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Ready to Shine
Friday morning was cold and windy, with a promise of sudden showers until sunset. Well, at least it wouldn’t rain for the launch party. I bundled up and took on my three-mile walk along Central Park down to Columbus Circle, listening to my happy playlist and singing along to my favorite No Return songs all the way.
No traces of Brandon in the lobby. The receptionists didn’t need to check my name on the visitors list anymore, and just nodded hi at me with quick smiles, motioning for me to go on to the elevators. Brandon didn’t show up then, either. Well, finding him so early the day before had surely been a coincidence, because he was more respectful than Trisha to the purebred night owl’s number-one commandment: never get up before ten.
It was nice, having tea with Hugo, talking about anything but him. I tried to ask him about his beliefs, but he resorted to the dirty trick of replying with a question and asked me about Kujo. When we finished ou
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Just like Trisha had anticipated, she and Amy were among the first to access the venue. They wowed and congratulated me on my looks and went on straight to the buffet, like the rest of the early guests. The audience turned out to be mostly small groups and people alone, only a few couples. Harry welcomed everyone with his poised smile, shaking hands with whoever reached out to him. I had to shake a lot of hands too, a little nice smile nailed to my face, thanking God for my square heels that felt almost comfortable.I singled out Harry’s ex right away. Tall and fit like the prince, but blond, pale and with striking blue eyes. Harry didn’t even flinch, and shook his hand with a quick nod.“Stan,” he said, like he said the name of everyone he recognized.“Harry,” the ex replied, and took a moment longer than necessary to turn to me to force a smile.“I’m Fran, welcome,” I said, surprised to hear my own c
Haunter From Across the Darkness
Many hours later, when I found myself alone in my hotel room, free from my fancy white dress and all the silly masks I’d worn the whole night, I couldn’t help thinking about Brandon. We’d spent the whole time circling each other, always in sight but never close. He’d look away if I glanced at him, I did the same to avoid his eyes. We’d played our parts by somebody else’s hand and left with them in opposite directions.How come we’d turned out to be such stupid chickens?Only then I realized he didn’t know why I needed to be back to the Manor, and he was convinced I was dating Harry. He had no idea about the domino effect his conversation with Edward was having on my life.Not much left to say. Well, yeah, because I’d shut him completely out.Why had I done it?Hugo’s definition of love kept going round and round my head.Halfway.And all of a sudden, I saw Brandon outside the
Haunter Before We Say Goodbye
The next morning, Amy had to kick Trisha out of bed to check out in time. We were in no hurry to catch our plane, so we went shopping before heading to Hugo’s hotel. I let them go straight to his suite while I went to the front desk. I’d bought a nice envelope, and glued it closed with my letter to Brandon, in such a way that it would be evident if anybody opened it before him.I waited patiently a couple of steps away from the guests, until one of the receptionists had a spare minute for me. I hadn’t seen him before. Surely they had a different staff on weekends. He greeted me with a polite smile as to frame it and hang it on the wall behind him.“I’d need to leave this for Mr. Price, please?” I said, handing him the closed envelope.“Sure. Room number?”Oops. “I’m sorry, I don’t know it. The full name is Brandon Price.”The man pretended to check one of the computers. “
Haunter Just Another Night at the Manor
The flight back to Boston lasted but a heartbeat, while I tried to recap all my comings and goings and twists with Brandon for Amy and Trisha.“At least you’re coming home with a happy ending of sorts,” Amy concluded. “That’ll help you through the next days.”“Yeah,” I muttered with a deep breath.She was right. I could still be exhilarated about how things had turned out with Brandon, but that didn’t change what the next days held in store.I was surprised when Trisha said she wasn’t coming back to the Manor with me.“I don’t wanna be a nuisance on such sensitive days, so I’m staying with Padme this week. She broke up with her boyfriend, so I won’t be ruining any mood. Call me if you need me, okay?”“Don’t you want the ride?”“No offense, but the red beast is cooler to go around town.”I hugged her tight and
Haunter Welcome Home
Saturday morning felt like forty hours long in my impatience to see Brandon. When I told Susan we needed vegan supplies for three or four meals, she put up a list in a minute and sent Mike to town to get them. I think my dreamy good mood had her intrigued, but she would rather chop her right hand off than ask about it. She helped me tidy up my room and the study, and I decided it was enough fraternizing and I got off her hair to let her go on with her routine.I called dear Mrs. Arbosky to let her know I might need her expertise on Monday or Tuesday. Lucky me, she assured me she would be available whenever I needed her, be it in person or over the phone. Considering Ann’s warning, I anticipated her it would most likely be a meeting like back in October, to have her take a look at documents I needed to sign before Wednesday. She told me to just go see her as soon as I had the papers, or call her if I needed her to come to the Manor.Okay, I’d invested about
Haunter A Promise
Brandon simply loved the study. He explored every corner of the large room, that took up the equivalent to half the second floor.“Man, this is awesome!” he murmured.Then he spotted the desk with my laptop on it. He approached it and rested his hands on the back of the armchair, a cushioned spinning piece that had nothing to do with the rest of the furniture. He leaned a little forward, looking out the window, and turned the armchair to sit down on it.I saw him there, an elbow on the armrest, his other hand resting on my laptop lid, his eyes out the window, on the Quabbin, and grabbed my phone, stepping back. He didn’t notice. I think he was too used to having cameras on him around the clock, and had learned to just ignore them and carry on.My camera didn’t quite capture the whole ambiance of the moment, the sun coming in to wrap him in a golden glow, the warm contrast of lights and shadows with the stuffed bookshelves behind. B
Haunter One More Day Together
I was surprised when he volunteered to help me make dinner, proving he was a skilled cook, at least with vegan recipes. When we sat down to eat, I showed him one of the Fourman brothers’ investigations. “Told you that’s boring,” he said, pointing at the TV with his fork. “If we’d tried to make a TV show like that, they would’ve canceled us halfway through the first season.” “That’s why they declined to sign up with your network.” “Really?” “Yup. They want to keep it real. The problem is that your style became the standard, so if something doesn’t meet it, it’s not use. But the genre needs more of this.” He tilted his head, chewing, and nodded. “Y’know? Isaac would be an interesting middle ground, doing this in his over-the-top way.” “That’s why I wanted to show you this.” He shot a suspicious glance at me. “Trying to influence my business decisions, young lady?” “No, old man. Just giving you a piece of mind from the ord
Haunter Feints Within Feints
Monday morning.Lady Audrey showed up at nine sharp, her Mercedes followed by a big pickup truck with two big men on it. Two big men who, like Ann had anticipated, didn’t like women sticking their noses in their stuff, especially a short girl that looked hardly of age.The moment they set foot in the guesthouse, they started talking about tearing walls down and doing this or that. And when I tried to object, Lady Audrey patted my shoulder with a patronizing smile.“Let the experts decide, dear,” she said. “They know better.”I didn’t bother to reply. I just produced my phone and called Brandon, who picked up still in bed.“Hey, kid,” he said, eyes hardly open. “Any problem over there?”“What we expected.”“Okay. Call you back in five.”He disconnected and I turned to the big experts, forcing a smile. “Please, take a look around. We’l
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