Loud applause filled the air as Francisca Douglas finished her goodbye speech. Emily kept smiling as the woman walked from the podium to shake hands and hug those she knew well. She was the only female CFO in the company, and everything she had talked about was food to Emily’s soul. She was more determined than ever to make sure that she got to the peak of her industry.

The applause died down and the host, the CEO himself mounted the podium and began to address them. That was when Emily glanced at her wristwatch and realized that the time was far gone.

She gasped. “Oh my God! What have I done?”

Tom, who was sitting next to her, filled her glass from the bottle of wine on their table.

“What is it?”

“It’s late, Tom. Why didn’t you tell me so much time had passed?”

Tom chuckled. “I thought you were enjoying yourself.”

“Well, yea but I just...” she remembered the plans she had with Liam. “Oh my God! Tom, I need my phone.”

They had handed in their phones as the the launch finished and the conference began. According to their host, technology was the main cause of distraction and he wanted them to be fully focused so they had all submitted their phones to security and she’d forgotten about everything outside the room until just now.

“But you know, we won’t be given our phones until the end of the conference. That should be anytime soon. Is there anyone you need to call? Joe?”

She shook her head. “My..urm..boyfriend,” she replied with difficulty.

Tom was surprised. “Wow! I never knew you had a man. Does he work with you?”

She nodded.

“Is he Joe’s assistant?”

She shook her head.

“So does he hold a special position?”

“No, he is just… can we forget about the topic?”

“Okay, sure,” he stood up. “Let me see if I can get your phone for you. You seem quite disturbed.”

Emily managed a smile. “Thank you.” She watched as Tom walked away and inhaled sharply.

What exactly was she going to tell Liam? She had stood him up again after making promises. She sighed. She really hoped he would understand this time. She watched as Tom spoke with one of the guards. He was a fine looking man and had done exactly what he had promised. At the launch today, he had made it clear to the company press that they were not a couple and now he had brought her to the only conference where top female bosses of the ten best law firms in the country got to speak. It was specifically for women who were interested in pursuing this kind of career and it was exactly what she needed for encouragement. But she knew she still had to work harder.

Tom was coming back, in his hand was her phone. By the time he handed it to her, they had already gotten to the end of the conference and everyone was dispersing so the whole place was noisy.

“Do you want to make a call here? I would suggest you send a text cos you won’t hear what is being said.”

Emily nodded. That was a brilliant idea. That way, she could get to message him without him being suspicious about anything. She was going to apologize about the delay and then assure him that she would be home soon.

She purposely didn’t mention anything about Tom when she was leaving that morning because, she just didn’t want any problem and now, she just hoped that no one else had told him.

Tom had also promised to scrutinize anything that the report was going to release.

“I’m afraid, I have some bad news,” Tom said.

“What is that?” Emily asked, as she typed the message.

“Something happened to the jet and it is still being fixed.”

Emily stood up.

“So, does that mean that we’re not going home tonight?”

Tom nodded, “I have asked for two special rooms for us, so we can stay the night and go back home tomorrow.”

Emily erased everything she wrote and started writing all over again.

“While our rooms are made available, would you mind terribly if we took a walk or perhaps went out to have some fun?”

Emily looked up immediately. “Please, can we stop at a shoe store first?”

Tom laughed. “Well, you told me you are obsessed with shoes, now I believe you.”