Always You - A Second Chance Romance

Chapter 5

"So, dinner at 7?" Jess asked.

"Yeah that sounds great! It'll be so nice to see you again," I told her over the phone.

"I know! It's been too long. I'll text you the restaurant," she said.

"Great! Thanks, Jess," I said.

"See you soon!" She replied as we hung up.

An hour later I stepped out of a taxi and walked into a swanky Japanese restaurant. The instrumental modern music filled the restaurant around me. I immediately spotted Jess across the restaurant with her shimmering strawberry red hair. For being Taylor's younger sister, the two of them looked nothing alike except for their natural hair color.

"Hey!" I said as I approached the table. Jess looked up from the menu and her wide smile broke out immediately.

"Emily!" She exclaimed. She jumped up from the table and pulled me into a tight hug. "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"It's been a couple years hasn't it?" I asked, sitting down at the table with her. She nodded excitedly, her red wavy hair bouncing.

"I think so! What's new? We have so much to catch up on," she said. We both started swapping stories from over the last couple of years between dating, marriage, roommates and work. We ordered different sushi rolls and appetizers and shared them as we talked. Taylor and I have known each other since high school, so Jess and I had become friends over the years as well.

"And how's Nick doing?" She asked. I shrugged.

"You know," I said with a shrug. "He's busy with work as always."

"Are things okay?" She asked me, concern washing over her face at my response. I looked down at the sushi on my plate and blinked away some tears, forcing myself to take another bite of food. I nodded to answer her question, afraid I'd start crying if I tried to talk. Even though we were close, Jess and Taylor were also close with Nick. I didn't want to say anything that could cause a rift in their friendship.

"Just busy," I said quickly. "What about you? What happened to that professor guy you were seeing?" Jess laughed.

"I can't believe you remember that!" She said. "He's good, we're not together anymore but we're still friends."

"Just friends?" I asked her with a wink. She laughed, turning a little pink.

"Well, maybe more than that, but we're not dating," she laughed. I laughed with her. We ended the night full of good food, drinks, and laughing our asses off. It felt good to have fun with a friend again. We agreed to make plans to get together again before I flew back home.

The next morning I woke up with a migraine and forced myself to get ready for the conference that had brought me out to Chicago. I met Chris in the hotel lobby and we took a taxi together to the convention center, Chris briefing me on what to expect for the next few days.

"Pay attention to the different booth set ups and what our competitors are doing," Chris remarked as we walked through the convention floor. "Next year we should finally be in the position to exhibit."

"Really?" I asked him. He nodded. We stopped in front of a large booth. Shoes and purses were illuminated beautifully in glass cases. Chris walked around the book, looking at their set up and snapping pictures.

"Next year we have major launches slated for right after the convention," Chris told me as he came back from his reconnaissance. "We'll exhibit the new collection then."

"Makes sense," I said. "Who's going to lead the project?" Chris smiled.

"Oh, I think you know her," he said with a nudge. "We'll talk about the details after the convention wraps Thursday." I couldn't help the excitement inside me at the idea of leading such a huge project for the company.

We continued winding our way through the convention. Booths of all different sizes and intricacy had filled the convention center. Shoes and bags of all different shapes and styles were displayed for prospective customers, competitors, and press to view. As we walked through the hall, Chris repeatedly got stopped by prior co-workers and other reputable names in the fashion industry. We could barely walk past a booth without getting stopped. Eventually, I broke apart from Chris and began exploring the convention on my own.

As I took photos of a display for reference for next years project, I could hear Chris' voice breaking through the drone of voices around me.

"I have to introduce you to Emily," he said to someone, his voice carrying through the crowd. In the reflection of a glass display, I caught a flicker of Chris's face as he approached. A familiar face appeared next to him and my breath caught in my throat. I turned around as the two men approached me, unsure if my eyes were deceiving me.

"Luke?" I said, obviously confused.

"So, you're the Emily Chris has been raving about," Luke said with a laugh. His hazel eyes twinkled and I couldn't help the way my heart fluttered at the sound of his laugh, even after more than a decade.

"You two know each other?" Chris asked us, even more confused than I was. His eyes flicked between the two of us, trying to piece things together.

"Yes, we know each other from college," Luke said. He didn't look at Chris as he spoke to him, his eyes fixed on mine. I felt my cheeks beginning to warm and I nodded quickly, turning to look at Chris.

"We haven't seen each other in years though," I said quickly. Chris nodded slowly.

"Well I'm glad you two know each other, it'll make the project next year easier," Chris said. He patted Luke on the shoulder.

"Wait, the project?" I asked, shaking my head. "What do you mean?"

"Luke was officially hired this week and is here to help us design and curate our booth for next years convention," Chris explained. "I was hoping to introduce you this week since he was moving to Chicago. It all ended up working out."

I nodded slowly, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I digested what Chris explained. Chris turned to Luke and started discussing the basics of the project for next year with him. They followed me as I continued to check out the different booths. The booths that I looked at were a blur as my mind reeled with the idea of working with Luke.

"I'll let you two catch up," Chris said, pulling me from my thoughts as we stopped at the end of the row of booths. "I have to go find some of our factory representatives that are here. Let's meet up for lunch at 2?"

"Sure," Luke said. Chris disappeared into the sea of people at the convention leaving Luke and I together.