Chapter 5
Sulagna Patel looked at herself in the mirror as she prepared for the night. “He would want me to do this,” she said to herself as she unpinned her earrings and placed them in her ear. She looked down at the dresser where her belongings were resting, noticing a picture of she and her daughter was nestled in the bottom of her jewelry box. As a soft smile crept over her face, she remembered the day that picture was taken.
She reached over for her tablet and set it on the dresser, propping it up on its stand and opening it. With a few clicks, her tablet was buzzing and her daughter appeared in front of her. “Mom, what’s wrong?”
“Just because I call you on the tablet does not mean that anything is wrong,” defended Sulagna. “I just wanted to talk to my daughter for a few minutes.”
Mina laughed as she looked away from the screen before turning back to look at her mother. “What are you all dressed up for? Aren’t you in Sydney?”
“Yes, I am still in Sydney,” she replied softly. “And if you must know, I have accepted an invitation to attend dinner tonight with Jacoby Burgess at his home.”
“What!?” squealed Mina. “Are you kidding me? You’re actually going to go out with another man?”
Sulagna looked panicked. “I mean, yes, is that ok?”
Mina smiled. “Of course it is,” she replied. “Why would it not be ok?”
“Well, your father passed away six months ago and I thought that perhaps it was a bit too soon,” she explained. “I didn’t want to upset you with that news.”
Mina continued to laugh. “Mom, it’s sweet that you would worry about me, but please don’t. I’m incredibly happy that you’re going out with another man tonight. Maybe it will end well for you?” she asked playfully.
“Mina Patel!” scolded Sulagna.
“What? A girl has needs too.”
Sulagna shook her head in disbelief. “I’m also going to be talking to him about the plan that we have in motion regarding the acquisition of Nathanial’s shares in his company. This meeting is also for business, not just pleasure.”
Mina nodded. “Of course,” she said. “I spoke with Hannah and Dillon earlier and they’re both prepared for what all is going on. I also got a text from Dillon a few minutes ago saying that he was surprised at a restaurant in Sydney by Nathanial and Alexis. With that being said, Nathanial could be abreast of everything before the night is over and you could be in for a very awkward phone call.”
“I’m not in Sydney for phone calls,” explained Sulagna. “I will meet with Nathanial tomorrow to explain our position and to make sure the transition goes smoothly.”
“What transition?” asked Mina. “As little as he did before, what makes you think there will be any need for him to do anything now? Jenkins is useless now just as he has been for the past few years.”
Sulagna shook her head. “Mina, we always try to treat people with dignity, no matter their short comings.”
“Yeah, and in business, he has plenty of short comings,” quipped Mina. “I’ll make sure everything is running smooth here in Wellington. Don’t worry about me and have fun tonight. Even if it’s just for business, you deserve to have a good time.”
“Thank you, Mina.”
“I love you, mom. Have fun.”
Sulagna ended the conversation with her daughter so that she could continue to get ready. She walked over to the closet and grabbed the turquoise dress that she picked out earlier and slipped it on before walking over to the other side of the room and putting on the black shoes she wore earlier in the day. With beautiful gold studs in her ears and a golden pendant around her neck, Sulagna looked elegant and ready for the night’s dinner. She grabbed her belongings and walked downstairs to find a taxi waiting for her. She stepped in the back, giving the man the address before taking off toward Jacoby’s penthouse, which fortunately, was only a few blocks over.
After a quick, five-minute trek through the city, Sulagna arrived at Jacoby’s apartment building. She walked up a small flight of stairs to find the doorman waiting on her, where she immediately introduced herself before being allowed to walk in. “You look beautiful, ma’am,” said the polite doorman as he turned his key in the slot by the elevator to open it for her and allow her access to Jacoby’s penthouse.
“Thank you,” she replied as she stepped on the elevator with the doors closing behind her. She looked around the plain elevator as soft music played overhead. Without a stop, she arrived at the top floor of the building within a minute; stepping straight off into the foyer of Jacoby’s penthouse apartment. She walked in and immediately took in the scenery. The room was dark, possessing a warm ambience as she walked slowly along the walnut hardwood floors. She turned her head and admired the artwork on the cream-colored walls, noticing the painted images of women and children filling the space, providing an aura of comfort.
