Eloise

The next morning, after being up all night thinking, I pulled Talia’s business card from my purse and gave her a call.

“Talia Springwater,” she answered.

“Hi, Talia. My name is Eloise Moore and a mutual friend of ours, Jeff Woodsbury, said that you were interested in me being a guest speaker for your seminar next weekend.”

“Ah, yes. Eloise. I’m so happy you called. I would love to have you as a guest speaker. I’ve researched your blog and I’ve watched your YouTube channel. I must say, you really caught my attention with your #Delete concept. My seminar is about empowering women in every aspect of their life and personal growth, and I think your talk about #Delete and guys behaving badly would fit in perfectly. I think too many women sit around and waste their time with a guy who isn’t serious about them. Lord knows I’ve done it many times.”

“Thank you, Talia. After giving it some thought, I’d love to be a guest speaker.”

“Excellent! Are you available for lunch tomorrow afternoon at Bryant Park Grill, say around twelve thirty?” I’d love to meet you first and tell you a little bit about my seminars.”

“Twelve thirty would be great. I’ll see you there.”

“Thank you, Eloise, for getting in touch. I look forward to meeting you.”

I ended the call and sat there for a moment while I sipped my coffee. I was startled by a knock on my door. Getting up from the table, I looked out the peep hole and asked who it was.

“I have a delivery for Miss Eloise Moore,” the young man spoke.

I opened the door and he handed me a large envelope marked “fragile.”

“Thank you.” I smiled as I shut the door.

I noticed the return address was from Christian’s firm, Blake Group. Opening the envelope, I pulled out three large Chanel campaign photos with a note from Christian.

Here are the final photos for the Chanel campaign. I thought you’d like to have a copy of each for your portfolio. The people over at Chanel loved them and are very pleased. Thank you again for being a part of the campaign. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.

Christian Blake

I stared at his name for a moment until the sudden ring of my phone startled me. Picking it up, I saw it was Natalie calling.

“Hello,” I answered.

“I just found out Nathan has a girlfriend that he’s been living with for about six months.”

“How did you find out?”

“A couple came in and wanted to hire me for their son’s birthday party. We got to talking and she mentioned her brother was an architect. I asked her his name and she said Nathan.”

“Do you know how many people in New York have siblings named Nathan?”

“Who lives on Long Island and just went on a business trip to Hawaii that he can’t stop talking about?”

“Oh. I’m sorry, Natalie.”

“Me too. But you said right from the start something was off. I should have listened to you after he cancelled our second and third date at the last minute.”

“You know what to do, right?” I asked.

“Already done, sista!”

“Do you need some friend time?”

“Nah. I’m okay. Just another douchebag to toss into the sea.”

I let out a light laugh. “The sea is going to be overfilled with them shortly.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Eloise. I have a client meeting in ten.”

“Okay. Bye.”

I continued looking at the photos and thought that maybe I should send Christian a text message thanking him for sending them over. He could have brought them himself, but he didn’t because he knew I wouldn’t want to see him. I respected him for that. It was obvious to me that he was already over our breakup. It didn’t surprise me, though; men usually recovered quicker than women did.

It was the middle of the afternoon, and after I finished filming another video, I decided to take my laptop to Starbucks, order a coffee, and edit my video there. I needed to get out of this apartment. As I was editing, I happened to look up and see Christian standing in line. Instantly, my heart started racing. What was he doing here in the middle of the afternoon? He didn’t see me, but then again, he wasn’t looking around. He ordered his drink and stood in the pickup line while it was being made. This was my opportunity to thank him for the photos since I couldn’t text him. But did I want to? Texting him was one thing, but doing it in person was another. He grabbed his coffee from the counter and started heading towards the door. I wrestled with the do I or don’t I. The do I won.

“Christian,” I yelled.

He turned his head and looked at me. He stood still for a moment and then made his way over to my table.

“Hello, Eloise.”

“Hi. I’m happy I saw you here. I got the photos you sent over this morning. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I thought it would be a nice addition to your portfolio.” He lightly smiled.

Now the awkwardness set in. Neither one of us knew what to say to each other.

“So what are you doing here in the middle of the afternoon?” I asked.

“I had a meeting not too far from here. I’m heading back to the office now. Are you working?” He pointed to my laptop.

“Yeah. I’m editing a video.”

“Cool. Well, it was good to see you. Enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Thanks. You too. Hey, Christian?” I spoke as he began to walk away.

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to be a guest speaker for Talia Springwater’s seminar at the PlayStation Theater next weekend.”

“Really? I’ve heard of her. Wow. That’s great, Eloise. Congratulations.” He smiled.

“Thank you. I’m really nervous. I’ve never spoken in front of a large crowd like that before.”

“You’ll do fine.” He winked. “I have to get going.”

“Okay. Catch ya later?” Those damn words just fell out of my mouth and I wanted to die a thousand times over. What the fuck?

He stared at me for a moment and his eyes burned into mine.

“Catch ya later.” He smirked.

After he left, I brought my hand to my forehead and pounded on it.

“You idiot!” I whispered to myself. “What the hell were you thinking?”