Seth appeared in her doorway, latte in hand, watching her every move. She pretended to ignore him as she plugged in and booted up her laptop, took her phone out and got settled at her desk.
Then, she looked up at him, smiled and said sweetly, “Is there something I can help you with?”
“Don’t you hold out on me, BBC!” She laughed and he continued, eyes narrowing, as he looked at her. “You seem to be a happy BBC this morning. One might even say a glowing BBC. Frankly, I was expecting a sad, pining BBC today.”
She shook her head, “Nope. Happy BBC.”
“Aren’t you sad that he left?” Seth made a sad face.
“Who said anything about leaving.” Mia looked like a Cheshire cat.
Seth gasped, “He’s still here?”
Mia smiled and nodded.
“Oh my God!” Seth clapped his hands together, “Why aren’t you home in bed, fucking his brains out?”
Mia laughed, “Because I don’t want you eating cat food, Princess!” Seth looked at her with a “tell me more” look and Mia continued, “He’s working out of the apartment this morning and he’ll be here this afternoon. We’ll be using the conference room. Is Kami in yet?”
“Yeah, she’s in her office dialing for dollars trying to find new clients. He’s going to be here today? How do I look?” Seth immediately began primping, pulling at his collar, straightening the neckline on his argyle cashmere sweater.
“Please let her know I’d like to see her.”
Seth stood, “You are holding out on me.”
“All in due time, my little princess. Now go get Kami.”
“Wicked Witch BBC,” he called over his shoulder. Mia laughed.
Kami Townes, knocked on Mia’s open door and Mia signaled her in.
“Good morning. How were your days off last week?” Kami asked, all soft southern drawl.
Mia smiled, “Exceptional.”
“I’ll bet they were!” They heard Seth yell from the outer office. Both women shook their heads and laughed.
Like Seth, Kami had been with Mia since before the agency. She was Mia’s go to person and the staff member to which Mia entrusted the most important business. Kami was brilliant, driven and approached business with both left and right brain sensibilities. She was also very loyal. Kami and Mia had seen each other through personal hardships and some very wild, very hazy memory times, including an impromptu trip to New Orleans that was never, ever discussed.
The two women balanced one another out well. While Mia was a what you see is what you get, balls to the wall New Yorker, Kami was the epitome of Southern Belle. Raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Kami was the daughter of a prominent cardiologist and a member of local society. She was a southern debutante whose pearls never came off — ever. Like any accomplished, good southern girl, Kami could insult you right to your face with such smooth grace and finesse that you never really knew what hit you… until later.
“We’ve got a really exciting opportunity,” Mia began, “and I want you to be the primary on it. I’m going to be totally hands on, beside you on this baby — but you are going to be breathing, sleeping and eating this.”
“I’m excited, what is it? Can you talk about it yet?”
“Have you ever heard of a California outfit Level 9 Health Clubs?” Kami’s face lit up and Seth came running into the office, parking in the chair next to Kami.
“No you didn’t!” He screamed.
Mia laughed, “Oh, yes I did.”
“My friend Shelby Lee, the lawyer for Universal, is a member at their Studio City property. I went there with her last time I was in LA. Amazing facility. We have nothing like it here.” Kami was intrigued.
“The first thing we’re going to work with them on is finding the space for their first New York City location and we will handle everything — the launch, marketing, advertising, PR. Everything — this baby is ours.”
Kami sat there with her mouth open and Seth started to squeal. Mia sat back and smiled at them. It was so nice to deliver good news.
“Your main contact is going to be their CMO, Yolanda Perez. She goes by Yoli. We have a conference call with her this afternoon. Their owner, Schooner Moore, will be here with us on-site for the meeting.”
“Oh my God, I’m so excited he’s coming here.” Seth swooned.
