by Adams, Nancy
“Great, I am glad that you think so,” Isabel replied. “I actually already sent you over a list of fashion bloggers that I think that we should talk to.”
“Fantastic,” she said flatly.
“Well, let’s get to work then,” she said.
“Okay,” Cara said as she began to walk away.
Isabel turned away and opened up her laptop. Cara suddenly stopped and turned around.
“Actually, that reminds me,” she said. “I just met a media manager a couple of weeks back. He works with a lot of major publications and is in touch with some of the best fashion bloggers. You should talk to him.”
“Oh my God,” Isabel said. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
“We have been so busy! I have barely been able to get a shower in, say nothing of planning more publicity. I told him about the line and said that we’d get in touch,” she replied.
“Well, that really is great news. Do you think that he would meet with us?” she asked.
“Definitely. I asked him to send some people to the fashion show but, you know, maybe it would help if you actually stopped by his office and dropped off some VIP passes. He seemed interested at the time but I know that he is a really busy guy. It definitely wouldn’t hurt to get down there and remind him about the fashion now that it is so close to the time,” she said.
“You are brilliant. That’s a great idea,” Isabel replied.
“Thanks,” she said. “Why don’t you stop down at his office this afternoon? It’s only about 20 minutes away and maybe you can work off some of this nervous energy.”
She laughed. “You’re probably right. Why don’t you come along?” she asked.
“I have a few things that I want to get done here. You’re always the better representative anyway. Go down there and wow him,” Cara said. “It really not far away so you’ll be back in no time.”
“Alright,” she said. “It’s a plan.”
“Great,” Cara said as she pulled her phone from her pocket. “I’ll forward you the address right now. You’ve still got some VIP passes in your drawer.”
“Perfect,” she said as she reached for her bag. “I’m out of here then. Thanks!”
Cara smiled as she walked out the door. Isabel quickly made her way outside and into a cab. She rehearsed what she would say as she made her way through Manhattan. She looked down at her phone as she approached the office.
“Mr. Jenaeu,” she whispered nervously as she walked into the office.
She smiled to herself as she took in the ultra modern decor. She looked over at the reception desk and took a deep breath.
“Hi, I am here to see Mr. Jenaeu. My name is Isabel and I’m from Scarlet Design House,” she said.
“Do you have an appointment?” she asked.
“I don’t but I am just here to drop off some VIP passes that he wanted. It’ll only take a minute,” she replied.
The receptionist sighed as she reached down to pick up the phone. “I’ll see if he has time,” she said.
Isabel felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out as she waited for the receptionist. She saw a message from Cara and opened it.
“Did I mention that Mr. Jenaeu is single, gorgeous, and looking forward to meeting you? I told him you’d stop by after the fashion show chaos died down. Sorry! He really is a media manager though! Give him the VIP passes but don’t be surprised if we wants to give you some VIP treatment too ;)”.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Ladies and gentlemen, we apologize for the delay. Welcome to New York City’s JFK Airport. Thank you for choosing to fly with us. We will be deboarding in about ten minutes. Please stay seated. You may now turn on your mobile phones,” the flight attendant said over the loudspeaker.
Andrew reached into his briefcase and pulled out his cell phone. He tapped his foot anxiously as he waited for it to turn back on. As soon as his phone was back on, he quickly typed a message.
“Back in NYC! San Francisco was amazing. It couldn’t have gone any better. Looking forward to seeing you. I should be back in town in about an hour so let’s meet up ASAP,” he wrote.
Andrew smiled as he waited in his seat. He was still clutching his phone when he heard it beep.
“That’s great news! So, San Francisco wants in?” the message read.
Andrew quickly started typing. “They do. They want to open an office even. The whole nine yards. They asked me to spend three months out there as they get everything setup. Looks like it’s finally time for me to learn how to surf!” he wrote.
He went online as soon as he sent the message. He searched “luxury apartment in San Francisco” and eagerly clicked on the first link that he saw. He was interrupted when a message popped up on his screen.
“Good work, Andy! This is a big deal. You are going to be the director and founder of the West Coast branch. Not only is that going to a massive boost for the charity but it’s also a serious career leap for you. We have to go celebrate! I’m a little starstruck actually. I was just reading about you in the news this morning,” the message said.
Andrew laughed. “What can I say? I am a big name philanthropist now. I’m so charitable that I’ll even spring for some tapas and beer for you if you can get out of the office in the next hour,” he wrote.
He stared at the phone as he waited for a reply.
