“Why? Did you guys have a fight?”
“No. But I’m afraid I might’ve hurt his feelings.” Katie squeezed the excess water out of her swimsuit and hung it over the shower rod to dry. “I reminded him we aren’t dating after we leave Indigo Bay. Now I wonder if he thinks I’m holding back because he had leukemia.”
“And what’s the real reason you can’t date him?” Nicole counted off on her fingers. “You’re both single. You both live in New York. You like each other. And evidently you have chemistry out the wazoo.”
Katie giggled. “Out the wazoo?”
Nicole always knew how to make her laugh, which was one of many reasons she loved her.
“Check your wazoo. I guarantee there’s chemistry there.”
“Yes, but I used to have chemistry with Joseph, too. And look how that turned out.”
“From the way you described kissing Gary, that’s like comparing a tea kettle to a volcano. Try dating Gary, for real. What do you have to lose?”
“It wouldn’t be fair to him.” Katie flopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling. “You still don’t get it… I loved Joseph with my whole heart, and he crushed it and left my head screwed up. Gary deserves better.”
Nicole sported her schoolmarm look. “You could be throwing away something really special.”
“Even if I had the courage to try, I could never be with someone as reckless as Gary. I’d be worried sick about him every time he was off doing some daredevil stunt.”
“Maybe he’d be willing to tone down his adventures a little bit.”
“But he shouldn’t have to. He doesn’t know how much time he has left, so he wants to make the most of every moment,” said Katie.
“That’s true for everyone. None of us should take our time on earth for granted. Seems to me, Gary could be really good for you. You said he was super encouraging when you told him about Joseph.”
“I’ve already admitted he’s amazing. It would be easy to fall in love with him. And that’s exactly why we can’t date after we leave here. Honestly, it’s probably better that he’s backing off already. If we’d spent the entire week dating, it would’ve been a lot harder to stop at the end.”
Nicole held her breath and puffed out her cheeks, like a pressure cooker about to blow up. “Your crazy almost-logic drives me nuts.”
A knock at the door made Katie jump. “Oh! I’ve got to go. Mr. Gherring’s at the door. He’s bringing a work assignment, and then we’re all going into town for lunch.”
“Okay, but this conversation isn’t finished.”
“Talk to you later.” Relieved to escape Nicole’s pressure, Katie hung up and ran to the door to let Steven inside.
“Gary went ahead to the restaurant to save us a lunch spot.” Steven wasted no time, pulling up a chair at her kitchen table and opening his laptop. “I told him we’d be right behind him, as soon as we go over this.”
“Sounds good.” She grabbed her computer from the counter.
“I’m sending you the agenda, plus the list of everyone involved. I’ll let you take care of all the details of the meeting. I’d like all the players to be there in person, if possible, though our Japanese partners could attend remotely, if they need to.”
Katie brought up her emails. “Do you want to meet in the most central location, or fly everyone over here?”
“If we could line this meeting up with my Germany trip, we could hold the meeting in France.”
“So basically, we’ll do this just like the Milan deal. A meeting room at the hotel?” She clicked to download Steven’s list from her email.
They spent the next ten minutes hammering out the details, until Katie felt confident she knew what he wanted.
“I’m so glad I’ve finally got some work to do. I’ve been feeling so guilty.”
Steven shook his head. “We’re way too much alike, Katie. Take my advice and pace yourself. Vacations are good for you.”
“I’ll admit I’m shocked you haven’t worked all week.”
“Yes, until today. My phone has hardly stopped ringing. But I think I have everything under control. And I know you’ll take care of this meeting for me.”