Going Going Gone

by Cerian Hebert

  “Seven. Why?”

  “Gotta get there and pick up a copy of Vogue. I guess Javier has a spread. His fall line. My fall line.” She seethed those last three words through her teeth. A blush crept into her cheeks, but he’d bet it was from anger.

  “What?”

  “He’s been stealing my designs. The slimy bastard. I’d like to say I can’t believe it, but I do. And you know what the kick in the ass is? He changed them so they’re for his pack of skinny models. I designed them especially for full figured women and he’s altered the sizes, so now if I bring mine out they’ll look like knock-offs.”

  She suddenly looked down and must have realized she didn’t have one stitch of clothing on. All she did was sigh and shake her head. “I’ve got to get dressed.” She scooped up her clothes from where she’d left them the night before. “Can I grab a shower?”

  “Go right ahead. Clean towels are in the closet in the bathroom. I’ll get some coffee started.”

  While she showered and dressed, Eli busied himself in the kitchen, making coffee and filling the dishwasher. She returned in less than ten minutes, dressed, her hair wet and styled into a thick braid. She didn’t wear makeup but she didn’t need any. Her skin was fair and clear, and the lashes surrounding her pale green eyes were already lush. She had a natural beauty that didn’t need any embellishment.

  He handed her a mug of coffee, which she accepted with a grateful smile.

  “It’s nice outside. Care to sit out there?”

  She still appeared distracted, but she nodded. “Yeah. Maybe a little fresh air to clear my head.”

  The mist over the lake was just beginning to lift so the dark, glasslike surface of water was visible. Above, against the tops of the trees, the sun set everything aglow. It was going to be a hot one, and he had a full day in the workshop planned.

  Dylan and Emma would be over in the afternoon and he’d promised them some swimming. Life would return to normal, at least for a little while, but glancing over at Nell, who contemplated the scene before her, he wondered if things would ever be normal again.

  Would that be such a bad thing?

  Even if she left town tomorrow, she’d still made an impact on him. That was new and different. And welcome.

  “How bad do you think it’s going to be?” He was curious about this business that worried her so. Not that he could do anything about it except let her vent if she needed to.

  “I don’t know. As soon as I see the magazine I’ll get a better idea of how much damage control is needed. I’m hoping that Jill just exaggerated.”

  “Worst case scenario?”

  “Worst case scenario, I have to start over again.” She looked at him and he was able to see the first sign of panic he’d ever seen from her, the first slip of control. But she was allowed. “That’s a year of my work. And I don’t know how he got it.”

  “Wasn’t he at your studio yesterday?”

  “Yeah, but I keep everything under lock and key, except what the girls are working on at the moment. That’s not more than a piece or two. Not my whole collection.”

  “Would one of the girls betray you?” He disliked stating the obvious, that maybe someone close to her had given away her secrets.

  She shook her head and sighed. “I can’t imagine either of them . . . they’ve both been with me from nearly the beginning. This could’ve been a huge break for them as well. I can’t see either of them selling me out.”

  Yet one of them did. He was sure of it. Unless her ex had a key to the place, which he doubted Nell was careless enough to let happen.

  “So, I just have to wait until the store opens and hope they carry the magazine and the new copy is there. Not too much pressure.”

  “Will you have to leave?”

  “I may. If it’s as bad as Jill said, then I have to try to salvage this show. Somehow.”

  Chapter 8

  Nell hated ending her visit with Eli on such a sour note, but she needed to get on the road soon or she’d go nuts, even if she had to wait for the grocery store to open. She left him with a lingering kiss and a ‘thank you’ for the night they’d shared and promised she’d let him know what her plans were. Right now, despite her career disaster, she hated to give him up. Not yet.

  What to think about that? She didn’t have the time to dwell right now. Whatever would be, would be. Instead, she called Gwen and explained she was on her way to the store and then home, glossing over her current emergency. No need to upset the pregnant lady unless there was something to be upset about.

