"What's that mean?" I asked.
"You got all excited just now when I said that, and I could tell he liked you when we were talking on the phone. Are you seeing him or something?"
"No. I told you. I didn't know who he was until today. Why did you say you thought he liked me on the phone? What did he say?"
"I don't know. Nothing specific. I just basically got the feeling he was doing this whole horse transaction for you. And when I told him he should come down here and meet the horse, he mentioned coming with you. He said he was going to talk to you about it."
"Seriously?" I could not stop myself from smiling, and it came across in my voice. "Tell me exactly what he said. Oh, uh, hang on, my uh…"
My phone was ringing.
I could hear a call coming through on the other line, and I held it away from my ear as I was talking to my brother.
"It's… oh snap, Jude, I think it's him. It's a Philadelphia number. It's Eric, I bet. I'll call or text you later."
"Okay, talk to you later, love you, bye," he said in a hurried tone.
"Bye, love you." I pressed the button to switch to the other line. "Hello?" I said, trying to sound normal and unaffected.
"Hello, is this Olivia?"
"It is," I said.
"This is Eric from earlier today at the coffee shop. Is it a bad time?"
"No, no, I'm at a friend's house and they're playing a game, but I'm not in there. I was actually on the phone before you called. I was talking to my brother. He said you called him."
"I did. I like your brother. He's a nice guy. And I'm excited about that horse. I've never thought about doing anything like that before. I'm so glad you mentioned it."
I let out a breath of a laugh. "I'm so glad I mentioned it, too," I said. "You have no idea how glad I am."
A few seconds of silence followed. Eric thought I was going to continue, but I didn't know what to say.
"So, it's really cool that you're doing it," I said.
"I'm excited," he said. "That's why I called you, actually. I know you're at a friend's house so you don't need to answer now, but think about how you would feel if I crash your trip to Lexington for a day or two so I can meet your brother and the horse. I'd like to meet them in person, and I was thinking maybe you could be there to make the introductions."
"Of course. Definitely. I'd love to do that."
I was proud of my family in Kentucky and would love for him to meet them. They were my best chance of impressing him. It was a best-case scenario for him to go to Kentucky. I was grinning from ear to ear at the thought of it when I realized that I must like this guy. I had dated men over the years, and I enjoyed male attention as much as the next woman, but I rarely felt giddy or excited about the possibility of seeing someone again, let alone hoping my family could impress them.
"Okay, well, if you don't mind, send me your itinerary and I'll plan a trip."
"I don't mind at all," I said. "And, do what you want, but a day or two will go fast. There's a lot to do there. You might want to see a couple of basketball games."
"Are you talking about a college game?"
"Yeah. The University of Kentucky."
"You were saying your cousin plays. It's for them, right?"
"Yes. And there's another cousin in high school, too. It's his senior year. He's really good."
"A basketball family," he said.
I had no idea if he knew about Uncle E. I hadn't told him, but I wasn't sure about my brother. "Yeah, big time," I said. "None of my family in Philly play basketball, but all of my Kentucky people do. It's really popular down there."
"I know. UK's always got a good team. That's cool that your cousin plays for them."
"It is cool. It's fun to go to the games and watch him. That's why I was saying you didn't have to hurry back. You know, if you wanted to get, like, the longer tour."
"Okay, I do think I'm interested in the full tour," he said. "Do you think three days would be okay?" he asked. "Is that too long?"
"Oh, definitely not. If anything, it's not enough."
"I'll do three or four, then."
"That sounds great," I said. "I'll check with my aunt about the games and let you know. Send me your email address and I'll send my trip dates and everything."
"Okay, that's perfect," he said.
I really wanted to mention that he could stay at my aunt and uncle's house, but I thought that might be too much.
"Hey, I was serious about you designing something for some Costa Rican beans. That's why I was down there. I had meetings with farmers and ended up making a deal."
"Brandon told me you owned Roxy's," I said.
"I wasn't sure if you knew when we were talking," he said. "I figured you didn't."
