Crossroad To Love (Fab Five Series) (9 page)

“Get the lovesick look off your face, Kate.” Angie laughed
as she smacked her friend with a pillow from the couch. “Honestly, what is it
about him, other than his obvious sex appeal and good looks has you so
mesmerized?”

Katy grinned at her, embarrassed at having been caught
daydreaming about Ryan. You would think they were in high school the way she
was acting.
Get it together, Katy.

They finished eating their dinner with more lighthearted
teasing aimed at Katy until the time had come for Lizzie to make her phone
call. The group once again became serious. This was a big moment for Liz.

“Just tell him like it is, girl,” Angie encouraged her
friend as Lizzie headed for the bedroom to use the phone.

“That’s right, stand up to him,” Katy added. “He can’t be
angry. After all, you landed a huge account for him that is going to expand his
business even more.”

“You may be surprised at his response.” Marianne thought
that maybe she should follow her own advice.
Maybe I would be surprised at
Jon’s response if I confronted him about Jennifer.

Lizzie thanked them for the encouraging words and, taking a
deep breath, walked into the bedroom. She sat on the edge of one of the beds
and dialed her home number. As she waited for Rex to answer, she thought of
what she would say. Katy was right, as usual. He could not be angry with her,
maybe just with her methods.

“Hello.”

Lizzie never grew tired of hearing Rex’s deep, husky voice
on the other end of a telephone line, even after all these years. He could
still make her heart flutter just by saying hello. Not as dashing as some men,
he was the cuddly teddy bear type, and she loved that about him.

It was now or never, she thought as she mustered the courage
to begin her story.

“Hi, Rex, it’s me.”

“I didn’t expect to hear from you until midweek, Lizzie.
How’s it going out there? Is everything okay?”

“Great, it has been so good to see everyone again. We are
having a really good visit. There are a lot of exciting things going on with
our friends, can’t wait to tell you all about it next week.” Lizzie’s hand
shook as she held the receiver.

“Are you sure everything is all right, honey? You sound odd.
Nervous, maybe?”

“In fact, everything is really good. I have some wonderful
news for you. Please don’t say anything until you hear me out. I have something
to tell you that is going to blow you away.”

“Let’s hope not,” he joked.

She began, “We met some really lovely people at dinner last
night. They own a restaurant here in Dallas. It’s two brothers and the wife of
one of the brothers. Anyway, we got to talking and they told us how they are
planning this expansion of their business. They mentioned they needed an
interior designer. Well, Katy has been thinking about opening a design
business, so right away, they asked her for some input. She worked on some
designs for them and they were pleased. They’ve offered her a contract.”

“Honey, that’s great. Tell Katy I’m happy for her. Something
like this will be a good first client for her. It will really get her started
off on the right foot, although Dallas is a long way from Chicago.”

“Actually, second client, Angie is going to have her do some
work for her, too.”

“Wow, she is really starting off with a bang, isn’t she?
Does she need us to advertise for her?”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but funny you should say that,
honey. Are you sitting down?”

“Yes, but why do I need to be, Lizzie? What in the world is
going on with you?”

“Well, the O’Gradys, they are the people who own the
restaurant, also mentioned they need a new ad campaign for all the changes
they’re making, and one of the girls suggested our agency.”

“Whoa, do you know what a boost to the business that would
be to get an account in Dallas? Honey, it could lead to more accounts there. We
could really branch out. Colt would have to consider coming into the business,
then. I really will have to consider adding more staff.”

“There’s more.”

“Do you want me to start on a campaign right away? I am
swamped, but I could stay up late and get started. Let me know a little bit
about the place.”

“I am way ahead of you, darling.” Lizzie took a deep breath.

“What do you mean?” Rex asked warily.

“I have already come up with a campaign, pitched it to them
today.” She held her breath, waiting for his response.

There was dead silence on the other end of the line.
Finally, he said, “And what happened?”

