Daisy grabbed her makeup day-bag and checked for brushes. Last year she forgot to pack them and ended up using her finger to apply eye shadow in the bathroom. Thank goodness it was during Madelyn Stewart’s class and the bathroom was a ghost town. Everyone wanted advice from the owner of theHart to Heartchannel
She couldn’t afford even a small mistake this year. “It’ll be fine. Everything is going to turn out just fine … as long as I find my raspberry lip gloss!” She tore apart her samples drawer, searching for the one shade of gloss that didn’t clash with her shirt.
“Aha!” Tossing the tube into her oversized purse, she double-checked for her laptop with the class slides and headed out the door.
Vivian stood in the kitchen, one arm crossed over her body. Jason ate a bowl of the sugary cereal Vivian wouldn’t buy him but Daisy kept in the pantry just for mornings like this. She took her keys out of the bowl by the door. “We have to pick up my mom on the way, so we need to hurry. Jason, how close are you?”
“Five bites.”
It was cereal, so bite equaled spoonful, but whatever. That was not enough time to make a smoothie. She glanced at Beckett’s lumpy form on the couch. He hadn’t moved, so she guessed he hadn’t made her breakfast. Oh well. She could get a cup of something to fill her tummy at the conference.
“You’ll have to go without me.” Vivian took up occupancy on the empty barstool. “My sitter fell through.”
Quinton stumbled into the room, rubbing his eyes. He had on a pair of plaid pajama bottoms and a tight T-shirt that accentuated his frame nicely. Vivian’s eyes about popped out. She quickly busied herself smoothing Jason’s hair down.
Daisy clamped her teeth together to keep from yelling, “Caught ya!” She glanced at Jason and then back to Vivian. “You have to come. KPaka will be there and they’re taking your class. You representEveryDayGlam!” Besides that, MyHeartChannel was recording every class. They’d been promoting Daisy and Vivian’s segments for weeks now. If Vivian didn’t show up, the world would know about it.
“I know, but I don’t have another place for him to go.” She gave Daisy a please-don’t-talk-about-this-in-front-of-him look. The last thing either of them wanted was for Jason to feel like a burden. He wasn’t. He was a blessing and deserved to feel like one every day.
Daisy gave her a please-come-please-please-please look right back. Normally she was the world’s most understanding boss when it came to putting Jason first, but this was huge and she needed Vivian to blow it out of the water today. A no-show was unprofessional and not at all the image she wanted to send to KPaka.
Quinton’s head bounced back and forth between them. He threw his hand up like he wanted the teacher to call on him. “I’ll take him.”
Vivian blanched.
“Hey, Jason, wanna go to work with me?” he asked before Vivian could politely refuse him.
Jason dropped his spoon in the bowl. “With all the animals? Do you still have puppies?”
“We have one puppy.”
“Can I, Mom?”
“I don’t know …” Vivian rubbed her forehead. “It’s too much to ask Quinton. He’s working.”
Quinton placed both hands on Jason’s shoulders. “And I could use a good assistant.” He waited a beat while Vivian debated. “I’m taking that as a yes.”
“Yes!” Jason did a fist pump. “I’ll get my backpack.”
“I’ll get dressed.” The two ran in opposite directions.
Daisy sighed, wondering how on earth Beckett could sleep through all this. He was probably used to jungle noises and stuff. She blew him a kiss, not wanting to disturb his slumber, and ushered Vivian out the door. She caught Jason on his way in and gave him a hug and a kiss goodbye.
Daisy rubbed Vivian’s back. “You okay with this.” If Vivian wasn’t, they’d bring Jason with them and trade off watching him. He’d be bored beyond measure unless they could find the Montana Mountain Man. Jason loved watching him fish and hunt and tromp through the woods like he owned them.
Vivian paused like she was scanning feelings. “Oddly enough, I’m okay with Quinton taking Jason.”
Daisy nodded once and climbed behind the wheel. Vivian made progress today. That was a good sign, an omen that things were going to go their way. She backed out of the drive full of optimism. Today was going to be a great day.
Four hours later, Daisy wrapped up her class, held in an extra-large room to accommodate her subscribers, full of applause. She let out a sigh, releasing a week’s worth of stress. A sense of accomplishment mingled with a performer’s high allowing her smile to be genuine and fresh instead of tense as it had been before the class. Teri, the KPaka rep, was one of the first people in the room. She’d walked in wearing black slacks and a charcoal blouse. A thin, diamond bracelet set in silver graced her left wrist, and a liquid silver chain bounced against her chest as she walked. But what Daisy noticed most was that she didn’t wear any makeup. Had she shown up in one of Daisy’s signature looks that she’d created for her channel, Daisy would have felt secure in her future with KPaka. However, the woman was Switzerland with no loyalties. She sat on the front row to the far left.
During the class, Daisy outlined her journey from awkward teen with a laptop camera to MyHeartChannel star, explaining the steps she took along the way. Some of the attendees wanted to jump from first upload to sponsorship, but there were dues to pay and an audience to build before the larger corporations would even take a look at your channel. She’d done what she loved for the sake of following her passion and the money followed. That was the secret formula that get-rich-quick channel owners didn’t want to acknowledge. They thought she’d scammed the system or that she’d gotten in before there was so much competition and therefore had an edge. Maybe. But that didn’t make the process any different. She’d worked hard and continued to work hard at what she did.
And she loved it.
She breathed in through her nose as if what she did for a living had a smell she could savor. At times like this, when she could look her subscribers in the eye, an overwhelming sense of love and responsibility filled her up. The applause died down and women surged forward in a semicircle, trapping her against the projection screen.
Mom arrived to unhook Daisy’s laptop and organize her things, just like Daisy had done all those years ago for Mom. She was still a known face for MyHeartChannel and several women paused to talk to her as she worked.
