“You know what Hanson’s putting out there,” Evan said, then made a point of looking at his watch. “But listen, Len, I’ve got time constraints tonight, and I know Meredith is on her way someplace else, so I think we’re going to have to wrap this up.”
Meredith nodded, picking up Evan’s cue. “That’s right.” She glanced at Evan. “Don’t you have an appointment tomorrow to speak with …?” She mumbled a name that she hoped sounded like Artie Petro, one of Lenny’s biggest competitors.
Evan picked right up on it. “Yes, I do.”
They both turned to Lenny, who now looked like a raccoon caught going through the trash in the middle of the night.
“Then let’s sign, man,” he said loudly. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Okay, then.” Evan smiled. “We’ll get the contracts to your agent tomorrow.”
“Great. Got another appointment,” Lenny said. “This one’s personal, if you know what I mean.” He gave Evan a lascivious wink.
“I know exactly what you mean,” Evan told him evenly, his voice hard but tinged with humor.
Meredith had to suppress a giggle.
Lenny nodded, oblivious. “Monday morning, 6:00 a.m. shift?”
“You’ve got it,” Evan said.
Meredith was amazed at how soon Evan had him slated to start, but she said nothing.
“Great.” Lenny gave a bobbing nod. “So, it was cool meeting you,” he said to Meredith. “Evan, man, I look forward to working with you.”
“Same here,” Evan said. “You just make sure you keep yourself in line. Don’t forget paragraph eleven.”
Lenny looked blank. “Paragraph eleven?”
Evan nodded. “The contract you’re about to sign. Paragraph eleven says you pay all FCC fines you incur and that incurring such a fine makes our side of the contract null and void.”
“Oh, that.” Lenny waved a hand, but there was a nervousness in his eyes that he couldn’t hide. “Don’t worry about a thing,” he assured them. “I’ll be walking the straight and narrow. No problem.”
“You’re sure?” Meredith interjected worriedly. She’d never, ever been able to keep her straight-and-narrow self in check for long and now she followed her compulsion to make sure Lenny would be inoffensive, even though she knew—she knew, darn it—that she was supposed to be playing it cool.
Lenny looked at her and—she could have sworn—looked empowered by the fear he’d heard in her voice. “Oh, sure,” he said, with a confidence he hadn’t displayed for the past fifteen minutes or so. “The Doss Man can do whatever he wants.”
“Then I hope you want to succeed with Hanson,” Evan said, his voice free of any signs of tension or worry. “Because that’s what we have in mind.”
Meredith sat and watched, ashamed of her momentary exhibition of insecurity and grateful for the fact that Evan seemed to have recovered the situation.
“So I’ll be seein’ ya, man,” Lenny said. “And hopefully you, too,” he said to Meredith, making a grand gesture of reaching for her hand and giving it a gallant medieval kiss. “Here’s to our future.”
She nodded and gave her most winning smile because she couldn’t think of one clever or appropriate thing to say. “Welcome to Hanson,” she said lamely. “I look forward to your success.”
“Aw, honey, you can count on it.” Lenny tipped an imaginary cap and hauled his behind out of the bar, presumably hoping to leave his audience in awe.
Little did he know their thoughts would soon have far less to do with business than with pleasure.
Chapter Nine
Once Lenny Doss was gone, Evan and Meredith looked at each other and smiled with triumph.
“That was brilliant,” Evan said, reaching for what had to be a warm beer by now. He took a gulp and set it down on the table with a bang. “Acting like at the last minute you were uncertain of the wisdom of hiring him?” He smiled, and his smile melted her heart. Or her libido. Or something deep inside her. “That, Ms. Waters, was genius. Pure genius.”
She took just a fraction of a moment to bask in his praise before saying, “I didn’t mean to do that.” Why was she confessing? Evan was impressed with her performance. She’d made a Hanson executive feel she was doing a good job. Why blow it by admitting it had almost ruined everything by a misstep? “But I’m glad it worked out.”
“We make a good team,” Evan said, still smiling at her. His eyes met hers and his smile faded slightly at the corners. “We always did,” he added earnestly.
It would have been easy for her to come up with a smart-aleck retort but they’d fought about the past enough already. It was foolish of her to keep holding on to that when it was so long ago. She’d lived through it, grown up, finished her education, gotten a life. It wasn’t the end of her life and she shouldn’t act as if it was.
“That is assuming Lenny Doss is a good acquisition,” she pointed out. “We may have just put a nail in Hanson Media Group’s coffin.”
Evan shook his head. “No way. Your instincts told you the same thing mine told me—this guy’s a blowhard, but he’s a blowhard with an audience. And he wants to keep his job this time.” He finished his beer and put the bottle down with a hollow clatter. “Do you want anything else?” he asked, gesturing at her half-consumed wine.
“No, thanks.”
It was clear he was wrapping the meeting up, and that gave Meredith a strange feeling of disappointment. She watched him gesture toward the waitress and indicate he wanted the bill.
Meredith sat back in her chair, a little unsure what to do with herself. Part of her wanted to stay with him for just a few more minutes, looking at that handsome face by the flattering light in the restaurant, but logic finally prevailed. “I’d better get going,” she said, standing up and picking up her purse.
“Got a date?” Evan asked uneasily.
She smiled, without committing. “I just need to get some sleep, Evan.”
“Alone?” That half smile was on his face, making her wonder if he actually cared a little or not at all.
“That’s none of your business.”
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“Take it however you want,” she said, trying to sound flip but failing miserably.
“Then how about I at least walk you to your car?” he suggested.
By then they were both standing, and he put his hand on her elbow to guide her out of the restaurant.
It would have been difficult for her to deny him that, since all he was asking was to take her to the car. It wasn’t as if she could claim that an escort would slow her down so much she’d miss out on her imaginary date.
“Fine,” she said. “Thanks.”
“Look,” Evan said, as they walked outside into the muggy summer air. Navy Pier was alive with activity, and high above them the clear night sky shone with diamondlike stars. “I know this isn’t the ideal situation for you, working with me. And, truthfully, I never thought I’d be back here at all, much less asking you to help me save the company. Nevertheless, I think we did a good job together tonight. Maybe Helen was on to something when she asked you to work with me.”
Meredith