by Ashley Blake
Chapter Three
The wedding reception Saturday night was beautiful. The room was decorated impeccably and the bride looked stunning. All night I kept looking around wondering if Mark was going to show up, and by the end of the night when I didn’t see him I felt silly for feeling disappointed about it.
I made a ton of money in tips that night, and as we were getting our bags Carrie cornered Brielle to ask about Mark. I rolled my eyes and pretended to be busy looking for something in my purse because I didn’t want Brielle to think it was my idea to ask about the guy.
“Hey Brielle, do you know who the guy was Eva went home with that night?”
As much as I didn’t want to I had to jump in because I didn’t want Brielle to think I’d had sex with a perfect stranger.
“Um, I didn’t end up going home with him.”
I could see the light bulb go off in Brielle’s head. “Oh my gosh, that’s right! I totally forgot that gorgeous guy gave you a ride home!”
Carrie looked at her and I could see that she was slightly annoyed that Brielle had not answered her question. “Yeah, the gorgeous guy, do you know who he is? He said his name is Mark Rogers.”
“No, but I overheard him talking to John Devane about some kind of investment so I knew it was okay if Eva got a ride with him.”
I looked at her, confusion written all over my face. “John Devane?”
“He’s a hedge fund manager and easily one of the richest guys in the country.”
Stassi looked like she was going to explode with jealousy even though she downplayed her reaction. “Oh, wow.”
Based on Mark’s house, he was probably loaded too. Whatever, it didn’t matter because he wasn’t the guy for me.
Brielle looked at me, her eyes wide. “So what happened with you guys?”
I casually waved my hand in the air hoping she would get the hint and just drop it. “Nothing. He gave me a ride and that was it.” She did not need to know anything more than that.
She casually shrugged her shoulders. “I would not have let that one get away.”
Carrie came to my defense. “She didn’t let him get away, Brielle, she wasn’t interested.”
“It doesn’t matter you guys, he was a guy that I met one night and that’s it. Moving on. Does anyone have anything fun planned this week?”
Thankfully we moved away from the subject of Mark and we made small talk for a short while, and then we all went our separate ways. Carrie drove me home and as I counted my tips I got really excited when I saw how much money I’d made.
“Carrie, I still can’t thank you enough for getting me this job. I am so going to be able to get my apartment sooner rather than later. Hopefully by the end of this summer you can come see my new place.”
She looked over at me and smiled and then glanced back at the road, and I could see the wheels spinning again. She was up to something.
“You know, I was thinking that we should get a place together because that way you and I can both have a bigger place with a lot more space than if we just had our own little studio. What do you think?”
“I thought you liked living by yourself. I would love to get a place together, that would be so much fun!”
“It’s cool living by myself but it would be so much more fun if I lived with my best friend, so let’s do it! This way you don’t have to wait until the end of the summer to get a place. My lease is up next month so we can start looking now for something.”
“Oh my gosh, Carrie, if you weren’t driving right now I would give you the biggest hug! I am so excited! Yay!”
“Me too! Let’s call the apartment service tomorrow to get started.”
“Okay, cool.”
I spent the next day just hanging out with my mom spending quality time together, and I broke the news to her that I was going to be moving out sooner than expected.
“Well, I’m not surprised. I figured you and Carrie would eventually decide to live together. I’m actually happy that you won’t be by yourself. You girls make sure you look after each other.”
“We will, mom.”
“So, how are the interviews coming? Do you have anything lined up for this week?”
“Yep, I have three this week so far and a couple next week.”
“Have you heard from Locke Designs yet?”
I couldn’t hide my frown. “Not yet.”
“Don’t worry, sweetie, I’m sure they will reach out to you.”
“I hope so.”
The next morning as I was getting ready for my first interview I quickly checked my email and there it was. Locke Designs wanted to interview me that Friday. I quickly ran to the kitchen to tell my mom the good news. She was finishing her coffee and was about to walk out when I ran up to her.
“I got it, mom! I got the interview!”
“Oh honey, that is so wonderful! I knew they would contact you. When is the interview?”
“This Friday.”
“You’ll do great, I just know it.”
“Thanks, mom.”
“Okay, I better run I don’t want to be late for work.”
My mom worked for a big attorney downtown and she was a stickler for being on time. It was one of the many good things she’d taught me so I was always early wherever I went. My dad came down the stairs and was getting ready to leave also.