  It was worse than she could’ve imagined. Every outfit in Javier’s seven-page spread, a total of ten, was hers. And yet, not hers, since he geared them to the model-slim girls he pandered to. But still, there was no way she could show up at this event with the clothes she had worked so hard on. It would be a disaster, regardless of Javier’s apparent thievery. There was no way she could prove it. He had the name, the reputation behind him and he knew damned well she was small stuff compared to him. Fighting him would take lots of time and resources she could ill afford right now.

  She wanted to rip the magazine up into tiny shreds and shove it down his smug, evil throat.

  After she arrived at Gwen’s, Nell’s phone rang again. Jill’s voice was broken and panicked. “She’s gone. Nell, she took all her stuff and two of your sketch books and left.”

  The “she” Jill referred to was Adrianna, her other assistant. This betrayal came from left field. Adrianna had reminded Nell so much of herself when she started out, young, nervous and looking for an ‘in’ somewhere in the fashion industry.

  Nell never imagined the girl would stab her in the back like this. What had Javier promised her? A cushy job with him? Fat chance. If she went there, she’d just be one girl in a large group of other girls, all working hard to prove themselves to the big boss. Just like Nell had done, so long ago.

  Javier wouldn’t give Adrianna any special consideration just because she let him into the hen house.

  “What books did she take?” Nell asked. Does it matter? Anything left in the studio contained the sketches for what they’d already created. She never kept her new ideas there. Her current sketchbook was safe at Gwen’s.

  “Just the fall line. Damn, and I swear she took a key. I didn’t see hers. Do you think she’d try to sneak back in?”

  “Or maybe she gave it to Javier. Listen, get a locksmith in there ASAP. I’ll give you a call back. We have to salvage this. I'm not going to let that asshole beat me.”

  She hung up and tossed the phone on the seat next to her. Time to ask a huge favor of Gwen.

  “I don’t know what else to do,” she told her sister after explaining what she had in mind. “I need a place to work and I can’t guarantee Javier won’t find a way to ooze his way back into my place. It’ll just be for a few weeks. Plus I’ll be close enough just in case you need me.” She patted Gwen’s belly for emphasis.

  “You know I’ll do anything to help.”

  Gwen had been equally outraged when she heard what Javier had done. Her sister was the easiest-going woman on earth and it took a lot to get on her bad side, but Javier had managed to do it from day one.

  “You are a goddess,” Nell sighed. This was far from being okay, but at least she was heading on the right path.

  She called Jill. “Okay, here’s what I need you to do.” Quickly, Nell mapped out her instructions. “Rent a U-Haul as soon as you can. I’ll pay Chuck to find a few of his buddies and load it up. I want our equipment in it, all the fabric. Everything. Empty the place out. Then get up here. We’re going to use my mom’s house and start from scratch.”

  It would be a lot for her young designer to deal with, but they had no choice. If they wanted a job, this would be the way to go.

  Nell didn’t waste a moment of time wringing her hands and feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she headed over to her mother’s house to see what needed to be done to transform it into her workspace.

  There was
plenty of furniture left behind. The bedrooms were geared more toward teenage girls than grown women, but Jill would have to make do. Nell really could’ve used a second pair of hands, someone to replace the traitorous Adrianna, but on such short notice she couldn’t think of anyone. Gwen probably would’ve volunteered, but she was miserable with a sewing machine and admitted it freely.

  Well, no use dwelling. Nell would do what she did so many times before; forget the adversity and concentrate on success.

  After moving some of the more manageable furniture out of the dining room, which was the brightest room with the best lighting, Nell settled in the sunroom at the back of the house. She always traveled with her sketchbook and her pencils. She had lots of brainstorming to do. Whatever she came up with had to be completely different from what she had intended. She couldn’t have anyone thinking she was “stealing” from Javier’s style even though he’d already stolen it first. The irony wasn’t lost on her. Unfortunately her break from him was well enough known in the industry that people would take his side.

  For three hours she worked furiously, her pencil flying over the paper. She hated to do it, but she borrowed some ideas from the spring line she had been planning, converting them so they’d be more appropriate for autumn.

