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I raised a glass. “To our friendship.”
Our glasses clinked and we chugged the tequila shot.
“Shit,” Joe said upon noticing a man at the other side of the bar. “Look who’s here. You remember Mr Greyson, the guy who owns the creperie franchise?”
“The one you could never get to sign on?”
“Just the one. I may not have been able to convince him before but I know my new boss would. I got to go find Sam.” He made to leave all rushed in his exuberance, then like he remembered about me, he stepped back towards me. “You’ll be okay here?”
I nodded. “Of course. Go get him, tiger.” So much for leaving client scouting for the boss.
Once Joe left, I picked the remaining two shots and downed them one after the other. Now this might loosen me up more than I need to.
I’ve only made it to five minutes standing near that bar all alone before I began contemplating whether to get shitfaced drunk or whether I should just leave this place. Instead, I opted to go search for the ladies’ room. Me and my misery can cower in there by our lone selves. Except the restroom wasn’t vacant. So I did like every other woman standing in front of the mirror. I fished for the lipstick in my small clutch bag and retouched the red stain on my lips. That ought to boost a woman’s spirits.
The door flew open.
“Move, Stella.Je dois faire pipi.” It was Luna who dashed urgently past Stella into the first empty stall.
From the reflection in my mirror, I saw Stella pirouette and maybe I imagined it but she was giggling to herself. A woman laughing at her own thoughts was usually one who was crushing hard. Oh dear, don’t crush. Not on Joe. Yourpapawill kill him.
“Hurry up, Luna. I want to go back to dancing.”
When Stella stopped to check her curled hair in the same mirror I was looking into, I proved my point of being a coward and avoided making eye contact with her reflection. Quickly, I dropped the lipstick into my bag and picked out my travel-sized perfume bottle. I spritzed cologne on my arm, on my neck and as inconspicuously as I could, around my armpits. After that earlier silent impasse with Sam, I felt sweaty.
“Now I know whypapais fascinated with vanilla,” Luna said after exiting the stall and came beside me to wash her hands while sniffing my lingering perfume in the air.
Stella finished touching up her hair and turned to her sister, striking a pose. “How do I look?”
“Parfait.”
“Tres bon. Let’s go then.”
To my utter surprise, the girls entwined their arms around mine, one on each side and we strutted back to the hall together.
We found Sam and Joe mingling with Mr Greyson and a few other gents.
“Salut, papa. Your favourite girls are back.” Luna announced.
I was still getting accustomed to hearing the word ‘papa’in reference to Sam or to seeing his wonderful smile at just hearing his daughters’ voices. Neither had I gotten used to the fact that he still insisted on refusing to look at me, not even when I was just as much in his periphery as his daughters were.
From behind Sam, Joe raised a stealth thumbs up at me. Whatever conversation they were having with Mr Greyson was panning out well.
Sam returned his focus to the circle of businessmen. “As I was saying, the success of Zimmerman’s rebranding wouldn’t have been made possible with just me and Joe at the helm. Gentleman, meet our consulting creative mastermind, Lucille Monroe.” Sam swept an arm toward me, welcoming me into his circle and suddenly every pair of eyes in our cluster turned at me. Including Sam’s. The only eyes I was interested to see.
“Ms Monroe, a real pleasure to meet you.” Mr Greyson extended a hand which I accepted. “Would you be willing to work with Mr Webb and Mr Parker again? My franchise’s tenth anniversary is coming up and I’m looking for a team to handle a special brand refresh to mark the occasion.”
How was I supposed to answer that? My eyes darted at Joe. I needed him to say something and rescue me again. But he shrugged a helpless shoulder as he beckoned his head at Sam. He knew, and I knew too, that the big decision laid on Sam. Only he could answer Greyson’s question for me. So I turned to Sam and waited.
For the first time during this whole evening, Sam smiled at me. And I’m sure it wasn’t because of the new big client he just landed. It wasn’t just his approval to join their new project either. He genuinely smiledat me.
“With pleasure,” I replied to Greyson’s question.
Sam fished in his jacket’s inner breast pocket, producing a metal card holder. Then offered his business card to Greyson. “How about you give me a call in the morning and we’ll set up a meeting?”
Less than a minute later, the deal was a go and Mr Greyson left with his friends. Joe came to hug me, lifting me up from the ground in the process. “We did it, Luc. We did it.” He left me back on the floor and his eyes fell on Stella. “Lucy’s just a friend, you know. She’s not my…”
“I know she’s notyourlady.” With a final wink back at me, Stella walked away with her sister to meet their grandparents, leaving behind an enchanted Joe watching her every sway.