Mia nodded, “He’s coming here. And we have lots to do this morning to get ready for that meeting. We need to start pulling competitive data, look at where competitors are located. Let’s make a list for Yoli of things we’ll need from her. I want to see what their West Coast agencies have been doing.” Mia pulled up their website on her laptop. “Slick site. This is beautiful.”
“How did this happen? If you don’t mind my asking.” Kami inquired.
Mia smiled and she could see that Seth was bursting at the seams. “You want to tell the story? I’m sure you’ll tell it so much better than I will.”
Seth turned to Kami. Mia knew this was going to be dramatic and sat back in her chair, smirking. He looked down at his iPad and typed something in, then sighed and turned his iPad toward Kami.
Her pretty blue eyes shot open wide, “Hottie Toddy!”
And Seth continued, “That is Schooner Moore. Schooner James Moore, our new client and owner of Level 9 Health Clubs. Isn’t he beautiful?” Kami nodded vigorously, “Well, it appears our little Miss Mia has been holding out on us all these years. This gorgeous man, who let me state for the record, I am in love with, was Mia’s first love. And the bitch, broke his heart. Left him. Heartbroken,” he turned to give Mia a mock glare. “Last week, Mr. Moore tracked down the evil tart who broke his heart and flew here to see her, hence, her time off from work last week. Clearly their reunion was a happy one because he is still here in New York and did not leave at the end of the weekend as was planned and is now opening a New York facility and we are their new agency. And there you have it.”
Mia clapped, “Very good. You did it justice. And succinct too, I might add.”
Kami put both hands up to her forehead with her thumbs on her cheeks, a common gesture she made when thinking or processing information, then she looked up at Mia. “Did he just make that sound incredibly romantic or is this incredibly romantic?”
“Look at that shit-eating grin on her face!” Seth hit Kami in the arm playfully.
“So, what happened Mia? C’mon don’t leave us with just Seth’s synopsis,” urged Kami.
“I don’t even know where to begin.” Mia put her palms up, “The man was the love of my life and turns out he is still the love of my life,” she looked at Seth, “and you will love this… he’s serving CJ with divorce papers today.”
“Noooooooooooo”
Mia nodded, “Yes!”
“Oh karma is such a bitch.” Seth was preening. He turned to Kami to fill her in, “CJ is like this Real Housewife of Orange County and she purposely sabotaged Mia and Schooner when they were in college and that is why BBC over here left this beautiful man. She’s evil, pure evil. Tall, blonde and evil,” he turned to Mia, “I can’t believe he’s divorcing her!”
“He’s flying up to Providence tomorrow to talk to his daughter.”
Mia reached inside her Ghurka bag and pulled out an envelope. “I have something to show you,” she was smiling as she handed them the photo of Schooner at Victoria Falls.
“He was so beautiful, Mia.” Kami actually gasped taking in the image of nineteen year old Schooner smiling his real smile for Mia. Mia just nodded, feeling suddenly overwhelmed and emotional.
Seth was staring at the picture and then looked up at Mia, serious for the first time. “You deserve this, you know that.” Mia nodded, her eyes filled with tears. “It’s your time, Mia.”
He stood, picture still in hand, “I’m going to go get a frame for this.” He smiled at Mia and left.
CHAPTER 11
Mia was brimming with pride as she gave Schooner a tour of the agency. This was her baby, and the look on his face and in his eyes w
hen he saw what she had built and met her staff, made her beam. The sleek, trendy space screamed New York cool with its warehouse look and exposed brick walls.
“Get that off of your computer right now!” Mia hissed in a whispered tone into Seth’s ear. His new screensaver was the picture of Schooner sleeping on Mia’s couch. She backhanded him on the side of his head.
After a very productive hour and a half phone session with Yoli, where she and Kami seemed like they had worked together for years, Mia brought Schooner back into her office and closed the door.
He sat on the edge of her desk smiling, “Come over here.” He held out his hand to her. She took his hand and he pulled her to him, between his long legs. Her hands were in his hair and she just looked into his beautiful eyes, smiling. She kissed him, softly.
