Crossroad To Love (Fab Five Series) (7 page)

“Sounds like a winner to me, what do you think, Ryan?” Chloe
looked up at her handsome brother-in-law questioningly. 

But Ryan’s gaze was fixed on Katy. She was such a petite,
pretty little thing. He wondered if she was married.
Rein it in, big boy
,
never going down that road again,
remember
?
What in the world
is happening to me
? Meet one cute and smart little lady and the resolution
made so many years ago was going by the wayside.
Keep this strictly
business
if you know what’s good for you.

“I’m sorry, what were you saying, sis?”

Chloe looked at Ryan closely. “I was asking would it be okay
with you for Liz to bring by some ad ideas tomorrow when Katy stops by?” she
asked again, wondering what was wrong with him. He seemed to be a million miles
away tonight.

“Sure, sure, that would be great. I need to get back to
work. I will bid you ladies farewell.” He bowed to them as he turned to leave.
“See you at two tomorrow.” And with that, Ryan O’Grady walked away from the
table, leaving all five women staring after him.

“I need to get back to work, too. It was great meeting
y’all, and I look forward to seeing both of you tomorrow. Marianne and Angie,
it was great meeting you too. Have a good evening and enjoy your meal.” Chloe
turned and walked across the room, stopping to say hello to a couple at another
table, before walking back into the kitchen.

The four looked at each other silently for a few seconds
until Marianne broke the silence. “What do you make of all that?”

“Your good old fate at work, Mari,” answered Angie as she
took a sip of her drink. They all giggled. Marianne’s belief that fate has a
hand in all things had long been a source of good-natured ribbing.

Their dinners arrived shortly and true to legend, it was
delicious. The steaks were tender and perfectly cooked and the seafood was
seasoned to perfection.

They ordered coffee and for dessert a heavenly cheesecake
drizzled with caramel topping. As they lingered over the coffee, discussing the
evening and the opportunities it had brought, Katy was silent, thoughts
whirling in her head. Thoughts of decorating the restaurant, the hotel, and in
the back of her mind, as if too timid to make their way forward, thoughts of a
tall man with the gold flecks in his eyes.

They finally decided it was time to go back to the hotel.
Lizzie and Katy had a long night of work ahead of them, if they were going to
be ready for their important two o’clock meeting with the O’Gradys tomorrow.
They were both already deeply engrossed in their ideas.

Lizzie had decided not to mention anything to Rex until she
was sure this was going to work out. After all, she may find out that she really
did not have any talent, after all. Then, she would have her answer as to
whether or not to pitch her idea of joining the agency to Rex. Or, it could go
the other way, which would be the answer to all her prayers. Oh, he could still
create the ads for the O’Gradys and possibly expand his business to Texas, but
she hoped it was her ads that did the trick.

Katy was thinking about how ironic it all was.
Two days
ago, I was wondering what I was
going to do with the rest of my life.
Now I have two possible clients for a design
business I haven’t even
opened yet, and I have met the most amazing man
. Actually, amazing was not
a strong enough word to describe Mr. Ryan O’Grady and the effect that meeting
him was having on her. She knew he was a widower, that he had lost his wife in
the same manner that she had lost Bill. She knew he had lived in the Midwest
before moving to Dallas. They had those two things in common, but what else did
she know about him? That he was a confirmed bachelor, he had many lady friends
and Katy probably did not stand a snowball’s chance in hell with him.
Maybe
Angie had the right idea
earlier. I should just have a vacation affair
with him
.
What am I saying? Deal with it later
, she told herself,
you
have work to do
.
That’s what I’ll do. Concentrate on the work
and
not the man
. But could she do that?

She wondered what surprises the rest of the week would bring
as the waiter stepped over to the table to see if they would like anything
else. They conveyed to him how wonderful the meal and the atmosphere of the
restaurant were, much to his obvious pleasure.