  By the time she broke for lunch, she had five outfits planned out. She got on the phone and called an already overwhelmed Jill to plead with the young woman to stop at their favorite fabric store to pick up some needed material before leaving the city. There wasn’t much to choose from up in New Hampshire, so if they bought the majority of what was needed before coming up, it would help.

  Next, she called Eli. She felt bad running out on him that morning. He seemed to have understood her state of mind, but she wanted to let him know the latest. She hoped he’d be at the house working in his shop.

  “Hello.”

  His voice was a blessed relief to her frazzled nerves. An odd reaction. He wasn’t supposed to do that for her. “Hey, how are you doing?” she asked, letting her stress untangle itself and leave her body.

  “That you, Nell? I’m doing fine. I’ve been concerned about you.”

  “Well, besides thanking God that I’m up in New Hampshire and not close enough to Javier to murder him, I’m doing okay. But I’m taking a power break before heading back to work.”

  “When you say ‘heading back to work,’ do you mean heading back to New York? I’m kind of surprised that you haven’t gone already.”

  “Yeah, about that. Here’s the long and the short of it. One of my employees stabbed me in the back, deserted me and compromised my workspace in the city. So I made a big decision. Gwen is letting me use her mother’s house as my studio. Believe it or not, I’m having my other assistant packing everything up and she’s bringing it here. I need a safe, quiet place to work, out of my ex’s reach.”

  “Wow.”

  “‘Wow’ doesn’t nearly cover it. ‘Holy shit’ is more like it. He took all my designs, everything I had planned out for my show. And it’s right there in the pages of Vogue. There’s no way I could parade my stuff out. Everyone would accuse me of stealing from him. I’m not a knock-off designer.”

  “You’re not going to let him get away with this, are you?”

  Nell sighed. She’d already thought of many, many ways she could dispose of Javier, but none that wouldn’t implicate her in his demise. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. But this isn’t over, not by a long shot. He’s not going to keep doing this. He will be hearing from me. But I’ll be up to my eyeballs in work for the next few weeks. It’s going to be a pain working from here, but I have to. I don’t want to risk anyone finding out my plans.”

  “I hope you’ll have a chance to get away now and then.”

  “I may have to, just to retain my sanity. What do you have in mind?”

  They continued to chat for another fifteen minutes while she made a sandwich. Before they hung up, they’d agreed on meeting for a few drinks and a game of pool that night.

  Nell knew she’d have to grab time with him while she could. Tomorrow morning Jill, her boyfriend Chuck and a few of his buddies would be arriving with all the equipment and then they’d be buried in work.

  As Nell ate, she had her sketchbook in front of her. Five outfits down. Five to go. She had to have ten looks. Her original collection had three pairs of pants, three casual dresses, three skirts and one formal dress. Except for the dresses, of course, each bottom needed a top. The original collection also had a casual tweed jacket, a long, soft suede coat, and a wrap to go with the formal dress.

  She worked until the light outside was dim and her hand was stiff from holding onto her pencils. But she was satisfied with what she had. All clothing she would’ve loved to wear growing up, stylish, fun, and classic, yet with an edgy style. She still had three looks to go, the formal dress and wrap, a skirt and the short jacket.

  But tonight, she had a date. And she really wanted to get back to Gwen’s place to change and let her sister know she was still alive and well.

  Gwen and Autumn were busy in the kitchen getting dinner put together. Autumn carefully placed rolls on a cookie sheet while Gwen stirred a pot of spaghetti sauce.

  Nell kissed the top of Autumn’s head then glanced into the pot of sauce. “Can I help with anything?”

  “Hey, I was wondering if you were going to put in an appearance. How did it go?”

  “Crazy. My hand hurts like he—um, heck. I’ve got most of the preliminary sketches done, and that’s more than I thought I’d finish. Of course, this means completely rethinking my spring collection since I ‘borrowed’ from it. Tomorrow the real, ah, heck begins. I figured it would just be easier to stay over at Mom’s house. I’ll need Jill to stay there, and I’d rather be close to my work.”

  “You don’t think Javier would try anything else, would he?”