He took her face in his hands, “Do you know how much I love you?” He asked, searching her eyes.
She smiled and nodded. There was stress in his eyes. She could see it, feel it.
“I talked to CJ this morning,” he began, “it didn’t go well. She’s not going to make it easy, Mia.”
“Does it matter?”
He thought for a second, as if that question had not yet occurred to him. “No, actually it really doesn’t. I was concerned that it might matter to you.”
“Me? How so?” Mia played with the locks of hair falling on his forehead, making him look nineteen again.
“That I’m still going to be legally married to another woman. She’s going to drag this out.”
Mia smiled and leaned forward, kissing the tip of his nose. “So, let her. The only grief she is going to cause is to herself. I don’t want you stressing over that, Schooner.” Mia stopped and thought for a second and then looked at Schooner with her devilish grin, “I’m a concubine!” She announced and they both broke into much needed laughter.
“My concubine,” he staked claim, kissing her.
“Damn right,” she hugged him and then pulled back to look at him, “Seriously, as long as we are together and things are good between us — that’s all I need. I’m good, really.”
“Yeah, but I want to give you more,” his eyes were serious again.
She took his face in her hands and shook her head. “I have everything I want, Schooner. Everything. The rest doesn’t mean anything without this. And I have this. So seriously, I don’t want you stressing over it. The rest will be great when it happens. Trust me, if she sees she can stress you out, she’ll step up her game even more. If you don’t give a shit, then it’s no fun fighting with you and she’ll stop.”
“Yeah, but in the meantime, I want to protect you. I want to make sure you are protected, Mia. I spoke to my lawyer today about ways in which I can do that.”
“Schooner, look around,” her hand swept around her office, “I’m fine.”
He shook his head no. “No Baby Girl, I need to do a better job protecting you and I need to make sure all the legal aspects are in place.” He put his hand on her stomach and she looked down at his hand and then he looked into her eyes, “I need to protect what is mine. Do you understand what I am saying.”
She nodded.
“You’re mine now,” he whispered in her ear in a gruff, emotion-filled voice. She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder.
CHAPTER 12
Mia reached for her buzzing phone to read the incoming text.
Schooner: Damn I am missing you!
Mia: How’s Rhode Island?
Schooner: Even colder than NY.
Mia: How is it going with Holly?
Schooner: She’s taking it really well. I told her everything.
Mia: Everything?
Schooner: Yes
Mia: Holy crap. That’s pretty heavy.
Schooner: She needed to understand
Mia: Does she?
Schooner: Yes, she told me that growing up she knew that CJ and I didn’t act like parents of her friends. I feel terrible that she wasn’t shown a more loving relationship
Mia: :-(
Schooner: I know. Am taking her and her boyfriend out to dinner
Mia: Have you met him before?
Schooner: No
Mia: Don’t scare him!
Schooner: LOL. Call you from the hotel later
Mia: Have fun.
Schooner: Love u
Mia: It’s smoochal
Schooner: :-) ear 2 ear
Mia: smoochal 2 :-)
Mia was sitting in bed working when Schooner called, “Did I wake you?”
“Nah, I’ve got this new client. Lots of work to do to onboard them. How’s Holly?”
Schooner’s voice sounded relaxed, “Today went surprisingly well. I laid a lot on her and I kind of feel bad. She wasn’t surprised about me and CJ, she was very surprised to learn about you.”
Mia sighed, “I’ll bet she was. That can’t be easy.”
“After she told me about how she grew up knowing that CJ and I didn’t have the same kind of relationship that she saw in other families around her, I just had to have a really honest conversation with her. It was a good chance for me to talk to her about mistakes and doing things for the wrong reasons and hopefully impart good advice about being true to herself and not settling.” He paused, “She wants to meet you.”
Mia scooched under the covers, “That really makes me happy to hear that. I know it won’t be easy, her loyalty is to her mother.”