"You even told me you wanted that logo for coffee," I said. "I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't even think about it."
"I thought it was cool that you didn't know. I liked seeing how regular customers would get treated."
"I hope I passed the test," I said.
Really, he wasn't normal. He was young and nice and too handsome for his own good. He probably had women buying his lunch all the time—flirting with him when they didn't even know who he was. I didn't say any of that.
"Not that there was one, but I'd say you passed the test. I had fun talking to you and I loved my lucky cup. That was awesome."
"I wish I would have had more time for that," I said. I never liked to admit defeat, but I had to say something. Most of my lucky cups took a half-hour or so. His was okay, but it was nowhere close to as refined as my other ones.
"I wish I could have seen the ones you gave away."
"You can see some of them in pictures. I have given over a hundred of those cups away, and I think about twenty or thirty of them are on Instagram under the hashtag #roxysluckycup. I only work two shifts a week so, it's mostly my regulars or their friends who have posted them. They tag me, that's how I knew about it."
We kept on talking like that for an hour. The time passed in what seemed like seconds. Our conversation flowed effortlessly, and I was so engaged that it startled me when Jillian came around the corner looking for me.
"You okay?" she asked.
I nodded at her. "Hey," I said to Eric. "Can I call you back?" It was an instinctual thing for me to say when I felt like I had to get off of the phone with someone quickly.
"Uh, yeah, you can." There was enough surprise in his voice that I felt the need to backpedal. "I mean, I guess all I need to do is text you the information about my trip, so you can—"
"No, you can call me back, though," he said. "Just call me whenever."
"Okay, I will. Maybe tomorrow or even later tonight."
Jillian was standing there waiting for me, so I was nervous.
"That's fine. I want you to." He said that last part in a reassuring tone, and I smiled.
"Okay I will. I'll talk to you later. Bye."
Chapter 7
I called Eric back that evening and we talked for two hours. Then he called me the next evening and we talked again. We talked every day, via text or phone call, for the next two weeks. Christmas came and went, and before I knew it, we were in the middle of January.
Neither of us felt like we were obligated to contact the other one every day, it just always seemed to work out that we got in touch and ended up having a longer conversation than expected.
Eric became my friend. The weird thing was that I couldn't see him as the owner of a successful coffee chain or the heir to his father's fortune. Seeing him in that light made him feel unobtainable, and I didn't want to feel that way, so my brain sort of made a disconnect. The guy I was getting to know on the phone felt like a different guy than the rich business owner. The guy on the phone was simply my new friend Eric.
We talked about music and movies and God and life. We had shared a lot of personal things with each other, but I had kept a few things back, too. I did it intentionally but for no real reason. I didn't tell him that m
y uncle was Ezekiel Tanner.
He obviously had a few things he wasn't telling me because the day before I left for my trip to Lexington, I got a surprise at work.
My boss called me into his office that afternoon. This wasn't my immediate supervisor, nor was it the one right above her.
This was the Michael. The guy with the corner office. The big boss.
"Come in and have a seat," he said as I walked into his office.
He gestured to the chair across his desk. He stood and shook my hand when I approached his desk and we both took a seat at the same time.
"I have a proposal for you," he said.
"Okay."
"I have to say, I usually don't have these kinds of meetings with junior designers."
I had absolutely no idea what he was about to say.
"You probably already know that one of our clients is Roxy's Coffee," he said.
Eric had called to try to get me on a job. I should have known it. He was always asking how he could help further my career.
"Yes," I said since I knew Roxy's was our client.
"Well the owner of it, Eric Strauss, called me personally this morning. He requested specifically that you, Olivia Tanner, work on a project."
He paused and I nodded with a pleasant but neutral expression. "He would like to do something called a lucky cup at all of his Roxy's locations." Michael pronounced the phrase slowly, testing it out.
Again, I nodded, even though I wasn't expecting this.
"You know, Janet's team normally handles our Roxy's account, and I assumed they'd take care of this, but he said he wanted you. He said they were custom, one-of-a-kind pieces and that you were already familiar with them."