  Nell shook her head. Thinking about Javier made her brain ache. “I doubt it. If he tries to get into my studio, he’s going to find nothing but dust bunnies and a few snips of thread. He’s gotten all he’s going to get from me.”

  “Have you talked to him yet?”

  “Nope. I’m torn. I’d love to rip him a new one, make him understand how angry I am, but on the other hand, wouldn’t it be sweet for him to see my show forge ahead, despite him? That would be such beautiful revenge. I’ll think on it tonight and make my decision in the morning.”

  Nell set the table as she talked, then showed Autumn how to fold the napkins to make them look like boats.

  “I’m going out with Eli tonight,” she casually mentioned.

  Gwen turned away from the stove, a fistful of spaghetti poised over the pot of boiling water. “Again? Wow. Three nights, three dates. Do you really like him that much? I mean, sex notwithstanding.”

  Nell cupped her hands over Autumn’s ears. The little girl tried to duck away. “Shh. No ‘S’ word in front of the little one.”

  Gwen rolled her eyes. “Fine. ‘Playtime’ notwithstanding, do you really like him?”

  “Yes, actually I do. Shock of shocks. I’ve no evil plans for him. We’re having a good time, and the ‘playtime’ was incredible.” Nell drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes, recalling how Eli made her feel.

  When she looked at Gwen, she laughed. “Stop blushing, you brought it up, and I enjoy his company. I think he enjoys mine. We’re going to shoot some pool and have a drink or two. I doubt there’ll be any ‘playtime’ involved. I’ve got too much about to be heaped on my plate to get in that kind of mood.”

  “But you like him?”

  “Yes, yes. I like him.”

  “And are you going to tell him your real name?”

  “Hardly. How can I do that? We both agreed there won’t be anything serious between us. As soon as I can, I’m heading back to New York. He’ll get over me. I’ll get over him. Life as we know it will return to normal.”

  Gwen frowned at her for a long moment, as if trying to get inside Nell’s head. Then she tur
ned back to the stove, broke the bunch of dried spaghetti in half and dropped it into the bubbling water.

  “What?” Nell noted the tension in her sister’s back as her shoulders rose in a quick shrug. She didn’t turn around.

  “Hey, what?” Nell urged.

  “I just don’t want either of you to get hurt,” Gwen muttered, her back still to Nell.

  “We’re both big kids. We’re not going to hurt each other.”

  “I still wish you hadn’t lied.”

  “Well, it’s a little late to worry about that. Can we change the subject? You’re making me feel like I’m doing a bad thing.”

  “Maybe you are.”

  Nell drew in a deep breath and held it in, before releasing it slowly. “Yeah, I could’ve told him who I really was. He would’ve worked hard for us, I’m sure. And that would’ve been that.”

  “Which would be a problem, how? Why wouldn’t he ask you out? You’re not acting any differently than you usually act.”

  For a long moment Nell stared at her sister’s back, stunned. She really had no idea. “You seriously don’t know.”

  Gwen swung around to face her again. “Know what? Why are you being so mysterious, Nell?”

  “You really have no idea what school was like for me? I know you weren’t in high school with me, but you couldn’t see how miserable I was?”

  Gwen didn’t reply, just looked confused.

  Nell sighed again. “Eli’s friends were horrible to me in high school. I mean really, really horrible. His ex was even worse. You think he’d want anything to do with me if he knew my real name?”

  “Eli? You’re not serious.”

  Her sister’s shock surprised Nell. “Of course I’m serious. He was ‘Mr. Popularity.’ I was the fat kid. That bunch made every day hell for me.”

  “I . . . Nell, I had no clue.”

  Nell saw tears welling up in Gwen’s eyes. Wow, she truly didn’t know. “Come on, it’s not worth crying over,” she said gruffly. She didn’t want her sister to get all weird about it. “It was a long time ago. I’m over it. Actually, it made me what I am today. But that doesn’t change the fact that if he knew my real name, well . . . he sure wouldn’t be taking me out tonight or any other night. And there’d definitely be wouldn’t be any ‘playtime.’”