“You have no faith in me.”
“Not a lot. No,” Elias replied. “I’ll talk to you later, Mamma,” he then said, not giving her time to respond to his first statement.
“Bye, Figlio.”
He pocketed his phone, shaking his head. Even though he’d told her not to bring it up, he was sure she would find some way to slip it into the conversation.
“Zia Lucy is trying to spend quality time with Eri?” Marco asked from where he was sketching in Javier’s empty chair.
“Yes, and it could go great or terribly. You know my mom is worse than Zia Lorna when it comes to trying to settle me down and materialize grandchildren.”
Marco chuckled. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure she won’t bring it up this early in your relationship, and besides, Avianwasn’t shy about telling my mom we wouldn’t be gracing her with grandchildren for a few years, regardless of how much I might be trying. I don’t see Eri having an issue doing so either, if she has to.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Elias responded. “I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
He exited the shop and got into his car. It was almost seven, and he needed to stop by the store to pick up two ingredients he needed for what he was making for dinner that night. Then, he would wait for Eri to call him to relay his mom’s message.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
“Eri, these are amazing!” Koa complimented as the two sat in the corner of the coffee shop they’d met at.
Eri hadn’t wanted them to meet at either of their houses. Not because she thought either of them would be unsafe, but because it felt unprofessional. The coffee shop felt like the best option. It was public, but the tables were spread far enough apart for them to have the desired privacy without being overtaken by the sounds of the other patrons. If and when she expanded into taking more local clients, she would need to look into renting a small office space.
“Thank you. I wanted to ensure that I followed your specifications, but also had plenty of options for you to choose from,” Eri replied.
“You’ve made choosing hard. I like them all.” Koa paused briefly. “I think these five would be great as designs for my everyday merch. Things I would sell year-round. I love this one for T-shirts and hoodies,” she said, pointing to the screen of the laptop where Eri now had all the designs in a collage. “This one for coffee mugs and tumblers. These two are for keychains,and this one is for hats and beanies. Those are the things I plan on offering,” Koa informed, pointing to each design on the computer screen as she listed it off, and Eri made a note of it on her tablet.
In their initial meeting, the other woman had asked Eri for three designs. Two of the ones Koa chose, Eri had suspected she would pick.
“These,” Koa then started pointing to two other designs. “I think these would be good for a limited-time drop. That’s what I did the first time I dropped merch. It would be perfect for an October drop for Halloween with the orange, black, and dark purple color scheme. It’ll work out perfectly because I have a mini-series I’m animating for that month, and the limited design can drop at the same time. So, I’ll take these as well.”
Eri wrote the notes on her tablet as she tried not to dance in her seat. She was so excited that Koa liked all the designs. She’d been so nervous about it. Not only because it was her first major client, but also because she enjoyed Koa’s animations.
“Would it also be possible to get some Christmas-themed designs for merchandise?” Koa questioned. “I’d like to drop some new items — ornaments, stockings, and Christmas sweaters — during Black Friday and sell them for a limited time. I’ll probably need some for Valentine’s Day too. With my little cousin graduating and the part-time person I’m hoping to hire, I’ll have someone who can run the storefront without putting extra work on myself and taking away from my animations. So I can sell year-roundanddo special edition drops now.”
Eri nodded. “I can tweak any of these to make them festive, but still keep in alignment with your everyday merchandise, or I can do something completely new. Maybe something of one of the characters from the animation, if you do one for specific occasions.”
“I like that idea. We can tweak, say, two general designs to fit the premise of the limited release, and then have one that’s only available for that duration.”
Eri nodded as she made a note of it.
“Would it be possible for us to sign a two-year contract?”
Her pen stopped mid-stroke as she looked at Koa. “I’m sorry?”
“For designs. I’m going to do at least two limited drops this year, and probably three to four next year. I’d love for all the designs to have the same cohesiveness. So it only makes sense that we continue working together. On top of that, I really love what you’ve created so far, and I want to keep working together if you’re up for it.”
Eri bit her tongue to keep from squealing at the prospect. “Yes, we can do that. I can draw one up for us to sign. I’ll do it this evening and email it to you with the clean version of the designs.”
“Clean version?” Koa asked, tilting her head in curiosity.
“Without the watermark at the bottom of each design.”
“Nah, leave it. It fits fine, and that way, when someone sees any of it, they know who to contact if they want something created for them. I’ll also list your social handles or email in the description on the website once it’s up and running.”
Eri paused for a moment. At the bottom of each design, where it overlapped slightly but didn’t take away from the work, she’d tagged it created by Eri H.
“Are you sure?”
