The C.e.o.'S Unplanned Proposal. Karen Whittenburg Toller
came up that way and since she was expecting a call from Caroline about a house-sitting job in Baton Rouge, Katie clicked on, expecting to hear a familiar Mid-western accent. “Hello?”
“Ms. Canton?”
Definitely not Caroline—the tones too crisp and rounded—but perhaps someone else in the office. “Yes?”
“My name is Nell Russell. I work for Adam Braddock, Braddock Industries. Mr. Braddock asked me to call and arrange a time for your visit to Braddock Hall this week. He mentioned he’d spoken with you about it on Friday.”
Katie blinked, a bit taken aback by the way the woman’s voice fairly vibrated with importance every time she said Braddock. And she’d said it a lot in that five-second introduction. “As a matter of fact, he did—”
“Mr. Braddock said that if you hadn’t phoned by nine-thirty this morning, I was to reach you at this number and set up a time for Benson to drive you to Sea Change. I know it’s already ten, but I did want to catch you before you left your office for lunch.”
Katie glanced at the traffic buzzing past, the deli on the corner, the bank across the street, and opened her mouth to say she didn’t have an office. Or have need of one.
“I can arrange a time to call back later today, if it would be more convenient,” Ms. Russell continued, her voice picking up speed. “But Mr. Braddock was very specific in his instructions. It’s important that we arrange a time this week for you to visit Braddock Hall. It’s only a little over six weeks until Mr. Archer Braddock’s birthday, as I’m sure you are aware, and the sooner we get this trip scheduled, the sooner you can get your plans underway for the party.”
Katie plunged in before the last syllable cleared the airwaves. “I’m afraid there’s been a mistake. You see, Mr. Braddock called the wrong—”
“I understand completely,” Nell said, demonstrating that she didn’t listen any better than her employer. Or maybe she wasn’t programmed to accept any possibility that the name, Braddock, and the word, mistake, could occur in the same conversation. “I know you’re very busy, Ms. Canton, and I’ll be brief. I’ve been instructed by Mr. Braddock to put Benson and the Rolls at your disposal and accommodate your schedule for any day this week you’re available. If it would be of any assistance at all, I’m certain Mr. Braddock wouldn’t mind if I helped make the calls necessary to shift your appointments and clear some time on your calendar. So is tomorrow possible for you? Or the day after?”
Katie stepped to the curb, out of the flow of pedestrian traffic, and pressed the phone closer to her ear to cut some of the noise. Although why she should be trying so hard to hear, was difficult to say. A chance to explain the misunderstanding didn’t appear to be on the agenda as Nell Russell barely paused for breath. “Thursday would work almost as well as tomorrow, but Friday is late in the week and the traffic is just terrible and with Mr. Bryce Braddock and Mr. Peter Braddock home for the weekend, I’m afraid you’ll run into more distractions than earlier in the week, but if that’s the only day you can schedule the visit, we will, of course, accommodate you.”
There was a pause, and Katie jumped in, her sense of the ridiculous rising to the occasion. It wasn’t as if anyone was listening to what she said anyway. “As luck would have it, today’s my only free day, so you see, I won’t be able to make that trip after all.”
“Today might work,” Nell said, a lightbulb of possibility going off in her voice. “Hold a moment, please.”
Faster than Katie could backtrack and say, Oh, wait, today won’t work, she was on hold and wondering why she hadn’t specified that today wasn’t even up for consideration. She should just hang up. But Adam Braddock had no doubt instructed his secretary to keep calling until Katie agreed to go.
So why didn’t she? Agree to go, that is. It was her day off and she’d never been to the town of Sea Change, never even heard of it until Adam’s call. She’d never been invited to tour a house with a name, either. That might be fun. Plus, there was the ride in the Rolls to sweeten the temptation.
“Ms. Canton?” Nell was back. “Are you in town, now?”
Hard to deny, since the traffic noise was all around her. “Yes, but—”
“Wonderful. If you’ll give me your directions, Benson will pick you up within the next thirty minutes, drive you to the estate and bring you back this evening. I’m so glad this has worked out. Mr. Braddock would be most upset if we’d failed to make this connection. He’s anxious for you to see Braddock Hall. It’s a lovely place and I’m sure you’ll enjoy the drive down, as well as touring the grounds. This is a good time for you, then?”
Katie debated with her conscience. She would be going under false premises, true. But she hadn’t misled anyone and she had tried to correct the misunderstanding. While only a precocious preteen, she’d adopted the physicians’ creed of First, Do No Harm as her own…and really, what harm could there be in her going for a drive with Benson in the Rolls? Adam Braddock was no closer to finding a legitimate party planner whether she took a ride in his car or not. And she could always figure out some way to pay Benson for the gas. She knew she’d regret not taking the chance and, when all was said and done, her main goal in living was to end every day with as few regrets as possible.
“Now is the perfect time for me,” she said, decision made. “Tell Benson, I’ll be waiting on the corner of—” She glanced up at the street signs, “Weybosset and Orange whenever he arrives. And thank you.” Katie clicked off the phone, dropped it into the depths of her bag, and gave her new crop of curls a saucy toss to shake off the nagging voice of reproach.
Okay, so she could have, probably should have, tried harder to explain. But life was short and she’d vowed to experience all that it offered with her chin up, and her hopes high. She owed that much to the family she’d lost so long ago that she couldn’t even remember their smiles. She owed that much and more to the lost little girl she once had been. To live every moment as if it were a gift was the only promise she’d ever made to herself…and right or wrong, she was taking a ride in Adam Braddock’s Rolls-Royce. She was going to enjoy every moment of the experience, too. And if tomorrow it still seemed necessary, she’d do her penance by looking up party planners in the Yellow Pages and phoning Nell with a selection of names and phone numbers. It was the least she could do.
Someone in the milling crowd jostled her as the light changed from Don’t Walk to Walk. As people moved past her into the crosswalk, busy with their own agendas, she backed up to the wall of the building on the corner and allowed her lips a whimsical grin. Anticipation bubbled inside her, and she felt a little sorry for anyone who wasn’t her, standing on the corner of Weybosset and Orange, waiting for the Rolls to come for her.
SO MUCH FOR ANTICIPATION, she thought as she stepped into the back of the silver-gray automobile and came face-to-face with Adam Braddock. What the heck was he doing here? And what would she say when he demanded to know what a waitress was doing climbing into his Rolls-Royce?
“Ms. Canton? I’m Adam Braddock,” he said, glancing up and extending his hand over the top of the small computer on his lap. “So nice to meet you.”
“Hello,” she said, realizing he hadn’t recognized her. Yet. The door closed behind her with a sturdy ka-thud and as it was too late to make a run for it, she settled onto the seat with a soft, leathery sshhplop, and returned his solid handshake with a limp-wrist brush of her fingers. “Nice car.”
His handsome face barely registered a vague smile before his eyes were back on the computer screen. “I’m glad you were able to make the trip to Braddock Hall on such short notice.”
“I, uh, wasn’t expecting to see you.”
“It’s an unexpected trip.” He frowned at the computer screen and typed in a response.
Katie fidgeted on the seat, wishing he’d recognize her and get it over with, thinking this car seat was made of the softest leather ever to come into contact with her own seat, wondering if there was any way she could get out of this