Karen Whittenburg - The C.e.o.'S Unplanned Proposal

“Good. I’ll tell Nell to expect your call.”

Katie sighed, wishing for the first time that Adam Braddock hadn’t gotten her number by mistake. “Yes, well, thanks for calling. Bye, now.”

“Ms. Canton?”

The authority in his voice caught her before she could hang up. “Yes?”

“You’ll need my office number.”

“Oh, right.”

He gave it to her in clipped, no-nonsense terms. “Got that?”

Right. “Sure thing,” she said.

“You’ll call Monday, and ask for Nell.”

“Nell.” Katie wrote the name in the air beside the phone number and watched it disappear. “Got it.”

“Good. Nell will get the particulars to you…date, time, guest list.” He paused.

Katie thought he must be realizing his mistake. “Having second thoughts?” she asked cheerfully.

“No. I was wondering if I should arrange to meet with you myself.”

“I know a great little restaurant downtown. The Torrid Tomato.” Her smile curved in delightful anticipation of that meeting. “I could meet you there practically any day at noon.”

“No, that won’t be necessary,” he said hastily. “I’m sure you’ll work out just fine.”

Okay, now she was offended. “Mr. Braddock,” she began in earnest…and was immediately interrupted.

“Adam,” he corrected. “And shall I call you Kate?”

“I prefer Katie.” No one but her dad had ever called her Kate, and she’d just as soon keep it that way. Not that Adam Braddock was apt to be calling her anything close to her name once he realized he’d offered a waitress ten thousand dollars—and the use of his Rolls-Royce—to plan a birthday party. “And we should probably stick with Mr. Braddock and Ms. Canton. Keep things strictly business, you know.”

She could imagine his frown. Adam Braddock was accustomed to getting his way. “Whatever you think, Ms. Canton. I’ll tell Nell to expect your call, first thing Monday morning.”

Katie let her widening smile carry over into her voice, coloring her words with the good humor that invariably accompanied her sense of the ridiculous. “Sure thing, Mr. Braddock. And, really, thanks a million for calling. Yours is the best offer I’ve received in months.”

Then she clicked off the cell phone, certain that was the last she’d be hearing from Adam Braddock.

The cell phone rang just as Katie walked out the front door of Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow. She’d chosen the salon because it was only a short walk from the bus stop and because the name struck her as funny. And appropriate. In a couple of weeks she’d be gone, on her way to another place, a change of scene, the next new adventure of her life. She liked Providence, could see herself spending a year or two or three or more here. But the longer she stayed, the harder it would be to leave and there were other cities she wanted to experience, other places she wanted to see. Moving around was the way she exercised her restless spirit and kept her personality on its toes. It was the way she celebrated the lives of the family she’d lost, the way she made amends for being the only survivor. Change was always a positive in her opinion, a necessary discomfort, and in deference to that creed, her hair was gone…well, a lot of it, anyway.

The phone rang again and she pulled her curious fingers away from the springy cap of natural curls to reach into her bag for the phone. The Caller ID read Unavailable, but in some cities, the listing agency’s number 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?”