Eight
"You've got to attend the Charleston fashion show next week. I've got Jamie's outfit picked out but you'll have to decide what suit you're going to wear." Anne said as she reads out his schedule.
"Rudy called earlier, he's coming by in a bit and a man named Lee called and asked if you'd be free for lunch?" Anne said, looking away from the iPad.
They were both in Bradley's office, it was a bit past ten and he's had two meeting already. He had been staring at his designs on the screen and looks up when he hears Anne talk about Lee calling.
"I'm free for lunch. I'll call him back."
"You aren't really free for lunch, tops you'd have thirty minutes." Anne explains, looking away from her friend and boss to tap at the tablet in her hand. "Your call with the Miami branch ends at twelve thirty."
Bradley groans and falls back onto his seat, he resists the urge to run his hands through his hair. He wanted to have lunch with Lee. He hadn't seen the man in two days and they've texted a handful of times.
"Should I quit? If I quit I would make it to lunch." Bradley sighs.
"Who is he? Do I know him?" Anne asked. "Is it the same person you had a date with and ran out due to an emergency?"
Anne was in a red chiffon shirt with loose ribbon running down her body, the shirt tucked into a dark pencil skirt. She takes a seat across Bradley who happily fills her in about Lee and just how too good to be true the man was.
"He sounds amazing."
"I know. Can I shift back the meeting?" Bradley asked and Anne shakes her head.
"Okay. You can get back to work, I'll just text him."
Anne nods. She blows Bradley a kiss before walking out of the office. Bradley pulls out his phone when he was done and pulls up Lee's contact.
Hi! I'm sorry I don't think I'll be able to make it to lunch. I only have thirty minutes and it's take me half to get to the cafe. Bradley sends the text, gripping his phone tightly as he waited for a reply.
It came just as fast.
I can bring you lunch if you'd like. There's this brilliant breakfast shop near my workplace. It'd be brunch.
Bradley laughs as he types out his reply. Brunch sounds great. I'll send a car for you.
I can take a bus you know.
Bradley texts back his reply before he could change his mind. Fine but next time I'm sending a car.
Lee sends back a laughing emoji and Bradley just shakes his head, dare he say it, fondly at the man. He goes back to the design he had been working on. It was a fitted suit with flare pants. He erased, added and finally colored it.
After that, he does have the call with his Miami branch. They had to get ready for the upcoming show that Bradley had been working on. He was almost done with the call when he hears a knock, he watched as the door was pushed open a little and Lee's head peeked through.
"Hi." The man said as he walked into the office, shutting the door behind him, two white bags in his hands. Lee looked as gorgeous as always, make up done, lips red and clad in a hoodie with the words NOODES on it and what looked like jeggings with white vans.
Bradley gives him a wave, concludes the meeting and ends the call. He smiles at Lee and waved the man over to the sitting area to the right.
"Thank you for bringing me lunch."
"You mean brunch." Lee corrects, his smile big.
"Pardon my mistake." Bradley said as he takes his seat. He watched as Lee pulls out two packs as well as two cups of what had to be coffee and tea, his nails still painted pink and orange.
"So I got a complete breakfast special. Pancake, bacon, eggs, hash browns, sausages and baked beans." Lee recites happily.
Bradley scrunched his nose as Lee pulls out two small containers of baked beans. He must have seen Bradley's look of disgust because his smile falls.
"This is amazing. I love everything here except the baked beans." Bradley moves the container of baked beans to the side of the table. "I don't like baked beans."
"Really? But they're so good though."
Bradley gives Lee a flat look. "It's cooked beans drenched in ketchup. There's nothing good about it." Bradley said as he pulls open the pack in front of him. He grabs a fork and dug into the pancakes.
"Don't be a beans snob."
Bradley snorts. "There's no such thing."
"There is and you're being one." Lee said before taking a bite of his eggs. Bradley doesn't give Lee an answer, he just shakes his head and continued eating, occasionally taking sips of his coffee. Lee talked about his morning, he spoke about the customer he had who had tried to dye hair red hair blonde and had instead looked like a tiger.
"Half of her hair was red and the bottom half was this weird gross color." Lee said, pausing to take a sip of his tea. "I felt so bad for her, she was trying to look special for her date."
"Did she tell you all this?"
"I work at a beauty lounge. We talk about everything and any thing from celebrity gossip to personal relationships and also offer advice. We're practically beauticians and psychiatrists."
"That's kinda nice. A place away from home where you can talk about your problems."
"It is. I properly died her hair blonde for her and then curled it. She looked so pretty with curly hair."
"I'm sure she's glad she met you."
Lee bites his bottom lip as he tries to keep his smile from overtaking his face. They eat and talk. Once they were done, Bradley dumps the empty containers into the bin. They talk a bit more before Lee gets up. They say their goodbyes, Bradley promising to text more.
"Brunch was great." Lee said, bouncing on his feet a little.
"We should do it again."
"Of course." Lee said. "See you later, Bradley." Lee closed the distance between them and pressed a kiss to Bradley cheek. He gives the CEO a small timid wave before walking out of the office.
Bradley walls over to his chair, he rests his head against the top edge and stared at the ceiling. He was contented, relaxed and happy. It's so much more than he could ask for.