Depends, what is the chef planning?” Charlie asked with a trace of laughter in her voice. She didn't wait for an answer. Instead she slid off his lap giving Jake the only answer he needed.

Anticipation surged through him as Jake led her to the largest of the bedrooms below. Just as he expected, the room was prepared for them. The lights were dimmed and the sheets on the bed were neatly turned down.

“Where were we?” Charlie moved close to him and began to caress the back of his neck.

Rather than give her a verbal answer, he walked her backward and then eased her down onto the queen-sized bed. “Does right about here seem right?” He brushed his lips against hers as he spoke.

A soft moan escaped Charlie and she slipped a hand under his shirt searing a path up his back to his shoulders. Not needing any further encouragement, Jake stood and pulled his shirt up over his head. Then he reached for Charlie’s, intent on doing the same thing to hers. The sound of the beeping intercom on the wall halted his progress.

For half a heartbeat he stared at the offending box on the wall. “What the hell?” Slowly his brain registered what the sound was and stood.

This better be an emergency. With more force than necessary, Jake jabbed the talk button with his index finger. “Something wrong Captain?”

“I'm sorry to disturb you Mr. Sherbrooke. There is a disabled yacht just off our port. It's taking on water.”

Frustrated Jake raked his fingers through his hair. “Get them on board and make sure you alert authorities. I'll be right up to greet them.” Grabbing his shirt off the floor, he turned to Charlie who now sat upright on the bed. “We'll have to continue this another night,” he said brushing his lips against hers one last time.

A devilish smile formed on her face. “I'm going to hold you to that.”

BY THE MIDDLE of the following week more than half the town had power back and things were inching their way back to normal. Fewer and fewer people needed help every day, so Wednesday Charlie found herself helping her mom around the bed and breakfast. Two of the families who had been staying at the Victorian Rose left that morning and their rooms needed cleaning. Charlie doubted there would be paying guests anytime soon but the rooms still need to be prepared.

Working on autopilot she stripped the queen-sized bed in the Revere Room. Would she be getting Jake's room ready for a new guest soon too? With conditions in town improving she figured he wouldn't be sticking around much longer. He'd already been here a week and a half. How much longer would he feel the need to stay? Not once during their conversations did he mention how long he typically stayed in the field or when he planned on returning to Virginia. And they'd had plenty of talks since their dinner together the previous weekend. In fact he seemed to go out of his way to get time alone with her.

Charlie pulled the fitted sheet across the mattress and thought back over their talks. They seemed to discuss everything from books and music to sports and politics. They didn't always agree, but she found that she enjoyed their conversations and heated disagreements.

Their conversations weren't the only things she liked either. Charlie figured she could be kissed by Jake for the next hundred years and not tire of it. The man could kiss. She'd never considered herself a romantic, yet when his lips came in contact with hers it was like something out of a movie. Everything around her faded away. Warmth and tenderness swept through her body as a deep longing settled in her soul.

Charlie unconsciously sighed as she thought about the kiss they'd shared the night before. For the second straight night they'd both come down for a late night snack and ended up having homemade oatmeal cookies with a side make out session.

If your friends saw you now O'Brien, they'd think you'd been abducted by aliens. She didn't sigh and daydream about men. It simply wasn't her. Yet she was doing just that.

With more force than necessary she stuffed a pillow into a clean cotton pillow case. She prided herself on her ability to remain emotionally detached from the men she spent time with. No matter who she dated or became intimate with she always held back a part of herself. She never let her heart become invested in a relationship. It was the only sure way to avoid a broken heart.

This time things were different. Every day she found it a little more difficult to keep her emotions under lock and key. She kept trying to figure out why? Maybe if she knew why she could get a handle on it. Part of her wished she still thought of him as the spoiled playboy the media referred to as Prince Charming. Then she wouldn't have a problem keeping her heart safe. Though she still didn't know how much of his playboy status was fabricated by the media, he'd more than proven that he was more than just a spoiled rich guy. He cared about the welfare of others, no one could deny that.

