“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to be heading back soon anyway.”
“Oh? Your job ended that fast?”
“It was a quick one.” She shrugged. There was no way she was going to mention the job she was on. Esme was cutthroat competitive.
“Kimber is here for the Women’s Weekly gig,” Brett said. “They’ve rolled out the red carpet for her too. It’s been fantastic.”
Esme’s warm expression pinched. “Is that right?”
Oh, this was about to go down in a bad way. Hoping to circumnavigate the storm that was about to erupt, Kimber held out her hand to the man who was patiently standing next to Esme. “Hi. I’m Kimber Klein.”
He shook her hand politely. “Tommy August. So, you’re a model too?”
“Kind of.”
“She told everyone she was retiring, but I guess that was a lie,” Esme said.
“It wasn’t. Brett talked me into something. Like I said, I’m heading back to Ohio real soon.”
“Women’s Weekly wanted Kimber bad. They offered her quite a deal.”
“Is that right? How big a deal was it?”
There was no way she was going to go there. “Look, we better sit down. We were just finishing up our meal.”
Tommy August’s expression warmed, showing that he was on the same page that she was. “Don’t let us keep you.” He wrapped an arm around Esme’s tiny waist. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Kimber.”
“You too. See you, Esme.”
Esme smiled brightly at her, though her eyes were cold. “I hope so, Kimmy.”
And, there it was. Esme was not pleased with her. Not one bit.
After they were escorted toward the back of the restaurant, Brett sat back down with a broad grin. “Looks like you’ve got a little bit of competition there. Esme was not pleased.”
“You spun her up.”
He shrugged. “Nothing wrong with competition. Esme needs to not take so much for granted.”
He didn’t deny it. She realized then that there was also a very good chance that he had probably set it up. Having had more than enough, she placed her napkin to the left of her plate and stood up. “Thank you for the meal but I’m going to get out of here.”
“Kimber, don’t you go anywhere. I’ll take you back to the hotel. We need to discuss a few things anyway.”
“I’ll grab a taxi.”
Brett looked torn between standing up with her and pulling her back down by his side. “What is going on?”
“I have an early call in the morning. I need my sleep, since I’m so old and all.”
“We’ll talk about this next week. Maybe Tuesday, after you’ve calmed down.”
“We won’t. I’m catching a flight out tomorrow night. We’re done.”
“You aren’t. I have some people who want to meet you. They’re planning on it.”
“You’ll have to call them back, Brett.”
He stood up. “Kimber, you’re making a big mistake.” His voice was as cold as she’d ever heard it.
“I don’t think so.” She smiled brightly before walking to the front and asking for her coat. Luckily, the hostess brought her black cashmere coat right away. After slipping it on, along with her gloves and scarf, Kimber stepped out into the dark.
Immediately, she was surrounded by the cacophony of horns and sirens that was New York. Bypassing the waiting taxi, she started walking. Breathed in the fresh air that was tinged with a thousand smells that Shannon would probably find abhorrent.
When her phone rang, she glanced at it, just in case it was about tomorrow’s job.
But it was Gunnar.
She clicked on immediately. “Gunnar. Hey.”
“Hey, yourself.”
“It’s nice to hear from you. Is everything all right?”
“Everything is fine. Listen, I know you don’t need me to fuss but I was worried about you. So will you humor me and let me know that you’re all good?”
It didn’t make her feel very independent, but she didn’t care. “For your information, New York City is as safe as anywhere. It’s probably safer than a lot of other cities half its size.”
“No, baby, I was worried about you and the job and your crazy agent. And you eating.”
In spite of the frigid temps, she got warm all over. “You don’t need to worry so much. It’s been going all right.”
“Sorry, but you don’t sound very convincing.”
Sidestepping a couple standing in the middle of the sidewalk, she smiled. “That’s probably because I don’t feel very convincing. It’s been a long day.”
“I hear a bunch of background noise. Where are you?”
“Walking back to my hotel from the longest dinner ever.”
“By yourself?”
“Yes, but don’t worry. I’m okay. I’ll probably take a taxi soon.”
“Probably? It’s dark, cold, and you’re a beautiful woman walking alone. Kimber, get a taxi.”
“I just needed a moment. Now, how are you?”
“Stressed.”
“I hope I’m not the reason for it.”
“Only a little bit of it.” He sighed. “Actually, I called for some advice, but now I realize I should’ve left you alone. The last thing you need is my problems on your shoulders.”
“What’s going on? And no, I don’t want to be left alone. Actually, I think concentrating on you is going to make my life easier. I need to concentrate on something besides myself right now.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Talk.”
“Fine. Two days ago, we had a surprise home visit from the social worker.”
“You and Jeremy?”
“Yeah. Kimber, when she walked in, I was sitting at the table sipping a beer while Jeremy was cooking us both ramen noodles for supper. His schoolbooks were spread out on the counter too. That’s where he was studying.”
“What’s wrong with that? I thought you told me that he made good grades.”
“He does, but shouldn’t he be sitting at his own little desk or something?”
“Maybe if he was seven.” This guy! His worries were so cute it was almost aggravating. “Gunnar, I’m sure it was fine.”