Nicola agreed to meet Marcus in the hotel for breakfast before their first meeting at J&J to strategize. When he was late arriving, she decided to start without him and was halfway into a bowl of fruit by the time he appeared.
"You look rough," she said in greeting as he walked toward the table.
"Sorry, but my tiara is at the dry cleaners," he retorted as he set his briefcase down and considered whether he wanted to get some food before sitting down. He decided the pull of the coffee was too strong to resist and sat down to pour a cup.
"How late did you stay at the bar last night? Did you get any sleep?" Nicola asked as she accepted a top-up from him and looked at her watch.
"I felt it wrong to leave before the rest of the J&J people were ready to go. I think I rolled in about 1 a.m.," he admitted before adding that he'd only been drinking club soda the last two hours. "They're a fun bunch when you get them to let the stuffing out of their shirts."
"Good, because this is my last trip here. I've decided that from now on, this is your baby." She speared and took a bite of the anemic-looking strawberry. As she chewed she was wishing she'd grabbed a Danish and a cup of yogurt instead and thought about the possibilitiy of hotel breakfasts in bed with her wife after they retired.
"Seriously? What are you saying?" He sipped on his cup and pulled out his phone to check his messages, trying to play it cool and not let on that this was the news he'd been waiting to hear.
"I've been trying to convince Caroline we should retire for a while now. Angela knows that as soon as Caroline agrees, I'm done and you know the succession plan has always been for you to take over. That's why we made this trip together instead of just me alone. I wanted to be able to report back that this project is squarely in your hands. Are you up to taking the lead in the meetings today?"
'You've trained me well Obi Wan," he said as he put his palms together as though he was about to pray and bowed his head to underscore his appreciation. The idea brought some much-needed colour back to his pale face. His hangover was quickly fading thanks to hearing the news he'd been waiting years to hear. "I know we've talked about it for a while but I didn't think Caroline would ever agree."
"You've been patient long enough and so have I," Nicola said with a twinkle in her eye. "She hasn't yet but I've got a plan to take her out to dinner when I get back and make her an offer she can't refuse, and if she does, I just might have to play dirty."
"I don't think I want to know. But why do it at a restaurant?" He put his cup down as he noticed there suddenly was no line at the waffle maker.
"Too public for her to flip out on me. You're married. You should know that trick," she admitted honestly. "Go, get something to eat. We've got to be there pretty soon. I think I'll join you for something else; this fruit is flavorless."
A couple of hours earlier, back in London, Gillian was already in the kitchen, drinking her second cup of coffee when Caroline finally entered the room; you can take the girl out of the farm but you can't take that internal early to rise farm clock out of the girl.
"Morning," Caroline said as she stumbled past her to the coffee pot, grateful to find it more than half full. Her head was throbbing and she hoped the caffeine would help take some of the edge off it. She filled her favourite mug and moved to the window to survey the amount of snowfall that accumulated overnight. She was surprised to see the sky looked like it was going to start snowing again at any moment as she thought the forecast for the day was clear.
Long gone from the garden were the remnants of the old trampoline Flora begged to get. She missed the days Flora and her friends would turn endless cartwheels across the lawn before the trampoline arrived; Caroline was worried she'd hurt herself on it but Nicola convinced her it would be all right. What she hadn't expected was that Flora and her girlfriends would spend more time laying on it, gossiping and watching clouds pass by overhead, than actually jumping on it. She had to admit, if only to herself, Nicola was usually right about most things, like she was about the trampoline.
Caroline moved to the fridge to see what she could make for breakfast. "Hungry?" She asked as she pulled out the quiche she picked up at M&S and showed it to Gillian who merely nodded her head. She read the heating instructions and turned on the oven. She removed the wrapper and placed it in the cold oven. "It's the broccoli cheese one you like."
"Sounds great. Don't remember the last time I had a breakfast I didn't make for myself," she said with a grateful smile.
"Toast while we wait," Caroline offered as she moved to pull the bread out of the cupboard.
"Nah. I'm good." Caroline noticed Gillian seemed off in her own little world.
"Did you sleep okay?" she asked as she abandoned the loaf by the cutting board and took a seat at the counter.
"Yup. When the farm sells, maybe I'll just move in here. I love that mattress," she teased as she stretched her back. After just one day off from her farm chores she was already feeling less stiff. "If I recall the finer points of our discussion last night, did you actually say you're finally going to take the plunge?"
"Not if you come here to live," Caroline said dryly. "But yeah, I think it's time. Somehow through the wine haze last night you still made a lot of sense so thank you for that."
"Anytime, Caz. Have you told herself the good news yet?" Gillian heard her stomach begin to rumble when she recognized the aroma of the quiche escaping from the oven.
She thought about sending a text, before turning in for the night, to tell Nicola that she was right and it was time to retire but decided to let it wait until her mind was less wine-addled. In the cold light of day, or at least in the cold kitchen since the cloud cover outside was too thick to let the sunshine through, Caroline realized she still felt good about her decision from the night before. She looked at her watch and calculated the time difference. Recognizing Nicola would still be asleep, Caroline picked up her cell and opted to call Angela instead.