Page 54 of Strictly Business

“Yes,” I say bluntly, and she actually laughs. I dare to smile at her. “I really am sorry Serena. I should have known you wouldn’t have done something like that and that if you had, you wouldn’t have lied about it.”

“Apology accepted,” Serena says. “I can see how it looked and I can see why you didn’t even consider Ruth at first. But if anything like that ever happens again and I tell you I didn’t do something, I would appreciate it if you at least had the decency to give me the benefit of the doubt.”

“I will. I definitely will,” I say, and I mean it. I’m getting a second chance and I won’t screw that up.

“Then you’re forgiven,” Serena says. “And I would kiss you, but you can pretty much guarantee if I did, the moment our lips touch, the clients would come back in.”

She’s barely finished the sentence and Mr Bellisario appears in front of the glass wall.

“Told you,” Serena says, and we look at each other and try not to laugh as Mr Bellisario comes back in.

He smiles at us, and I smile back. He sits down in the seat he recently vacated.

“Thank you for waiting,” he says. He seems to notice Ruth is gone. “Do we need to wait for your other associate?”

“No, it’s fine,” I say. “Ruth isn’t really part of the campaign, she’s my PA.”

Was my PA, not is, but I’m not about to tell Mr Bellisario that I’ve fired her. He seems to accept the explanation that she doesn’t need to be here, and he smiles again.

“I expected there to be questions, but it seems you two explained everything well enough that even my social media averse CFO understands the need for using it for marketing purposes,” he says. “I have never met anyone who could make that man see the good side of social media and honestly, that alone would have been reason to hire you, but of course I couldn’t base my decision on that alone in reality. But everything considered, I would like to hire you to do the marketing you discussed in your pitch for the fee we agreed on prior to the meeting. I can have the paperwork completed and sent over to your office by the end of the day if that works for you? And, of course, if you would still like to work with us.”

“We would of course love to work with you,” I say. “And that sounds great. Serena and I will be back in the office at some point the day after tomorrow and I will get everything started for you then.”

Mr Bellisario stands up and I take it as our cue to leave. I stand up and Serena does the same thing. We both shake hands with Mr Bellisario and then I grab Ruth’s laptop and we leave the conference room.

We walk out of the building, the picture of calmness, like we land billion dollar deals every day. We leave the building and turn back towards the hotel and walk calmly away. And then, as soon as we are out of sight of the building, as one, we both cheer. I fist pump the air and Serena does a little happy dance. I pull her into my arms and kiss her.

“Separate, we’re both damned good at this job. Together, we are unstoppable,” I say.

“And to think you only gave me a job because my Uncle Craig would never have let you forget it if you said no to him,” she says.

I laugh and shake my head.

“I never thought of it that way, but yeah you’re at least partially right,” I admit.

We’re back at the hotel but as we head for the door, Serena stops me.

“I know it’s cheesy, but before we go in can we please go and do the coin in the fountain thing?” she says.

“Of course,” I laugh. “Most tourist things are cheesy. It doesn’t mean they aren’t fun though. Do you have some euros?”

Serena nods. “Yeah, I got some in the airport on the way out.”

We walk over to the fountain and turn our backs on it. We both hold a coin in our hands.

“Don’t forget to make a wish,” Serena says.

I don’t think that’s how it works but what the hell. I close my eyes, throw my coin over my shoulder, and wish that Serena and I can spend the rest of our lives together. I open my eyes and smile at her, and we sit down on the low wall around the fountain.

“So, what did you wish for?” she asks as we watch the water flow.

“I can’t tell you or it won’t come true,” I say.

“That’s a good point, you’d better not risk it,” she says. Her voice is serious, but her eyes are playful, and I love the way she looks in that moment, the mist of the water behind her. She must be able to feel my eyes on her.

“What?” she says, self-conscious all of a sudden. “Do I have something on my face?”

“Only your cute little nose,” I say.