by Lisa Fenwick
“I’ve sent the attorneys all the information needed to set this business up. I already got the domain name, and the website is easy. For now, we can just go through ShopEasy; they have templates already set up, and the back end for purchasing is all done. We basically just plug in the details and the pictures and pricing, and we are good to go,” Sam said. She had taken enough classes in online marketing, and even though her social media skills sucked, her ability to build a website was pretty decent – thanks to the template.
“So, what did you guys think about a party, you know, to announce them? We can all wear them. We will invite all of our friends, since it’s a much younger crowd.”
Sam and Holly glared at Ronni.
“Errr…you know what I mean. The college crowd.”
“We know what you mean,” Sam said, trying to hide her smile. She was only in her early…ok, mid-thirties, and while she wore the boots herself, they also appealed to a younger crowd. There was no age limit on the boots, they would look great on everyone. She had made sure that there was a variety of ages invited, and it helped that Jess and Ronni could cover the college crowd.
“All right, I think we’re good to go. Let’s pick a date for the party so we can get this rolling. And don’t forget about all the PR that will be there!” Holly said.
“I’ve got to go meet someone, but I’m going to leave you guys in charge of the party and deadlines. I trust you,” Sam said as she stood up. She did trust them. She had no choice.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Sam fiddled with her hair in the lobby bathroom mirror then frowned at her reflection. She looked tired. She rummaged through her purse for some concealer, grabbing the tube and placing a few dots of the liquid under her eyes. She patted them onto her skin to blend, the liquid lightening her undereye bags a bit. She was happy to be seeing Jez. Their schedules had been crazy the past few weeks, and they hadn’t seen much of each other. He hadn’t been texting her a lot either, so she had been a bit surprised when he had asked her to come over at the last minute.
She stepped out of the bathroom and walked over to the elevator, her shoes clicking on the marble floor and echoing throughout the empty lobby.
She got off on Jez’s floor, and Jez was standing there in his doorway in jeans and a T-shirt, his jaw furry with facial hair that he hadn’t had the last time Sam had seen him. She stopped in her tracks.
“Uh, do I have the right place?” she asked, laughing.
Jez looked at her questioningly, then reached for his beard.
“Ha. Yeah, I forgot to tell you. Well, if you would FaceTime with me, you would have seen it by now. I don’t shave during winning streaks,” he said as he led her through the door.
Sam knew they had only won the last three games, so it wasn’t much of a streak. She hadn’t had much time to watch the games at any length and had only seen him whizzing around on the ice, unable to see the small beard that was starting to grow. Her eyes widened as she looked around his apartment. It was similar to Lance’s penthouse, also located in a swanky waterfront high-rise, but it wasn’t quite as big. It screamed bachelor, with a pinball machine in the living room and a pool table where the dining room table would be for most people. The floors were white oak, and the furniture was contemporary black leather, all of it oversized. A giant round tufted ottoman looked as if five people could sit on it, and a humungous white-stone fireplace looked as if it had never been used.
“This is nice,” Sam said, letting him take her coat and instinctively pulling her shirt bottom down to ensure that it was covering her butt. Despite how many times they had seen each other, she had never been over to Jez’s place. He always came over to hers.
“Thanks. It’s like a man cave, I know, but it’s just me here, and I’m not around much over the season. “
“No, it’s great, really. I like it. And you can’t beat the location. Or the view.” As soon as she said it, Sam thought how the view from Lance’s penthouse was ten times better. Why was she thinking that? Jez was ten times better than Lance. She should take that over a view anytime.
Jez flicked the switch on the fireplace, and the flames roared on as Sam went and sat on the couch. It was so deep that as she sat back, her feet were up off the floor. She felt like a little kid.
“I ordered us some pizza, is that okay?” he asked as Sam squirmed around on the sofa, trying to get comfortable.
“Sure, I’m easy.”
“I should check on it, I’ll be right back.”
She waited until he went to get his cell phone to get up and sit on the chair next to the ottoman. It was oversized, too, but she fit much better on it, and her feet at least touched the floor. She tried to situate herself so she looked casual, but she was nervous and felt that any position that she sat in made her look like she was at a meeting. She realized that this was the first time that she had been over at a man’s house in a long time. Years. Like, more than five years. Jeez, she really had let her social life completely die, she thought, just as Jez appeared with a drink for her.
“Vodka soda, lemon no lime. I hope that’s okay? I have plenty of other things to drink too. Water, soda, whatever you want.”
Sam happily took the glass and took a sip.
“No, this is perfect. I just spent all day at the office, and this is what I needed to help me relax.”
“You work seven days a week, have you ever realized that?” Jez asked as he sat on the ottoman across from her. The flames from the fire danced behind him, and Sam couldn’t help but wonder why he was interested in her. Sure, she was funny and somewhat had her shit together, but he was a professional hockey player. And hot. Really hot.
“Uh, yes. So do you! It takes hard work to keep things running. And commitment.”
“How are things now that you and Lance uh…er…parted ways?”
“Fine. We haven’t spoken, but I figured that would happen. We don’t have the best track record when it comes to being able to work together, I guess,” Sam said.