She walked through the foyer and entered the living room, noticing the same ambience about it and how it connected to a small eating area where the table was already set for the two of them. “He went all out,” she thought to herself as she continued to analyze his dwellings. The kitchen was right behind the table, connecting seamlessly to living room.
“I see you found my domicile,” announced Jacoby as he walked in from a hallway. “Did the doorman give you any grief?”
“Men don’t give me grief, Jacoby,” she said with a stern, yet somewhat playful look. “They allow me to do what I want, when I want.”
Jacoby chuckled. “Is that how your marriage was so successful?” he joked.
“I’m sure that’s how your marriage was,” she retorted quickly. “It is always in a man’s best interest to allow the woman to control things.”
“I don’t know how I feel about being controlled,” he replied playfully. “In all seriousness, how was trip here? Did you find it ok?”
Sulagna smiled. “I gave the driver the address from my phone and he brought be right here. There was nothing difficult about it.”
Jacoby nodded. “Fair enough,” he replied. “I can give you the grand tour if you’d like, but this is pretty much it. There are three bedrooms behind me but everything in my penthouse is pretty much up here.”
“I love how open it is,” she said.
“Aye, that was a must for me,” he replied. “I love how everything out here connects. There is a space to eat, a space to entertain and a space to cook, but there aren’t any transition points. There are no doors or walls separating the area, which ultimately, I love.”
Sulagna nodded. “It’s also very warm in here. I love the dark colors and the ambience.”
Jacoby smirked. “Thanks, that was another thing that I really wanted to have. I prefer, if at all possible, to live in a cave. I think better, sleep better, and ultimately just live better if I’m in a dark, warm setting.”
“That’s good to know,” she continued. “So, you summoned me here to feed me?” joked Sulagna as she looked around the apartment.
“I did, and if you’d like to have a seat, I’ll bring it right to you,” replied Jacoby. “It just finished.”
The two sat in the dining room of Jacoby’s penthouse and looked over the food he prepared: baked chicken with a lemon Alfredo sauce served on a bed of angel hair pasta with steamed asparagus. As she stared at the beauty in front of her, admiring Jacoby’s handwork in the kitchen and how he was able to prepare a dish so magnificent in such a short time, her thoughts continued to dwell on what she was doing there. “Am I disgracing the memory of my husband?” she thought to herself as she still examined the food in front of her. With her mind wandering, she did her best to suppress it. Appearing to be invested in Jacoby and why she chose to come to eat with him. Her mission was simple: ensure that he was on board with the takeover. Though torn, thinking about what she needed to do and say kept her motivated as well as driven.
“Is it ok?” asked Jacoby as he noticed Sulagna staring at the food. “I can always call in something if this isn’t up to par.”
“Oh no,” she replied, shaking her head out of her trance. “This is beautiful. I was simply amazed at how perfect this looks.”
Jacoby grinned as he poured a glass of red wine and placed it in front of his plate. “Red?” he asked as he held the bottle out and offered it to Sulagna, who nodded softly. He reached over and poured the wine into the glass in front of her plate before placing the cork back in it. “I remember at one time you preferred red, but your husband and daughter both preferred white. How awkward did that make wine purchases at your home?”
“It wasn’t awkward at all,” she replied with a cheeky smile on her face. “I bought all of the wine.”
“Hah!” he laughed. “You’re a woman who knows how to get what she wants,” he stated with a coy smile before sitting down in the chair adjacent to Sulagna. “Have you always been this way?”
Sulagna reached forward and grabbed her wine. “Honestly, ever since I could remember,” she said as she brought the glass up to her lips and sipped on it. “When I was a child in Delhi, my father encouraged me to speak my mind and my grandfather demanded it. He lived through the end of the colonial periods in India when they drove out England, so he instilled in my father the need to stand up for oneself when oppressed. My father, never oppressed by a foreign country, encouraged me to be my own woman and forge my own path. You see, the caste system in India is a real thing, and, though my family’s status allowed us to operate in the upper echelon, the Brahman caste, my father felt that the system was archaic and hampered the human spirit.”
“What do you mean?” asked Jacoby. “I thought the caste system was a product of the Hindu religion?”
