The meeting with Ashley, Will’s sister, had gone extremely well. She was the sweetest lady I had ever met. She was only twenty two. Normally, I dealt with brides who were older than twenty seven, so this was going to be fun. Her wedding was Secret Wonderland themed, and her colors were purple and ‘sparkle’. She was the kind of girl that liked to party hard. She asked if I could meet her fiancé and her family next Friday night. I was surprised because no bride had ever invited me to meet her family before unless I asked for business purposes. I gladly accepted and told her I would be there.
The rest of the day after the meeting had gone smoothly. I had a couple clients come in, and about three, I went out to a bride’s venue for her ceremony. The wedding was only a week away, and we had a lot to sort out. This was my favorite time of the planning process. With only seven days away, everyone was scrambling to make everything perfect. No matter how much everyone stressed, it always ended up to be perfect. Maybe not my perfect, but for the bride, it was everything she wished for.
At the end of the day, I went home feeling really good. It was windy and cold outside, and all I had on was a sleeveless dress, so I was shivering a lot. I got in my car and turned the heat on as fast as I could. I had no rush to get home, so I just sat there in the warm car not wanting to move.
I had been sitting there for about five minutes when my phone started ringing. “Gabriella Hera.”
“Hey Gabriella, it’s Will.”
“Oh, hello, how are you doing today?” I was surprised to hear his voice. I didn’t think he would call me. I figured he was calling about the appointment, so I acted professional.
“Uh, you probably think I’m calling to see how the appointment went, but-”
“It went great actually; she’s a great young woman.”
“Well, that’s great, but I wasn’t calling about that.”
“Oh, what’s up then? You don’t have another bride, do you?”
He laughed. “Hell no, one’s enough for me.”
I smiled. “So, you’re calling because…”
“I was wondering if you wanted to go grab some dinner.”
“I’d love to, but how did you know I was off of work?”
He laughed nervously. “Just a guess.”
“Ok? So where do you want to meet?”
“I know this really nice café right by the apartment building. It’s called Kelly’s Coffee. You want to go there?”
“I’d love to. I’ll see you in about twenty minutes.”
“Bye.”
I hung up and backed up out of my parking space. I was usually the last person to leave the office. My assistant left at five thirty. It was now six fifteen. I got on the freeway and turned the radio on. Usually, at this time of night, good music was on, but tonight it was horrible. I got irritated and clicked it off, humming along to a random song.
I arrived at the café about ten minutes early. I had my car parked, and walked inside. I asked for a table for two, and got out my travel mirror to check my hair and makeup.
“Uh, Gabriella?”
I snapped my mirror closed in surprise. “Oh, hi.” I looked up to see Will standing there, smiling the nicest smile I’d seen in a while.
“May I sit down?”
“Of course you can.”
“So, how was your day?”
“Busy.” I laughed and he joined me. “How about you? How was yours?”
“It was good. You’re probably wondering what I do.”
“Yes, actually it’s like you read my mind.”
He smiled. “I’m a co-owner of the NYC Grand Hotel.”
I gawked at him. “That’s the second biggest hotel in all of New York!”
“Indeed, it is.”
“So, why are you living in these apartments? You could have a much bigger and better place to live.”
He didn’t answer for a couple of seconds. It was like he was trying to read my mind. He just stared at me until he finally said, “I could ask you the same question. You’ve planned some of the biggest weddings in America. You helped with Kim Kardashian’s wedding which was the biggest event in E! TV 2011.”
I sighed. “If I answer yours will you answer mine?”
He nodded and I said, “Before I became so popular with my job, I lived here with my friend. She’s works at a small café during the day and performs on Broadway at night. She doesn’t get paid a lot of money though, so if I left, shed lose the apartment and would have to go to different, crappier place.” I shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I love her like a sister and I don’t need to live in a four bedroom house if it’s just me, ya know?”
Again he nodded his head. “I guess it’s my turn to talk, huh?” I smiled and nodded. He sighed. “I don’t know I guess I don’t want to leave because it’s where I started. When I began working at NYC Grand Hotel, I was the person who delivers room service. So I wasn’t high up in the business. Everyday I would walk to the hotel from the apartment I’m in now. About a year later, I became manager. I got a lot more money than I did when I was room service. I could have moved out then, but I didn’t want to. Sometime after I became manager, I became co- owner. The person who co-owned before me had passed away, and suggested me for the job. So I took it. I had an offer to move into the hotel in one of the live=-in rooms for only half the price, but I still wanted to stay in this building.” He shrugged. He was like I was when I was telling my story of why I was in the place I’m in. “I guess it’s like your story.”
I nodded. “They’re very similar,” I agreed. “So, what does the co-owner of such a big hotel do?” I asked.
We ended talking for about an hour and a half. We ate dinner pretty quickly and just sat there the rest of the time talking. It was nice to talk to someone other than a bride, my assistant, or Talia. He wasn’t one of those people that wanted to get to know me because I had a lot of money. He had as much, or more, money than I did. That was nice. I had a lot of “boyfriends” who were just gold diggers. It was easy to be myself with him. He had a great sense of humor and he made me laugh a lot. I started to think that maybe, just maybe, I had made a new friend.