When Angie asked if they could have their check, the waiter
replied, “I have been instructed to tell you that your dinners are on the house
tonight, compliments of Mr. Ryan O’Grady. Enjoy the rest of your evening,
ladies.” They looked at each other and laughed. What a strange night this had
turned out to be. They had met two wonderful new people and a whole new chapter
could be starting for some of them. And now, the most eligible bachelor in Dallas
had treated them all to dinner.

How could they have known their lives would be changed
forever by that one simple visit to ‘Chloe’s Place’ on that fateful autumn
night?

They arrived back at the Prava to begin a long night of work
for Lizzie and Katy. Angie and Marianne had the job of keeping the coffee pot
going and offering opinions when asked for them. It was just like old times,
once again, with the four of them working together as a team.

Monday morning dawned with hazy, overcast skies in Iowa. As
Michael Gray prepared for his trip to Texas to meet with the restaurant owners,
he was deep in thought. Well-prepared for this meeting, he had studied the
background of ‘Chloe’s Place.’ He’d done his homework, so to speak, and knew
everything there was to know about the place.

It was quite an impressive operation, really. Started nearly
ten years ago by two brothers and the wife of one brother, it had done
exceptionally well. Frankly, he was surprised they had not made the decision to
expand sooner. He had sent preliminary sketches ahead of him, and the owners
had seemed to be pleased with Michael’s work. He expected the meeting to go
well, and when the day was over, he would be free to surprise little Miss
Angela with his presence in Dallas. He had a good excuse to be there, of
course, but never the less, he worried about her reaction. She had been hard to
read the other night at dinner. She was available, but that did not mean that
she wanted to start over with him. He would just have to play it by ear and see
how things progressed. Hopefully, by working together, he would be able to
convince her that the problems they’d had in the past had nothing to do with
the confident, successful people they had both become. It seemed to him they
had needed the time to get themselves settled into good careers, and now it was
time to end the nonsense and get back together. But convincing feisty little
Angie of that might not be an easy task. She was very good at her job. He could
tell that from the brief meeting last Friday. She was certainly going to be a
challenge and a joy to work with. She knew her stuff. He had to give her that.

As he headed for the airport, he was hoping the weather in
Texas would be better than the weather in Iowa this morning. He spent his time
in the air going over last minute preparations for his presentation to the
O’Grady family.
It’s time to concentrate on
business.

He landed at DFW, rented a car, and drove straight to the
hotel. He had booked a suite at the Prava also. He was hoping he could slip
into his room and back out of it without any of the ‘Fab Four’ spotting him. He
was not yet ready for them to know he was in town. His meeting with the
O’Gradys was not until tomorrow morning so he would order room service and stay
in this evening, relaxing and preparing his next move. By tomorrow evening, he
would have figured out the best way to let Angie know he was in town.
One
step at a time, boy, don’t rush her
.
You don’t want to scare her off
.
By the time he picked up the phone to order his lunch, he was smiling to
himself, confident that this trip to Texas was going to be a good one, both
professionally and personally.

Meanwhile, one floor up, Katy and Lizzie were busy gathering
all their materials together for their meeting at ‘Chloe’s Place.’ They had
finally both given it up around three o’clock that morning and had fallen
asleep on the sofa bed in the living room of their suite. Marianne and Angie
had retired to their bedroom around one, leaving their friends to finish their
work.

Katy had been amazed at the adrenalin flowing from both
Lizzie and herself all night. They were both really getting into this.
For
two people who have not worked for
several years, I think we were both
full of good ideas
.
I’m hoping this will turn out to be a
good
thing for both of us
.
And who knows, maybe I will get more out of this
than a job!
That is highly unlikely
, she thought,
but a girl can
dream, can’t she
? 

They had decided to order salads from room service for
lunch, so Lizzie and Katy could get ready for their meeting in plenty of time.
Both were very excited and neither one of them could sit still for more than a
few minutes all morning. Katy was like a high school girl getting ready for her
first date. Lizzie was not much better.

“Would you two get a grip? You are driving me crazy,”
complained Angie when Lizzie jumped up from the couch for the twentieth time.

