“Jeff?” I direct my gaze at the flustered executive.
“Of course, Sydney. Verve turned out great, beyond expectations actually. Ben Walton requested you personally, I told you that.”
I finally move to Oliver and meet his steely gray eyes. I don’t know him from Adam’s house cat, so I pretty much don’t care what he says, but I don’t want to leave him out of the discussion.
“I could care less about your friends.” He shrugs, then resumes rubbing his hand across his chin.
Good.
“Then we’re in agreement. I’ll start sketching and pulling colors and textures and we can meet back on Thursday?”
Everyone agrees and I stand, shake everyone’s hands and say goodbye, leaving Jeff Talley silent and stunned in conference room six of the Warren Hotel, London.
Chapter 16
“No way!” Leah exclaims as I recount the events of the meeting I just left. “I cannot believe you told him off! It’s about time.”
“I know,” I respond as I pop another sushi roll in my mouth.
Leah wanted to meet out for lunch at her favorite sushi bar near Kensington Gardens. I have to admit, it’s really good.
“So, what are you going to do about the article?”
Okay, I’m confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, when Drew sees you out with Adam Reynolds, he’s going to go apeshit.”
“I … I guess I hadn’t thought about it.” All of a sudden my stomach hurts too much to eat. I push my food away and start freaking out. Shit! I’m so freaking stupid. Me and my damn denial! Drew is going to think I left him and jumped into bed with Adam. A man he told me that he wants to beat to a pulp.
“Syd, you don’t look well.” Leah’s brows pinch together in concern.
“What time is it in Vancouver?” I ask, my voice cracking from stress.
Don’t cry. New Sydney doesn’t cry over stupid shit like tabloids.
“Ummm, it’s 1pm here, so I think that makes it 3am? Why?”
I pull out my phone. “I need to text Jane. Do you think it’s too early? Or is this an emergency?”
Leah puts her hand on mine. “Put that away. Let’s go back to the hotel, order up some margaritas, and figure this out. Okay?”
Shaking, I nod and throw my phone back into my bag. Leah slaps a pile of British pounds down on the table and we hurry out of the restaurant. I flag down a black cab and tell the driver to take us to the Warren.
We decide to go to my suite instead of Leah’s so we can have privacy. Ryker is on set today, but there’s always a chance he’ll wrap early or God forbid, Adam might stop by.
Leah grabs the hotel phone and orders a pitcher of margaritas, a plate of cheese and fruit and “to soak up the alcohol” she mouths to me, a piece of chocolate lava cake. She slams down the phone and sits next to me on the couch.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” she asks me.
My eyes bug out in disbelief. “What? I thought you had an idea? You’re the one who made me put my phone away! My plan was to text Jane and ask her what her plan is!” I shriek at Leah, now in a complete panic.
“That’s your entire plan?” She sounds as if she thinks I’m the dumbest person on earth.
“This is your fault!” I jump up and point at her. “You ambushed me with Adam Reynolds! You know how much trouble he caused me and Drew! How the hell does he even know Ryker?”
“Sydney, it wasn’t an ambush! He’s a friend of yours, or he was a friend. I knew you were sad and going through a hard time. I thought you’d want to see another friendly face. I didn’t think it would end up in the tabloids!”
“Everything I do ends up in the tabloids. Hell, Leah, everything Ryker and Adam do probably ends up in the tabloids! We should have thought of this. It’s actually the one thing that we could have guaranteed would happen! So why was Adam there?”
“Adam knows Ryker from the movie. His band is doing the soundtrack so he’s been on set to get inspiration to write the songs. He didn’t even know you were coming here. He was shocked just to see me at the studio since he had no idea I was dating Ryker. Damn, I’m sorry Syd.”
A sharp rap on the door lets us know that room service is here. I stalk over to let them in, then remember how Drew yelled at me for not being careful enough. I step back and peer through the peephole to confirm who it is. Seeing the black and white hotel uniform, I open the door. See, I’m learning.
The young man pushes in a huge silver cart with a crisp white tablecloth draped over it. Our enormous pitcher of margaritas is in the center, with the food on either side.