The Platinum Reunion

by T V Hartwell

  Jake rolled his eyes at Rick’s pretention. Although he knew Rick’s assertions about the Doyle family’s wealth were true to an extent, Jake wasn’t about to validate the comments, so he remained silent.

  “You don’t have to make a decision right now, Jake. Just think about it. I know you’ve been through a lot, and I’m partially to blame for that. I want to repay you somehow. Honestly, I do. Think about the possibilities before making a rash decision driven by irrational emotion and whatever disdain you must feel for me.”

  Jake sighed in agitation as he digested Rick’s words. On the one hand, he wanted to tell Rick to go fuck himself, but on the other hand, his offer sounded enticing and extremely generous. It was as if the lottery jackpot was being handed to him freely without having to buy a single ticket. Hanging up on Rick would’ve seemed too ungracious, too hostile. Nevertheless, Jake kept his response curt and to the point. “Rick, if I’m interested in talking with you further about your offer, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, don’t feel the need to call me again. I’ll call you. Good-bye,” he said and then promptly clicked the off button to end the call.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Amanda walked into her office, arriving a little later than usual. She’d had an appointment with her leasing agent first thing that morning.

  “How’d it go? Is it official?” Lucy asked.

  “It’s official. I’m a New York City resident again,” Amanda said, holding up the key to her new apartment.

  Lucy let out a shrill of happy delight and clapped her hands. She rose from her seat to hug her friend. “That’s so awesome. I’m so happy for you. We get to be neighbors.”

  “I know. I’m really excited about it. It’s a great apartment. Can’t wait to show it to you. You’re going to love it.”

  “I can’t wait to see it. I want help you decorate. We should go furniture shopping this weekend.”

  “Absolutely. I’d love to. I want to at least go and pick out a bed and sofa and maybe a dining table along with some dishes—you know, basic stuff like that so that I’m not sleeping and eating on the floor.”

  “No, exactly. I have some ideas of places we can go in SoHo. Have you heard of New York Designs? They have the most fabulous furniture.”

  “Yeah, but they’re kind of pricey, aren’t they? I don’t want to spend a ton of money. I just want to find some nice pieces at a decent price. I don’t plan on spending the kind of money I spent on my condo in LA.”

  “They’re expensive, but they have good bargains sometimes, too. They mark stuff down all the time. We can at least go and have a look.”

  “Okay. Perfect. Let’s plan for tomorrow,” Amanda said as she picked up her phone to enter the date in her calendar.

  Lucy reached for her phone too. Let’s see, tomorrow’s Saturday. What are you thinking, late morning, early afternoon?

  “How about late morning, around ten thirty or eleven? We can go and see my place, have brunch afterward, and then go looking for furniture, if that works for you. I don’t want to hog your day or anything.”

  “Oh, please. I have nothing else planned. Eleven sounds great. I’ll meet you at your hotel,” Lucy said.

  “Yayyy,” Amanda sang before taking a seat at her desk and turning her attention to a very full plate of work. The launch party for Novel was in less than two weeks and there was so much left to do. A project Amanda had been working on was helping to line up sponsors to donate items for the gift bags that would be handed out at the event. Initially it had been like herding cats getting other brands to give their stuff away at somebody else’s product launch. However, after Amanda’s high-profile appearances with Adam during the film awards season combined with the press she and Lucy had been receiving leading up to their event, the tide had turned. Their event was now the hot ticket in the New York fashion scene and sponsors were lining up to be part of the party; even ones that had not been approached were trying to buy their way into the event. Later that day, Amanda received a phone call with some exciting news from the public relations firm they’d hired to coordinate their launch event.

  “Oh my God, guess what?” Amanda turned to Lucy and said.

  “Who was that?”

  “It was Nicole. You know those two girls from Korea who started that new skin care line, White Silk?”

  “Yeah?”

  “They want to donate three different samples of their products for our gift bag: their hand lotion, their facial wash, their Morning Glory moisturizer.”

  “Really?”

  “But wait—there’s more. On top of that, they’re offering to pay a third of our costs for the launch party.”

  “What? No way.”

  “I know. Can you believe that? Their PR people think it would be a good for them to align their brand with American brands that target a similar demographic. They feel that the women who can afford to buy a moderate- to high-priced bag like ours are the kind of women who would buy their products, and apparently they too have entered into some sort of deal with Delaney’s to introduce their products to the American market. Plus Nicole said that they like that we have similar stories. You know, how they’re two young entrepreneurial women like we are. Did you know they left med school here in the States against their families’ wishes to develop their line?”

  “Yeah, I think I read that somewhere. They do have an interesting story.”

  “This could be great for us because their product is already doing pretty well in South Korea. Having an association with them could provide us with exposure to that market.”

  “Well, not in the short run because of our exclusive with Delaney’s. They don’t have stores or do much business outside the United States.”