“It’s funny though, because basically you’re the two top agents around. I thought a merger would be huge, but I guess not, huh?”
“Yeah, not so much. We have a…history,” Sam said. She didn’t want to talk about Lance anymore. Why was he always popping up when she was trying to have a good time?
The doorbell rang, and Sam was thankful that it would end the current conversation. Jez went to the door and came back with three pizzas.
“I wasn’t sure what to get, so I got a little bit of everything,” he said sheepishly. His phone went off, and he quickly laid the pizza down on the ottoman and left, coming back with plates and napkins. Sam took a plate and opened a box, grabbing a slice of plain cheese pizza.
The two talked into the early morning hours. She had told herself that she would leave no later than eleven, and it was already two in the morning.
“I’ll call you an Uber,” Jez said. Sam agreed. At this time of night, it wasn’t a good idea for her to be walking home alone.
He walked her down to the lobby doors, and they kissed until the Uber showed up. Sam waved to him as the car drove away, already knowing that she would be dead tired for work tomorrow. But it was worth it.
********
“What? YOU? You’re dating Jez? The hockey player?!”
“Why do you sound so surprised? Jeez,” Sam said. That reaction was why she didn’t want her dating life publicized. Everyone would have the same reaction as Ronni. She didn’t need to be reminded that Jez was too hot for her. It was something that ran through her mind all the time.
“It’s just that you’re so…normal. I mean that in a good way, Sam.”
Sam gave Ronni a blank stare and put her phone away. Jez had FaceTimed her, and that was how Ronnie had found out about Jez in the first place. God, how she hated FaceTime!
“Okay, so where are we with everything?” Sam asked the small group, changing the subject. She had way too many balls in the air, and it was worrying her.
“Well, on the client side, I’ve signed on six new people, all of which I’ve outlined here for you,” Holly said, handing out a folder to each person. “You’ll recognize most of the names, and the ones you don’t, you soon will. Overall, I’m pretty psyched with these clients.”
“Excellent,” Sam said as she thumbed through the folder. Holly had outdone herself with new clients.
“On the uh…shoe side…business…whatever we call it. The boots are in production and will be ready for the launch party in two weeks. Invites all are out, venue is all set, and we just need to ensure that the website is ready for orders.”
“It’s ready,” Sam said. ”All I have to do is make it live, which I’m waiting to do until the day of the party. Mo, do you have anything to add?” Sam asked. Mo had been unusually quiet.
“It’s too early to say,” Mo said.
“Too early to say what?”
“Well, we are in a bind. All this spending. The move back. Rent. Hiring. How do you think we are paying for all of this? I’m robbing Peter to pay Paul, and it can’t go on much longer. I’ve pushed out payments to our long-time vendors, and the corporate line of credit is almost maxed out.”
The room fell silent. Sam wasn’t sure what to say, but she knew she had to say something that would make her sound confident.
“If…err…when the boots take off, we will have money from that instantly. And the new clients’ money will be coming in soon. There are already sponsors for them, thanks to Holly.”
“It’s a big if for the boots, Sam. I just…I’m just worried. This whole boot business as a backup plan. That’s all.”
Mo’s face showed his concern, and he was fiddling with his bow tie, which was always a sign that he was nervous about something.
“Trust me, Mo,” Sam said, trying to sound reassuring but her voice coming out unsteady.
She needed everyone to trust her, but she couldn’t help but worry herself.
********
Lance looked at the paperwork on his desk. The financials for the last quarter had just come out, and things were worse than ever. He had agreed to pay Tatiana a sign-on bonus, something that was rare for him to do but was needed to get her on board. He also hadn’t been aware of the allegiance that her current endorsements had with Sam; pretty much all of them were most likely dropping Tatiana if Sam wasn’t involved. Maybe he had jumped too quickly to sign her on, but he had desperately needed the money. And in the end, it most likely wasn’t going to help anyway.
His gaze moved to Jez’s contract. It was worth several million dollars, and renewing it would solve a lot of money issues for Rossi. He looked out his window at the building Sam and Horizon had returned to. Frankie’s voice filled his head. He knew what he had to do, even if it meant swallowing his pride.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sam peeked out from behind the long white curtain at the crowd that had come to see the show. There were a lot of people milling about, and she was relieved that so many people had come. She hadn’t been so sure anyone would take the whole design thing seriously. One face she didn’t see was Jez’s, but maybe practice was running late.
“Good-sized crowd out there,” Holly said from behind her.
Sam turned to see Holly wearing a skin-tight red tan tank style dress, with matching red thigh-high boots. She had never seen Holly dress like this before and gasped when she saw her.
“What? I look stupid, right? I knew it,” Holly said, looking around as if a new outfit would jump out of the wall for her to wear.
“No! You look amazing! I just never knew you had such a great figure. You always wear baggy clothes!”
Holly’s face grew red.
“Well, I figured I needed to pull out all the stops. Since I’m a partner and all.”
Sam smiled. She was glad that she had someone she could trust as a partner, even if this whole boot thing might turn out to be a flop. At least she knew Holly would give it one hundred percent.
