He thought maybe he was on edge because…he was upset about her leaving? Was that what he meant? She didn’t have a chance to linger on that question.
“Anyway, what I was going to ask was, do you think maybe you could stay? For a little while longer? Until I feel—” He stopped and then smiled at her. “Until I feel like I can actually do this without you is I guess the only honest way I can end that sentence.”
“Yes,” she said. “I can stay.”
She didn’t have to stop to think. She knew she wanted to stay.
“But this time,” she finished, “you have to ask Marta.”
His face fell at her last words. “Right. That makes sense.” He sighed. “Have I mentioned that she scares me?”
Izzy laughed. “Oh, don’t worry about that—she scares everybody.”
“Well, at least it’s not just me,” he said.
He pulled his computer toward him, but Izzy shook her head.
“You can’t email her about this. You have to call her.”
He looked at her, wide-eyed. “Call her? On the PHONE?”
Izzy nodded. “I know. Trust me, I know. But Marta does everything important on the phone. If you email her, she’ll do one of three things: She’ll ignore it; she’ll say no right away; or she’ll call you. Wouldn’t you rather be the one to call? Plus, Marta respects that.”
He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I have to do this right now. Don’t I?”
Izzy didn’t say anything.
“Fine,” he said. “But you have to stay here, okay?”
Like she would miss this.
“I’ll be right here,” she said. “Do you have her number? She’ll probably still be in the office right now, but if not, I can give you her cell. Here.”
She pulled out her phone and texted him Marta’s numbers. He stared at her as he called.
“Hi, Marta, this is Beau Towers,” he said when she answered the phone. His voice got deeper, which made Izzy have to hold back a giggle. He shook his finger at her.
“Yes, yes, everything is going well with Isabelle, I’m making a lot of progress on the memoir. That’s actually why I called. I was wondering if I could borrow her for a while longer. She’s been a great asset to me, you know.”
A great asset? Izzy pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t laugh out loud, and Beau grinned at her.
He nodded. “Yes, I’ve talked to Isabelle about this, but of course you’ll need to talk to her as well to make sure she’d like to stay longer.”
She could hear Marta’s voice, but she couldn’t hear what she was saying.
But she suddenly knew. Oh no, she should have prepped Beau better before he made this call.
She says how long? he mouthed to her.
She ripped out a piece of paper from her notebook and started writing.
“Um, I was thinking…a month?” he said. He made a panicked face at Izzy, and she almost laughed. “After the week we already have remaining, of course.”
Marta was still talking, but Izzy knew exactly what she was saying.
She held up her note so he could see it.
NEGOTIATE!!!
His eyes widened, and he nodded at her. “I don’t think an additional two weeks is enough time,” he said, in a much more assured voice. “Especially given where I am in the book. But an extra three weeks might do it.”
He listened for a second, and then grinned at her. “Excellent,” he said. “I’ll let her know.”
Izzy grinned back at him, but his attention went back to the phone. Beau’s smile faded.
“Okay,” he said after a while. “Of course.”
Izzy raised her eyebrows at him, but he shook his head. What did Marta say? Did she change her mind?
“Okay. Thanks, Marta. I appreciate it.” He hung up the phone and stood up. “We did it!”
Izzy jumped up. “We did it!”
He came around the table and enveloped her in a hug. She hugged him back.
“She’s even scarier than I remembered,” he said. “Thank God you were there for that. I never would have made it out alive on my own.”
She leaned into the hug. She’d forgotten how good this felt. For him to hold her like this. It had only happened one time before, that accidental time in the kitchen, but this time it was on purpose, for both of them. He was so big, and strong, and it just felt so…right, to have his arms around her like this. She didn’t want him to ever let go.
As soon as she thought that—as soon as she realized that she’d thought that—she made herself drop her arms and take a step back. He was smiling down at her, with a look on his face that…She swallowed and looked away.