Brandon bent his head and closed his eyes, shaking his head. Brandon acknowledged the veracity of that comment.
“Now, as I was saying. Silver’s the brains behind that department. Everything that was happening around that budget, she had questioned before. She even tried to bring it to the attention of Claire’s superior, Althea, who wouldn’t listen. The marketing ideas that I’ve given you all and you’ve been implementing; those weren’t mine. And you said that they work, and you instantly saw the change in revenue, and you all are attracting a younger, more connected audience. Well, those fresh ideas you and the board gave me credit for I told you came from staff. That staff is Silver, who knows marketing and Claire’s job inside and out. If you don’t believe me, ask others.”
“I don’t know,” Brandon said, still not convinced.
“What you can do is give her a trial run. Call it her stepping into the role in the interim while you look for someone to fill the position. Post the job, interview, and narrow it down to your final candidates. While you’re doing that, assess her work, and if you feel she’s suitable, then have her apply, too. I’ll guarantee you that at the end of the trial period, you’ll want her. Then you have your program director...Gary, to oversee her during this time. Having another manager to work side by side with her will ensure she’s following the guidelines, and she’s learning as she goes.”
He placed his interlaced fingers under his chin and narrowed his hazel eyes at me.
“Mmmm...”
“Either way, it’s your choice. Good luck,” I said, standing and reaching across the table to shake his hand when he rose, too.
“You’ve put a lot on my mind, Kole. I’ll give it some thought overnight and bring it to the attention of the rest of my team.”
“You do that,” I said, walking out of his office.
Brandon Dawes was the CEO and founder of K-102. Our meeting had been our final touchpoint before I walked out of the doors for the last time.
I had cleared my office the day before and had taken all my personal items home.
The office was empty today for the most part.
Claire had been terminated, along with Ryan and a couple of others.
Gary and Maria were in a meeting with some other workers. Latosha had called out sick today. Kesha was the only one at her desk.
Silver was conspicuously missing. I’d missed seeing her in my apartment. Riding on top of me. Looking at me from over her shoulder. Or just chilling by my side.
“Kole, you gonna walk out of here without saying goodbye?” Kesha asked, standing at her desk, and walking over to me.
Smiling, I said, “My bad. My mind was elsewhere.”
“Mm-hmm,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“What?”
“Your mind is probably the same place hers is. Silver’s missing you, you know. You’re all she talks about.”
“Well, she’ll have to let me know that now won’t she?” I said, smiling down at Kesha.
“Take care of her heart, Kole. I’m sure she’ll come around. But in the meantime, you take care,” Kesha said.
“You do the same,” I said, shaking the hand she extended to me.
I walked out of the office and headed towards the elevators to make my final exit. I couldn’t help but wonder how long it might be before Silver came to track me down.
She had to. I wanted her so badly, but I couldn’t take her rejection anymore. There was only so much a man’s pride could take.
CHAPTER 24 – SILVER (1 Month Later)
It was no surprise that Kole and I hadn’t run into each other. I rarely saw my apartment anymore. Work at K-102 during the day and an evening internship at The House of Dahlia, an exclusive couture shop in Midland, on the outskirts of Summer Cove consumed my weekdays and evenings.
Most evenings after I left The House of Dahlia, I crashed at my sister’s place that wasn’t that far from there. Bear stayed there during the week, as well, and enjoyed her large backyard.
When I returned home on the weekends, Bear and I went out running, or I took him to the park around the corner for some exercise. Then we’d retire back to the apartment for me to catch up on sleep.
I’d been working hard at K-102 to help Gary keep the department running while they searched for Claire’s replacement. I was sorry the radio station fired her, but I wasn’t surprised about the cover-up, because I’d been in on Kole’s discovery.
What had shocked me were the rumors that had been going around about Kole’s suggestion that I step in as her replacement. That hadn’t happened, but they used me to do the work she had been doing until they found her replacement. No title change, no pay increase, no promises to consider me for the role. Instead, I was discouraged from applying. That’s when I knew I had to find something else, and that’s how I had come to reach out to The House of Dahlia.
I had met the owner of The House of Dahlia, Luis Andre Mercier, at one of the nonprofit shows I had done a couple of years earlier. His sister also frequented my sister’s shop, and I had designed a couple of pieces for her in the past.
But just because I had these amazing connections did not mean that Luis Andre instantly placed me in service as a designer. Luis Andre expected me to work my way to the top like he did any other designer in his shop. I was lucky to start as a patternmaker instead of at the bottom of the totem pole as a sample maker.
“I’m getting ready to get out of here for tonight. Are you leaving?” Charlene, one of my co-workers asked.
I looked up from what I was working on and smiled. Rubbing my neck, I replied, “No. You know I just got here at four. It’s only seven.”
“Girl, when are you going to stop killing yourself. Either you work here or work at that day job, but this is getting to be too much for you. Don’t you think?”
I shook my head and stifled a yawn.
