Jamie was up, the breakfast selection already put out on the island. He took in her loose hair and the button position on her blouse and his eyes darkened. Then he looked at her lips—lightly outlined with gloss, as Meredith had showed her—and his gaze lingered for a full two seconds before he looked at his phone.
“Big day today,” he said, apparently studying their agenda.
Jessica realized Jamie was as awkward with her as if something quite a bit more substantial than a kiss had occurred between them. She probably should have felt some shame—after all, she had instigated that “inappropriate” kiss with a man who could be her boss—but she felt no remorse at all.
In fact, she was a bit delighted that she, an unsophisticated woman from a small town, had managed to rattle the super suave Jamie Gilbert-Cooper. She made a point of “accidentally” touching his hand as she reached for a bagel. He yanked his own away as if he had been burned.
Before they were done eating breakfast, a courier arrived, with funds for her from the insurance company, and a temporary replacement for her credit card.
Her whole world felt rosy!
She tried to repay him, on the spot, for the shopping trip, but he told her to hang on to her cash, in case she saw something else she wanted, and to send him an e-transfer when she got home.
They took the car to his office, which was in the Financial District, and he pointed out the sights to her, his tone conversational, but in a deliberately tour guide kind of way. They whisked by the statues of the Charging Bull on Wall Street, and the Fearless Girl. He pointed out the 9/11 Memorial Plaza, and Museum, and Saint Paul’s Chapel.
And then they were at his office. From the moment she entered the doors, she realized this sumptuous space, with its incredible view toward the Empire State Building could be her office one day, too.
The day went by in a whirl. It was as unlike yesterday as a day could be. Jamie introduced her to his business world, and to what her future job might entail. It was unbelievably exciting: bringing her skill set with her bookstore to a wider application, which would include liaising with publishers and bookstores, and with bookstores and authors. It would include setting up events and seminars to help independent bookstore owners to achieve the same results she had.
She and Jamie had lunch with a publisher and an author. At first, she thought she would feel awkwardly out of her depth, but as soon as the talk turned to books and bookstores she was right at home. She had a growing sense, not just of being able to hold her own in this environment, but of being so at home with it. After lunch, they visited two bookstores who were current clients of JHA, and despite being in the middle of New York City, Jessica was, again, right at home.
This was her forte: bringing vibrancy and a sense of life and verve to a bookstore. She and the owners clicked immediately over their shared love of books, and the feeling that a bookstore should really be at the heart of any community.
She was aware, as the day went on, that the awkwardness that kiss had caused between her and Jamie dissipated somewhat. She was quite pleased to see a growing respect for her in his eyes.
But why was he surprised? Why had I been asked to consider the job if they didn’t already know what my skill level was?
She brushed the question aside when Jamie handed her his phone. “Canadian Consulate,” he told her.
She took it and learned she would be issued temporary travel documents early tomorrow afternoon. It meant she could catch her return flight as scheduled tomorrow evening.
Why did she feel almost disappointed? She realized she felt as though she had just begun to explore this world, and that she didn’t just want more, she felt as if she couldn’t get enough.
It felt as if it was ending before it had really begun.
This could be my life, she thought.
“I’ll be going home on schedule,” she told him, keeping her tone deliberately neutral, as she handed him back his phone.
Something flashed across his handsome features that could have been regret. Or maybe it was relief.
“Is there anything you wanted to see before you go?”
“I have to see the New York Public Library,” she told him, “nerd that I am.”
He looked at her solemnly. “I don’t think you’re a nerd, at all.” His eyes rested on her lips for a moment. “I have some things I have to do this afternoon. So, why don’t I put the driver at your disposal, and you can take in whatever sights you want? I’ll meet you back at the apartment and we’ll figure out something truly spectacular for dinner for your last night here.”
It was when she went out to the car that she realized, instead of reveling in the awkwardness she had made Jamie feel by kissing him, she should be thinking of a way to thank him for all he had done.
He had not just come to her rescue, he had completely turned a horrible situation around. When she thought back on this time in New York, the theft of her luggage would be just a hilarious footnote to what had been a wonderful time.
And maybe it was because the choice she had to make—about whether to accept the position or not—suddenly felt so overwhelming that she realized exactly how she could thank Jamie and get her own feet back on the ground at the same time.
She could give him, the man who had everything, the one thing he didn’t have.
A sense of what a home could feel like. She had money, she had a credit card and she knew exactly how she wanted to spend some of it.
Instead of
