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Chapter Thirty-Three
Mia
My head was pounding. It was Monday afternoon, and I hadn’t seen Terry since he left me at the door to my office this morning. It was bothering me, for reasons I didn’t want to dive into right then. Instead, I wanted to find new ways to discourage Catherine from setting up new press interviews and other media events to go along with the release of our new catalog.
It was a ridiculous idea, really, especially since this was the reason I had hired her. Promotion of the company was her job, and lately, I felt like it was her only job. Catherine had been spending a lot of time working at Shoegasm. I wondered if it was because I was difficult or if this was just how devoted she was to all her clients. I thought it might be the difficulty I had been giving her with appearances, but she knew I had my reasons.
“What if we asked a model or someone to be the spokesperson for the company?” I had asked this question many times before, and I could tell from the way Catherine closed her brown eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose that she wasn’t in agreement.
“You want to leave your company—your baby, the one you put your blood, sweat, and tears into—up to a stranger? That’s how you want to play this? Instead of attending some high-profile parties, maybe even doing an interview on the Today show.” She stopped at the mention of the Today show. It had piqued my interest and she knew it.
“Ah, Catherine. Why can’t I just be the brains behind the operation and we can find someone else to be the beauty?”
“Because you’ve got brains and beauty, my dear. We have to exploit that. That’s why you hired me, right? You want to take this company to the next level.” Catherine rose from her chair and began to pace. “Sure, you have some great contacts here on the West Coast, and we have a few boutiques interested in New York, but you need more of the East Coast. The online sales are only going to get you so far. Come on, let me help you take this company up a notch. Let me do what I was hired to do. The ad campaigns I’m setting up are going to be amazing. Terry has some great ideas for those.”
“He does?” I asked her, my eyebrows raised in question.
“He does,” she confirmed with a smile. “When I spoke to him this morning, he said he scoped out the perfect location yesterday. The Santa Monica Pier. He said it would make the perfect spot to photograph you in a pair of your heels.” The way she emphasized ‘your’ made my heart soar. Hearing that someone was wearing my shoes never got old. It always gave me butterflies, and I hoped that never changed.
“Why are you trying to ploy me into doing something I don’t want to do by using Terry?”
She laughed and lowered herself back into the chair in front of me. Taking a long pull of her Diet Coke, she studied me. “Do you really want me to explain that one? I’m assuming because I found you guys together the morning after the ball that things went well?”
“Oh yeah,” I said, grinning like an idiot.
“Good. I’m happy you guys are working things out. I’ve seen the way he looks at you and vice versa. Something tells me that the two of you will be really good together again.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not exactly sure what we are. I mean, we’re hanging out and doing other things.” I flushed as thoughts of those things went through my head. “But we haven’t actually defined the whole thing.”
“Oh, they never want to define that relationship.”
“Was Jackson the same way?”
It was now Catherine’s turn to blush. “He was more steadfast, more domineering in that way. He was always ready to claim what was his. I was the idiot who tried to run and hide from it all. But he wouldn’t let me. Jackson always made sure he found me, no matter how far I strayed.”
I nodded, smiling at her depiction of Jackson. On the inside, my heart was sinking. I wasn’t sure Terry was that type. When he left for London, he hadn’t even had the decency to explain to me why he was ending our relationship. All the times he saw me since then, he had hidden.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Catherine asked.
I sighed and ran a hand through my curls. The very ones Terry watched me put into my hair this morning, telling me they would look better sprawled out across the pillow instead of sitting behind my desk.
“Terry and I don’t exactly do a lot of talking about the past. Neither one of us ever seems to have the courage to bring it up.” I considered my last statement, then continued. “Well, me. I didn’t want to talk about any of it because I know he’s going to ask about Chad.”
A chill ran down my spine at the mention of his name. I felt like it always happened whenever said his name out loud, which is why I avoided it at all costs.
“You think he wants to know what happened in your past in addition to the demons that haunt the two of you from your past relationship?” Catherine asked me before popping a piece of cantaloupe into her mouth from our leftover lunch.
“Exactly,” I confirmed.
“You told me you would tell me what happened with you and Terry, and I think it might be time to spill it. Drink or no drinks.” Catherine winked at her last words, and I just laughed.
“It’s not as dramatic as I make it sound. We were in love—so very in love—before he left me to take a photographer’s assistant job in London. After being there for three weeks, he sent me a postcard breaking up with me. That’s it.” I shrugged and took a long pull of my own Diet Coke.
“Wow,” Catherine said, eyes still searching mine. “He was the love of your life, am I right?”
“Yes,” I confirmed in an instant.
“Well, maybe he’s back in your life for a reason.”
