Page 24 of Someone Like You

Casimir

“ A re you certain you want to do this, Son?”

“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life.”

“You’re making a grave mistake. This will impact our bottom line. The stocks are going to tank, Casimir.”

“I doubt that. Glenco is strong and able to withstand anything. If you’re placing Will Jennings in my place, that will send a strong message to the consumers and stakeholders that the company is still in good standing.

Besides, he was the one being groomed before I came into the fold anyway,” I informed Preston Willcott, the board chair of Glenco.

“Have you told Oliver?” Preston asked, referring to Oliver Huffington, who was Bethany’s grandfather.

“No. He’s traveling in Europe right now.”

“What about Scott?”

Scott Huffington was Bethany’s uncle, the CFO, and he couldn’t be bothered with that type of responsibility. My next person to report to was the board chair, which was what I was doing.

“I’ve called Scott numerous times. He’s on a drunken binge in Polynesia with a woman named Lupe, who answered his phone and then tried to get a laughing, hiccupping Scott on the phone.”

Preston rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. “I just don’t know that Will is ready.”

“He’s ready. He’s more prepared than I was when I was thrust into the role.”

“I don’t know. You had a learning curve, but you are a born leader, Casimir. Will is not. He’s someone we’ve spent years grooming.”

I stood from the conference table. “Well, I think it’s time to see if all that hard work was of good use.”

“When is your last day?” the older man asked as he opened the envelope.

“Today,” I replied with a smile as I shoved my hand into my pockets and strolled out of the conference room.

I could hear him choking on outrage as I made my way down the hall and to the elevators. I waited until I was out of the building before I made the phone call.

“Hello?”

“You can begin leaking the news now.”

“Done.”

I climbed into my car and headed across town to River Oaks. I woke up this morning with the sun shining in my heart. I had been counting down to this day for the last three and a half months. When I left, Giselle was still asleep.

After making love to her last night, she had fallen asleep.

I lay on the floor holding her for almost an hour, staring at her before I woke her.

We showered together and then went to bed in my room.

When I woke up this morning and saw her lying in my arms, I felt so damn good.

Knowing that it hadn’t been just a dream warmed my heart.

She’d turned over, whimpered, and drifted back to sleep when I got out of bed.

I was content to leave her there, and when I’d dressed, she was still asleep.

I wasn’t sure if she planned to go into the office or not.

I hadn’t called her, and she had not called me.

But I had texted her mid-morning and asked if she could get away early and meet me at home.

She agreed and stated that she didn’t have many clients.

I’d told her to dress in something comfortable.

My day had been hectic as I put all the final steps of my plan into place.

I didn’t have time to change while I was at the office, so I’d run into the penthouse and changed and made it to the parking lot just as Giselle was pulling in.

“Where are we going?” she asked as I took over driving her car.

“Can you sit back and relax?” I asked.

“I’m nervous.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, I just am.”

I glanced at her a few times and then pulled over in an empty parking lot. I turned to face her. “Look, I know what’s going through your head.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Yes, I do. You’re worried about where I’m taking you, and you’re wondering if someone might spot us out and about together.”

She bit her bottom lip and bobbed her head.

“No one knows anything about our past professional relationship, other than Imani and Beth. I somehow don’t think Imani would turn you in, and I can promise you that where we’re going, we won’t see Beth or anyone she knows.”

“Are you sure?”

“I promise,” I replied against her lips. “All I want to do is shelter, protect, and love you.”

A smile teased her lips as we pecked several times before I pulled back. I put the car in drive and pulled away again.

“What were you smiling about, Dr. C?”

“Your comment about loving me. You can’t possibly feel that already. You don’t know me that well.”

“I have a feeling it’s not hard to do,” I replied and glanced at her.

She wore an odd expression on her face, and I knew that she was uncomfortable with me professing anything that sounded like love to her. She would just need to be comfortable because I felt like it might be easy to fall for her.

We pulled up to our destination forty minutes later, and Giselle’s eyes grew wide in her face.

“What is that?” she asked as she climbed out of the car and pointed.

“What does it look like?” I asked as I took her hand and led her to the large field.

“It looks like a hot air balloon.”

“Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! The lady has guessed the correct answer. Her prize will be a new washer and dryer!” I announced into my cupped fist as though I had a microphone.

“Shut up.” She laughed as she punched me in the chest.

“Ouch! You hit hard.”

“Oh, I don’t,” she replied and laughed. “But are we seriously about to ride that?”

“Yes. I wanted an aerial view of Cherokee Springs with you by my side.”

“Oh my gosh. This is so exciting and yet so scary, Cas.”

“I’m just thankful to share this moment with you,” I confided as we approached our balloon operator.

“Rod?”

“Yes. And you must be Casimir, and this is Elle?”

“The one and only,” I replied and smiled at Giselle, who bucked her eyes at me.

I leaned in and kissed her neck. “I will always protect you,” I whispered.

I didn’t see the need for our operator to know her name. We filled out a few forms regarding safety and releases before Rod explained to us what we could expect and went over the rules with us.

