Love Sold Separately

by Ellen Meister

  He pulled away and looked at her hard. Then he held her by her shoulders and took half a step back.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I’m not going to come in,” he said.

  “You’re not?”

  He opened his mouth to speak and hesitated, as if waiting to make sure she was really tuned in. When he finally spoke, his voice drifted over her like vapor. “I don’t want to share you.”

  Her breath caught. At that moment, it felt like the most seductive line she had ever heard.

  “You’re not sharing me,” she said. “Lorenzo and I are finished.”

  He nodded toward the flowers. “Talk to him.”

  “There’s nothing to say.”

  He kissed her on the forehead. “Call me when you’re ready,” he said, and turned to walk away.

  She wanted to call after him, I’m ready now! But she knew how desperate it sounded. And so she watched him step into the elevator and disappear.

  Dana picked up the bouquet, wondering what to do with it. She’d never hated flowers so much in her life. Damn you, Lorenzo, she thought, and wondered why he decided to do something so uncharacteristic all of a sudden. And it was such a garish, oversize arrangement. As a father on a limited budget, he had no business spending that kind of money on her.

  She picked up the card to get a closer look at what he wrote, and that was when she saw it. The flowers weren’t from Lorenzo. They were from Rusty Lindemuth.

  31

  The next day, Dana used her cell phone to take a picture of the card, and sent it to Ari with the text message, I told you it was over with Lorenzo.

  She hurried to work before hearing back from him, excited and nervous about her show. A jewelry designer named Quentin Daye was being featured, which was a big deal, because the gemstone products were usually sold only on prime time. It was a lot of pressure on Dana, but she was eager for the chance to show what she could do with some sparkly merch. As long as she wasn’t sabotaged again, she could shine.

  When Adam came to brief her on the products, he had photographs on his tablet, and explained that if she wanted to see the actual jewelry before the show, she had to go down to the set where it was under the careful watch of the designer’s staff.

  Dana nodded, remembering Sherry’s admonitions about the theft of display merchandise. “I guess this is the kind of stuff that’s gone missing in the past,” she said.

  “We’ve had...issues,” he confirmed. “But we’ve tightened security.”

  “Have to admit I’m grateful for the extra protection right now.”

  “Dana, I promise you, I spoke to the crew about being extravigilant. And I’m going to check and double-check every single thing personally—the color charts, the display tables, the audio cables. You’re not going to have a problem today.”

  Dana wasn’t usually superstitious, but a life in theater had made her wary of certain phrases. You don’t say “good luck” before a performance. You don’t say “Macbeth” backstage. She hoped “You’re not going to have a problem today” wouldn’t be added to that list.

  When Adam left, she picked up her cell phone, glad to see a reply from Ari. Who is Rusty Lindemuth?

  She texted back. Inappropriate friend of my dad’s.

  After a minute his reply came through. Disturbing age difference?

  She laughed and wrote back. Might be even worse than you think.

  Dana went to hair and makeup, getting a little more glammed-up than usual for the jewelry show. Irini brought her three outfits to choose from, and she picked a solid plum body-hugging cocktail dress with a V-neck. It was elegant and a little sexy—tight to the hips with a flirty flair at the hem—but plain enough to let the jewelry be the star of the show. She paired it with high-heeled gray pumps that made her legs look seven or eight miles long.

  The dress might have been a little sexier than she bargained for, because when she got down to the set, she noticed elbow-jabs among the male members of the crew. And then she found Lorenzo waiting for her at the jewelry display.

  “I’m not ready to be miked yet,” she insisted.

  “I know,” he said, and stared at her expectantly. She didn’t soften. “You look beautiful,” he added.

  Dana folded her arms. “What do you want?”

  “You know what I want,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper because Quentin Daye’s assistant stood just feet away. “We really need to talk.”

  Dana hesitated. Though her fury was no longer white-hot, it had solidified into stubbornness. She didn’t want to let him off the hook. He had treated her badly, and she didn’t deserve it. Still, there was something about her new connection with Ari Marks that altered her mood. She felt...redirected. And brimming with a bubbly anticipation she hadn’t experienced in a long time. It was hard to stay closed with all that effervescence coursing through her. She considered the possibility that maybe it wouldn’t kill her to hear what he had to say.

  “I’m not your enemy,” he said. “I just want to explain what happened. Can we find someplace to talk?”

  “Now?” she asked.

  “After the show,” he said. “Just give me five minutes.”

  She let out a breath. “Okay, five minutes. But not here.”

  “The planetarium?” he asked, referring to the empty studio across the lobby.

  She agreed and went to take her place on the set, where the crew was arranging the first display table of jewelry, under the watchful eye of Quentin Daye himself. Beneath the lights, the gems seemed to come alive, and she knew how dynamic that would look on the air. She could hardly wait to get started.

  Dana introduced herself to the designer and told him how she felt. “Your pieces are...dazzling,” she said. “I’d love to own any one of them. Hell, I’d love to own all of them!”

