“I need to go. I have an appointment to get to, but thank you for the coffee.” She stood and grabbed her magazines.
On instinct, Trent came to his feet. “Anytime.”
With a smile, she pushed in her chair and began to turn away.
Once again it struck him how different she was. She hadn’t slipped him her phone number or intentionally prolonged their time together. “My new office needs a make over. Would you be interested?” His office did need a facelift, and he didn’t want this to be their last conversation. He’d enjoyed it too much for that.
Addie’s eyes widen just enough to reveal her true feelings.
“Yes,” she answered without any hesitation.
“Great. I’ll have my assistant call your office and schedule an appointment. Do you have a business card?”
After a few seconds of digging around in her purse, she held out a card.
“Excellent. Shirley will be in touch with you on Monday.”
“Sounds good. Have a nice weekend.”
Once she disappeared out the door, he took his seat again. Reaching for his coffee, he looked at the ivory business card in his hand. The words Designs by Addison in bold black script took up much of the space and in the bottom right hand corner her contact information and address were printed.
***
Addie hadn’t even made it out of the parking lot behind her office building when her phone rang. She pu
lled out the phone as she turned onto Atwells Avenue. “Hi, Chloe,” she said, recognizing the number on the screen.
“How in the world did you end up having coffee with Trent Sherbrooke?” her cousin asked, not bothering with a polite hello first.
The car in front of her moved when the light changed, and she took her foot off the break. “We sort of bumped into each other earlier this week and he spilled my coffee.” Just as she approached the intersection, the light turned red again. “Darn it.” Friday traffic sucked. She should have been paying closer attention to the time. If she were lucky, she’d make it to the other Ambrosia bakery located in Providence just in time for her shift. Her mother managed the first store opened by her great-grandfather in the Federal Hill section of the city and she noticed if an employee was even a few minutes late.
“I guess that explains how you met but not why he sat and had coffee with you.”
The light changed again and Addie crossed the intersection. In the distance she could see the archway and the giant bronze pine nut that welcomed everyone to the Federal Hill section of Providence. “He wanted to make sure I hadn’t gotten burned and he offered to have my blouse cleaned.”
A sigh came through the phone. “I wish someone like that would check on me. So what’s he like?”
“Nice.” Addie turned into the tiny lot behind the building. According to the dashboard clock, she’d have just enough time to change her clothes before her shift started.
“That’s all you have to say? This is Trent Sherbrooke we are talking about. He dated that princess from Denmark last year. You know, the one that no one can figure out how to pronounce her name.”
“I don’t have time now, Chloe,” Addie said as she pulled open the back door into the kitchen. “I’ll call you this weekend.”
“You better.”
In less time than it took Clark Kent to change into Superman, Addie changed out of her skirt and top and into jean shorts and a black Ambrosia T-shirt. She’d told Trent she had an appointment. While it hadn’t been a lie, it hadn’t been the complete truth either. Several times a week she worked at the bakery as a way to supplement her income. So much of what her business brought in went right back into the company that she had little left over for her own personal expenses. When she’d worked in Boston money hadn’t been an issue. They’d paid her well enough right out of college that she’d quit working at the bakery. Someday she hoped that would be the case again. Until then, her job in the family business allowed her to squeak by month to month.
“Great, you’re here,” Marta Raimono, Addie’s mom, said when she spotted her in the kitchen. “I need you to start on the cannoli for the Eckhart bridal shower tomorrow.”
Thank you. If she had to work at the bakery, she preferred to stay in the back out of sight. On the rare occasions she worked out front, she worried someone she’d either worked with in Boston or someone she’d done design work for would show up and recognize her. Granted, in the two years she’d been back it had only happened once, but that was once too often for her. Even now, when she thought about the afternoon Sue Adamson walked in, she cringed. Both of them had been hired by Ducat and Wakefield Designers right after graduation. In the beginning they’d been friends, bouncing ideas off each other and getting to know the city together. Despite Addie being the more talented of the two, Sue began to get more and more high profile accounts. At first she hadn’t been able to figure out why. When Raphael Ducat, one of the partners, filed for divorce and then suddenly started showing up everywhere with Sue glued to his side, Addie, along with everyone else, figured out the secret to Sue’s sudden success.
Addie slipped an apron over her head as she headed for the long prep table in the back. Already her mom had pulled out trays of unfilled cannoli shells. As she settled into a routine, her thoughts turned away from Sue and toward the gentleman she’d had coffee with that afternoon. In all honesty, she’d never expected to see Trent again. When she looked up and saw him standing there she’d almost fallen from her seat. At first she feared he was a figment of her imagination. After all, since their run in, she had thought of him often. She’d even caved in and sketched him two nights earlier. When he’d asked to sit down, it had taken several seconds for her brain to get a response out of her mouth. As they sat and talked she forced herself to not stare at him, which had been no easy task. He, like everyone else in his family, looked as if they belonged in the movies. For as long as she could remember, pictures of him and others in the Sherbrooke family had been in the media and, unless they had some secret family member locked up somewhere, the entire family was stunning.
Then, as if that hadn’t been enough, he’d asked if she’d be interested in a job. Her first instinct had been to throw her arms around him and shout “yes.” Talk about excellent publicity for her business. Somehow though, she’d controlled herself and offered up a simple yes. But even now as she considered the possibility of working for Trent Sherbrooke, her excitement grew. If she redecorated his office and he liked it, she could have other high profile clients knocking on her office door.
“Wow, you’re halfway done already.”
Her mom’s voice caused her hands to still and she glanced down at the shells on the table. Sure enough, one whole tray was finished. “I guess I got into a good rhythm.”