“That’s the best part of it all. They loved it. We worked
together on it and changed a few things, but they liked my overall concept and
it’s a go. They want you to fly out this week and sign the contract.”

“Wow, Baby, I don’t know what to say. I didn’t even know you
were interested in working on ads after all this time.”

“I wanted to talk to you about that. What would you think
about me coming to work at the agency with you?”

“Are you serious?” Rex could not believe his luck.

“What, you don’t think I can do it? Didn’t I just prove to
you that I could by getting this account for you, for us?” Lizzie was getting
upset.

“I didn’t say that. I was thinking about asking you to come
to work to help out in the office. I knew you used to be good at it, but didn’t
know if you really wanted to do the old nine to five thing.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I was going to talk to you about it when you got home.
But first things first, let me juggle my schedule around. I’ll call you back
with my flight plans. We need to get this contract signed and let me take a
look at your ideas. We’ll talk more later about the rest of it, Partner.”

“You mean that?”

“Yes, Lizzie, I mean that. Now let me see what I can work
out and I will call you back when I get things arranged. And Lizzie…I love you.
I can’t wait to see you.”

“I love you, too.”

Lizzie hung up the phone and stared at it in disbelief. That
had been easier than she had thought. She had underestimated herself as well as
her husband. They had always been a good team and she knew they would be a
great team in the ad business as well. She sat on the edge of the bed for a few
minutes longer, pondering the entire conversation. It was unbelievable. She
could not believe that she had had doubts about this. She went out to the
sitting room of the suite to join her friends and fill them in on the crazy,
wonderful phone conversation she had just had with her husband.

The Texas sun shone brightly through the windshield as
Michael Gray prepared to drive his rental car the short distance from the hotel
to ‘Chloe’s Place.’
This is quite a bit
different from the weather I
left behind in Iowa yesterday morning
, he thought as he donned his stylish
sunglasses. He was early, but was anxious to get through this meeting. He had
plans to surprise a special brunette later today. He reached his destination
and parked the car. As he grabbed his briefcase and tube of blueprints, he was
humming to himself.
Oh, what a beautiful day it is.

He entered the restaurant, removed his sunglasses, giving
his eyes time to adjust after being in the bright Texas sunlight. A tall man
walked out from what Michael assumed to be the kitchen area. As the man
extended his hand, he introduced himself, “I am Ryan O’Grady, and you must be
Michael Gray.”

“Good morning, Mr. O’Grady, it’s good to meet you, finally.”

They were joined by another man and a woman who introduced
themselves to Michael as Shane and Chloe O’Grady. Chloe poured large mugs of
coffee for the four of them and after setting out a plate of bagels and various
flavors of cream cheese, she sat down with the men to look at the blueprints
Michael had spread out on the table.

“After speaking with you last, Mr. O’Grady, I came up with
some other ideas based on some of the concepts you mentioned, and I would like
to discuss them with you.”

“Great. And you can call me Ryan.”

“Okay, Ryan. This is what I think we should do with the
stage area. I’ve made a few adjustments from what we previously talked about.
The lighting will work better if we place it here, I believe.” He proceeded to
tell the group his reasons for the changes and followed that with some other
ideas for the overall expansion of the restaurant. When he was satisfied that
the owners were happy with those plans, he began to discuss the corporate
office. “It was a sound decision to purchase the lots on either side of this
building. The stage area will work well over there and the office on the other
lot.”

“I want a test kitchen in the office so I can try out
recipes. I will mainly be working on menus and overseeing the chefs at all the
new restaurants once they’re in operation,” Chloe informed him.

“That’s very workable with the plans I’ve drawn up. How
about we put that in the back behind the actual offices and reception area?”

“Perfect.”

“Let me know exactly what you want and I can certainly make
it happen.” He smiled at the pretty co-owner.

