by Karen Booth
“Actually, no. I didn’t know that.” He watched as Lela and Echo exchanged looks of pure affection. He’d seen that they were forging a bond, but it now seemed even stronger. “When did that happen?”
“At the photo shoot. I invited her to the wedding, too.”
“Oh, wow. Okay. Great.” But was this great? Maybe? Sort of?
“I told her she could ride up with us. If that’s okay with you.”
“Yeah. Of course.” Donovan smiled and nodded like a good dad, realizing that Echo and Lela’s now-closer relationship made it that much more definitive—there would be no romance with Lela. Echo didn’t want it and neither did Lela. He had to shut the door on that forever.
Chapter Thirteen
Donovan walked to and from work every day. The distance between his new apartment in the Murray Hill neighborhood and the JTI building was minimal by New York standards—only a twenty-minute jaunt since he had a pretty long stride. Normally, he used that time to decompress, but now that they were several days into the Lela B ad campaign, Lela was everywhere. In fact, he’d had to change his route completely to avoid certain spots where the sexy images of her in that dress were omnipresent, like along Broadway in the windows of the big cosmetics stores. And Times Square? That was a non-starter, and not just because there were entirely too many tourists for his liking. Lela’s face graced one of the electronic billboards, looming over him, reminding him of his shortcomings.
But one thing he hadn’t taken into account was the buses.
He was nearly to JTI, about to cross the street, when the light turned red. He and several dozen other people came to a halt, just as a bus pulled up to the curb to let off its passengers. And there was Lela plastered to the side of the metal transport, with her big blue eyes seductively boring into his soul, and her sumptuous hair blown back from her flawless face.
“Ugh. It’s that picture again,” a twenty-something man in a too-slim suit said.
“Seriously. Enough with the old lady side-boob. It’s everywhere,” his similarly-dressed companion added.
Donovan had never been the sort of person who got into fist fights, but he was seriously considering starting now. Could he take two guys at once? He might have to try. They were being so rude.
“I don’t know shit about makeup but do women really want to see their mom in an ad campaign?” the first man asked.
“Or their grandma,” man number two added.
Donovan willed the light to change, but it stubbornly remained optimistic Kelly green in the other direction and angry red in his. Something in him couldn’t let this go. He had to say something. “She’s not a grandma.”
“What did you say?” the first man asked.
“She’s not a grandma. The woman on the bus is not a grandma.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
He knew he was about to sound exactly like a trifling old man, but he couldn’t let this go. “No. Hold on a minute. That woman is a friend of mine, I think she looks amazing, and she’s not a grandma. Not that it would matter if she was a grandmother. There’s nothing wrong with that. A grandma can still be sexy.”
“Whatever, grandpa.”
The light changed and the men brushed past him and started off across the street. The bus was long gone. And Donovan’s cheeks were dry and hot with fury. Punk-ass jerks. He silently blew out a breath and stormed through the crosswalk to JTI.
Upstairs at Echo Echo, things were always busy, but today there seemed to be a new level of hectic. The phones were ringing like crazy. People were darting down the hall, and in and out of offices. Donovan had no clue what was going on, but something was in the air.
Echo was on the phone when he stopped by her office to check in. As he darkened her doorway, she noticed and waved him in. “Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just call me back.” She hit the screen on her phone and cast the device aside. It landed with a thud on a pile of papers.
“What’s going on?” Donovan asked.
“Everything’s falling apart.”
He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “Define everything.”
“I thought we were off to a great start with the Lela B campaign, but we’re suddenly getting complaints. Some of the retailers are saying they don’t want the displays up in their stores, and some religious group started picketing a cosmetics store in Dallas. They said the photos are lewd and inappropriate for a woman Lela’s age. What is wrong with people? How could anyone get so triggered by a fifty year-old woman?”
Normally, Donovan liked being right. But this was not what he’d wanted to happen. And after encountering those two assholes down on the street, he knew exactly how pig-headed and narrow-minded his original appraisals of the campaign had been. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. It’s going to kill me to tell Lela. I had to talk her into doing this in the first place. And this isn’t like a rejection of her products. People are complaining about her. They’re criticizing the way she looks. It’s awful.”
Donovan agreed. It was awful. “Have you looked at the sales numbers?”
Echo blinked back at Donovan. “Actually, no. I haven’t.”
“Let’s do that before you make a decision about anything.”
“Smart. That’s so smart.” She turned to her computer and hit a few keys on the keyboard.
Donovan fished his reading glasses out of his laptop bag and rounded behind her desk, planting one hand on the back of her chair so he could look over her shoulder. “Well?”
“It’s not a big wave across the board, but there are hot spots.”
He moved in closer to see better. “Chicago looks pretty good. So does Seattle.”
Echo nodded slowly. “And look at Dallas. Those look solid, and that’s where they’re picketing.”
Donovan removed his glasses and tucked them into the pocket of his suit jacket. “Do you want my opinion?”
She turned in her chair and looked up at him. “I not only want it, I want you to tell me what to do. We leave for the wedding in two days and I literally cannot make one more decision. My brain has no more room for choices.”
