Chapter 482 – Beginning with a Daring Encounter

“I need you to accompany me to a meeting with some foreign investors today. So how about Celsie comes over and keeps him company instead while you come to the office?” Benne suggested, since that was another reason he had called.

“Celsie? Doesn’t she have work to do at the office?” Harry asked skeptically. Although he wanted to stay with his father, he also needed to be at the office as he had work to attend to, and not all of the work could be handled from home as he had done the previous day.

“Hello, Harry! I don’t have anything serious to do. I can assign my tasks to my teammates,” Celsie responded before Benne could.

“Hey, LuLu! You really don’t mind coming over to keep this grumpy old man company?” Harry asked, and Aaron’s ears perked up when he heard that Celsie was coming to keep him company.

“Celsie, you can come over. I’m sick of seeing Harry around here,” Aaron called out to Celsie, and Harry scowled at him.

“I don’t mind. Is there breakfast or do I need to get something on my way?” Celsie asked curiously.

“If it’s Samantha’s delicacy, you can bring some on your way here. I’d love to have some too. Alright, Benne. I will get ready for work while I wait for Celsie,” Harry said, and Benne exchanged a look with Celsie.

“I will drop her off at your place and then we can head to the office together,” Benne said, and Harry agreed before hanging up the call.

“Celsie is coming over. She will spend the day with you,” Harry informed Aaron, who smiled with satisfaction.

“That is not a problem,” he assured Harry as he walked away to go and freshen up.

“Are you sure you can get him to talk to you?” Benne asked, and Celsie gave him a nod.

“I will do my best. Don’t worry and just leave it to me,” she assured him.

“Let’s get going then,” Benne said as he stood from the couch held out a hand to help her up.

“Call me if anything comes up,” Benne said as they walked out of the house together.

“Relax, Benne. Don’t fret,” Celsie said as she rubbed his arm in a soothing gesture and Benne gave her a nod.

Just as they both got into the car, his phone started ringing and he received it when he saw that it was a call from Eric, the talkshow host.

“Good morning, Mr. Howells!” Benne greeted after he received the call.

“Eric is fine, please. I hope it’s not too early to talk?” He asked politely.

“It’s not. Is everything alright?”

“I wanted to let you know that I’ll be sending out the invite to Rebekah Miller today. One of our guests was involved in an accident and can’t make it to the show so I was thinking I should replace her. Is two weeks okay for you?” Eric asked, and Benne grinned.

“It’s perfect.”

“Oh, shit!” Celsie exclaimed softly, and Benne who had just hung up his call with Eric turned to her curiously.

“Is there a problem?” Benne asked, and Celsie bit her lower lip.

“I just remembered Lucas,” she said, reminding Benne that Lucas was around and she was supposed to see him.

“Oh! It escaped my mind too. I’m sorry,” Benne said, not knowing what else to say. They had just assured Harry and Aaron that they were coming over, so he didn’t know what to say.

“It’s not your fault. I shouldn’t have forgotten,” Celsie said with a slight frown, wondering how she could have so easily forgotten about Lucas’ text.

“Can we make a quick stop by the hotel first to see Lucas? I have to find out how long he’s going to be around, and give him the key to my apartment so he doesn’t have to stay at the hotel if he’s going to be around for a while,” Celsie said, thinking that she also needed to relay Miley’s message to Lucas, and find out what his relationship with her was about.

Benne gave her a nod, “Sure. I’ll just give Harry a call and let him know,” Benne said before dialing Harry’s line.

Once Harry received the call, Benne relayed the information to him, asking him not to be in haste to get ready as they would take some time to get there.

Once he hung up the call, Celsie gave him the direction to the hotel, before she dialed Lucas’ line, “Good morning, Kiddo,” she greeted cheerfully when Lucas received her call.

“Good morning, big sis,” Lucas greeted with a yawn, and Celsie smiled since she could tell his response was meant to be sarcastic but it was ruined by the yawn.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t close to my phone when you called last night. How are you doing? You arrived safely, yeah?”

“No, I didn’t. I’m actually speaking with you from the ICU wearing an oxygen mask,” Lucas said, and Celsie laughed softly.

“I’m on my way to the hotel to see you, and Benne is with me. You are fit for company, right?” Celsie asked, and Lucas looked down at himself. He had collapsed on the bed the moment he walked into the hotel room and had slept off wearing his clothes.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt this exhausted, or the last time he had slept so soundly. Thanks to the nature of his job, he could never sleep for more than four hours without receiving one phone call or the other, and in the last couple of days since he left the hospital, he had crashed on Miley’s couch and that had not been exactly comfortable.

Miley. He shook his head immediately to discard thoughts of her. He didn’t want to think about her. Not now. Not later.

“I will be fit before you guys get here, and I will wait for you at the cafe beside the hotel,” Lucas said, and hung up before Celsie could say another word.

“Well, that settles that,” Celsie said with a small smile, glad that Lucas was beginning to sound more like himself.

“By the way, who was that with you on the phone earlier?” Celsie asked curiously.

“That was Eric Howells. The man on whose TV show we are going to expose Anita’s family,” Benne said, and Celsie nodded.

“He says one of his guests won’t be available, so he wanted to find out if it was okay to push the Miller’s interview forward,” Benne explained.

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