“It is,” she replied as she reached for the fork resting beside her plate. “It centers on the concept of reincarnation and how if one lives a good life, they will be reborn in an elevated class. My father, against the wishes of his family and my mother, turned his back on the Hindu religion and converted the entire family to Catholicism, something that I still practice to this day. We started giving to the community, especially to those who were less fortunate than us. My father was an engineer, responsible for building and designing roads and buildings. He amassed a fortune through hard work, determination, and always making sure that he was prepared; something that he instilled in me. However, with the caste system in India, no matter how hard you work or how determined you are, you can never escape that rung on the ladder.”
“To counter that though, no matter how poorly you perform, you will never be relegated,” quipped Jacoby, using a football reference to pique Sulagna’s interest. “One could say that the caste system is like a football league where there are no penalties for poor performance.”
Sulagna took a bite of the chicken as she listened to Jacoby’s remarks. “Right, but there is also no reward for exemplary performance either,” she replied, swallowing the small bite before answering him. “The entire point of the caste system is to reward people for their work at the end of their lives. Many of my best employees were supposedly of a lower caste and I helped to elevate them to a life that was better than those above them. However, because of their beliefs, they were always stuck in that caste, even though they had bettered themselves right then. It’s a faulty system and one that really should be adjusted.”
“But you would have to adjust the teachings of an entire religion,” stated Jacoby. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“It probably isn’t, but, if there is a will, there is a way,” smiled Sulagna. “When people are involved, anything can happen.”
Jacoby laughed as he started to eat, slicing into his food while Sulagna continued to eat. “So how did your late husband handle your definitive attitude?”
Sulagna smiled at the reference of Amin, conjuring up fond memories of him again. “Honestly, we were very similar in that we both knew how to go out and get what we wanted, something that, fortunately, our daughter also possesses. He was in medicine and loved saving lives. He lived to enrich his patients’ quality of life instead of just prolonging it. Amin wanted to change the world by fighting the diseases that crippled it. He cared deeply for all the people he came into contact with, not just his patients or his family. Amin pushed me to become a better person just as, I hope, I pushed him as well.”
“When it came to what Amin wanted, especially for his family or for his patients, he would not waiver or compromise,” continued Sulagna as she sipped on her wine. “He was just as stubborn as I am for the most part, especially when it came to our daughter. Mina had to have the best of everything. She had to have the best education and be surrounded by the best people. I had to dial Amin back slightly when it came to Mina’s friends, because unfortunately, no amount of influence we have would have impacted our daughter and her decision making when it came to them. I strove to empower Mina to make great decisions while Amin struggled a bit with this. He wanted the best for his daughter but he didn’t want to let her fail, which fortunately, I was able to convince him was acceptable.”
Jacoby chuckled as he swallowed a large bite. “I understand that completely,” he stated as he took a sip of his wine. “Annette was a wonderful woman, but when it came to our children, she was the ultimate micro-manager. She tried to regiment every second of their days to ensure that they achieved maximum productivity.”
“So, she treated child rearing like a business?”
“Isn’t it?” rhetorically asked Jacoby. “When you really get down to it, what’s so different about running a business and raising a child? You have to schedule them, train them, analyze their performance, set standards, and hold them to it. Raising a child is just like running a business because it is success oriented.”
Sulagna thought for a moment while she chewed. “You can’t fire a child,” she replied quickly. “No matter how they perform, you cannot terminate them.”
“Well no, you can’t, but that really is one of the few differences,” continued Jacoby. “I mean, you don’t even have to like them, just like employees. Everything is about results and performance and when it comes down to it, children are like employees who have really good contracts.”
She laughed as she took another bite, looking down to see her plate was already halfway empty. “There’s more in the kitchen if you’d like for me to get you some,” said Jacoby with a sense of satisfaction. “I’d hate for my good cooking to go to waste.”
“It’s fantastic,” she replied politely. “I don’t think I’ll be able to finish this plate, much less another helping; but thank you.” She paused briefly as she grabbed another bite and placed it in her mouth. “So how long did it take you to really realize that your wife was gone?”
Jacoby nodded slowly as he listened to Sulagna, clearly bothered but knowing she meant well. “It took a good year before I quit coming home and thinking she’d be here.”
“It took a year?”
“Yes,” he continued. “The way that I’ve always worked, I would take time away from home because of work, but whenever I came home, I knew she’d be here waiting on me. I always thought I’d walk in, discover a great smell from the kitchen, then find her waiting on me to give me a warm embrace and telling me that she loves me. After about a year, I finally stopped coming home and thinking she would be here. I finally reached a point where I knew she was gone.”