A few minutes later, we had not only climbed inside the balloon, but Rod had already begun heating the air in the balloon’s envelope using the burner.

“Are you scared?” I asked Giselle as I wrapped my arms around her from behind. She stood at the edge of one side of the balloon and her hands held onto the edge of the basket.

“A little, but excited too.”

“I’ll protect you, baby,” I whispered.

She looked over her shoulder at me and replied with a smile, “So, you keep saying.”

“And I’ll keep proving it too.”

“Is that what Elle is all about?”

“Mm-hmm,” I murmured and bit the shell of her ear.

The balloon slowly floated up into the air, and Giselle released a happy peal of laughter as we continued to rise.

“This was never something I dreamt of doing, Cas,” she shared when we had reached eleven hundred feet.

Everything below us was still clear, but plots of land were clearly delineated and outlined in squares in a grid-like system like they were when flying in an airplane, but it was much clearer.

“Where are we going?” Giselle asked Rod.

“I don’t know.”

“Uhm . . . what do you mean you don’t know?”

“You see those guys down there?” he asked as he pointed at some pickup trucks down below.

“Yeah.”

“That’s our ground crew. We’re at the mercy of the wind up here. Because there’s no engine, we ride the wind currents at various altitudes. Now, I can control our altitude.”

“How?” she asked.

“Heating the air with the propane in this burner. It makes the air in the balloon less dense and causes it to rise. When we’re ready to descend, I’ll reduce the flame or vent the air out of the top, and we’ll begin to descend. Relax,” Rod said with a friendly smile.

“Oh . . . okay.” She agreed with a nervous laugh.

But the longer we flew, and the higher we rose, the more Giselle calmed down.

“This is so unbelievable, Cas,” she shared with laughter. Her eyes were bright and sparkled with happiness. She looked like a little kid, and I wondered, not for the first time, how often her late husband had done things to surprise her and bring this look of awe to her face.

“It’s so peaceful up here,” she remarked.

“It truly is. Rising above all the limitations that people put on us,” I stated quietly.

She turned to look at me and placed her hands on either side of my face. Pressing her lips against mine, she stated, “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, beautiful.”

When we descended, it was in the rear empty mall parking lot. Her eyes widened again as she looked at me and then at the mall.

“Chill. We’re at South Heights,” I whispered and pointed to the mall sign. “Do you think that Bethany would ever show her face on this side of town?” I asked.

South Heights was in Old Barrington Heights, the poorest community in Cherokee Springs. In short, it was the hood and not a place that Bethany or anyone affiliated with her might be.

When we climbed out and thanked Rod, I grabbed her hand and headed to one of the trucks that had arrived. One of Rod’s crewmen drove us back to Giselle’s car where I once again drove us home.

We rode with chill Lo-fi music playing in the background.

The sun had already begun to set, and the streetlights were coming on.

I reached across the console and reached for her hand.

She turned her head my way and smiled at me.

I couldn’t see her eyes through her sunglasses, but I imagined they held the same smile.

She closed her fingers around mine and lifted them to her lips. I relished the warm touch of her lips against my knuckles.

“Baby, you’re going to have to learn to relax and to trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

“Not going out in public, you don’t. I don’t want to hide you away. I want to take you places and enjoy our time together, and I don’t want that to be marred by you worrying about Beth jumping out of a tree.”

“Hey, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not like I’m scared of your ex-wife. I am worried about what will happen if she decides to report us.”

“Let me handle that.”

Giselle nodded. “One more thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Everything that I heard you say, Cas, was about what you wanted, not about what I wanted. With me, you’ll never have to fight for your rights or wants. I’m not her.”

“I know that, sweetheart. I know.”

We pulled up to the front of our building and handed the keys to the valet attendant to park her car. They would return them in an envelope to our floor when the car was finished.

“I’m starving,” she stated as we walked into the penthouse.

“Don’t worry. I thought maybe we could head downstairs to the club area and grab something to eat.”

Giselle had already toed off her shoes.

“I think I can handle that.”

I wiggled my fingers, she slid her shoes back on, and we headed downstairs hand-in-hand. I ordered grilled chicken sandwiches for both of us, kettle chips for me, a Caesar salad for her, and two Mike’s Hard Lemonades for both of us.

We chilled in the outdoor area, ate our dinner, and watched as the stars came out to shine in the night sky.

“This is living,” Giselle commented as she lay back in her lounge chair after we’d finished eating.

I turned my head sideways, reached for her hand, and clasped our hands together. “It is, and I want to do it with you.”

Her smile faltered briefly, and she looked up at the stars again.

Today had been a perfect day, but I also knew all hell had broken loose.

I just wanted to keep it at bay for as long as possible.

Tomorrow, I would answer the hundreds of phone calls, text messages, and emails that I had received since I left Glenco earlier in the day.

Tomorrow, I would tell Giselle what I had done.

But tonight, I just wanted to enjoy time with this beautiful lady.