by Maria Geraci
“Jack!” Nicki startled. “What are you doing here?”
It looked like Mitch wasn’t the only one with a sudden case of pre-wedding nerves.
“Checking out Mimosa Key, then I saw your fiancé skulking by the door and decided to come inside.” He smiled at the woman behind the counter. “Is this your shop?”
“It is.” She turned to Nicki. “This must be your future brother-in-law.”
“Um, yes, as a matter of fact.”
The woman stretched her hand out to him. “Beth Henderson. And you’re Jack Martinez. I’d recognize you anywhere.”
He shook her hand. “From the billboards?”
“And the commercials. It’s not often we get a celebrity in my shop.”
He tried not to wince. The billboards he was able to block from his mind. They were everywhere and after a while they almost became part of the scenery. The commercials, however, were especially cringe-worthy. He wondered how Felicity’s firm would handle those.
“So, how do you two know one another?” he said to Nicki.
“We just met,” Nicki said quickly. “I was walking by and admiring the paintings and one thing led to another…”
Beth stared at Nicki for a moment, then turned to them. “Nicki tells me she’s here to get married.” She smiled at Mitch. “Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Mitch said. He’d been so quiet that Jack had almost forgotten about him. It wasn’t like his baby brother to be so invisible. Normally, he and Nicki were joined at the hip like a couple of chatty magpies.
“Are those local landscapes outside?” Jack asked Beth.
“Mostly. A couple I painted from old photos. Do you like them? They’re for sale. I could give you a good price.”
“Maybe.” He glanced around the little shop. There were more framed watercolors hung on the walls, but the majority of the merchandise was the typical tourist stuff. “Looks like business is slow.”
“We get a good amount of local tourists through the Fourth of July holiday, but now everyone’s gearing back up for school. The snowbirds will be back in November, then things will pick up again.” She sighed heavily. “If I’m still around, that is.”
Nicki bit her bottom lip. “The landlord is giving…Beth a hard time about the shop.”
“What kind of problem are you having?” Jack asked, mainly to be polite, but Nicki seemed genuinely troubled and anything that concerned his future sister-in-law, concerned him too.
Beth frowned. “Are you sure you really want to know?” Translation: Why would a hotshot like you care about someone like me? He’d seen it before in people’s eyes. Martinez and Martinez didn’t represent the big companies, but they also didn’t bother with a case that wouldn’t pull in a minimum five figure fee. He was not, however, at present, a representative of the firm. He was just himself. Jack Martinez, Esq.
“Yeah, I’d really like to know.”
Beth glanced back at Nicki, who nodded to her as if to verify he was a good guy. After a few seconds of mulling it over, Beth pulled a letter from an envelope and handed it to him. “I’ve been renting this place for a couple of years now and I’ve never been late on the rent, but the toilet in the back leaks and the air conditioner is always on the fritz. I’ve asked the landlord to make repairs but he keeps putting me off. I can’t afford another place in town, but it’s getting ridiculous. I can’t keep this place open without air-conditioning.”
Now that she mentioned it, the place did seem overly warm.
“Have you put all this in writing?”
She snorted. “At least half a dozen times.”
Jack studied the letter from the rental company. It was basically a bunch of bullshit stalling tactics. Nothing a simple letter with his firm’s logo on top couldn’t put a stop to. Of course, Martinez and Martinez didn’t handle simple landlord disputes.
A muscle in the back of his neck twitched. This was the kind of stuff he had to look forward to if he followed through with his plan to leave the firm. Watching out for The Little Man. It was one of the reasons he’d become a lawyer to begin with. Only at Martinez and Martinez, there had never been anything “little.”
“If you like, I can write a letter to the landlord on your behalf,” Jack said.
Beth’s jaw dropped. It took her a few seconds to compose herself. “Are you serious?”
“I’ll have to see a copy of your lease to make sure I have proper grounds to stand on, but, yeah. I’ll do it.”
“I can’t pay you,” she said.