  Quentin smiled, his broad face growing even rounder. “Those earrings look sublime on you, darling. And that dress!” He took her hand and twirled her around. “It’s almost enough to turn me straight.”

  She laughed and gave his arm a squeeze. “I think we’re going to get along just fine.” Dana pointed to the camera. “And she is going to love your jewelry.”

  He beamed, getting her point. “It’s going to be a fabulous show,” he said, his rumbling theatrical baritone nearly shaking the set.

  They got miked, and Dana fit in her earpiece. She hit her mark and looked at the camera as Adam gave the final count. At last, the green light went on and she took off, letting her friends at home know exactly how thrilled she was to be introducing them to this new Quentin Daye Gem Drop collection, starting with three-tiered dangling earrings that were available in two color stories. The Midnight version had stones of blue topaz and amethyst, surrounded by tiny cubic zirconia. The Multi had those gems plus yellow topaz and Burmese rubies. Dana had a hard time deciding which one she liked better—they were really so lovely.

  With their connection established, Dana and Quentin chatted like old friends as she gushed about the sparkle and the cut, and he explained the origin of the designs and the value of the gems. He was a good talker—impassioned and articulate—making it easy for Dana to sell his wares. Her occasional glances at the sales monitor told her that when the camera came in for a close-up on the earrings in her own lobes, the viewers reacted. And so she made sure she went from the display to cooing about how much she loved the way they dangled and moved and caught the light. Before long, Adam alerted her that the Multi was almost sold out, and so she gave her friends at home warning to act quickly if they wanted these beautiful earrings.

  The rest of the show went just as well, as Dana gushed about bracelets and necklaces and even more earrings. At last they got to the final and most expensive item in the collection—a solid gold bracelet watch with a dial encircled in tiny diamonds and gemstones. The price was listed as $4,975, lowered from $9,995,
and available on their Easy-Bucks option that divided it into five payments. This was the tough one—she had to be on her game to convince viewers to part with that much money. She would live and die by the sales monitor.

  But about a minute into the presentation the screen went dark. Dana could hardly believe it. At the very moment the numbers were more important than ever, she was driving blind, with no idea what the viewers were reacting to. She swallowed against her fear. Whoever was sabotaging her had picked the right time to do it.

  “It’s okay,” Adam whispered through her earpiece. “Your monitor is out, but I can see the numbers on the master computer and I’ll walk you through it.”

  It worked. He narrated the rise and fall of the sales numbers, so Dana could tell exactly what the viewers were responding to. Very soon, it became clear that it wasn’t just the details of the watch that excited the buyer to action, but the idea that she deserved to treat herself to an heirloom piece. The word gift tended to backfire, as it was too much of a budget-breaker. But letting the viewer feel justified in treating herself to something this beautiful and expensive without guilt (after all, she could pass it on!) was the magic dust.

  Finally, Adam told Dana it was time to wrap up and introduce Vanessa. “And your numbers are spectacular,” he added.

  Spectacular! It was such a relief Dana almost clapped. Instead, she bid a cheerful goodbye to her viewers and barely had time to unclip her mike before Quentin Daye wrapped her in a bear hug. “That was brilliant,” he said, his face glistening with sweat. “When that monitor went down I almost threw myself onto the floor!”

  She pictured this mountainous man, in his two-thousand-dollar Italian suit, collapsing in a tantrum, and laughed. “Don’t say that too loud,” she managed. “There are people who would pay money to see it.”

  “I think you outshine even the Pitch Queen herself,” he gushed.

  Now she knew he was truly carried away, referencing Kitty. Dana didn’t know how to react to that, but before she could decide, he clapped her on the shoulder. “Relax,” he said. “Somebody’s got to pick up the scepter. May as well be you, my dear.”

  Two of his staff members walked over and carefully wheeled the display off the set. Adam emerged from the control booth and approached the table, apparently taking careful inventory of the pieces. He signaled to Dana, who walked over with Quentin.

  “You want the good news or the great news?” Adam said, and proceeded to go over the sales figures with the two of them. They had exceeded expectations, and had even broken the record for selling jewelry off-season in a non-prime-time slot.

  Quentin put his hands on Dana’s shoulders. “When I come back with my holiday collection,” he said, “I want to work with this wonderful lady. She’s a superstar.”

  Dana beamed. With such a success, Sherry simply had to back off now.

  Quentin excused himself to talk to his staff, and Adam got called into the control booth. “I’ll be right back,” he said to Dana. “Stay here.”

  She did as he asked, eager to hear what he had to say about the problem with the monitor, but he was gone for several minutes and she figured he got caught up with something. And so she waited another minute or two, and then walked across the lobby to meet Lorenzo in the planetarium. She figured she could catch up with Adam later.

  “Congratulations,” Lorenzo said when she entered.

  “You caught a break,” she said. “I’m in a good mood.”

  He laughed. “Lucky me.”

  “Doesn’t mean I’m going to let you off the hook,” she said.

  “I know. I was an asshole. I’m sorry.”

  “So you said.”

  “You’re still not going to make this easy?” he asked.

