Another moment passed, and then her mother’s astute eye found her again. “I’m proud of you, Anne.”
“Yeah?”
“Of course I am.” Then Bianca lowered her voice just enough so no one around them could hear. “Fifty-fifty?”
Anne smiled. “Yes.”
Bianca’s eyes narrowed. “With equity?”
“Of course.”
Her mother nodded sagely. “Of course.”
Anne could feel tears welling in her eyes and she tried to blink them away. “Thank you for coming. It means a lot.”
Bianca must have seen them, too, because she stepped forward and gave her daughter a hug, a brief motion before she righted her Chanel coat. “Don’t cry. You’ll ruin your makeup.”
Anne nodded, finally letting herself laugh.
“All right, I have to leave. I’m going to that cocktail party down at the Beekman and promised I’d be there by nine. I’ll see you Saturday at Le Bernardin, right?” She leaned in and gave Anne a kiss on the cheek. “Those earrings look wonderful with that dress, by the way. You should wear more green.”
Then she turned and started for the door.
As a woman on the verge of thirty, Anne may not have needed her mother’s approval, but it felt good to finally have it. She only had a moment to truly appreciate it, though, before she was pulled back into the celebration, a continuous cycle of conversations and congratulations, so overwhelming that she almost forgot to look to the door for Freddie again.
Almost.
CHAPTER 26
The snow was falling heavily by the time Freddie emerged from the subway at First Avenue. The storm wasn’t supposed to get bad until after midnight, but there was already a thin layer of white across the city, muting the sounds and smells as Freddie passed shop after shop, each decorated with garlands and Christmas lights. He couldn’t slow down to appreciate it, though—he had to stay in motion or the anxiety might eat him alive.
The Eufloria launch party was set to start at eight o’clock, and if the New York City Transit system functioned normally during bad weather, he would have arrived early. Unfortunately, the subway was delayed even more than usual, so even though he had left Queens with time to spare, he was now forty minutes late. He lengthened his gait, just making the light to cross the avenue, and cursed under his breath.
He had spent last night at his parents’ house, staying up until sunrise, working out what was likely the first detail-oriented plan he had made in his entire life. Even more surprising was that he wanted to. With all that corporate structure out of the way, he feltlike he was finally getting back to the person he used to be, and the dream he used to have.
Of course, he would be the first to admit that he was new to this and that some of the details were still, for want of a better term, lacking. But the bones were there and for a first draft of a life plan, he thought it was pretty good.
Establish a sustainable farming nonprofit
Apologize to Anne for storming out of her apartment like an asshole and put the work into rebuilding our relationship
For the first time in years, Freddie felt like himself. It wasn’t just the jeans he was wearing now, or the threadbare wool sweater that had been his favorite since high school. He was finally moving in the direction he had always thought he would, high on the idea that he knew where he was going and choosing it for himself.
He could hear the party even before he turned the corner and found the shopfront glowing on the corner of Twelfth Street. There was a small crowd milling around the sidewalk outside, and the muffled sound of music and conversation wafted out every time the door opened to let another person in. He stopped before walking inside, letting his gaze wander up.
Eufloria
The wooden sign above was fashioned out of a long, curled piece of wood and backlit against the building’s brick exterior.
Pride swelled in his chest for a moment. While he had been wallowing in his own shit, he hadn’t stopped to notice how his sister and Anne were moving mountains. In just over a monththey had taken the empty storefront and made something truly special—a bright, vital thing that was brimming with life, right in the middle of the East Village.
He stopped on the sidewalk, staring through the large front windows. The inside was brimming with people, so it was hard to see anything other than a cluster of bodies and the wall of flora rising up on the far side of the room, an explosion of greens and pinks and yellows against the rough brick. Yes, the wall was almost made entirely of plant life, so much so that Freddie’s gaze stayed locked on it, studying how they might be attached or…
“It’s impressive.”
The voice came from beside him. He had been so entranced by the view that he hadn’t noticed the woman who had approached and was now standing just a foot or so away. He turned to her, and in the darkness it took a second for him to recognize her face, for the details to snap into place.
It was Bianca Russell.