“You better. I also read in the news that you just got a massive payday courtesy of your boys on Wall Street. I doubt we’d even make a dent in that wallet of yours if you bought an actual tapa bar. It’s been a seriously good month for you,” the message said.
“Oh stop, you are making me blush. Just get your ass downtown and we’ll see if I can spring for dessert. The rest of that is for the kids, remember?” he wrote.
Andrew heard the loud speaker click back on. “Thank you for your patience, ladies and gentlemen. We will now be deboarding. Could all of the passengers in first class please leave their towels with the flight attendant? Thank you for traveling with us today. We are pleased to welcome you to New York City and hope that you enjoy your stay,” the flight attendant said over the loudspeaker.
Andrew handed his towel to the flight attendant walking past his seat.
“Thank you, sir. Enjoy your time in New York City,” she said.
He smiled. “I most definitely will,” he said.
He reached into the overhead compartment above him and pulled down his bag. He quickly made his way to the exit and raced toward the gate. He slowed down when he heard his phone beep again.
‘Alright, same as always. Tapa bar on 8th Ave. See you in an hour,” the message said.
Andrew was just about to put his phone away when he heard it beep again. He looked down.
“Are you home? Call me!” the message read.
He stopped walking and looked pensively at the screen. He slowly dialed a number then lifted the phone to his ear.
“Hey babe,” a woman answered.
“Hi,” Andrew replied. “I just got in. Sorry, the flight was running a little bit behind schedule so I’m later than I expected to be.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” she said. “I am just glad that you are home.”
“Me too,” he said. “How is your day going? Busy at work?”
“Everything is fine here,” she said. “But, come on, don’t leave me in suspense. What happened in California?”
“It was great. The whole trip was just a massive success. I’ve been walking on cloud nine all day. They just emailed me right before my plane was about to take off so I hadn’t even gotten a chance to talk to anyone about it until now. I’m just on my way now to meet with Seth, in fact. We are going to grab a late lunch and go over all of the details of the plan,” he said.
“That is fantastic. I am so proud of you. See? What did I tell you? You totally blew them away. There was nothing to be nervous about,” she said.
“Indeed. You were right,” he said. “Thanks for letting me run my pitch past you a t
housand and one times before I left.”
She laughed. “Not a problem,” she said. “Anytime.”
Andrew laughed. “Hopefully not again anytime soon,” he said.
“Well, so does this mean what I think that it mean?” she asked. “What is the next step?”
He paused. “Yeah, that conversation wasn’t a big surprise. They do want me to come back out there,” he said. “And soon.”
“For how long?” she asked.
“Well, they want me to commit to a minimum of three months,” he said.
“A minimum?” she repeated.
“Yeah,” he said. “Basically that is the minimum time but I need to follow through on whatever we organize so if three months isn’t enough time, I will need to stay longer.”
“I see,” she said.
Andrew sighed. “It’s just really hard to say at this point. You know, everything is so new. We have all agreed upon what we want to do but it’s impossible to say exactly how long that will take until we all get together over there and start going through the logistics of it step by step,” he said.
She didn’t respond.
“Look, I know that we have a lot to talk about so maybe we should just wait until tonight,” he said. “I’ve really missed you. I made reservations for us tonight at that new sushi place that you’ve been wanting to check out.”
“Oh, that sounds great,” she said. “I can’t wait to see you.”
“Me too,” he replied. “Well, I should be getting on my way. I need to call my driver and let him know that I’m here.”
“Okay,” she said “But, wait, just one more thing. I have some good news too.”
“Nice. What’s that?” he asked.
“I was talking things over with a few of my colleagues and it looks like I could arrange to work remotely. So, if I decided to spend some more time over there with you, I could. Indefinitely,” she said.
“Wow,” he replied.
“Yeah, I know,” she said. “It’s a lot to process but I just wanted to let you know so you have some time to digest everything. We can talk about it all tonight. I know that it’s a big decision and I haven’t decided on anything without but I just thought I would look into it so that we know all of our options.”
“Definitely, that’s great. Good idea,” he said.
“Okay, so I’ll see you tonight and we will talk everything over then,” she said.
“Until tonight,” he replied. “See you soon.”
CHAPTER NINE
“I’m absolutely exhausted,” Isabel said. “I feel like it’s midnight.”
“Ugh, I know. We have been at this forever,” Cara said as she threw a small piece of fabric down into a massive heap of textile samples. “Didn’t we just do all of this?”
Isabel looked up from the fabric swatch that she was holding and laughed. “Well, I guess that is the business of fashion. There is always another season coming up,” she said.