“I have to put the time in if I’m ever going to get my foot into this industry. This is what I want to be doing, Char. I need to find a way to get my designs under someone’s nose. So, I’m willing to sacrifice until I get there.”
She had seen several of my designs and had encouraged me to show them to Luis Andre.
“Well, then let the day job go,” she said, as she put away her pinking shears.
“The day job is what pays my bills. The House of Dahlia is an unpaid internship. It’s not going to pay the bills,” I said.
Charlene pulled her long red hair into a chignon, grabbed her purse, winked, and said, “Good luck with that!”
“Ladies!” Luis Andre called, clapping his hands as he stormed into a room trailing pink chiffon, yellow silk, and ochre velvet materials in his hands and around his neck.
Several of the other workers stopped what they were doing and looked up at him.
“Yes?” many called out. I looked up from the design I was sewing but tried to make myself invisible.
“This show is destroyed! It’s simply over!” he whined, tossing the materials on the cutting table behind me.
Charlene tossed a glance my way and pulled her satchel further up her arm. I noticed she was also inching closer to the doorway. She didn’t want to be stuck here doing more work if she didn’t have to. And I didn’t blame her.
“Wait, why is it over?” Kelly, one of the seamstresses, asked.
Luis Andre’s temper tantrums were legendary. Whereas I had heard about them before, I had never witnessed one in action. But it looked as if he was on the verge of one. Some of the other staffers claimed when he got upset, he destroyed fabrics, threw things at the walls, and had even fired someone in a rush of emotion.
Unfortunately, for him, he had to call the stylist up and apologize and beg her to return to work. Without her, he wouldn’t have been ready for fashion week in Paris last year.
“Tina Celeste quit and took her designs for the fall show with her. She’s launched her own online business. Can you believe this?” Luis Andre whined, pressing his fingers up to his forehead and s
queezing his eyes shut. “This is simply dreadful. My head hurts, and I think I feel a heart attack coming on.”
Luis Andre had taken a chance on one of his second-level designers allowing her to create the collection for the fall show.
“What about your other designers? Don’t they have something already in the works that we could create?” Kelly suggested.
A few other women nodded their agreement.
“That’s just it! Not for this show. The ones who are working on creations aren’t even a quarter of the way through their designs. There’s just no time for this.”
“We could always put a few different designs together to create a full collection for the show, Luis,” Kori Shaw, another seamstress suggested.
“I refuse to throw together shoddy work! Not at this level of the game! Are you an idiot?”
I glanced at Charlene, who stretched her neck and widened her eyes at me. Scrunching my face up, I tilted my head sideways. What was she saying to me?
She removed her iPad from her bag and pointed at it, then pointed at me. Luis Andre was still pitching a fit.
I subtly shook my head, “no.”
She nodded vigorously, “yes.”
“What if someone has a collection already completed?” Charlene spoke up.
Every head turned in her direction.
My stomach tightened into a knot.
I wanted to ease out of the same door she had been trying to sneak out of moments ago.
“Who? Who would have such a thing? I’ve already spoken to my team of designers!” Luis Andre shouted, frowning at Charlene as though she were playing a cruel joke on him.
Charlene pointed in my direction. My neck jerked back as every head turned my way. Lifting an eyebrow, I looked at her as if she had lost her mind. While everyone stared at me, I stared at Charlene, who raised her hands, palms up, as if to ask “what,” the next words that Luis Andre asked but in a different tone.
“What?” he asked, staring at me as if I were some repugnant sight. “What could you possibly do?”
“Well,” I said cautiously, moving from my seat and going to his side. “Maybe we can salvage it.”
“But how, Silver? There’s no way that we can salvage it. We’ve got just over three months to create the zippers, buttons, closures, labels, and custom fabrics. That’s just part of it. Then we have to get the prototypes created and out to the production houses. How can we possibly salvage this?” he moaned.
Sighing, I said, “Well, I’ve designed a couple of collections of my own through the years. I’ve even started creating some of the pieces, like the fastenings and closures. I have the sketches on my doodling pad and my iPad.”
“How is that going to help me?”
“I can show you the design, Luis Andre. If you like it, you can use the custom designs I’ve created.”
“You?” he asked, staring at me with his eyes wide open.
He started laughing. The rest of the staff giggled nervously, looking from one to another and then at me as if to ask what was wrong with me.
After he’d finished laughing, he thumped his chest vigorously and frowned. “No, honey. I just can’t possibly put an intern on a major project like this. That will be the death of my career. I’ll become the laughingstock of this industry!”
Tears followed his outrage as he plopped down on a chair and dropped his head into his hands. Charlene waved goodbye to me and slipped out of the door unnoticed by Luis Andre.
His words, while hurtful, didn’t bother me much. I knew that Luis Andre took his high-end brand seriously and everything that came out of this house. I also knew that I was still new, and he had yet to take a chance on me so he would be right to question giving me this project.
The tears, though, I thought that was a bit much. But this was my chance to prove myself. If I couldn’t convince him to take a chance on me now, I wasn’t sure when I would get the opportunity again.