“I don’t think she sees it that way. She wants me to be happy. She said the difference in me from 10 days ago, at the party, to now was… how did she put it… a transmutational shift.”
Mia laughed, “Wow! Transmutational shift, huh?” They both laughed. “What’s her boyfriend like?”
“Really nice kid. His name is Jared Goldman. He’s pre-med. Totally smitten with Holly and from what I can tell treats her really well. I’d say they are in love.”
“Oh Schooner…” Mia was smiling.
“It’s weird to see. But I’m glad I had a chance to meet him. That’s who she was Facebooking and texting all last weekend. Hey, how do you feel about the two of them coming to spend the weekend with us?”
“I’d love it. When do they want to come?”
“Friday.”
Mia laughed, “Sounds like we’re going to have a fun weekend.” Mia heard an odd sound, “What is that?”
“I’m punching my pillows, trying to fluff them. Crappy pillows here in this hotel. Not like we have at home.” Mia smiled at his home reference. “Are you in bed?”
“I am.”
“Remind me not to sleep without you in the future,” he sounded lost.
“It’s so weird that you say that. How many years did I sleep in this bed without you and tonight it just feels empty and lonely and cold. And I hate it,” she paused, “remind me not to sleep without you in the future.”
CHAPTER 13
Schooner paced the apartment like a caged animal on Friday afternoon awaiting Holly and Jared’s arrival. He was wound tight when Mia came home from work and the apartment felt smaller than usual as he stalked around with long-legged strides. She could feel the tension radiating off of him and see the stress in his eyes.
“Hey,” she wrapped her arms around his waist, trying to get him to stop moving, “I know this makes it real.”
“Yeah,” his voice sounded choked.
“Don’t worry. We’re going to have the best time. I have a couple of big surprises planned for you guys,” she looked up at Schooner, her devil smile at full luminosity, immediately brightening his mood and allaying his fears.
“What do you have up your sleeve, Baby Girl?” He took her face by the chin and kissed her.
“I’m only going to tell you part one, because you are going to be soooo excited. I’m so excited.” He searched her face and she went on, “Ok, so, I was talking to a dear old friend of mine today. We’ve been good friends and business associates since the 90’s. He owns an event security firm and is very familiar with a lot of spaces around the c
ity — really, really cool properties, the kind that lend themselves to photo shoots and events. I told him that we were looking for a Level 9 Flagship location in New York and he told me about a space that just became vacant that sounds like the perfect amount of square footage, great neighborhood and has mass amounts of charm, history and quirkiness to it. He got the keys from the owners and is going to meet us this evening, after the kids get in, to show it to us.” Mia’s excitement was contagious, “Schooner, if Charles says it’s good, it’s going to be good. He and I have done enough events together over the years that I totally trust his opinion and he is really, really high on this space.”
Schooner pulled Mia in for a tight hug. “You’re amazing.”
“Here’s what I was thinking,” she began, “after they get here, let’s go meet Charles and view the property first before we even go out to dinner. I think it will be an amazing ice breaker, give us all a lot to talk about. And if it’s amazing and you love it, then we’ll all be pumped up out of our minds and there will be no awkwardness in the conversation.”
As Schooner ran his thumb down Mia’s cheek and bent down to kiss her, the doorman call button rang. Mia told the doorman to send Holly and Jared up. Mia and Schooner walked to the apartment door and turned to one another and simultaneously said, “Showtime”. When they opened the door they were both laughing, evoking immediate smiles from both Holly and Jared.
“Hey there, Beautiful,” a happy and now relaxed Schooner wrapped his arms around his daughter.
Mia couldn’t help but smile looking at the two of them, though in the very first moment she had to consciously remind herself that this was Holly and not CJ. The resemblance was staggering.
Schooner let Holly go and she looked at Mia. Mia immediately embraced her warmly and enthusiastically greeted, “Hi Holly, I’m Mia,” and then embraced Jared with the same warmth.
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