Page 7 of It's a Widow Thing

She smiled and nodded. “That’s true.”

Disappointment would’ve overshadowed the moment if she hadn’t admitted to thinking about him since the kiss. It wasn’t everything, but it was something. “Tell you what. I’ll follow your lead. One hundred percent. Absolutely nothing happens that you don’t initiate.”

Her smile said that she was relieved, which was a huge disappointment. Had he friend-zoned himself? Probably.

“Friday? Eight o’clock?” she asked.

His heart flipped, which had once been a welcome sensation. Given his recent health issues, it made him worry for an instant. But there was no time for that. She’d said yes. There was a glimmer of hope with this woman he’d been wanting for months. “Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

CHAPTERTHREE

Sabrina duckedinside the Chelsea Mayhem retail shop and nearly collapsed against the door, taking a second to catch her breath. Her face felt like it was about to go up in flames. How did Michael make her nervousandturn her on at the same time? “Morning, everyone,” she quipped to her employees in a bizarre sing-song voice, then smiled wide, relieved she’d been able to spit out some words that made sense when strung together.

“Good morning, Ms. Kelly,” her three employees replied in near unison. They were busy ensuring every product on the glass shelves that rimmed the room were lined up, that the testers were tidy, and that the counters gleamed.

Sabrina’s long-time assistant, Lucy, with flame pink hair, two full sleeves of ink, and a flawless tawny complexion, appeared in the doorway at the back of the shop. “What’s wrong?” she asked, panicked.

“Nothing. Why?”

“Because our call with Lela Bennett is in five minutes and we were supposed to meet about it beforehand.”

“Oh, crap.” Sabrina had completely lost sense of where she was supposed to be and what she was supposed to be doing. She double-timed it through the shop to join Lucy. “Sorry. I got caught up in a conversation.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got us all set up.”

Sabrina followed Lucy upstairs to their office. Sabrina was always filled with an odd mix of emotions when she arrived at work. She felt safe here. She knew what she was doing. But the majority of the time she’d spent getting her company off the ground had been accompanied by illness and mourning.

Lucy settled in a chair opposite Sabrina’s desk. She opened her laptop and put on a pair of ice blue cat-eye reading glasses with silvery crystals at the corners. Sabrina yanked a thick stack of papers and folders out of her bag, plus her own computer, then sat in her white leather and chrome office chair. The conference phone was positioned between them.

“Do we know what she’s calling about?” Lucy looked over at Sabrina expectantly.

“I don’t. She only sent me that email introducing herself. She said she had a proposal for us, but that she’d have to outline it on the phone because they were trying very hard to keep it hush-hush.” Lela Bennett was a true beauty icon in New York, founder of Lela B Cosmetics, a line formulated for women over forty. She made a splash when her company was bought by lifestyle conglomerate Echo Echo and they did an uber-sexy advertising campaign spotlighting Lela’s stunning head of silver hair. It put her on the map.

The phone rang and they both stared at it. “Ready?” Lucy asked.

“Yes.” Sabrina felt lots of things that bore no resemblance to ready—unprepared, off her game, and flustered. But that was what Michael did to her. Regardless, she hit the button to take the call. “Ms. Bennett? This is Sabrina Kelly. I’m here with my admin, Lucy Ballard.”

A laugh rang out from the other end of the line. “Please call me Lela. I might be in my fifties, but I still think of Ms. Bennett as my mom.”

“Great. It’s Lela, then. It’s so amazing to have the chance to speak to you. I’m a huge fan of your work.”

“Aww. That’s so nice to hear. Because I’m a massive fan of yours, too. I happened to walk by your store with my husband Donovan a few months ago. I was curious, so I popped in and spent entirely too much money. Everything I bought is amazing, especially the eyeshadow palettes. The colors you come up with are so rich and deep. And the formulations are beautiful on the skin.”

Sabrina wasn’t sure she’d ever been quite so proud of her little company or the products she’d put her heart and soul into. As a small, independent beauty brand, Chelsea Mayhem wasn’t on a lot of people’s radar. They had a cult following. Thankfully, the cult was all-in and spent buckets of money to be a member of it. “It makes me so happy to hear that. Thank you.” She glanced at Lucy, who was proudly grinning from one multi-pierced ear to the other.

“I know you’re wondering why I reached out. I’m sorry about all of the cloak and dagger business, but we’re trying to keep our project quiet until we’re ready to formally announce it,” Lela said.

“I’m intrigued to say the least,” Sabrina said.

“I took over the beauty division of Echo Echo a little over two years ago. Not sure how much you know about us, but the founder is my stepdaughter, Echo. We have about fifty apparel, accessories, and beauty brands under the company umbrella.”

“Yes. It’s super impressive.” Sabrina didn’t want to be too much of a nerd about it, but she made it her business to know the nuts and bolts of the beauty industry Her company might be tiny, but they’d been mighty from the beginning, and Sabrina wasn’t ashamed to say that she owed that to her own research. She’d found a niche and stepped right into it.

“Perfect. Well, we’re opening an Echo Beauty store in Times Square. The first two floors will be a mix of beauty brands, some of which are owned by us, but we’re also inviting in select partners. Each company will have their own unique space and staff, but the store will be very open, so customers can wander from retailer to retailer. We’ll have champagne on tap, a DJ at night, and the third floor will be a high-end salon and spa. We want it to be a destination. A place you come and hang out for a few hours with friends. If it goes well in New York, we want to replicate it in other cities around the globe. Los Angeles, Paris, London, Tokyo. I mean, we’ll see how it goes. That’s years away. For now, I’m focused on New York.”

“Wow. It sounds amazing.” That was an epic understatement. It was an absolutely brilliant idea. “I can’t wait for it to open.”

“Seriously,” Lucy interjected. “I want to go there right now.”