Charlie tossed the pillow back onto the bed and reached for another. “I've got to get myself back in control.” She stuffed the other pillow into its case.

Through the open bedroom window she heard a car pull into the gravel driveway. After a few minutes she heard the front door downstairs close. Despite her previous words to herself about getting back into control, hope and anticipation blossomed in her chest. Had Jake returned? He'd left right after breakfast. Lunch time had come and gone and he hadn't returned.

Determined not to look out the open window to see if his truck was back, Charlie spread the sage green comforter over the bed. “I've got issues,” she said, her voice laced with annoyance and disgust. Turning from the bed she retrieved the bottle of Murphy's Oil Soap and the rag she'd brought up with her.

“You're not alone. We all have issues but talking to yourself can be a serious problem. You might want to see a professional,” Jake said from the open doorway, the amusement in his voice apparent.

For a moment Charlie wanted to do something she'd never in her life done before; drop everything and run to the man leaning against the door frame and throw her arms around him. Instead she looked at him forcing her feet to stay rooted in place. “Can you suggest someone?”

“I've got a great shrink on speed dial. I'll give you the number.”

He walked further into the room and Charlie swore the temperature jumped twenty degrees. Doesn't he ever look unsightly like the rest of us mere mortals? It just wasn't fair. No matter the time of day or what he'd been doing, Jake always looked incredibly sexy. Today was no exception. Wearing a pair of khaki Dockers and a light blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up he could've been a model in an ad for a weekend executive collection.

“Your mom said you were helping out. Almost done?” He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close as he spoke. “Thought we'd head over to see Mr. Quinn.”

All the nerves in Charlie's body quivered at the physical contact. It seemed no matter how many times he pulled her close like this it happened. Her entire body went on high alert with excitement and yearning.

Control. Somehow she needed to get a handle on these emotions. Otherwise she ran the risk of having her heart crushed. The last person who had done it was her father and she'd vowed it'd never happen again.

With that single word repeating in her head, she broke free then took a few steps away from him. “Give me another ten minutes and I'll be done. Dusting is all I have left. I'll meet you downstairs.” She needed him to leave before she said the hell with dusting and threw her arms around him for one of his fabulous kisses.

Jake opened his mouth as if to say something but then closed it again. Stuffing his hands in his pockets he nodded. “I'll be in the kitchen getting a sandwich. I missed lunch.”

WITHOUT ANOTHER WORD he turned and headed back downstairs. He figured waiting in the kitchen was best. Being that close to her and a bed was dangerous. The minute he'd seen her in the bedroom he envisioned himself locking them in, peeling her clothes off and spending the rest of the day in bed getting to know every inch of her body, something he'd come close to doing on the yacht before their unexpected visitors arrived. In the middle of the day with her family around struck him as a bad time to give into his desires. He'd have to wait till they had more privacy, assuming her response on the boat hadn't been an isolated occurrence. He hoped it hadn't been.

Although the last thing he'd come here for was a relationship, Jake hoped she gave them a chance. Everything about her was so different from the women he normally dated, yet being with her felt right. Though they'd only known each other a short time, he felt like she understood him. She looked past his name and saw the man. True, at first she'd only seen what the media told everyone, but her opinion had changed. He could tell by the way she responded to his kisses and the way she spoke to him. When they first met she'd been indifferent and aloof. That wasn't the case anymore.

Thoughts about the first time they met were still running through his mind, when his cell phone rang. He knew from the ringtone it was his executive assistant, Cindy.

“Hi Cindy.” Jake pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and made himself comfortable.

“How are things up there, Jake?”

Most executives would take exception to their employees calling them by their first name. In fact his father almost had a heart attack the first time he'd heard Cindy call him Jake. When he'd hired the fifty-something assistant he insisted that she call him Jake and not Mr. Sherbrooke. At first she balked at the idea, but after a while she complied. Now it sounded strange to hear her refer to him as anything other than Jake.

“Everything is coming along. A good portion of town has power back and our engineers have started plans for replacing the dam. I should be returning home soon.”

“That's a relief. The place is falling apart without you.”