  “But there are lots of Koreans who live here in the States. There’s a huge Korean population in LA, for example. They have a lot of money, or at least some of them do, and they like to spend money on Western brands. White Silk would basically be like an endorsement of our brand to that market.”

  “Wow, this all sounds great, especially the offer to help cover the direct costs of the event. Nobody else is doing that.”

  “There’s one caveat, though. They want an exclusive.”

  Lucy looked at Amanda forebodingly. “As in—”

  “No other skin care lines or fragrances can be a sponsor of our event or contribute product for the gift bags.”

  “But what about my mom’s new skin care line? She’s already agreed to provide product at the event.”

  Amanda slapped her hand to her forehead. “Oh shit. That’s right. I forgot.”

  “Would they be willing to share the spotlight with just one other skin care product? She’s only doing a fragrance sample, I believe.”

  “No, I don’t think so, because they also have a fragrance. Nicole said they were firm about wanting an exclusive deal and really weren’t open to negotiation about it.”

  “So you didn’t tell Nicole that Alana Dupree skin care had already committed to the event?”

  Amanda felt bad about her mistake and spoke with a pained expression on her face. “I’m so sorry. I totally forgot to tell her…otherwise she probably wouldn’t have even entertained their offer in the first place. What do you think we should do?”

  “Oh, Amanda. Don’t worry about it. My mom is a team player. If you think this is a good opportunity for us then she’ll back out. It’ll be fine.” Lucy sounded half assuring and half annoyed at the same time, which made Amanda hesitant.

  “Well, what do you think? Do you agree that it’s a good opportunity? In many respects this will do more for us in terms of giving us an entree to a whole new market. I mean, I think people at the party would enjoy receiving a free sample of Alana’s fragrance, but from a marketing standpoint it won’t do much for us.”

  “Well…no…of course. The gift bag sponsors are promoting themselves and their own products, mostly. They don’t go into these kinds of events thinking that they are going to provide exposure for us. We’re giving
them exposure in exchange for agreeing to provide some swag to make our party more fabulous. Listen, just do whatever you think is best. You’ve been handling lining up sponsors for the event with Nicole. I trust your decision. My mom doesn’t need this event to promote her fragrance, but if you want her to pull out, don’t ask me to speak to her about it. You should do it.”

  “I know Alana was only doing this as a favor to us. But I don’t want her to be mad. Do you think she’ll be upset?”

  “No.”

  “Then why do you want me to speak to her and not you?”

  “Because you are in charge of the launch event, Amanda. That’s what we agreed to since I was busy trying to get buyers for our line before we inked the deal with Delaney’s while you were off traveling and attending premiers with Adam. Now put on your big girl panties and make a decision.”

  Amanda snickered and rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’m going to call Nicole back to see if we can get them to do it while keeping Alana on board.”

  Amanda picked up the phone to dial Nicole back, but just as she did so a voice came across the line. It was the receptionist.

  “Amanda?”

  “Yes.”

  “You have a flower delivery here waiting for you.”

  “For me?” Amanda asked, surprised.

  “Yeah. The delivery guy is standing right here. I told him that he could leave them here with me, but he says that you have to sign for them personally.”

  “Oh…okay. I’ll be right out.”

  Amanda hung the phone up and rose to her feet. “Someone’s sent me flowers.”

  Lucy looked up at her. “Who?”

  “I don’t know, but I have to sign for them personally, apparently.”

  “Oh God. I wonder if they’re from Jake.”

  “Maybe, but Jake was never a flowers kind of guy. I’d be surprised if they were from him.”

  “I bet they are.”

  Amanda walked out of the office and down the corridor to the reception desk near the elevator. As she got closer, she could hear a male voice say something to the receptionist. The voice sounded familiar, but Amanda immediately dismissed the person she thought of, knowing that he was nowhere near Manhattan.

  Amanda turned the corner and saw the receptionist sitting at her desk and the man holding the flowers with his back to her, looking at some photographs on the wall.It was wintertime in New York, and Amanda noticed the man’s casual but dapper attire. He was wearing a dark pair of designer jeans, a wool sports coat, a turtleneck accented by a scarf around the collar, and a knitted beanie. Even through his layers, Amanda could tell that the tall man had a striking physique, and she admired his good taste in fashion. How odd, she thought, for a delivery man to be dressed so smartly and debonairly.

  “Sir, here she is,” the receptionist said to the man after Amanda had approached them.

  The man turned around with a big smile across his face.

  Amanda nearly fainted when she realized who it was.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Surprise, surprise,” the man said.

  “Adam! Oh my God. What are you doing here?” Amanda said, slapping her hands to her cheeks. She was so overwhelmed and taken by surprise that she began to tear up.

  “Aren’t you happy to see me?” Adam said as he stepped toward her with the large vase of flowers in hand.