Sulagna shook her head. “I guess we all process grief differently,” she said as she sipped on her wine. “I knew the day after the funeral that Amin was gone. It was a very difficult period of days, and while I still dwell on the memories of him, I’ve already gotten to a point where I feel that I’m over his loss.”
“Are you ever really over the loss?” asked Jacoby. “To this day, I still miss Annette.”
“Of course I still miss him, but, he was sick for so long, I feel like I prepared myself for him to leave me,” she explained. “As difficult as it was, I knew it was going to be tough so I prepared myself for it. Unfortunately, there is no amount of preparation that makes losing a loved one easier, but I feel I did the best that I could. My mind still wanders and I still miss him, but I feel I’ve done the best that I can to keep my mind right and move on past his loss.”
“My mind is always dwelling on Annette,” said Jacoby as a small smile crept over his face. “I always think back about how she interacted with our children and how great of a mother she was to them. How lucky they were to have her in their lives.”
Sulagna smiled while looking across the table. “I suppose both of our late spouses were great for our children.”
“I guess so,” answered Jacoby. “I mean, Annette and I had a wonderful relationship and I will always love her, but I feel that she would want me to be happy. I feel like, after two and a half years, it’s time to start moving on.” He paused briefly as he looked at Sulagna as her mind started to wander a bit and her eyes looked away. “Dealing with grief is not something that comes easy and it is different for everyone.”
“I know,” replied Sulagna. “Everything that I have read says that everyone deals with grief differently and that there are no two similar instances or scenarios. As much as I wish that there were a sure-fire solution, I’m afraid that is impossible.”
Jacoby nodded. “Do you like to have quick results?”
“I prefer a more proven method,” she continued. “I’ve always been one to ensure that the path is, not only well traveled, but verified repeatedly before traversing. It’s always served me well, except for in this instance when I really want to ensure my grief is kept to a minimum.”
“Again, I understand,” said Jacoby in a comforting tone as he pushed himself away from the table. “Can I get you anything else?” he asked as he reached down to grab Sulagna’s empty plate. “I have a lot more where this came from. Unfortunately, I never learned how to cook for two people.”
“No, I’m full, but thank you,” she said with a warm smile. “Dinner was fabulous. I don’t think I have had a meal like that in a long time. Do get me the recipe so that I might try to copy it sometime for when my daughter comes to visit.”
He smiled as he walked around a column and into the kitchen, looking over a counter at Sulagna. “I can do that,” he said as he placed both of their plates in the sink and started to wash them by hand. “Do you cook for your daughter often?”
“Whenever I can,” she answered politely. “I love my daughter and I talk to her every day, though there are times when we go weeks without seeing each other in person, especially now that she is in Wellington.”
“Ah yes. She moved to the land of the kiwis. How has that been for her?”
Sulagna reached forward and grabbed her wine, sipping from the glass slowly before answering Jacoby. “She loves it, especially, and I didn’t see this coming, working with Robert Acostis.”
“She likes working with that asshole?” remarked Jacoby crudely as he placed the dishes in the drying rack beside the sink. “I can think of hundreds of words that describe Robert Acostis and all of them are similar to what I just referred to him as.”
“Well, he is an ass, but he is a very smart one,” she said, defending him lightly. “Robert is, without question, one of the shrewdest businessmen I have ever had the pleasure of working with. He is a stalwart in corporate acquisitions and, to my surprise, someone whom I will always love to have on my team.”
Jacoby walked around the column to sit down beside Sulagna at the table. “Really?” he asked rhetorically. “I honestly thought you didn’t have much to say about him other than he resembled a leach instead of a professional.”
“Keeping in mind that he is very good at flipping businesses, he sold me on some of the ideas that are going on right now involving the south pacific and more specifically, the company that you are an owner of,” she explained as she the subject changed to become a lot more professional. “When I allowed for the admission of his company, there were several caveats that had to be dealt with. For one, I wanted to make sure that Dillon Flannigan was a vital part of it and that Robert had no intentions of selling it for a quick profit. As I’m sure you’re aware, Dillon has become the President of that company and Robert has signed an agreement that he will not sell any of his shares to anyone outside of the consortium for the next ten years. With that being said, I had other dealings working behind the scenes.”
