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My stomach nearly dropped to the floor and it took me a few extra seconds to speak. “I—yeah, hello. Of course, I love your work.”
Keisha Blackwell was an up-and-coming designer in Seattle who strictly sold at trunk shows. Whenever one of her designs came to me on consignment, it usually sold within hours. I had a short list of clients I called whenever I got her items in stock. But it was odd for someone of her caliber to call me out of the blue. I didn’t usually hear directly from designers, which meant it was either something very bad, like counterfeit garments going through my store, or something very interesting.
She laughed at my nervous response, and I relaxed just a little.
“Thanks, Marcie. I called you because I’m looking to try something new, and I heard some things about your store through the grapevine. You want to expand to bridal, right?”
I forced myself to breathe normally. “Yeah, I’d love to do that—Seattle designers, non-traditional designs, one-offs, things like that.”
“So, that’s good for me, because I’ve been working on some bridal designs, and I want a retail partner to sell them,” she said. “I’ve called a few people, but I want to keep it in local hands with someone who knows my work and already has the types of customers who are into my designs. Like an exclusive bridal partner kind of thing, at least for now. I don’t want to be in a regular bridal salon, so it makes sense for me to work with somebody like you to try something a little different, you know?”
I felt almost lightheaded at what she was insinuating. “I absolutely know what you mean.” I stepped around the counter and toward the back, where I sat down in my chair with a whoosh. “So, tell me what you want from me so we can take the next step.”
While Keisha talked, I listened and made copious notes, growing more excited by the second. It would mean taking big steps sooner than I had planned, but I knew I could do it. When else would I get this kind of amazing opportunity?
“So what do you think?” Keisha asked after she ran through everything on her list. “Any deal-breakers on that list for you?”
“No,” I immediately said. “I need to do some research and put together some information for you, and I’d like to meet soon. When will you make your decision about who to partner with?”
“I’d like to move soon,” she said. “Strike while the iron’s hot, you know? But we can do a few weeks while you get your proposal together since you’re at the top of my list.”
“Of course. Thank you, Keisha.” I set my pen down on my desk and held my hand up to watch my fingers as they shook with adrenaline. “I’ll be in touch.”
After I hung up with Keisha, I walked back out to the store floor on wobbly legs and leaned against the wall behind the counter while Kresley finished ringing up a customer.
“Well?” she asked after the customer walked away. “What was that about? You look like you’re about to barf.”
“You’re not far off,” I said with a laugh as I motioned for Frankie to come over. We huddled together behind the counter, and I grabbed both of their hands, squeezing tightly.
“That was Keisha Blackwell,” I said on a rush of breath. “She wants us to put together a pitch to be her exclusive bridal salon.”
Frankie and Kresley both shrieked in excitement and flung their arms around me. A happy tear trickled down my cheek as I fiercely embraced my two best friends, the women who fought with me to get this store off the ground and loved it as much as I did. My employees. My partners.
I thought back to last night with Denton. The way he listened to my most private thoughts and shared his own vulnerabilities, and the things that flickered in my heart that I wasn’t ready to name yet, not even to myself. But it felt good.Ifelt good. I had this incredible business opportunity, amazing friends, and a connection with a man whose appetite for me left me breathless and wanting more.
Everything I had dreamed of, suddenly coming true.
Chapter Ten
Denton
“I heard back from the law firm and they said that the mixed-use development permitting shouldn’t be a problem, but we have to comply with the most recent building codes,” Clive said. “So the disability access is a problem right now, but the architect is on it.”
I clicked on some e-mails and scanned the information inside. “Yeah, I’m just looking at his estimates now. I don’t think we’ll have a problem with financing on that, but I’ll run the numbers after we get off the phone.”
On the other end of the line, some papers rustled and I heard Clive yawn.
“Sorry, man,” he said a moment later. “Late night.”
“Everything okay?” I asked cautiously. I was up late too, but I wasn’t about to tell mybusiness partnerthat I spent half the night last night, and almost every other night during the past couple of weeks, tangled up in the sheets with his daughter.
Clive sighed. “A woman I’ve been sort of seeing. We had it out last night, and then I went for a late run to blow off steam.”
I gently closed my laptop. “Anything I can do?”
He paused. “I don’t think so. Just rusty at relationships, I guess. I haven’t done much dating since my wife died, and sometimes I put my foot in it.”
“I know what you mean,” I said carefully. “It’s been different for me, too. Since my divorce, that is.”
