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ChapterOne
Present Day
Andrea yawned, and she stretched her tired limbs in the middle of her mahogany canopy framed California king-sized bed. It had been an impulsive buy. At the time, she’d gone couch shopping for her apartment and had fallen in love with how huge and comfortable the bed looked. She’d imagined how great it would look in her master bedroom compared to the full bed that didn’t quite fill the space adequately. The instant she sank into the soft cushiony mattress that enveloped her frame and made her feel as if she were lying on clouds, she knew she had to get it.
As she nestled further into the softness now, feeling the urge to go back to sleep, she wondered if it had been a wise buy after all. She needed to get up. She had to go into her office to send off some important emails and finish her blog, but between the mattress and her comforter forming the perfect cocoon, all she wanted to do was fall right back to sleep.
Suddenly her alarm went off, reminding her of the reason she’d awoken in the first place.
“Ugh!” She breathed in frustration, still not making a move to get up. The incessant noise continued without interruption. When she couldn’t take it anymore, she rolled over in the bed to look over at the small vintage machine on the bedside table that was making it hard for her to just curl up and fall back into a blissful sleep.
Reaching over, she tapped the knob to stop the ringing and brought her hand back to her side. She inhaled deeply before slowly releasing the air through her lips. Scooting to the edge of the bed, she swung her legs over and stood to her feet.
It was time to start her day.
After taking a quick shower, she dressed in a white, three-quarter sleeve blouse tucked into black high waist slacks. She stood before the shoe section of her closet for quite some time, contemplating which one went well with her outfit. She finally settled on the black wedge-heeled opened-toe shoes with cutouts at the sides and back.
Walking out of her closet, she slid the door back in place and took advantage of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors that took up the entire wall of her walk-in closet. Feeling satisfied with her look, she snatched her laptop off the small work desk at the other corner of her bed and stuffed it into the laptop bag on the chair before raising it to her shoulder along with her black Hermès handbag she’d received as a gift from one of her clients.
Stepping out of her bedroom, Andrea moved past the living room and stepped into the kitchen on the other side of the open floor plan design. Grabbing a tangerine from the fruit basket on the counter, she made her way to the front door. She would stop by the Starbucks on 172ndSt., less than ten minutes away from her apartment in Cedar Pointe, and get a coffee and maybe a pastry.
Instead of taking the elevator, Andrea walked down the five flights of stairs to get in some early morning exercise. When she finally made it to the ground floor, she made her way across the lobby and stepped through the sliding glass doors. She sauntered to the covered carport adjacent to the building and headed for her designated parking spot. Andre settled into her olive-green Jeep Wrangler before driving out toward the exit of the complex.
“Good morning, Ms. Hamilton. How are you today?”
“Good morning, Harold. I’m fine, thank you.” Andrea smiled politely at the friendly security guard, who was smiling broadly at her as he released the automated gates for her to drive through. “How’s your wife doing?” she paused midway through the exit to ask.
“Oh, she’s fine. Just her poor old left knee is giving her some pain because of arthritis, you know,” he answered.
“I’m sorry to hear, Harold.”
“Don’t fret about it now. She’ll be fine soon. It comes and goes,” he assured her.
“All right, Harold. Keep me posted,” she requested. “I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, Ms. Hamilton.”
Andrea pulled out of the complex and made her way along Cedar Avenue before turning onto 172ndSt. A few minutes later, she pulled off the main road and made her way over to Starbucks. When she entered the establishment, only two other people were before her, and only a few tables were occupied. She rejoiced internally. Usually, whenever she made it to Starbucks at this time, the place would be teeming with people trying to get their daily coffee fix before their busy day started.
“Hi, welcome to Starbucks. What can I get you?”
Andrea smiled at the young woman whose name tag read “Joy,” enjoying her aura.
“Hi, um, can I have an espresso macchiato and…” She paused, looking over at the pastry display. “Can I have a bagel and cream cheese to go, please?” she finished.
“Sure thing. That’ll be six ninety-five.”
After paying for the food, Andrea moved to a spot where her name would be called once her order was ready.
After collecting her items, Andrea walked back to her Jeep and pulled out of the parking lot onto the road. Ten minutes later, she was at the three-story building that was rented as office space. Her office was located on the second floor at the east end, an ideal position as she was able to take advantage of the natural light that came through the glass panels that formed the entire east wall and the adjacent wall facing outward.
Her office was vibrant and modern, symbolic of her personality. The furniture and upholstery of the room were an analogous mixture of colors that complemented each other very well: from the multicolored area rug, the aqua-colored armchair, the olive-green work desk and chair, to the mustard-colored walls interrupted by evenly spaced light-gray vertical lines that completed the box-shaped office. The only mute colors in the space were her blogging and recording equipment which ranged between white and gray, the large black and white office desk holding two large monitors, an Ipad, and a Rode NT-USB Condenser microphone. To anyone else, the room would probably look a little chaotic, but for her, it worked.
The office was her home away from home. It was where she did her greatest work, and her creativity was unhindered. She chose to have an office away from her house almost five years ago because she’d recognized that her level of productivity was not where she wanted it to be. A friend and associate had suggested she rent an office space. It turned out to be the best decision she’d made.
Andrea set her laptop and planner in between the two monitors and went to switch on the softbox lights and the diffuser. Today she wanted to vlog about steps to take to attract the right kind of people in one’s life that would foster healthy relationships. It was something new and a follow-up from her last video, giving her subscribers tips on how to start seeing themselves in a positive light and shedding the negativity perpetuated by themselves and those they had been associating with. She’d received a lot of positive feedback, with some people sharing the success they had using her suggestions. This was the part of her job that she loved— being able to help people know that there was still hope even after life-altering circumstances.
First thing first, however, she needed to respond to some emails from her clients and check up on the ads she was running for them. With her planner at hand, she was prepared to make notes on which ads were still running successfully and which ones might need tweaking to their content and visibility. This was her main job, the one that paid her bills and gave her a nice cushy bank account.