Jacoby leaned forward and reached for his wine, sipping from the glass as he listened in with a curious intent. “Like what?”
Sulagna grinned as she tilted her head to the side. “Jacoby, I need you to take this part very seriously and not get your feelings hurt. The past three years have been…”
“I know, Sulagna,” he said in a calm tone. “These past three years have been terrible for me personally and professionally. I, unfortunately, was not in a state to help my company at all and pretty much left Nathanial to screw everything up.”
“And that he did,” she responded with a soft hint of sarcasm. “He left the company to a man who swindled you and ran it into the ground. It’s not your fault at all that your company almost went into bankruptcy.”
Jacoby motioned with his arms, as he tried to defend Nathanial. “Sulagna, I honestly believe that I could have done much more than what I actually did. I just, well, I couldn’t manage to figure out how to get over my grief and get out of whatever funk I was in.” He paused while he looked down at the table in shook his head. “Yes, I agree that Nathanial Jenkins is an absolute buffoon, but I still feel that I could have done more to save the company. The blame is still partially on me.”
“We’re not saying that you are completely not reproachable, but what I am saying, personally, is that the decisions that were made were not your fault,” she explained. “Yes, you had a responsibility to your company, your employees, and your shareholders, but in reality, none of the decisions that were made were yours. They were all made as a result of Nathanial Jenkins. Because of this, the consortium feels that he needs to step aside.”
“So you want him to resign?”
“We want him to sell his shares to Dillon Flannigan so that he can have the majority stake in the company,” she explained.
“So, who all isn’t on board with this plan?” he asked as he slowly pushed himself away from the table to grab some more wine. “I mean, I don’t have much of a say regarding this deal, so my opinion is absolutely irrelevant.”
Sulagna stood up and grabbed her wine glass to meet Jacoby in the kitchen, walking around the counter and onto the tile floor. “That’s not true,” she said as she placed her glass close to the bottle. “You will have to run the day to day operations of the Australian company, just as you have done over the past few months. You will have to resume the role of being the fantastic businessman that is hungry and won’t stop at nothing to get what he wants.”
Jacoby smiled as he noticed Sulagna was standing close to him. “So, you want me to go get what I want?”
“Yes, that’s what I want you to do.”
Jacoby leaned in and kissed Sulagna on the lips as he held a glass of wine in his left hand and the bottle in his right. With their lips touching, Sulagna wrapped her left arm around his waist and pulled herself in closer to him. He lifted his head and looked down slightly at Sulagna, who was a few inches shorter than him. “Do you still want me to get what I want?” he asked with a seductive look in his eyes.
Sulagna turned around and placed her glass of wine on the counter before placing both of her arms around his neck, bringing her body in close to his. “I think we both might want the same thing,” she quipped as she leaned in to kiss him. Jacoby stepped forward with Sulagna’s arms around his neck, their lips touching, to place the bottle of wine and his glass on the counter beside hers so that he could place his hands on her waist, pulling her to him. He moved his hands up and down the small of her back, massaging the muscles between her shoulder blades before working his way down to her butt. With a light moan, Sulagna moved as close to him as she could, pressing her hot core against his crotch to feel it starting to grow. She let go of her grip around his neck and began moving with him to the couch.
She turned around to face him once their feet touched the rug in the center of the living room. She immediately reached up to pull the straps off both of her shoulders, allowing her turquoise dress to fall innocently to the ground. She stood in front of him wearing a white bra with lace around the top and the straps with matching bikini cut panties that fit snugly across her hips. With a seductive grin across her face, she waited patiently as Jacoby came closer, placing his arms around her hips, drawing her forward. They immediately locked in a passionate embrace as she wrapped her arms around his neck again, placing her half-naked body against his before running her hands down across the sides of his neck and down to his chest to start unbuttoning his shirt. As she started at the top, working her way down, she pulled the shirt out of his pants and opened it to reveal his bare chest.
Jacoby brought his hands up to the middle of Sulagna’s back, unhooking her bra while she moved her hands down to his pants to unclasp his belt and remove his dark slacks. Within seconds, her bra and his pants were on the floor. She placed both of her dark hands on his shoulders and pushed him down on the couch before straddling his legs, pressing her bare breasts against his chest. Her lips touched his as they continued to kiss enthusiastically in the dark living room while their hands wandered all over each other’s bodies. “Are you alright?” asked Sulagna as she began kissing his neck. “I’m not rushing you, am I?”