“Hey buttercup, any big plans today aside from work?”
“Yep, I have an interview in an hour.”
“Good luck, sweetheart, I know you’ll knock ‘em dead.”
“Thanks, daddy. Have a great day at work!”
He winked at me as he walked out with my mom and then I ran upstairs to wake up my brother. He was home from college for summer break and his job didn’t start until the following week, but he told me he had a bunch of stuff to do that day so I should get him out of bed if he wasn’t up by the time I left.
I ruffled his hair as I gently nudged him. “Time to get up sleepy head.”
He was groggy as he rolled over and smiled at me.
“Thanks. You look nice.”
“Thanks, I have an interview in a little bit.”
“Good luck. Hey, is there gas in dad’s car?”
“Yes, but he said the tank better be full when you bring it back.”
“Okay, cool.”
“What do you have to do today, anyway?”
“Cheryl needs to run a bunch of errands so I told her I would take her.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled at him as I walked out of his room. “Oh, young love!”
He just missed me with his pillow and I giggled as I ran down the hall. My brother’s girlfriend had him wrapped around her little pinky. They were a cute couple and she was a sweet girl and I hoped to have what they had with someone one day.
The interview went well that day…at least in my mind it did…but it wasn’t really what I was looking for. I thought of it as practice for my interview with Locke Designs on Friday and made a lot of notes when it was over so I would know what not to do in my next interview. I had three more interviews lined up that week and the only one I considered a real opportunity was the Locke interview, so I would have a couple more chances to hone my interviewing skills before the real interview. The days passed slowly and the week couldn’t go by fast enough for me, but Friday finally arrived.
Excited did not even begin to describe how I was feeling as I walked into the massive building on Clark street. Locke Designs owned the entire 45-story building and I had dreamed of the day I would be able to walk in knowing I worked there. I smiled to myself as I went through the revolving door, realizing I was one step closer to my dream becoming my reality.
When the elevator opened on the 15th floor, I stepped out and looked around taking it all in. The walls were white marble and there were floor to ceiling glass walls everywhere. White leather chairs and a glass coffee table adorned the waiting area and everything looked so pristine. I walked up to the receptionist’s desk and a beautiful blonde
wearing what looked like a blue Stella McCartney dress smiled up at me.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, I’m here to see Sarah Stevens.”
“And your name?”
“Eva Steele.”
She dialed Ms. Stevens and then told me to have a seat in the waiting area. I busied myself by mentally going over my talking points to sell myself during the interview. I was running down my mental list when a woman came out to greet me.
“Eva?”
I looked up and smiled at a professional looking woman who appeared to be in her 40s.
“Yes!” I quickly stood up.
“Sarah Stevens, so nice to meet you. Let’s go into the conference room to chat for a bit.”
We talked about the expectations of the position and the more I learned about the company, the more I wanted to work there. I was there for about 30 minutes and I met one other woman who was a supervisor before my interview was over. I left feeling like I had won the lottery even though I had not yet been offered the position. I just felt like the interview went so well there was no way they wouldn’t hire me.
I went to work after my interview and Carrie texted that afternoon to let me know that Mr. De Luca wanted us to work the next morning. I was a little bit annoyed.
Me: What’s with the short notice?
Carrie: I don’t know, he just called me. You’re going to want to do this one.
Me: Why?
Carrie: It’s the Interior Design Expo at McCormick Place.
Me: What?! I am totally there! I would work that event for free!
Carrie: I know, I knew you’d be happy.
Me: Thanks for letting me know. Gotta get back to work!
All I could think about the rest of the day was how I could take advantage of the opportunity I was being given. To be at the Interior Design Expo was more than a dream come true, it was something that could really kick start my design career. I had a design book that I had created with photos of window displays I had done at the store and also a few dream design scenarios. I think it was one of the things that impressed all of my interviewers because I was showing them what I could do even though I didn’t have any formal design experience yet. Saturday morning could not come fast enough for me.
Chapter Four
McCormick Place was completely transformed and there were at least 300 vendors there. Only four of us from DeLuca Enterprises were there: me, Carrie, Brielle and Stassi, and we were all wearing the required standard little black dress. Charlene, Mr. DeLuca’s assistant, had brought them for us and she was there to show us where to go. We were stationed at four different refreshment booths around the room. I was in total awe as the room began to fill up. I planned to casually talk to as many vendors as possible and get as much advice as I could.