“Are you ready?” Ronni asked. She was flanked by the other girls who would be modeling the different boots. They all looked fantastic.
“Yes. So, we just introduce ourselves and talk a little bit about the boots, and then the girls will walk out onto the runway and show them, right? I want to stick with a casual vibe,” Sam said.
“Yes. Let’s keep it short,” Holly said, fidgeting with her hair nervously.
The two of them took their places behind the curtain, neither one saying a word as they heard the DJ announce them. As the audience clapped, the curtain drew back and Sam and Holly were exposed, the bright lights shining on them.
They looked at each other for a second before either one of them took a step. “Let’s do this.”
********
Sam looked at her phone for the fifth time and then threw it on the couch next to her. She hadn’t heard from Jez in more than a day, and it was messing with her head. The show for the boots had gone great, and she was a little miffed that he hadn’t even checked in to see how it had turned out. He knew how much it meant to her and how nervous she had been about it. Even more puzzling to her was the fact that Lance had been at the show. He had actually brought some big-name buyers from large department stores that he had connections with, which had totally shocked Sam. She hadn’t even known that he was aware of the show. She had wanted to thank him for his support but had been pulled in ten different directions, and by the time things had slowed down, Lance had left.
She walked to the kitchen to get some water and heard her phone ringing and ran over to it, but her excitement evaporated when she saw that it wasn’t Jez calling. It was Lance.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Sam.”
“Hi. I’m glad you called. I wanted to thank you for coming last night. It meant a lot to me, Lance. Really.”
“Of course. Sam, I know you don’t believe it, but I really want you to succeed, so whatever I can do to help you, I will. I’d like to think you learned a lot about the business when you worked for me, even though you feel I didn’t always make the right decisions. I’ve always known you were stronger than most of my employees and never doubted your success. I just didn’t want you to move too fast.”
Sam paused for a minute, taking in what Lance had said. He had never told her this before, and now that she was in charge of her own agency, she understood why he hadn’t pulled the trigger and made her an agent when she had wanted to be one.
“So, err…what can I do for you?” she asked, wondering why he had called.
“Well, it’s about Jez,” Lance said, sounding concerned.
“Oh no. Did something happen to him? Is he okay?” Sam asked, starting to fear the worst. This was probably why he hadn’t shown up at the show and why she hadn’t heard from him. He had been hurt!
“He’s fine. Sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you. He’s absolutely fine. It’s just that…”
“What?” Sam asked impatiently.
“Sam, he’s got a girlfriend in Chicago. I thought you should know,” Lance blurted.
Sam sat down on the couch, her mouth open. She didn’t know what to say. She was completely caught off guard.
“I’m sorry. I wanted you to know before any pictures came out online.”
“What…how do you know this?” she asked skeptically.
“You know it’s part of the job to keep an eye on who your clients are spending time with. She’s an influencer on social media, and I had a few people call me about it because he kept showing up in pictures at parties with her. They’ve been partying it up recently, a bit too much I guess. He was benched halfway through the game last night because he played so badly, and the gossip sites are of course saying it’s because he was out drinking with her. I didn’t want you to be blindsided by it.”
“Who is it?” she demanded. “Never mind, I don’t want to know. We weren’t exclusive anyway. Not a big deal,” she lied, starting to feel tears welling up in her eyes. Dammit!
“Sam, I’m really sorry. I jus
t felt that you should know before you see it on some tabloid site. You deserve a great guy. You’re too good for him.”
She ended the call without saying a word. She couldn’t; the tears were streaming down her cheeks, and she didn’t want Lance to hear her sobs.
Could Lance have been wrong? Maybe Jez and this social media woman were just friends? Her mind instantly thought about how he had fallen out of sight every now and then and how he would go from texting or calling her nonstop to just once or twice a day. And there was that phone call in which he had called her honey, which had made no sense at all. He had ended that call abruptly.
She knew it had been too good to be true. Jez was funny, smart, and good looking. He had a promising career. Of course he had to have something wrong with him. Now it made sense, why she had only been to his place once and all the other times they had gone to her place. He was a cheater.
Her sadness turned to anger, and she grabbed her phone and swiped her icons, pressing on Instagram. She went to Jez’s profile and looked at every picture. She scrolled down slowly, and it suddenly dawned on her that not only was this Instagram person not on Jez’s profile, but neither was Sam. He had dozens of pictures, and there were none of Sam. How had she not picked up on this before? Talk about a red flag! She pressed on the icon to show what pictures he had been tagged in, and she was looking at a screen full of him with a leggy brunette. Her mouth fell open as she scrolled through the pictures. She went to the woman’s profile, and her stomach grew weak and nauseous.
She put her phone down. There was no need to torture herself. It was obvious that this other woman and Jez had something going on. She thought about confronting him and picked her phone up, but she blocked him instead and then tossed the phone back onto the couch. If she called him, he would lie, he would say she was just a friend, that he’d known her forever, or some lame excuse. She had seen all she needed to. Pictures didn’t lie.
