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CHAPTER 13
“You’ll do, I suppose.” Chairwoman Bells said from where she was perched on the sofa in her office. This was the third time that she had said this to me, and I wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince herself of that or if she was trying to convince me. I’d just finished going through each piece that I had planned for the next two months of Bells’ life. In my hand was a tablet that was connected to the television screen mounted on the wall. In Bells’ hands, there was a similar tablet with each piece that I had shown her. All of the pieces were neatly organized on three clothing racks that Charity had helped me bring up and wheel inside of Bells’ office.
Chairwoman Bells began to flick through the outfits, drawing red X’s on the ones that she didn’t like. I watched, a little unnerved, as she nixed at least 30% of the outfits that I had brought for her. When she was finished, she put the tablet down on the coffee table.
“Your choices for the first three weeks are fine. You will need to go back to the drawing board for the ones that I dislike. Your Christmas selections are particularly awful, I may be in my fifties, but I am not geriatric.” I definitely didn’t agree with her opinion about the silver pieces that I’d chosen for her. Everything in her notes had told me that she hated outfits that made her look old, so all of the choices that I’d picked had been for a woman in her thirties. I wanted to point that out, but instead I just smiled and tucked the tablet under my arm.
“Of course! I will put together a couple of different color palettes as well just in case you change your mind about the silver.” That was more work for me, and would require a couple of nights at the office after hours. But I had wanted a big client like this, so I would have to deal with all of the extra responsibility that came along with it.
Bells fixed me with a contemplative stare, and I forced myself to stand still and let her look me up and down before she finally said. “You are definitely more amenable than the other one.”
Zoey had been her stylist for a few years, and Bells hadn’t bothered to learn her name. I was also pretty sure she didn’t know mine despite being introduced to me the week before.
I didn’t want to speak badly about Zoey, even though she had gotten half of the office to give me the cold shoulder over the past week, so I changed the subject. “Shall we try on the ones for the next two weeks so that I can make notes for the tailor?”
Chairwoman Bells was also notorious for hating trying on clothes, luckily for me she seemed to be in a good mood today because she stood up and said, “I suppose.”
Two long hours later, and I was finally rolling the clothing racks back into the waiting room with a tablet full of measurement notes and other things for the tailor at Poleman’s to take care of. The woman would definitely have her work cut out for her because Bells was picky down to where the seams of her clothing sat.
“All finished?” Charity asked as she swiveled around in her chair.
“Yep, for now. Can you help me get these back downstairs?” I asked as I texted Tobey that I was ready to head back to the office.
Charity called one of the other assistants to man her desk phone, and we began to wheel the clothing towards the elevators.
“Hey, before I forget,” Charity said as soon as the elevator doors closed. “Make sure that you invoice the academy for everything, I had meant to tell you last week when I scheduled you. I’m assuming Zoey hasn’t filled you in about it either.” Judging by the way that she said Zoey’s name, Charity didn’t care for Chairwoman Bells’ former stylist at all.
I blinked at the other woman with surprise. It was against Poleman’s company policy to directly invoice a business for a personal client’s clothing, especially if the company didn’t request the stylist on behalf of an individual. It was meant to protect Poleman’s from being wrapped up in a civil suit between a company and a former employee if it came down to the misuse of funds. I wanted to point out as much, but I decided to wait until I could talk to June back at the office.
So, instead, all I said was, “Sure! I’ll get that in once the first round of tailoring is done. Will you email me with what times the Chairwoman is free next week before her first party? I want to make sure these are hand-delivered.”
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. The lobby was busy, filled with omegas getting coffee or chatting amongst themselves. Tobey was waiting next to the front desk and immediately came over to help. “How’d it go?” He asked.
“Fine, I’ve got to go back to the drawing board on some of them, but overall she was happy.” Tobey had been my driver for most of my appointments since my initial meeting with Bells, and had asked me a ton of questions about the job. All of which I was happy to answer. People didn’t ask enough about the ins and outs of professional dressing, and often didn’t realize just how much work went into it. Tobey asked, and listened attentively as he drove me to whatever appointment I was going to. It was kind of nice. Was it weird that my only friend at work at the moment was an old man in his fifties? Maybe, but I was clinging to that friendship because the office would be unbearable otherwise.
“Alright,” Charity said, letting go of her clothing rack. “I’ll leave you both to it. Madeline, I’ll send you the Chairwoman’s free slots once I sit back down at my desk.”
“Thanks,” I waved to her as she turned and headed back towards the elevators. Tobey and I rolled the racks towards the door and had nearly made it when a small voice called out.
“Madeline!” I recognized the voice almost immediately, and when I turned to look down, I found Cherry Carlin standing behind me. She had just turned nine, but hadn’t grown any from when I’d first met her last year. She was also the only reason Tibby still came to visit the academy at least once a week despite already being mated into a pack.
“Hi Cherry,” I squatted down so that I was eye level with the little girl, and was struck by what a pretty child she was. She had wispy blonde hair and big blue eyes set into a heart shaped face that was still childishly round. She’d be a knock out when she got older, but for now she was just adorable. “How are you doing this week?”
Cherry grinned at me, the formerly shy child was now as bright and friendly as the sun. “Good, Tibby’s comingtwicethis week and she’s even bringing Matteo with her, he never gets to come because of work.”
It was easy to smile at that. “Yeah? And what are you guys going to do?”
Tobey silently gestured that he was going to get the clothing racks loaded up in the van, and that I should continue my conversation. I nodded and focused all of my attention on the little girl in front of me as she told me about her plans.
“We’re going to bake some cookies. She even got permission to use her old apartment since my room doesn’t have an oven.” The academy had moved Cherry onto the juvenile floor with the omegas who were aged eleven through fifteen. It was where she should have been from the start, but they had figured that the older omegas would take care of the little girl, and that would be one less omega to have to take care of until she was more useful.
That had ended with most of the older omegas ignoring her until Tibby, ever the mother hen, had finally started to feed her. Now, even though Tibby didn’t live at the academy anymore, she still made a point to come for Cherry.
“And they’ve been taking care of you otherwise?” I asked once Cherry’s gushing had winded down.
Cherry’s lips puckered a bit and she frowned. “I get fed everyday, but the older girls still don’t like me. They think it’s creepy that I perfumed so early.”
It definitely wasn’t normal for an eight-year-old to perfume, and I was pretty sure that Cherry’s name was in a record book somewhere. I’d never heard of an omega perfuming before ten. Hell, even Eloise perfuming at eleven had been on the earlier side of things.