Cara stood up and stretched. “Let’s become swimwear designers,” she said.
Isabel yawned then chuckled. “That’s probably the best idea that anyone has had all day,” she said.
“No,” she replied. “You know what the best idea is? Let’s get some coffee in us.”
“Ah, yeah, that would be great,” she said. “I am starving though.”
“Well, let’s go get some coffee and lunch,” Cara said.
“From where?” she asked.
“Let’s have some pizza,” she replied. “I have been craving it all week.”
“Yeah, that sounds good but it will take forever. That place down the street is so slow and we do need to get back to work. Plus they don’t even have coffee,” Isabel said.
Cara sighed. “Alright. Let’s get takeout and then we can keep working, you slave driver,” she said.
She laughed. “So extreme. How about if you pick up some pizza and I go get some coffee?” she asked.
“Fine,” she replied. “You have got yourself a deal. What do you want?”
“Something low calorie. Don’t they do those cheeseless pizzas there?” she asked.
“Cheeseless pizza?” Cara repeated. “Bread without cheese on it is not a pizza. Come on, why don’t you enjoy yourself for once?”
“Fine, fine,” Isabel said. “Get whatever looks good. I’m going to run down and grab some coffee.”
“That place down the street does deliver,” she said.
“Delivery fees,” Isabel said impatiently.
Cara shook her head.
Isabel smiled. “Anyway, we could use some time out of the studio. I don’t even remember what the sun looks like anymore,” she said.
“True enough,” she replied. “Alright, I’ll meet you back here in a half an hour or so.”
“Perfect,” Isabel said as she walked toward the door.
Isabel scrolled through the messages on her phone as she walked down the stairs and out onto the street. She searched through her inbox anxiously to see if anyone was getting back to her about coming to their upcoming trunk show. Her eyes were burning by the time she reached the counter of the coffee shop.
“Hey, Isabel,” the woman behind the counter said as she approached.
“Hi, Lily,” she replied. “Can I get a couple of the usuals to go?”
“Sure, coming right up,” she said as she reached over to get cups. “You look gorgeous as always today. Is that dress from your new line?”
“Oh, thanks,” Isabel said. “This one is from the summer collection.”
“Well, it’s seriously stunning,” she said as she poured milk into their coffees.
“I’m glad that you like it. You know where we are. You should come up sometime. I’d love to show you around the studio and I sure we can give you a deal on something,” she said.
The woman smiled at her. “I might just take you up on that,” she replied.
“Good,” Isabel said.
She reached forward and took the two coffees off of the counter. She was about to walk out of the door with them when heard Andrew’s voice. She spun around on her heels and spotted him sitting at a counter in front of the window. A tall, stunning redhead was sitting next to him. She was laughing at something that he had said then she carelessly threw her arm around him. Isabel stared as she left her arm lingering on his shoulder.
“Excuse me, miss,” a man said as he tried to walk around her in the doorway.
“Oh, sorry,” she said.
She moved to the side as he passed. She clutched on to the coffee cups and stretch out two fingers to pull the door open. She didn’t take her eyes off of him as she grasped at the handle. Her coffee cup crushed against the door and went pouring down her dress. She yelped as the hot liquid poured over her leg. She saw Andrew look up at her then she quickly looked away. She grabbed the coffee cup with her other hand then pulled the door open as fast as she could. Her cheeks were burning with embarrassment as she raced through the door and past the window. She stared down at the sidewalk until she finally recognized the street outside of her studio door. She ran upstairs and threw herself down on the couch. She started to sob as soon as her face hit the cushion. She cried until she heard Cara opening the door.
Cara walked in then stopped in front of the doorway. “Did you decide to take a nap?” she asked.
Isabel didn’t reply.
“Hey, are you alright?” she asked.
She sat up from the couch. Mascara was smeared down the length of her face.
“Oh my God,” Cara said. “What happened?”
“Andrew was at the coffee shop,” she replied.
“Well, okay, but we know that he drinks coffee,” she said.
Isabel scowled. “He was there with another woman,” she continued. “They were clearly together.”
Cara didn’t reply.
Isabel’s eyes welled up with tears again.
“You know that I always want to be here for you,” Cara said. “But enough is enough. You two weren’t eve
n together and now it’s been months since you’ve spoken. It’s hardly a betrayal for him to start dating a woman.”
She stared at the ground. “What do you want me to do?” she asked. “I’m upset.”
“I know you are but it’s time to move on. Clearly he has and there is no reason why you shouldn’t have by now,” Cara said.