He thought about it a minute. “How about that painting in the front? The last one on the left. I’ll take that for payment.”
“Like a barter? Really? You’d do that?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“You have yourself a deal.” Beth grinned and even Nicki and Mitch both seemed happy by the arrangement. “Looks like I have myself a very fancy lawyer.”
* * *
Felicity dialed the office and waited as the phone rang and rang. She was almost ready to hang up when Aubrey answered. “Reed and Associates. This is Aubrey Adams. How may I help you?”
“Where’s Kelly?” Felicity asked, referring to the firm’s receptionist and office manager.
“How’s paradise?” Aubrey countered. “Have you gotten a chance to work on your tan? And better yet, how’s that delicious Jack Martinez?”
“Paradise is lovely. Been too busy to work on my tan, and as for Jack Martinez…” Delicious didn’t begin to describe him. Today at the bridal shop, when he’d snuck into her dressing room, something had happened between them that had made last night’s kiss seem almost tame. He hadn’t touched her. Hadn’t even really said too much of anything. But good lord, the way he’d looked at her. She shuddered. She could never pass by one of those billboards and think of his eyes as cold ever again. “Jack and I are getting along.”
“I bet.” There was a moment’s silence. “Kelly quit this morning.”
“Quit? But why? And with no notice?”
“We lost the Mr. Smiles account. I didn’t want to tell you till you got back from vacation, but there’s really no way to keep it under wraps.”
Mr. Smiles was the moniker Dad had given to an account belonging to a large dental practice. It was the last account he’d brought into the firm before he died. The account was huge. Their bread and butter, so to speak. Without it the firm could only stay above water a few months, tops. And now it was gone.
“Felicity? Are you still there?”
“Still here,” she said trying not to sound as dejected as she felt. “What happened? Did they say why they were leaving us?”
“They’ve decided to take their brand in another direction. Which is total crap, of course.”
Not so much crap, as code for ‘Another firm can do a better job.’
“How’s the rest of the firm taking it?” The rest of the firm being just Aubrey.
“The rest of the firm is okay.”
Felicity had known her friend for too long to take that answer at face value. “Look, if… I wouldn’t blame you if you want to look for another job.”
“It would be pretty shitty of me to leave you, especially now. We’ll survive. Besides, Kelly was always taking too many breaks. I can handle her job easily.”
“On top of all the stuff you already have going on?”
“There’s really not that much going on,” Aubrey said. “You know, Felicity, I’ve been thinking, in a way, maybe losing Mr. Smiles is good thing.”
How on earth could losing their last big account be a good thing? “Aubrey, are you on drugs?”
“I’m too broke to do drugs. Listen, all the accounts we’ve been servicing belonged to your father. I know we’ve tried to go after other accounts, but I don’t think we’re trying for the right ones.”
Felicity mulled this over a few seconds. Aubrey could always see the side that Felicity couldn’t. And vice-versa. It’s what made them a good working team. “I’m listening.”
> “You and I are the same. We’re idea people. We’re not salespeople, and most especially we’re not closers. The accounts we’ve been trying to get are just too big for us. We came up with “Small but Smart” but we haven’t really been living up to the spirit of the tagline, you know? I say we go after the small accounts. Stuff your dad wouldn’t have handled. That’s our niche.”
Felicity sighed. “Maybe you’re right. On the other hand, I do have some good news. Jack is ready to give the firm some business. But I asked to present to all the partners. I want to get this job fair and square, but I have a feeling it will come down to just one decision.”
“Oh, so you and Jack have been getting along. Fair and square, my ass. You and that man need to bow-chicka-wow-wow.” Aubrey laughed at her own joke.
“Yeah, not happening.”
“Okay, so as horrible as it would be, I will sacrifice myself and sleep with him if it means getting the account. Because if we don’t turn things around here fast, we’re basically out of business.”
“No one’s sleeping with anyone here.”
“You’re such a kill joy.”