  “That’s not my job. But I’ll listen to what you have to say.”

  “Okay,” he said, and looked down to gather his thoughts. When he looked back up at her, his dark eyes shone in the narrow beam of light filtering down from one of the starry points in the black ceiling. “It’s the parole thing. It makes me paranoid. I felt like I had to keep my travels a secret or I’d be screwed. Can you understand that? The whole thing felt very cloak-and-dagger—like I was taking this huge risk to build a better future for Sophia.”

  Dana shook her head. “But that’s the part I don’t get. Why would you take such a crazy risk? If you got caught—”

  “I knew I wouldn’t get caught,” he said. “Not if I was supercareful. You have to understand, this job is an incredible opportunity for me. When I saw the listing, I almost couldn’t contain myself. I knew it was something I could do, and that the timing was almost perfect. I would be able to start right after my parole ends. The only problem was getting to the interview.”

  “And you couldn’t just go to your parole officer? I would think he’d make an exception.”

  “Normally he might have. But there was so much shit going down with this murder investigation. I just don’t think he would have cut me any slack here.”

  Dana thought back to the days before he left for the interview—all those opportunities he had to open up to her. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t trust me. I wouldn’t have told anyone.”

  He gave a defeated shrug. “Secrecy becomes a habit. Or maybe a superstition. Like if I could just keep it to myself, I could pull it off.” He put his hand to the middle of his chest. “I’m a single dad, Dana. My job is to do whatever it takes. And you have to understand—the QVC job is almost twice the salary.”

  That stopped her cold. “Twice?” she said.

  “And you should see the way we’d be able to live there. In a house. A normal house, in a safe neighborhood. With a backyard and good schools. It’s everything I could want for Sophia.”

  Dana looked away. She understood. And now that she admitted that to herself, she had to face another truth: on some level, she had always understood, but was too insulted to accept it. It was easier to think he was a dick than to face the fact that she couldn’t handle coming second to his kid. And it wasn’t even that she was pining for him, or had any illusions about a future together. She had simply been selfish enough to want to be his everything. The shame of it pressed down on her.

  “I think maybe I’ve been a little unfair to you,” she said.

  “No,” he said. “It was my fault. I should have told you.”

  She nodded. “You should have trusted me. You should have known I would keep your secret.” He started to talk, to offer another mea culpa, but she cut him off. “On the other hand, you were making decisions based on what you thought was best for Sophia...exactly what you were supposed to do.”

  “So you forgive me?” he said.

  She looked into his eyes. “I do.”

  “Thank you,” he said, and reached for her hand.

  She pulled it away. “No, Lorenzo.”

  “No?” He looked wounded.

  She shook her head. “This isn’t going to work.”

  “I thought we had something.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Dana said. “Even if the QVC thing doesn’t work out, you’re planning to leave New York the second you get the chance.”

  He nodded, taking that in, and went quiet for a long moment. “Actually,” he said, “it is going to work out.”

  “What do you mean?”

  His expression softened. “I heard from them this morning,” he said quietly.

  “And?” she asked, almost bursting.

  “And...I got it! I’ll be giving notice next week, and moving in a month.”

  “Oh, Lorenzo. That’s wonderful!” She was overcome with joy for him, and for what this would mean for Sophia. Without even thinking, she threw her arms around him. He hugged her back and spun her around in a dance of joy. She squealed and laughed, forgetting that they were just feet away from their coworkers.

  Apparently
, her voice carried outside the door, because almost immediately she heard someone outside call, “Dana?”

  “Put me down!” she whispered, and he did, but not before the door burst open, flooding them with light.

  As her feet hit the ground, she looked up to see who had witnessed this spontaneous burst of affection.

  It was Ari Marks.

  32

  It might have taken only a nanosecond for Dana to understand what Ari saw, but it played out like taffy stretched to its brittlest breaking point. Dana, in her flirty purple dress, twirling in joy with the man she had sworn she wasn’t seeing. The way her smile gave way to distress and then panic when she met Ari’s eyes. The fall of his expression. The hurt.

  She tried to speak, to find the language to explain what had happened. But before Dana could utter a single word of explanation, Adam rushed up behind Ari, breathless and alarmed.

  “There you are!” he said to Dana. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “Please tell me you know what happened to the watches,” he said.

  “The watches?” She was so flustered she was having trouble making sense of Adam’s panic.

  “The two watches that were on the display table. I left you there guarding them.”

  “I...I wasn’t guarding them. I was waiting for you and you didn’t show up.” Her heart thudded. The watches had been stolen and they were blaming her.

  Adam put his head in his hands. “So they’re really missing. Both of them.”

  Lorenzo sucked air. “This is bad.”

  Dana heard the jangle of keys and then Beecham appeared at the doorway. “You called?” he said to Adam.

  Adam nodded, his face tense. “Ten thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise just disappeared.”

  Beecham’s hard expression went even harder...and then harder still when he noticed the detective. “What is he doing here?”

  “I was just leaving,” Marks said, holding up his hands.