Chapter 118 - Souvenir Shopping
As predicted, Aaron's meetings with the investment bankers in Monaco went perfectly. Why wouldn't they? He used the exact same offer he had in his first life; the terms were too good to refuse and they would benefit both parties equally in the long run.
He spent almost a week gathering the intel he needed while Cameron participated in the tournament. This trip wasn't for enjoyment. Aaron spent every waking moment he wasn't schmoozing businessmen preparing his proposal.
He highly doubted the board wouldn't approve but he had a contingency plan for that. He had signed all of the paperwork making the deals as an individual, not in the name of the company.
On the off chance the proposal was rejected, it would be a separate side business he could run that wasn't affiliated with Hale Investments. He could incorporate it later when he became the CEO.
Alistair didn't have to know that part.
Aaron checked the time. It was 6:44 PM in Monaco so Keeley might be on her lunch break right now. It was worth a shot; he missed her. She had been harder to get a hold of since her lab accident. The make-up work must be taking up all of her time.
'Have you had lunch yet?'
The reply came in five minutes later. 'Nope, class just ended. I have ten minutes before I have to get to the lab so I got a tuna salad sandwich out of a vending machine'
Aaron grimaced at the thought. 'They have tuna salad sandwiches in vending machines?'
'You've never seen a refrigerated vending machine before? They have them all over at NYU'
'I can't say that I have'
'Have you ever had a tuna salad sandwich period?'
'Yes'
Keeley had made him one once when they went on a picnic in the Boston Public Garden. It wasn't half bad. She said the secret was adding cottage cheese to the tuna salad mixture.
'When?!'
She clearly didn't believe him. Well, it was a cheap sandwich.
The only other cheap type of sandwich she had made him try was a fluffernutter made with peanut butter, Marshmallow Fluff, and white bread. It was a Massachusetts thing one of her roommates introduced her to and she liked it enough to want to share it with him. The flavor combination was strange but not terrible.
'In college'
'Interesting. What kind of food do they have in Monaco?'
'Mostly a mixture of French and Italian food. I had porchetta for dinner tonight; it's fatty pork stuffed with scented herbs. I think you'd like it'
Keeley had always been a carnivore. Whenever they went out to eat she wanted something with meat in it.
'Stop making me jealous' she texted with an emoticon of a person sticking their tongue out.
He could almost imagine the look on her face and it made the ghost of a smile appear. 'There's a restaurant on Lexington Ave with great porchetta. I can bring you there sometime'
'I may take you up on that'
It wasn't a flat refusal. He might be able to get another dinner date out of her after all.
Before he could think of a response, she said that she had to go. He wished her luck then set his phone down, turning back to his computer with a sigh.
Why did he have to miss her more after their text conversation than he did before? The closer he got to Keeley, the more he wanted from her. It was maddening but he learned his lesson in high school. He had to be patient.
Aaron reminded himself at least once a day that he had waited this long already and could continue to wait however long it took to be with her again.
Cameron knocked on his door around 10 PM while Aaron was furiously typing away at his laptop. He didn't like being interrupted.
"This better be good."
"Is $6.75 million dollars good enough? The tournament's over; I won again," he said tiredly.
"Oh. Nicely done."
He yawned and leaned against the door frame. "What time do we need to be at the airport tomorrow?"
"Ten. But before that I need to go souvenir shopping."
Cameron looked at him strangely. "You? Souvenir shopping?"
"Keeley asked me to bring her something back," he said smugly.
The disbelief on his face only grew more exaggerated. "She asked you? Really?"
Well, he had offered first but she did specifically ask him for something ridiculous and cheap. That counted. "Yes."
"Well I'm certainly not going to miss this. I'll be there. See you in the morning." Cameron shut the door behind him and headed to his own room down the hall.
Aaron hadn't even been paying attention to the gift shops since arriving. He had no idea what to expect. Ridiculous…what would be considered ridiculous? He didn't know anything about such trinkets.
He found his answer in the morning in one of the hotel's gift shops. Everything was ridiculous. There were tee shirts, shot glasses, refrigerator magnets, and even snow globes.
How was he supposed to pick the weirdest one out of all of this?
Cameron perused the aisles with a small degree of interest. He picked up a mug with the Grand Prix logo on it. "Do you think Jennica would like this?"
"How would I know what your girlfriend would like?" Aaron asked irritably. He didn't even know what to get his own woman.
"No need to get tetchy. Did Keeley ask for anything specifically?"
"She asked for the most ridiculous thing I could find," he said dejectedly. He thought it would be easy but there was too much to choose from.
His friend smiled. "Try over there; I saw a few random things two aisles over."
Aaron made his way over and saw the perfect item: a fake gold spoon with the prince's palace carved onto the mouth of it and the royal emblem at the top of the handle.
Not only was it completely random, she would actually be able to use it regularly. He took it to the cashier immediately while Cameron was still deciding between two different mugs.
Noting the pleased expression on his boss' face, Cameron figured he found what he was looking for. "You ready to go?"
"I'm waiting on you."
"Alright, I think I'm going to get her this one. It's more colorful. Be right back."
Three minutes later, they headed back to their rooms to grab their luggage and head to the airport. It was a pity that international flights require you to be there two hours early because airport waiting areas are not pleasant.
Aaron got back to work on his proposal while Cameron texted Jennica like the lovesick fool he was.
Honestly…did she have nothing but free time? He was a bit jealous. Keeley never had time to talk to him like that.
"Is your girlfriend unemployed or what?" Aaron asked irritably after he'd been forced to witness Cameron's goofy smile for an hour.
"She's an actress and is in between gigs right now. She has an audition tomorrow."
"Sounds like a terrible way to live, not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from," he said dryly.
Cameron's smile turned crafty. "It's great for me though because it means she's always happy to be treated to dinner. We're going out again tonight."
With the time difference, even though they were leaving at noon and the flight was over eight hours long they would arrive around 2:30 PM. Going out on a date after being awake for nearly twenty hours seemed questionable to Aaron. He must really like this girl.
To be fair though, if Keeley wanted to see him tonight he would do the exact same thing.