Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 57779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57779 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 289(@200wpm)___ 231(@250wpm)___ 193(@300wpm)
“Sofia,” I’m greeted. “This is Nick Waters, at Moore’s Department Store.” My eyes go wide and rocket to my father, who seems to have willed the call to life. I cover the receiver and whisper, “Moore’s,” to him.
He grins ear to ear and sits down to listen in to the call.
“Nick,” I say. “Good to hear from you.”
“I’m sure you thought we’d forgotten you, but quite the opposite. Your idea of a high-end brand we use to carve out a new piece of the market is intriguing, but it would also require an investment that is quite large, as well as the board’s approval.”
Hope fills me. They’ve really been talking about this. “To be done right, yes, I can see that it would.”
“Which is why we aren’t going to attempt this magnitude of a project for the next season.”
My hope crumbles, and dejected doesn’t even begin to explain how I feel. “I understand. Are you willing to look at my plans for the Moore’s line as is?”
“No. No, we are not, and before you take that the wrong way, we feel you’re overqualified, and we’ll hold you back.”
I believe he just gave me the breakup line equivalent to: It’s not you, it’s me. I’ve failed at the Ethan challenge of getting the job and turning it down. Now I just want the job. “I really want the opportunity,” I say. “If you can just consider—”
“We will. We are. We like the idea of doing a Zoey line, an elite, high-end label for next season. Or two seasons out to do this right. But the board wants to see and meet our proposed designer, which would be you. We need you to come to New York City.”
My eyes light, and joy fills me. “Are you serious? Really?”
“Really. And yes, Ms. Cameron, I’m quite serious. Can you join us Monday morning? We’ll fly you in Sunday night.”
“Of course. I’d be honored.”
“Then watch your email for details. I’ll see you soon.”
We disconnect, and I’m on my feet, rounding the desk to hug my father. “I guess your life selling beer is no more,” my father teases.
“Maybe I’ll make enough to be your investor, and then it won’t be over at all.”
The big, alpha man that he is, tears up, and hugs me all over again.
An hour later, I’m stuffing my face with celebratory cookies my father offered, reading through the material that was sent to me, when reality hits me. There’s a board I’m presenting to. Who is on that board? I tab through the documents and go cold. Ethan is on the board. Of course he is. He told me he was when we were in Hawaii.
How did I not remember this?
And how can I go to New York and present as Sofia Cameron when he knows me as Zoey?
He’ll laugh me right out of the boardroom.
Chapter Twenty
Ihave seventy-two hours to decide if I’m going to New York City.
With the letter from Moore’s Department Store printed and beside me, I sit on my bed, legs crisscross, Ethan’s Wikipedia page open on my MacBook screen. There’s also a glass of wine in my hand, though I’m not sure the wine is my best move. I set it aside and do so decisively. A level head is critical when I’m about to make a life-changing decision. There are so many things that could be happening with Ethan and Moore’s.
Ethan might not even know I’m involved in this yet. Of course, if they gave him the Zoey designs, he’s smart enough to figure out the name and who I am. In which case, he’s either decided business is business, he’s that kind of guy, and he’s dismissed what was nothing to him. Or he plans to humiliate me in front of the board, but truly, that doesn’t seem his style at all.
He’s too in control to do something so out of control with anger.
On the other hand—and this is my biggest fear—he doesn’t know the designer’s name, and he has such bigger fish to fry that he hasn’t even looked at the designs. In which case, he’d be sideswiped when I walk into the boardroom. The problem with this scenario is that he’s human, and he’d have all kinds of emotions and thoughts he would not have time to work through. For instance, I was using him to get to the top. It would be the first moment he knew I’d lied to him, so he wouldn’t have time to process anything but that, and a liar is not the best of partners.
Any scenario still paints me as a liar, and that’s not a good thing.
If I could just explain to him…
Unfortunately, I can’t even fly into the city early and meet him. Apparently, he’s been operating and working out of Paris the past year and is rarely in New York City. The chances of him being in the Moore’s offices are next to zero.