Jake couldn't help but chuckle. Cindy ran a tight ship especially when he wasn't around so he knew there was no possibility of things falling apart without him. “I doubt that.”

“You're right, no problems here. I called because I wanted to give you a heads up. Marcy Blake from Today magazine called looking for you this morning.”

Every cell in Jake's body tensed up at the reporter’s name. Whenever she called looking for a statement, it wasn't a good sign. The last time had been when news of Callie and Dylan's involvement had been made public.

“What did she want?” Jake leaned his forearms on the table prepared for bad news.

“She didn't say much. Only asked to speak with you. Maybe she's doing a piece on your sister's wedding next week,” Cindy said sounding optimistic.

If it was any other reporter he would have agreed with his assistant's assumption, but not Marcy Blake. She was notorious for getting scandals out to her readers first, regardless of how accurate her facts were. She didn't care how her reporting the facts wrong affected people as long as the stories she wrote sold magazines and made her editors happy.

Unease settled in his gut, killing his appetite. He’d kept a low profile as of late so he couldn't think of any scandal she could link to him. Still if she called looking for him it wasn't a good sign. “Thanks for the heads up, Cindy. I'm sure she'll call my cell. It won't take that woman long to get her hands on my new number.” He didn't know how she did it, but somehow she always managed to get her hands on his number. He'd changed it twice in the past two years for that very reason.

He was ending his conversation when Charlie walked in. “Cindy, I'll call you if I hear from Marcy. Let me know if anything comes up down there.” Pushing the end button on the phone, he shoved it in his pocket and gave Charlie a smile. Though she smiled in return, it wasn't the same open inviting one she'd greeted him with earlier. This one was forced and her eyes reflected suspicion. He could tell she wanted to ask who he'd been talking to. For a moment he considered waiting to see if she would say anything, but in the end he decided to just come right out and tell her.

“That was my executive assistant Cindy. I don't know what I would do without her.” Jake stood and moved toward her as he spoke. “Guess some reporter called looking for me today.” Although it wasn't any of her business he didn't want to keep things from her. In his experience when you did that it often came back to bite you in the ass.

Some of the suspicion faded from her eyes, and she accepted his outstretched hand. “Maybe she heard about your work here and had a few questions.”

Holding her hand, Jake led her toward the kitchen door. “She's not that kind of reporter. If it's not guaranteed to sell papers, she's not writing about it.” Damn. He hated the Marcy Blakes of the world. “I'll find out what she wants soon enough, I'm sure,” he said with resignation.

Jake didn't mention the reporter again though he couldn't shake the feeling that a scandal involving him or his family must be taking shape. Rather he focused his attention on Charlie and the Quinns. Once again when they arrived at the hospital they found Jessica with her grandparents. Much like his previous visits he talked to the family about everyday things and Mr. Quinn grilled him about the town's progress.

While Mr. Quinn shot questions at him, Charlie and Jessica used the time to catch up. He still found it odd that the two of them had been such good friends. They struck him as complete opposites especially considering their reaction the day of the accident. Charlie had remained calm and cool while Jessica had been almost hysterical. Yet he could see the close bond between the women as they talked. As he half-listened to Mr. Quinn explain his upcoming surgery, he listened to the conversation between the two old friends.

“You, Kate and I need to go out together the next time you come home. I don't think we have all hung out together since the summer after graduation,” Jessica said.

“We've gone out since then.” Jake noticed that when Charlie answered she looked everywhere but at her friend. “The summer I came home after freshman year.”

Jessica shook her head. “You and I went out. Kate didn't come. And we have not been out since. The day grandpa fell was the first time I'd seen you in years. I didn't even know you were home. You should visit Kate before you leave. Did you know she has two kids now?”

Once again he wondered how long it'd been since Charlie's last visit home. From the previous conversations he'd overheard and what they were saying now, it seemed as if it'd been awhile. Why was that? True, being a doctor in the Navy wasn't a nine-to-five job with vacation time you could take without advance planning, but that didn't mean she didn't have some leave every year. She seemed to get along with her family so why not come home more often?