“I just want to make sure this all goes well, there is so
much riding on it for both of us. I don’t want either of us to blow the
opportunity we’ve been given,” Lizzie shot back nervously.

“Relax. You can’t be this fidgety when you’re at the
meeting, you know.”

“What did you really think of our ideas, Angie?” Katy asked
with a frown.

“I think you both did an excellent job on such short notice.
It will be fine. All you have to do now is relax and present your ideas. I am
confident they will love your ideas as much as we do. And if they don’t, it
will be good experience. If there is something they don’t like, it’s probably
fixable. Calm down. I mean it, calm down. You can’t go in there like two cats
on a hot tin roof.”

“She is right,” Marianne added. “Not to mention the fact
that Chloe and Ryan seemed like such nice people. I am sure they will give you
a fair chance. After all, they are the ones who suggested the meeting. They
could have turned you down when we mentioned the two of you doing the work, but
they jumped on it, even knowing you are new to the game. So relax.”

“I don’t know what Chloe’s husband will think. I wonder if
he will be at the meeting?” Lizzie worried.

“Hopefully we’ll get to meet him today. I wonder if he is as
breathtakingly handsome as his brother is,” Katy said wistfully.

They all looked at Katy in shock. She was really getting
into this Ryan guy.

Marianne hoped Katy was not leading herself into heartbreak,
that would be the worse thing that could happen to her now, after all these
years of waiting. Although, maybe it was all harmless. Disturbing as it was, it
was kind of exciting for Katy to be so attracted to a man after all these years
of widowhood.

Angie’s thoughts went back to their conversation before
dinner at the restaurant, when they had teased about Katy having an affair with
him.
Who would have thought she would actually
fall for the guy?
She’s the level-headed one of this bunch.

The salads and iced tea arrived. The girls had another
pleasant lunch together and then it was time for Lizzie and Katy to leave for
their meeting with the O’Gradys. Marianne had given them directions to the
restaurant in case they forgot how to get there. The two women left for the
meeting that would change both their lives forever.

“I’m glad they are finally out of here, they were driving me
bonkers,” Angie said to Marianne, laughing.

“Yes, they were pretty hyper. I hope it all goes well for
them, though. Both of them deserve this break. Isn’t it weird how it all
happened?” Marianne answered her with a smile.

“Fate,” Angie answered simply and they both collapsed in
laughter as they sat back to relax and enjoy the quiet. They knew when the
other two got back it would be crazy again. Both Katy and Lizzie would be
anxious to tell the story of the big meeting.

“Do I look all right?” Katy asked Lizzie as she checked her
makeup in the visor mirror for the third time.

“You look great, you are going to knock old Ryan’s socks off
in that outfit, you little vixen.” Lizzie laughed as she responded. She was
thinking how nice it was to see Katy so interested in something besides Alex
for a change. Alex was a great kid, but Katy needed a life. She had been lonely
for too darn long. Now she had two possibilities to look forward to, a chance
for a new client for her business, and a possible chance with a new guy.
Although,
Lizzie thought,
the business deal is probably more of a sure thing than
the
guy
. But time would tell. It did seem like fate had drawn them to ‘Chloe’s
Place’ for a lot of reasons last night. There was their old friend fate,
helping them out again. Maybe Marianne had been right about it all these years.

They had no problem finding the restaurant again. Marianne’s
directions had been perfect. They parked the car, hugged each other for luck,
and proceeded to their meeting.

As they entered the restaurant, Ryan was sitting at a table
with several stacks of papers spread in front of him, sipping a mug of steaming
coffee. He looked up and smiled as they walked toward him.

“Well, right on time. I’ll tell Chloe and Shane you’re here.
You both look great, by the way,” he added as he took in the sight of Katy with
a long, slow, approving look. She had chosen a simple summer dress for her
appointment. It was a pale shade of yellow, which went well with her dark hair.
Her accessories were simple and she wore sandals on her delicate feet, each toenail
sporting perfect polish.
She is the perfect vision
of a Texas yellow
rose
, Ryan thought as he walked away to find his brother.
Shake
it
off,
man.