“Do nothing. Stay the course.”
“No tweaks?”
“If anything, I might move into a few more secondary markets. Talk to the sales team and see if they have any ideas.”
“You want to double-down?”
“Maybe not double, exactly, but a hell of a lot of resources have already gone into this campaign, and I don’t think it’s wise to scrap the whole thing and start over. I would wait it out.”
Echo kneaded her forehead. “No one has ever protested one of our products before. The whole thing is weird.”
“It’s impossible to predict how everything will land, honey. This is just part of the game. But I say we wait it out.”
She sighed. “Okay. You’re right.”
“The good news is you’re about to get married and go on your honeymoon. If things blow up, it’ll be my job to deal with it.”
She laughed, her eyes flashing brightly from what seemed to be relief. “True. You can take the heat.”
Donovan couldn’t contain his smile. It felt good to help her through this, but more than anything, it was one of the rare times he felt as though he could protect her, or at the very least insulate her. After a lifetime of falling short, he was making up for some of it. “Does Lela know?”
Echo shook her head. “I don’t think so. She had to take her cat to the vet this morning, so she’s coming in at ten.”
“Oh, no. Is something wrong with Rio?”
“Is that her cat?”
Donovan realized he’d just tipped his hand. He didn’t want to share the specifics of the one time he and Rio had met. “Yeah. She’s always talking about him.”
“Ah. Gotcha.”
“I think we should plan to tell Lela as soon as she gets here. A few steps into reception or down the hall and she’s going to know something is up. It’s nuts out there.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. She’s pretty resilient.” Donovan shrugged. “Do you want me to talk to her?”
“That doesn’t feel fair to you. I’m still the boss. Shouldn’t this all fall on me?”
He walked over to grab his bag. “And I can’t help but feel that as the guy who stupidly voiced concerns over a woman with gray hair in an ad campaign, that I should be the one to tell her that despite everything, this was the right move.”
Echo pointed at him. “That is an excellent point.”
“It’ll give me a chance to tell her that I was wrong. Again.”
“Again?”
Donovan stuffed a hand into his pocket. “Yes. I also told her the day we first saw the proofs. When we saw how gorgeous she looked.”
Echo narrowed her sights on him, seeming suspicious, but then her phone rang again. “Sounds good. Catch up later?”
“Yes.” Donovan ambled down the hall, got settled in his office, and cleaned out as much of his inbox as he could while keeping an eye on the clock. At five to ten, he wandered to reception and waited for Lela. He didn’t want to risk her finding out about recent developments from anyone other than him. He might not be the most diplomatic person in the world, but he did feel as though he knew how best to handle her reaction and potentially soothe her ragged nerves.
Lela stepped off the elevator a few minutes after ten, and Donovan caught himself holding his breath. In figure-hugging jeans with heels and a silky black blouse, she was confident elegance defined. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, and she was wearing swingy silver earrings that showed off the brilliant blue of her eyes.
“How’s Rio?” he asked, getting up from the couch.
“Fine. Just a checkup.” She narrowed her eyes and scanned the reception area. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“You, actually.”
“Let me guess. Is this about the campaign?”
Donovan’s eyes darted all over the room. Luckily, no one seemed to hear what she’d said. “You know?”
“Obviously, you do.” Her words came out like an accusation, but if the roles had been reversed, he would’ve been thinking something was up, too. Before today, he’d gone out of his way to give her space at work. Possibly too far out of his way.
“Can we talk about this somewhere with a little more privacy?”
“My office?”
“Sure.”
Lela led the way, closing the door behind them once they were inside. She’d done an awesome job with decorating her office. It was fun and bright, with lots of teal, aqua, and brass. “I figured Echo would be the one to tell me about this.”
“How did you find out?”
“I saw something on the news about it.”
“The news?” He didn’t let on that he found this an exciting prospect. If journalists had picked up on the story, that might be a good thing. Any free publicity, good or bad, could be beneficial. “Are you doing okay? Because you seem like you’re fine.”
She shook her head. “No. Of course not. It’s mortifying. I never wanted this kind of attention. Ever.” Despite her words, her voice was remarkably steady. “But it also pisses me off. I’m fifty. People are acting like a freaking mummy posed for those pictures. And I’m sorry, but I look pretty damn good.”
Donovan loved everything about her reaction to this—the fact that it had lit a fire in her rather than letting it defeat her. “You look better than good. You look amazing.” So amazing that I have to take a different route to work.
“What is Echo saying about it?”
“We just had a quick meeting, took a look at the sales numbers, which are promising in several markets. I told her that I think it’s way too early to back down. If anything, I think we should expand the campaign into a few larger secondary markets. We need to do some analysis, but off the top of my head, I’m thinking Denver, Portland, and St. Louis. Maybe Raleigh-Durham and Baltimore.”
Lela nodded slowly, the gears in her head clearly turning. She’d learned quite a lot about the sales and marketing side since coming on board. “Okay. Yeah. If Echo’s cool with it, I say we plow full steam ahead.”