“Absolutely not,” replied Jacoby in a sense of ecstasy. “I’ve been needing this for quite some time and honestly, I’ve been wanting you for a long while.”
“Well I’m happy I can oblige,” she said playfully as she reached down in between her legs and placed her right hand on his crotch, still feeling his boxer briefs. She reached into the slit to pull out his throbbing cock so that she could commence stroking it softly with the tips of her fingers as she kissed his neck. She worked her hand slowly around the tip of his cock as her lips worked their way down to his shoulders and then back up to his cheeks and lips. After moments of teasing him, he placed his hands on her hips and lifted her up placing her beside him on the couch. He settled in between her legs to fervently kiss her while he moved his cock around on top of her white panties.
His kisses slowly worked their way down her chest, stopping at her breasts to lick her nipples, causing her to moan with each flick of his tongue. He moved his right hand down to her panties and pushed them aside so his hand could explore her small bush, before moving lower through her slick folds. Her back arched as he penetrated her with his fingers and his mouth continued to work on her breasts, putting her in a state of euphoria as he focused on all her more sensitive areas. He continued to lick her nipples and finger her deeply before pulling his body down further and removing his hand from inside of her panties so that he could pull them off and toss them to the side. Jacoby looked down at her cunny, noticing how it was perfectly trimmed and very well kept up. He kissed his way down before spreading her lips and using the same motion on her clitoris that he used on her nipples.
She moaned passionately as he continued to lick her clit, flicking his tongue up and down as he slowly inserted his two fingers back into her wet pussy. Using his left hand to keep her lips open, he flicked his tongue with precision as the muscles in her stomach started to flex. “More,” she moaned as he continued, bringing her closer to the brink of orgasm. His fingers pulsated inside of her, moving in and out in a steady rhythm while his tongue continued to move in sweeping circles. Quickly the muscles in her vagina began to tense until they all contracted simultaneously and she let out a passionate scream. “Oh, my god!” she screamed as she climaxed with Jacoby still moving his fingers and tongue in a perfect rhythm. She placed her hand on his head and pressed it firmly into her pussy as she continued to climax, holding the moment as long as she could until she finally released him.
“Was that acceptable?” he asked sarcastically, looking on at Sulagna as she stared at him with a devilish intent. She leaned up on the couch, grabbing him by his shirt, pulling him on top of her. Their lips immediately locked as she reached down to grab his underwear so she could remove them. She pulled them down slightly and Jacoby did the rest, allowing Sulagna to grab his cock. Pulling him forward slightly by his cock, she placed it against her soaking wet cunny, rubbing the tip of it against her lips before pushing the head in. She fell backwards as she held onto his shirt, pulling him down with her and allowing him to shove his throbbing cock further inside of her. As she pulled her hips up, the shaft moved into her pussy as he fell on top of her body.
Jacoby thrust his hips with force as Sulagna kept her hips up, allowing him to pound her as she felt his cock moving inside of her. With each forceful thrust, Sulagna let out a small moan as he continued to build closer to climax. He thrust his hips repeatedly as his shaft moved inside of her, felling the inside of her center rub against his shaft. He moaned slightly as he started to feel his cock tingle, knowing that he was moving closer to orgasm. “Do it,” she said as she looked him in the eyes. “I want to feel you erupt inside of me.”
He smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck with his cock starting to throb. He started to thrust harder as he got closer until he finally came, emitting a large amount of cum inside of her wet pussy. With a loud moan from both of them, he continued to thrust as he climaxed, riding it out until the very end. After a while, he pulled out, breathing heavily as he looked at Sulagna and smiled. “That was incredible,” he said as he fell back into the arm of the couch. “I don’t think I could ask for an experience that good again.”
Sulagna laughed as she remained on her back, looking across her naked body at Jacoby leaning against the arm of the couch. “Oh, we’re going to try again,” she said with a foreshadowing tone. “This was not a one night stand or a friends with benefits situation. Tomorrow night, you’re taking me out for a real date in Sydney.”
“Yes ma’am,” replied Jacoby. “I would want nothing more than to show you a great time.”
“I look forward to it,” she said. “I absolutely look forward to it.”