Maybe. But Aubrey was right. If she didn’t secure the Martinez and Martinez account, they were dead, which meant that besides the demise of her father’s firm, she’d have no way to repay Ellen and Luis for Nicki’s wedding.
* * *
The next day Jack picked up the phone and dialed Marcy, his assistant at the Miami office. “Did you get the letter I sent you?”
She must have been wearing her ear piece because he could hear her moving around the office. The background buzzed with the sounds of a dozen busy paralegals mingled with the constant ringing of the phone. Martinez and Martinez was like a well-oiled machine that practically ran on its own, thanks to him. Every ship needed its captain, and in this case, he was it.
“You mean the one you sent at seven a.m. about the landlord dispute?” Marcy asked. “Already typed and mailed for next day delivery. I had one of the associates sign it.”
He didn’t ask what she’d been doing at the office at seven in the morning, a whole two hours before the place even opened. As his assistant, she was expected to keep up with his workload. “Good job.”
“I couldn’t find a file on the client, so I wasn’t sure what to do about the billing,” Marcy said. He could hear the curiosity in her voice.
“I’ve already taken care of that. Did you file the papers on the Winston case?”
“Done.”
“Great. Oh, and, Marcy, one more thing. We need to schedule an ad presentation for the partners. Something for late next week.”
“I thought we just had one of those a few months ago. Are we looking to change agencies?”
“Not completely, but I’m thinking of taking on another firm to do some additional work.”
“Whatever you say, boss. How’s the wedding festivities? Are you having a good time?”
A good time? No one else at the firm would have thought to ask him that. But Marcy had been with him since day one. She was in her early fifties and the motherly type. Always asking him if he’d taken his vitamins and slept enough.
“Actually, yeah, I am,” he said, surprised to admit it.
“I’m glad to hear that.”
He wondered what she really thought about that letter, and what she would think if she knew that he planned to leave the firm one day. It wasn’t for at least seven more years, but still…
“Marcy, there’s no need to get to the office so early. Nine o’clock will do just fine.”
There was an enough of a pause on her end that he almost thought to ask if she was still there. “All right,” she finally said. “Anything else you need?”
“No, that’s it.”
“It was nice of you to write that letter,” she said.
Nice? No one at Martinez and Martinez had ever called him nice. Polite. Efficient. Business-like. Yes. He was no stranger to closing seven figure deals. Big cases that he and his team sometimes worked up to a couple of years on, but this one simple transaction for Beth Henderson made him feel better about himself than he’d felt in a long time.
* * *
The Barefoot Bay Brides offices were located in the resort’s lobby. Felicity had wanted this appointment to be just her and Nicki, but Ellen and Abuela had tagged along and it was impossible to say no to them. Especially to Abuela, who seemed hell bent on sticking her two cents worth wherever she went. They were meeting with two of the planners, Ari McBain and Willow Hershey to go over the final details for Saturday’s event.
“Everything looks beautiful,” Felicity said, glancing at a sketch that Ari had provided her. Ari was in charge of the staging, flowers, and the overall look of the wedding site, while Willow was going to talk to them about the food and beverages. Although Nicki and Mitch had already made their selections, both Ari and Willow seemed happy to go over the details again for Felicity’s sake.
The ceremony would take place outside on the sand under a canopy of fresh flowers with music provided by a three-piece orchestra. Afterward, the fifty invited guests would dine in a private banquet room where Chef Ian and his crew from Junonia would hand-prepare an exquisite dinner of filet mignons and lobster tails. The liquor was top of the line and there was even a live band coming in from Miami that specialized in both modern and Latin music. Everything was perfect. And out of this world expensive.
“I especially love the flower selection,” Ellen said. “You can never have too many flowers at a wedding.”
“I agree,” said Ari. “There’s nothing like the scent of fresh flowers mingling with the gulf breeze.”