“I will let you ladies know when it time for your break. You will have to take it in staggered shifts so that we don’t have more than one booth empty at a time. You can text me for any other quick breaks you need, but it is important that you don’t leave your booth without letting me know. We are here to provide complimentary beverages for the crowd and they will have a choice between bottled water, three different sodas and two types of juice.” Charlene looked around at all of us. “Do you have any questions?”
Carrie spoke up first. “What time is this over?”
“We will be going home at 6:00.”
It was almost 10:00 so it was going to be a long day. We were being paid a flat rate of $500 for the day and we got to keep any tips we received, although I highly doubted we would be getting any tips. I didn’t mind because being there was invaluable to me and I would have done it for free, so $500 bucks sounded great.
Carrie looked over at me. “I’ll text you throughout the day since we won’t be taking our break at the same time.”
“Okay.”
We all went our separate ways and I was trying to figure out my plan to hit as many booths as possible during my lunch break as I set out the warm bottles to display what was available. Within minutes of me organizing my booth people poured into the Expo center. I was busy all morning and I caught a break for a few minutes around 11:00 so I reached down under the counter to grab my phone to text Carrie, when someone came to my booth.
“I’d like a bottled water please.”
I literally froze in place as I crouched under the counter to get my phone. I knew that voice. I slowly looked up to see mysterious, sexy Mark Rogers standing at my booth. I blinked a couple of times because there was no way he was real. There was no mask and the face I saw staring back at me was beyond gorgeous. I instantly felt nervous as his sparkling blue eyes held mine. What was he doing there?
Somehow I managed to utter a few words. “No mask today?”
He did not hide the fact that he was amused. “No, no mask.”
“I’m surprised to see you here.”
“Really? Why is that?”
Well, why was that? Why was I surprised to see him there? Because he was probably a gazillionaire who had all kinds of contacts; the kind where he wouldn’t need to be hanging out at an interior design Expo.
“I just don’t see you here at an event like this. I would guess you probably know a lot of people and you have your pick of designers and any other kind of vendor you might need.”
He mulled over my words as his eyes searched mine.
“Eva, I have always believed it is important to get out and go to Expos like this to get a personal feel for certain vendors. Yes, I use personal recommendations but I also have a keen sense for people, so when I have time I like to come to the bigger Expos. I found my chef at a Expo like this.”
His chef. Of course he had a chef, why wouldn’t he? Mark was so far out of my league it was ridiculous. Here I was working the refreshments booth and he was looking for new designers. Yep, way out of my league.
“Oh.” It was all I could think of to say.
“So, this must be pretty exciting for you to be here since you want to go into interior design.”
I couldn’t believe that he remembered that.
“I am pretty excited. When Carrie told me we were working this event I told her I would have worked for free because of all of the potential contacts I can make.”
He took a sip of his water and smiled at me. “Good luck networking.” That was all he said and then he disappeared into the crowd.
I looked around totally confused. Was it something I said? I pushed it out of my mind concluding that he was just plain weird. I didn’t have any desire to have someone like that in my life. I took a few minutes to look over the list of vendors that were at the Expo and put stars next to those that I wanted to definitely visit during my break. I was busy all morning and I didn’t have time to go to any booths during my short bathroom break so I was planning to hit a bunch of them during lunch. Carrie texted me that she was bored to tears, but it wasn’t her scene. Carrie wanted to be in finance and I, on the other hand, was loving every minute of being at that Expo.
When it was finally time for my lunch break, I looked at the list of vendors I had checked off and made my rounds. Locke Designs was first on my list and as I got closer to their booth, I recognized Sarah Stevens, the woman who had interviewed me.
“Eva, it is so nice to see you again. Are you enjoying the Expo?”
“Thank you, it’s nice to see you, too. I’m not really an attendee, I’m here with DeLuca Enterprises and I’m working one of the refreshment booths. I’m on my lunch break so I thought I would take the opportunity to go around to as many booths as possible.”
“Well it’s nice to see that you are exploring the various companies that are here.” She looked at me intently. “You have a real passion for design, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. I want to learn as much as possible and this Expo is the perfect place to do that.”
“I don’t want to keep you because I’m sure your break is not very long and there is a lot to see here. We will be making our decision within the w
eek so you will hear something soon. Enjoy your day!”
I walked away feeling really good and happy that I saw her. I hoped her seeing me there showed her how much I loved interior design. I was going to be on pins and needles until I heard from them.