  Amanda waved her hands in front of her face, not because she was hot but because she was overwhelmed. Then she wiped the corner of her eyes with her fingertips to dot away the tears. “Of course I am. Wait, how did you get here? I just spoke to you this morning, and you sent me a text like an hour ago telling me that you were on your way to meet someone very special.”

  “That’s right, and here I am. I was on my way to meet you.”

  “Oh my God,” Amanda said again as she stomped her foot and started to laugh, covering her face with her hands and shaking her head in disbelief.

  “Awww, that’s so sweet,” the receptionist said with the biggest smile across her face ever.

  “I thought you were on your way to meet someone related to your film project,” Amanda said, visibly flummoxed. Then she turned to the receptionist to relay the exchange she’d had with Adam just an hour before via text. “He was like, ‘I’m headed to an important meeting right now; I’m on my way to meet someone very special; I’ll tell you about it later; I’m running behind.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay…have a good meeting. Good luck.’”

  Adam handed the vase of flowers to Amanda.

  “These are sooo beautiful. Thank you so much,” Amanda said before Adam planted a big one on her lips, muffling the sound of her voice on the last word she uttered.

  Amanda was so smitten by Adam’s unexpected appearance and warm kiss that her knees nearly buckled. She leaned into him, placing her head to the top of his chest to keep from falling over. Adam immediately wrapped his left arm around her and held her tight against his body as he rubbed and caressed her back and then kissed the crown of her head. The warmth of his body, the feel of his clothes, and the fresh, clean manliness of his scent made Amanda’s heart flutter.

  “I’ve missed you,” Amanda said, looking up at him.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” he replied, and then kissed her lips again. They turned to walk toward her office arm in arm, continuing to kiss each other softly and repeatedly.

  “Look at who my delivery man turned out to be,” Amanda said as she and Adam walked through the office door.

  “Oh my God,” Lucy screeched, lifting her hands to cover her mouth.

  “Hey, Lucy,” Adam said cheerfully.

  “It was you? You were the guy delivering the flowers?”

  Adam grinned broadly.

  “Yep, he was the one, not who you thought,” Amanda said as she placed her beautiful bouquet on top of her desk.

  “How sweet are you? What a nice surprise,” Lucy said as she stood up and walked over to give Adam a hug.

  “Isn’t he hottest-looking delivery man ever?” Amanda said as Lucy and Adam embraced. “He had his back to me when I first walked into the reception area, and I was like, damn, this guy has a hot ass.”

  They all busted out laughing.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t recognize me until I turned around,” Adam said.

  “You know, I heard your voice when I was walking down the hall and I thought, that sounds like Adam. But then I was like, he’s in Toronto. He just texted me on his way to a meeting, so that can’t be him.”

  “That’s too funny. So your meeting’s actually here in New York?” Lucy asked Adam, still not catching on.

  “The meeting’s with me. He was pulling my leg,” Amanda replied.

  “I just came to surprise my girl and to spend the weekend with her. I have no other business here,” Adam said as he stepped over to Amanda, wrapped his arms around her from behind, and held her tight. Amanda could barely contain her glee as she melted in his embrace and kicked up her heel.

  Lucy reacted emotionally to Adam’s act of chivalry. She began to tear up just like Amanda had at first, but she felt a little envious too. “See? Why doesn’t Cass surprise me like that?”

  ***

  Adam and Amanda headed out shortly thereafter like two giddy teenagers with no place to go.

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know. What do you want to do?” Adam replied coyly.

  Amanda was already wet, imagining herself underneath Adam after having not seen him for a while, but she didn’t want to be so forward. “Where are your bags?” she asked, changing the subject.

  “I just brought my backpack. I dropped it off at my place already,” Adam said, referring to his apartment and second home in New York, which he kept fully supplied with toiletries and clothes. “Where are you staying? Your usual place?”

  “Yep. The Gramercy Park.”

  “You want to hang out with me at my place for the weekend?”

  “Uhhh…sure, I’d love to,” Amanda said,
looking at Adam as they walked side by side. He looked back at her and then leaned over to rub the tip of his nose to hers, which caused Amanda to giggle and glance away.

  “Did you really need to think about it? Gee whiz.”

  Amanda laughed at herself, embarrassed. “Well—ˮ

  “Well, what? Are you trying to play hard to get all of a sudden?”

  “No. I just don’t want to crowd your space or anything,” she said bashfully.

  Adam took her by the hand as they continued to walk. “You wouldn’t be crowding my space, especially if I asked you to be there with me. I tell you all the time that you are more than welcome to use my apartment whenever you’re in New York instead of spending six to seven hundred a night at the Gramercy Park Hotel.”

  “I know, but I’ve got a new place now.”

  “Even though you could’ve moved into my place, but I won’t bring that up again.”

  Amanda looked away and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’m so excited to show it to you.”

  “And she changes the subject,” he said sarcastically. “So where is this place?”

  “I told you. In the East Village on Tenth Street. It’s a great neighborhood. I love it.”

  “That is a great neighborhood,” Adam agreed.