I grabbed both of his hands in mine and kneeled in front of him.
“Luis Andre, you’ve seen my work before. I know that you haven’t seen much, just a couple of pieces in a nonprofit show, but if you would just trust me, I swear I won’t let you down. Please,” I begged.
Pulling his hands from mine, he dropped his head into them again and repeatedly muttered, “I’m ruined!”
I stood, walked back to the cutting table I had been working at, and grabbed my workbag. I removed my tablet from inside. Looking through my designs on my iPad, I found what I was looking for and took it to him.
“Luis Andre...Luis Andre!”
He kept sobbing softly in his hands, while everyone else watched apprehensively.
“Luis Andre, look!” I shouted at him.
He jerked his head up, his eyes narrowed, and his lips pulled back in a snarl. I knew that he was ready to bite my head off. No one spoke to him in that manner, let alone raised their voice at him.
Everyone was silent, and the tension was thick.
The worst that he could do was fire me. It might impact my ability to work in another fashion house anywhere close to here, but I had to take a stance.
I lowered the iPad, shoving it in front of his face. He reared his head back a bit, still scowling. Then his eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. A soft gasp escaped before he placed his hand over his mouth.
I watched as Luis Andre stood and began pacing the room, my iPad in his hand. He flicked through design after design and probably reviewed a few of them repeatedly before he shoved it to me again.
“Silver! You are a genius! I need the first seven designs for the show in a couple of months, and the first prototype complete by Tuesday! We have to have the women measured and fitted! There’s so much we have to do now that the show is changing. I want this to be the featured collection!” he said, shoving my iPad at me before he walked back to the warehouse.
I could hear him shooting off orders as he went along the way.
Dropping my head into my hands, I massaged my temples. I was worried. Now it was my turn to nurse a headache.
I had no idea how I would get one of these designs out of my head and the iPad and into his hands by Tuesday. Five days? Was he kidding me?
Sighing, I pulled up the first design that I needed to begin working on. It was going to be a long night and some long days. But at least I had Friday and Monday off at the station and the weekend to get a lot of work done.
CHAPTER 25 – KOLE
I was drafting up a plan for the new contract I had just obtained when I heard the doorbell. Pushing back from my desk in my spare bedroom, I clicked save and then headed for the front door.
My stomach was growling, and I was waiting for my delivery from Mellow Mushroom. Pizza and beer were on the menu for another lonely night tonight.
I opened the door, checked my pizza, and gave the delivery man a tip, before kicking it closed again.
Lately, the only thing that had been on my mind was my future. I wanted more than pizza, beers, and lonely nights in my apartment. I needed more than memories of Silver. I desired more than filling my days with work and my weekends with Darnell, Bishop, and Zymir and teaching Taekwondo classes.
Munching on a slice of mushroom, bacon, and pepperoni pizza, I grabbed my remote and turned on the TV. Kicking my feet up on the table, I looked around my spot.
It was funny how everything changed when your perspective changed. This pad had been the perfect size for me before. Now, the only thing I could think of was buying a home.
A house that was big enough for a wife to decorate the way she wanted to and kids to grow up in. I needed something more than this solitary life I was living.
My brother’s wedding was coming up soon since Gina decided she didn’t want to be as big as a house walking down the aisle. We had our tuxes, and all I had left to do was show up at the ceremony and play the role of best man.
I sighed and tossed my slice of half-eaten pizza back into the box.
How had I arrived here? Think
ing about marriage and kids. That wasn’t my flow. But then again, I was heading close to thirty-one. Eventually, I did need to get serious and settle down. But so far, I’d had my heart stomped on once and handed back to me. This second time I was left with so many questions I had no clue where to go from here.
The only thing I was certain of was that I wasn’t going to chase her down. Either she wanted me, or she didn’t.
Pulling a hand down my face, I knew that was bullshit. Bullshit that I wasn’t buying.
I headed for my office and pulled out a pen and paper. I shook my head, a smile coming across my lips.
Damn, this girl had my head all fucked up. I couldn’t believe I was about to do this, but the more I contemplated it, the more I knew I didn’t want to lose her.
My mom had taught me that coincidences didn’t just happen.
SILVER,
There’s something I realized about myself. I’m not a romantic. Never have professed to be, so I’m not about to start pretending to be now. But I am a realist. And what I know with certainty is that there is no such thing as a coincidence.
Things happen for a reason. And if we’re in the right place at the right time, it’ll all come together perfectly the way it’s supposed to. We’re just expected to play our parts. That’s all.
The fact that I won this contract over all the qualified candidates, met you and allowed you into my space the way I did wasn’t a coincidence. I think it was our destiny to meet. Our destiny to be together.
We’ve spent the last few months trying to pretend the shit we felt wasn’t real. But that hidden desire took over, and we did what we were meant to do.
I know shit got out of control on the job. I’m sorry about that because I should have stood my ground. The last thing I wanted was to create any issues for you. So, I gave you what you needed. Time and space. Time and space to figure out you belong to me.
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