Whether or not she sees her family isn't any of my business. He often went long stretches between seeing his parents too.

“Doc says I'll need a chair for a while. Physical therapy too,” Mr. Quinn grumbled interrupting Jake's thoughts. “Who has time for that? Who's going to run the store?”

Jake tried to hide his smile as he watched Mrs. Quinn pat her husband's hand.

“Jess practically runs the place now and you know it. You just don't want to do the therapy.”

Mr. Quinn snatched his hand away from his wife, his bright red face giving away his embarrassment. The way Jake figured it, the guy had nothing to be embarrassed about. The woman clearly loved him and didn't have any qualms about giving him a hard time. It was just what he wanted someday. The right woman just hadn't come along yet.

Thinking back over the relationships he'd been in, his eyes moved to where Charlie sat. She was explaining the importance of physical therapy to the Quinns, but it wasn't her words that drew Jake's attention. Rather it was her tone. Though she was straightforward and blunt, her voice was compassionate. Her hazel eyes were warm and caring. There didn't seem to be anything fake or contrived about her. With Charlie what you saw was what you got. It was such a change from the women he normally found himself attracted to. And he suspected it was that very quality about her that had him wanting to get to know her better. Something he hoped would happen next weekend, if she agreed to accompany him.

He'd been mulling over the idea since last night. One minute inviting her seemed like a fabulous idea; the next it struck him as a disaster waiting to happen. Most of the time he wasn't so indecisive, he didn't know why he was this time. It wasn't like another guest would be a big deal. After all more than three hundred people were already expected. Still Jake straddled the fence tipping back and forth like a see-saw.

About an hour later he walked with Charlie out to the parking lot. Like they always did when he left, the Quinns had thanked him for everything and had extended an invitation for dinner at their house once Mr. Quinn left the hospital.

“I think you've got some new admirers.” Laughing Charlie reached for the SUV's door handle.

Darting his hand out before she could grip the handle, Jake pulled the door open for her with one hand while he wrapped his other around her forearm anchoring her next to him. If she really wanted to she could move, but the slight touch kept her beside the SUV.

“I can see myself being a bit like Mr. Quinn someday.”

The corners of Charlie's mouth curved upward. “You're going to be a hardware store owner with a broken hip when you grow up?” she asked with a gleam in her eye.

Jake tugged on her arm until she was standing close enough for him to see the flecks of green in her hazel eyes. Focusing on her lips he lowered his head toward her, stopping when they were mere inches apart. Finally, he could do what he'd wanted to do since they exited the hospital.

“I meant a stubborn old man who doesn't like sitting around on his ass.” He didn't give her a chance to comment. Instead he took her lips in a slow tender kiss, one that he intended to tease her with. They'd shared several passionate kisses, but he was always the aggressor. This time he wanted her to control things. Well at least as far as this kiss was concerned. He wanted to see how heated their kiss would be if he didn't keep kicking it up a notch.

Charlie didn't keep him waiting long. She ran her tongue along the seam of his lips enticing him to open for her. When he didn't comply she pressed her body against his, crushing her breasts against his chest and tugging on his bottom lip with her mouth.

Unable to help himself, Jake succumbed to her tactics. Like always she tasted like mint. Whether it was her toothpaste or some candy she favored, he didn't know. But he knew that he was never going to be able to taste mint again without thinking of Charlotte O'Brien.

Jake looped his arms around Charlie's waist and lost himself in their kiss. All thoughts of Mr. Quinn and their visit evaporated as did any thoughts of where they were. His first pull back to reality came in the form of a car's horn. It blared as it passed down the side street near the parking lot. A wolf whistle followed the offensive sound and caused Jake to pull back just in time to see a car pass by.

“I think that's our cue to leave.” He pulled back enough to look Charlie in the face and he felt Charlie's hands leave his shoulders.

“We seem to be making a habit out of this. Maybe we should find a better place next time,” she said before climbing into the passenger seat

I couldn't agree more. In that moment he made up his mind about asking her to accompany him that weekend.