With love, your dearest hater

Chapter 10 (Past)

"Noelle, I'm heading home to freshen up before our meeting. I'll meet you there, ok?" - Charlie says already grabbing his car keys. Standing up he hits send button on a last email and checks if he got everything on him. I already know he's gonna be late, his house is nearly outside of the city. It makes absolutely no sense to make this detour.

"Of course! No problem, I'll meet you there!" - I say waving at him as he's making his way through the hallway to the exit door. I'm almost finished up with all my duties for the day. I've prepared a little presentation to bring to this meeting, just in case we run out of topics to talk about. I stick it in my bucket purse and head to the bathroom to make sure I look presentable. People are already leaving the office, finally everyone is on a better mood after earning's season.

When I get to the bathroom, I take a good long look in the mirror. I'm wearing my blonde hair up on a tight ponytail, the top section is split into two halves, hair gel keeping it on its place. The usual clean girl look I go for, put together and very professional. I'm wearing a navy blue matching set - white blouse, long blazer with invisible buttons and an over the knee thick skirt. To finish the look I'm wearing some see through dark tights and thick doll heels. I'm boring mid height and this one makes me look a lot taller. On the side, I have my usual go to bucket purse, with my presentation, cell phone, credit card and home keys. I wash my face with some cold water, spray a little bit of a carry on perfume that I leave at the office in a tiny bottle and l'm good to go - fresh as new.

But the time my Uber arrives, I have already re-read the presentation and made some extra conversational topics. I like to have these things all planed out to avoid any awkward silences that might hurt the business. For these face to face client meetings I'd search a little bit of the person's background. But Charlie didn't get me much to work with, only a forwarded email from Robert - one of the partners, confirming the time and location. "Robert from DG partners?" - that doesn't pull anything on google. They guy doesn't even have LinkedIn. I get the appeal of being low profile, but if you're trying to grow a business that services the genera public, it's maybe a good idea to be more approachable.

After a couple minutes, when my Uber gets to Lincoln Square, a few blocks from the restaurant's location, Charlie texts me. I already know where this is going to end up. It reads:

"Hey Noelle, won't be able to make it. Something came up at home. Make sure to understand the purpose of the meeting and show them our new product list. Expect a meeting summary tomorrow morning. Tks"

Of course he'd say that.

"Sure, don't worry! Tomorrow by your desk" - I text pretending this didn't just throw me off guard. At the same time it was highly expected, I hoped he wouldn't do it. Shit Charlie. I was not so stressed because I knew he was these guys' long term friends, they worked together for many years. I was hoping he would make most of the conversation and I would fill in here and there, absolutely not being the center of attention. Guess it is what it is now. The Uber stops and I get out of the car.

The restaurant's front doors doesn't give out too much. It's black and hella tall. "Kikai" written in bold metal letters on the left color of the front wall, very minimalistic. I really like this place. The hostess is a tall Asian woman, very very thin, she's walking in my direction. Her silky back her flowing side to side with a natural glow.

"Good Afternoon! Welcome to Kikai! I'm Aiko. Do you have a reservation?" - she speaks very softly.

"Good Afternoon Aiko. I'm Noelle. And yes, it's under DG Partners" - I tell her waiting for her to check the reservation on her system.

"I see. Yes, confirmed. Party of three - Three? Oh no, with Charlie not coming, it's gonna be one of the partners and I alone, I wish I could just bail. But this is work - "One of the guests is already at the table". My stomach makes a swirl inside my body.

When we get further inside the restaurant, everything looks so private. There are three areas, the countertop at the sushi bar, the external area with view to the Central Park and the main salon. There's Japanese artwork all over the place. It smells fresh and clean. Not at all like the places Annie and I go for sushi in Midtown.

Aiko starts guiding me outside and I'm really happy for it, because that would have been my choice. It's mid July and the weather is quite mild, nice to be outside for a change. She then points in the direction of a table right by the glass window sill. Probably the table with the best view in the place.

She then makes a stop and points in the direction of a man, he's sitting down with his back to us. He has very wide shoulders and thick black hair. But that's all I can see from right over here. We move closer to the table. "Right here, ma'am" - Aiko says pointing and then he finally acknowledges us. He gets up, dismisses Aiko and as she nods going back her way, he extends me his hand on a tight, warm handshake.

"You must be Noelle. I'm Dave Robertson. It's a pleasure meeting you".