After another hour of reviewing and exchanging ideas, the
group was pleased with the outcome of their work. The plans were taking shape
and the O’Grady’s dream of expansion was definitely becoming a reality. And
once they got the Dallas renovations completed, they could begin work on
developing their chain of restaurants in other cities. Mr. Gray seemed like the
perfect choice for the job, based on the work he had done for them so far.

“I think we will work very well together. We also happened
across a lovely interior designer yesterday. She had some marvelous ideas for
us,” Chloe said, giving Ryan a sideways glance as she spoke of Katy. She knew
there was something going on there. She was sure of it.

Ryan ignored his sister-in-law and followed with, “We also
started a new campaign to advertise the expansion, so we should be in good
shape now. We are finally ready to begin.”

“Is that right? Well, sounds like it’s all systems go now,
then.” Michael continued, “I am working on another project as well, so I’ll be
splitting my time between two cities for a while, but that shouldn’t be a
problem. I’ve done it before. Rest assured, your project will be completed on
schedule. You needn’t worry about that.”

“You came highly recommended to us, Mr. Gray. We have no
doubt that you will deliver as promised. It has been a pleasure meeting with
you today. Your work speaks for itself.”

“I’ll be in touch later in the week before I fly back to the
Quad Cities.”

“Oh, look, here is our designer now, and her friend from the
ad agency. I see you have brought your other friends with you. How wonderful it
is to see y’all again.” Chloe liked these four women. They were good people.

“We are just finishing our meeting with the architect. You
girls timed it exactly right,” Shane added with a smile.

Ryan was staring at Katy.
How could one woman look so
beautiful all of the time
? Today she was wearing white bermuda shorts with
a coral and white striped blouse. As always, her jewelry and nail polish
matched her outfit. Coral and white leather sandals completed the picture. You
could tell she was a designer. Her outfits and accessories always matched
perfectly. She smiled at him and he thought his heart would melt.
No,
Ryan,
you can’t do this to yourself. Never again, period.

“Girls, I’d like to introduce you to our architect, Mr. Michael
Gray,” Shane said, completely unaware of the connection between the ‘Fab Four’
and Michael.

Michael turned around with a smile and stopped dead in his
tracks.
Oh, my God
, he thought to himself. It was none other than the
‘Fab Four.’ They were standing right in front of him. His secret was out.

 “Hello, girls, fancy meeting you here,” he said, quickly
hiding his surprise.

 “Y’all know each other? That’s great,” Chloe said.

Angie was in utter and complete shock.  He had said
something about a restaurant client in passing the night they had had dinner, but
who in a million years would have thought it would have been in Dallas and at
the restaurant owned by the O’Gradys? What kind of strange karma was at work
here? It was as if the universe was determined to bring them together at every
turn. Angie had always laughed at the idea of fate, but now she was beginning
to wonder.

“Hello, Michael, you failed to tell me your other client was
in Dallas,” she said accusingly.

“Your hotel is Mr. Gray’s other client? Now how strange is
that?” Chloe was finding this all very amusing and secretly wondered what the
connection was here. There definitely were sparks flying between those two. It
could be felt by everyone in the room.

 The other three girls were speechless as they stared at the
man standing in front of them.

As Katy looked at him, she thought,
Michael’s certainly
still got it in the looks
department. A little older, of course, but he
is still very dashing
.
Angie would be crazy to
let him get away a
second time
. After the three women greeted Michael, they left the couple to
discuss whatever it was they needed to discuss.

What in the world is he doing here, in
Dallas,
seeing a client, the same week Angie was here on vacation with them
? Katy
wondered. It was almost too bizarre to comprehend. Katy looked from Lizzie to
Mari and shook her head in disbelief as they followed Chloe to the other side
of the room for their quick meeting.

Chloe looked at Lizzie. “Is there something wrong with us
both being his clients at the same time? We don’t have a problem with that.”

Lizzie replied, smiling, “No, no, Chloe, nothing like that.
You see, there is a bit of a history between those two. Let’s just say they
have some unfinished business to work out, other than the hotel expansion.”