“Then why haven’t you done anything with the dress on the mannequin? You’ve been spacing out for the past five minutes. That’s very unlike you. You’ve been so excited about creating this piece, and now you’re just staring at it.”
Letting out a sigh, I say, “I just… I talked to Tomasso Caruso the other day.”
Izzy’s eyes light up. “You didn’t tell me you already had a meeting set with him. How did it go?”
“Not as well as I hoped for, unfortunately.”
“Oh no.”
“Yeah… Tomasso is kind of an asshole.”
“Tell me everything,” she says.
I glance at her swollen belly. “Do you want to sit? I know being on your feet has been a lot lately.”
“Yeah, but I need to get up every so often to keep my blood circulating. Did you know as you get closer to your due date, if you sit for long periods of time, there’s a chance your blood could clot?”
“No, that’s definitely not something I knew about.”
Izzy and her husband, Nicco, are welcoming their first baby girl next month, and I cannot wait to be an auntie. Well, technically, a cousin, but Izzy and I have already talked about this, and we agreed I’m going to be Auntie Lili.
“Yeah, there’s so much when it comes to being pregnant. It’s freaking wild,” she says, rubbing her stomach. “Anyways, enough about me. Tell me what happened with Tomasso.”
“Well, I tried offering him money—even told him to throw out a number and I’d have my financial adviser put in for the wire transfer, but he declined.”
“He did?” Izzy furrows her brow. “He didn’t even attempt to throw out a ridiculous number?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I was expecting that to happen and to just suck it up and pay it, but he didn’t even give me a number. He didn’t entertain my offer one bit.”
“Huh, thatisstrange.”
“Right?” I say, running a hand through my hair. “And I haven’t told Alessia yet because I don’t want to let her down. I was certain I’d be able to help her and her boyfriend get out of this situation, but now I’m hopeless. I have no other plan.”
Izzy offers my arm a comforting squeeze. “Hey, Alessia will understand. I’m sure she’ll just be appreciative of you eventryingto help.”
“I don’t know, Izzy. It’s not good enough. He’s using her boyfriend to control her. He doesn’t want her with him, so he’s going to destroy his career before it even starts. That’s such a dick thing to do.”
“It is. I agree, but what else is there you can do?”
My shoulders round forward, the weight of helplessness becoming too much. “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to think of another plan, but I’m clueless. If he won’t take my money, what else is there?”
A knock sounds on our office door. “Come in,” I call out.
Lainey, one of my newest sales associates, pops her head in. “There’s someone here to see you.”
“Oh, okay… Yeah, sure. I’ll be out in just a moment. Thanks, Lainey.”
She nods and gives me a smile before closing the door.
“Huh, I didn’t think I had any appointments this afternoon.” I grab my iPad to take a quick peek at my schedule. “I don’t… That’s strange.”
“Maybe it’s a walk-in?” Izzy suggests.
“Yeah, maybe,” I say, walking toward the door.
I don’t typically take walk-ins due to the high demand, but I also hate turning down a potential client. Taking a look in the mirror, I run my hand down my ivory top and high-waisted plum pants, then exit my office.
I head down the hall that opens to the back of the boutique. When I make eye contact with Lainey, she nods toward a man standing off to the side who’s peering through the rack of men’s dress shirts.