Donovan was excited by the prospect. He liked the idea of taking on the world with his two favorite women. “Echo will be really happy to hear you feel this way.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should go. I have a conference call in a few minutes.” He headed for the door.
“Hey, Donovan?”
“Yes?” He turned back, catching her biting down on her lower lip. Dammit, that did something to him.
“Are you free for dinner tonight?”
He was so unsure if he’d heard her correctly that he nearly knocked his head to the side to his rid his ears of whatever might be plugging them up. “Are you asking me out?” Because I wouldn’t say no.
“No. I’m not.”
“Oh.”
“Remember when I told you about my best friend, Tammera?”
It still bothered him that he no longer held that title in her life, which he knew was a stupid reaction, but was true nonetheless. Perhaps it was because Lela had long since moved on and he hadn’t come close to finding another human being who could match her. “Yeah. Of course.”
“She’s coming over with her girlfriend, Delia, tonight. Tammera’s mad at me that I haven’t introduced you to her.”
“Really?”
“Yes. She’s tired of hearing about you and not knowing you.”
“I see.” He stopped short of asking for details like whether or not Tammera knew the bad stuff about him, like his three-year-old panicky exit.
“Also, I think they’re going to announce their engagement. Or maybe that they’ve decided to have a baby. Either would be amazing and awesome, but it would be nice if I didn’t have to be the third wheel. You can help me feel a little less pathetic in the life category.”
“Because I’m equally pathetic?”
She opened the door to show him the way out. “You said it. Not me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lela’s original plan to invite Donovan to dinner had been predicated on Tammera’s near-constant pestering about wanting to meet him. But there had been more to Lela’s decision. She didn’t like that they’d been distant at work. It had seemed logical at the beginning, when she was still angry and he was being defensive. But a lot had happened since then, feelings had softened, and she wanted to move forward. That moment when he’d been so kind to her the day they first saw the photo proofs had felt like a step in the right direction, one he’d initiated. He even apologized, which was no small gesture coming from a man who loved to be right. It felt like the rougher edges of their history were finally being filed away. Lela’s ultimate hope was that they could fully revive their friendship and work together. Then keep it that way.
The doorbell rang right on the nose at seven. “Oh, look, Delia!” Tammera exclaimed when Lela answered the door. “It’s the woman from the buses.” Tammera cracked a sly grin and handed over a bottle of wine. She was always dressed impeccably, but there was something about her silk crepe black and white dress that read “special occasion”.
“That’s me. The bus lady.” Lela let out a breathy laugh, even though she did not wish to be identified that way. “Thanks for the wine.” She gave Tammera a hug, then Delia.
“I think the photographs are amazing,” Delia said as she stepped inside. “Nothing that exciting happens at my job, so I’m officially jealous.” The warmth of Delia’s smile was echoed in her voice. She was one of those people who radiated calm and ease, which had to be a big asset in her job as pediatrician. Her glossy black hair hung in a perfect shoulder-length bob and she, too, was a little more dressed up than usual, wearing a slim red dress and killer heels.
Lela was glad she’d had the wisdom to also put on something special—a vintage bell-sleeved maxi dress made from a bold magenta and ice blue print. It wa
s a completely impractical item of clothing, which made her love it even more. “It’s all the excitement I’ll be able to take for awhile.” She shut the door behind them.
“So where’s the famous Donovan James?” Tammera asked.
Lela was greatly relieved he wasn’t there yet. “Famous” might give him the wrong idea about the things she’d said to Tammera. Tams knew that Donovan had once been her ultimate guy, but he wasn’t anymore. “He volunteered to pick up dinner. He should be here any minute.”
Tammera reached for Delia’s hand and they exchanged looks of pure and utter adoration. “Okay, well, I feel like this is probably a better time to deliver our big news. We’re getting married.”
Funny, but as much as Lela had anticipated this moment, she hadn’t counted on her most immediate and visceral reaction—tears. Buckets of tears. A veritable ocean. “Oh, my God, you two,” she squeaked. “Congratulations.”
Delia couldn’t have been smiling any wider if she’d tried. She planted a soft kiss on Tammera’s lips. “We’re so happy.”
“It’s such incredible news.” This time, Lela croaked.
Tammera cast Lela a look of surprise. “Are you okay?”
Lela nodded, wiping away the tears. She should probably make a point to drink some water soon, lest she dehydrate. “Come here.” The three women got lost in a group hug—two blissfully happy, one a joyful mess.
“Why are you crying? This couldn’t have been that much of a surprise. Is this one of those peri-menopausal moments?” Tammera asked.
Lela stepped back and sniffled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve heard any news that was purely good. I feel like everything comes with a ‘but’ these days.”
“You mean like your company’s gotten this great opportunity, but you have to work with a guy you regret sleeping with?” Tammera asked.
The doorbell rang. Lela held her finger to her lips. “Shush.”
“Hold on. What did I miss?” Delia asked.
“I told you in the cab,” Tammera answered. “Donovan’s the guy Lela crushed on in college. They had sex three years ago and he took off in the middle of the night.”