“Too bad we couldn’t get Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine to play for the reception,” Abuela said. “I just love that song of theirs…how does it go? C’mon shake your body, baby, do that conga…” Abuela stood and began shimming. “Or maybe we could get that Pitbull? I think he is cute. Even though he has no hair.” Everyone laughed, even Felicity, who was still reeling by the final cost of everything. Thank God Abuela was joking. At least, she hoped she was joking. What on earth would Pitbull charge to do a private wedding reception?
Willow winked at her fellow wedding planner. “I think this is going to be one wedding to remember, Ari.”
“I think you’re right,” Ari said, still laughing at Abuela’s outrageous antics.
Willow stood from behind her desk. “So if everything looks good to you ladies, I suggest you all head to the spa for your day of beauty.”
“Manis and pedis!” Abuela said, “Here we come!”
Felicity went along for the manicures and pedicures, but she was skipping the massage and this afternoon’s barbeque. Time was critical here. If she was going to get the Martinez and Martinez account fair and square she was going to have to come up with a spectacular presentation. She tried to work in the villa, but sometime around noon, Aunt Cindy, her father’s sister, and her two daughters, Molly and Kate arrived.
Felicity gave her aunt and cousins a quick tour around the resort and left them basking in the spa with the rest of the women. She took her sketchpad and her beach bag, and went to the pool. If she had to work, she might as well enjoy some sun while she was at it. She found an empty lounge chair in the corner, away from the rest of the sunbathers, set up her work space, slathered herself in sunscreen, and began brainstorming.
* * *
This morning was spa day, followed by a beach barbeque in the afternoon. After spotting Mitch in town yesterday at the Sunshine Emporium, Mitch and Nicki had gone on the snorkeling trip, while he’d stayed back at the shop to look over Beth’s lease. He definitely still needed a one-on-one with his baby brother. Spa activities weren’t his thing, but some beach time didn’t sound bad. He could kill two birds with one stone. Talk to his brother, and spend more time with Felicity.
There he was, thinking about her again. More than just thinking about her, really. It was almost like he was becoming obsessed. Last night after another family
dinner, the four of them, Mitch and Nicki and he and Felicity had gone back to their villa and played Cards Against Humanity. Within just a few rounds he’d been able to predict with almost one hundred percent certainty which cards had belonged to Nicki or Mitch. But not Felicity. She continued to surprise him with the simplest things. One card might be raunchy, and the next round, she’d toss out a completely logical answer to the question. He’d been so engrossed in her company that he’d forgotten to talk to Mitch.
After everyone left for the spa, he used the quiet time to work on a case, then headed down to the beach. Slowly, family and friends from Miami were beginning to trickle in for the wedding. His Uncle Pete and Aunt Annie were here, along with the cousins from his mom’s side. Some of Nicki and Mitch’s college friends had arrived now too. Staff from the resort were grilling hamburgers and a bartender had set up a daiquiri bar.
He scanned the area looking for Felicity, but she was nowhere in sight.
“That’s a really nice thing you did yesterday,” Nicki said, handing him a frozen lime daiquiri.
He took a sip of the fruity drink. Not his usual style, but it felt good in the early afternoon sweltering heat. “Beth is a nice lady. I’d hate to see her lose her shop.”
Nicki nodded solemnly. “She is a nice lady. I’m glad you saw that.”
He tried to act casual. “Where’s your sister?”
“She’s on lock down in the villa, working on your account. She’s totally going to nail it too.”
“Good for her.” Well, shit. Today’s beach barbeque suddenly seemed to go flat. He spotted Mitch by himself heading toward the barbeque pit. This was the perfect time for that long overdue brother-to-brother talk. But something made him put his drink down and walk away from the beach.
Chapter Six
Felicity had no illusions about her ability to run a PR firm. Aubrey was right. She sucked at selling and was even worse at project management, but when it came to the creative part of the job, she was totally in her element. Give her a laptop and a sketch pad and she could come up with ideas all day long. Not all of them were brilliant, of course, but she could usually design something the client liked.
