Page 4 of Second Chances (Passion and Perseverance #2)
She smiled at his continued use of her nickname for him; it was meant to be an insult, yet, every time he used it, it seemed like it had become an endearment to him.
It still didn’t make up for how he had treated her, or that he didn’t even ask her about dinner, just assumed that she would be coming back to his apartment - with her very own keycard!
It was like the weight of what she had agreed to had sunk in; she was living with Darcy and the thought gave her goosebumps.
At least he said please.
It was still a long way from an apology, or a request - the nagging voice inside her head reminded her.
You know you want to be made up to.
She crossed her legs at the surge of desire that spread through her; she did, but now wasn’t the time to think about that. She needed to stay strong. Opening up a new message, she responded:
Subject: Re: Dinner AND Conversation
Mr. Intolerable,
You did not leave things on a good note this morning; however, I look forward to talking to you at dinner tonight. And being apologized to afterward.
Thank you,
Beth
Send. She clicked the button before she had a chance to second-guess her decisive tone; he needed to know that she meant business.
Deleting his email, she refocused her thoughts back to work. Opening up two more emails, she messaged her assistants giving them the pertinent details for the events that they needed to supervise this weekend.
Cindy ,
You’ll be at the Patterson “Bullseye” event on Saturday at the Midtown Barnes feel free to live feed some of the Q if you could have a rough draft of the social and print copy to go out to me on Monday that would be great.
Thanks,
Beth
After making sure her team had everything they needed for the weekend, she ran next door to Starbucks to grab a coffee and a sandwich for lunch.
When she got back up to her office, she decided to keep working while she ate and proceeded to do some preliminary research on her new client, Caroline Bingley.
She thought about just calling Jane to see what she knew of her future sister-in-law but she didn’t feel like bugging her sister again today.
So, Beth began with the easiest, yet, most unreliable source: Google .
She skimmed over the basic facts, some of which Phil had already relayed to her.
Caroline, or Caro, Bingley graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in fine art.
After spending several years in the city working as an artist and exhibition curator at several of the museums, she abruptly left the states five years ago for Italy.
There, it seemed that after her first solo exhibit, her career as an artist really took off.
Finishing her sandwich, Beth switched the search over to images, trying to get a sense of Caroline’s artwork and a feel for her style and what she might be looking for in her exhibition space.
The first several images were of Caroline herself - a visage that Beth fuzzily recalled meeting at the engagement party: tall, blonde, curvaceous.
She clicked through the photos; she could definitely see the resemblance between the two siblings.
Although, Caroline didn’t seem to have that same depth of openness and warmth that her brother did, but maybe it was just the photos.
Finally, she reached photos of the artwork itself which was mostly portraits and nude sketches, some in color, mostly in charcoal.
Many of the oldest ones were of the same young man who, according to the tabloids at the time, had been her boyfriend whom she had run away to Italy with.
How romantic. There were more recent nudes that appeared to be of the same person for a period of time, before switching to a new model.
The Italian press had nicknamed her “the Art Lover,” suggesting that her nudes only consisted of men that she had been in a relationship with.
It must not have worked out with any of them though because Caro was back in the states and looking to set up a permanent residence in the city.
Opening up a new email to the address that Phil had given her, she took the first step in contacting her new client.
Hi Caroline ,
It’s Beth Bennet. I just spoke with Phil re: your new gallery and event planning and I’m very excited to be working with you on this.
Do you have some free time this week that we can meet for lunch or coffee to go over the details?
I’m sorry we didn’t get to chat much at Charles’ and Jane’s party but, I’m looking forward to working with you as it looks like we will be family soon!
Let me know when is most convenient for you.
Warm regards,
Beth
Throwing away the sandwich wrapper, Beth opened Messages on her computer and pulled up her conversation with Jane.
~ Hey, what do you know about Charles’ sister, Caroline? She quickly messaged Jane
- Hi. Well, she only landed in the states right before our party so I hadn’t met her before that, but she seemed really nice and very happy for Charles and me. What do you want to know?
~Anything really - more so about her professional career. She contacted Phil for a PR agent/event planner, and so he gave me her as a client since we will be family soon.
- Oh, that’s wonderful! She’s very talented from what Charles says; I haven’t seen any of her work but he said that her work is very popular in Europe and that she’s been commissioned by a lot of very wealthy people to do their portraits.
~It looks like she does a lot of nude drawings.
- Charles said that she hasn’t done many of them recently - that was more when she was younger. He says that’s why she went abroad - because their dad wouldn’t sponsor a gallery full of nude sketches. He says she’s your typical artsy type - very go-with-the-flow, liberal thinker.
~Gotcha .
- That’s why she doesn’t get along so well with their parents; they would have preferred a more structured career for her, according to Charles.
I guess there was a lot of tension several years ago so she moved out and was living in the city with some guy and doing all these very provocative pieces.
I mean, I think they are close now, but I’m not one hundred percent sure.
I’ve only seen them interact a few times…
~Ok, thanks! Just trying to get some background…
- Sure. She actually wants to go to brunch with me on Friday to chat a little and go over wedding plans, if you want to come.
~Thanks, but I don’t want to intrude. I’m sure I’ll be meeting with her soon anyway.
- Ok.
Closing the message, she was greeted by the sight of a new email in her inbox from the very topic of her last conversation. Opening Caroline’s email, she read:
Beth,
Thank you for touching base! Very excited to be working together.
I’m meeting Jane on Friday for brunch, do you want to join us?
That way we can discuss for a bit and then afterward, I can take you over to my gallery space and go over some of my thoughts for the opening.
I’m cleaning it up this week, so by Friday it should be semi-presentable
11:30 on Friday at Balthazar - I’ve already adjusted the reservation.
Ciao!
Caro
Well, that was fast. Beth was intrigued by Caroline Bingley, a woman who had seemingly defied her family, freely involved herself in numerous romantic relationships, and yet has made a career and name for herself.
She genuinely looked forward to working with her.
She felt a momentary guilt for joining in on Jane’s brunch with her future sister-in-law, but she knew Jane wouldn’t mind .
She was about to text Jane again, letting her know the change of plans when she realized it was almost five and that she should head home.
No, not home. Darcy’s.
The thought of seeing him sent a shiver of desire and anticipation through her. Even though she was still mad and was still determined to punish him, she couldn’t help but admit that she missed his overbearing presence.
Packing up her things, she called an Uber to take her back to his penthouse.
~ Hey, Caroline wants me to come to brunch. So, it looks like I will be joining. Hope that’s ok!
- Of course! See you on Friday, if not before!
Determined to make the last third of her day just as productive as the rest, she got in the car and emotionally steeled herself for battle.