"I am familiar with them," I agreed with a nod.
"Good. Their company would like you to produce twelve of these custom pieces a week to be distributed at all of the Roxy's locations."
"Twelve a week for each location or twelve total?" I asked.
"Twelve total," he said.
I nodded.
"We'll still have this go through Janet, so you'll be working with her now. Eric is putting her in touch with his general manager. She'll be contacting you with more detailed instructions. You'll need to get the cups to her so she can make sure they get to the right person. And you'll need to fit it into your work schedule. Free-up some hours. You'll have to pass some of your other duties on to someone else. Get with your current supervisor about that."
I nodded, letting him know I understood.
"I don't know how long something like this takes. I'm not sure what I should tell Janet. Do you know how long they will take you? Is an hour per cup enough? Just make sure she schedules you enough time."
"I will," I said.
"Okay, well, Janet is going to help you get your schedule situated and give you more details. Is this something you'd be interested in doing?" he asked. "I know it's unorthodox, but we'd really like to make this client happy."
"No, it's great, it's good. I would love to do this."
"Good," he said. He smiled at me and tilted his head, staring with a somewhat new appreciation now that Eric Strauss was asking for me by name and willing to pay me to draw on paper cups. "So, I guess you need to email Janet and we'll see about getting you started on this on Monday."
"I’m on vacation next week, but I'll work it out. The owner, Mister Strauss, knows I'll be out of town, so he won't be expecting me to start. I will work it out with Janet, though." I gave him a slight bow. "And thank you. Thank you for the opportunity."
Michael tilted his head again. I had no idea what he was thinking but he was definitely curious about me now. Maybe he was just surprised that I seemed to know Eric. I had a disconnect between my friend Eric and the rich and powerful Eric, and it was weird seeing people look at me as if they were impressed. He was the big boss of my company, and he was sitting there smiling at me curiously. "Where are you going on your vacation?" he asked.
"Lexington, Kentucky."
***
"Then, my boss called me into his office and told me they wanted part of my job to be making lucky cups for Roxy's."
I recounted the story to my aunt, uncle, cousins, and brother the following day when we were all having dinner together in Lexington.
Jordan was the only person who lived in the main house with Uncle Ezekiel and Aunt Rhonda, but there were nine of us at their house for dinner that night, and Jordan wasn't even one of them. He was at something for basketball, which wasn't a surprise at all. Jordan was having a great senior season. He was one of the stars of the team, and people were constantly vying for his attention.
My father had two siblings in Kentucky.
Ezekiel, his brother, was the famous one. Ezekiel had two boys, Zeke and Jordan. Zeke was married now, and he and his wife, Allison, were at dinner with us.
My father's sister, Sara, had three kids. Justin, Stella, and Tanner. Justin and his wife, Lindsay also came with their daughter, Piper. There would be times during my trip when more of us would gather, but tonight there were just nine of us. We talked about Stella's spur-of-the moment wedding with a preacher, which had just happened a couple of weeks ago. We ate pasta, bread, and salad, and we sat around the table talking and laughing.
Eric and Jude had talked several times on the phone and Eric had spoken with Justin at least once, so it didn't surprise me that they had questions about him. The whole lucky cup thing at my advertising firm was so new and unexpected that it was one of the first things I brought up to my family when they asked me about Eric.
"And they were the same cups you had been drawing on your own time, anyway?" Uncle E asked.
I nodded, taking a sip of my iced tea. "He's just cool like that. It's not even that he's just doing it because we're friends. He really thinks it's a neat idea and that it'll catch on at the store."
He had told me exactly that same thing the night before when I called to thank him, so I just repeated it to my family.
"So, he's your boss at the coffee shop and he also works with you at your other job?" Aunt Rhonda asked, trying to put all the pieces together.
"I only work at that coffee shop a few hours a week. I do that just for fun and for the discount or whatever. That's the place he owns. Roxy's Coffee. They just happen to use the advertising firm where I work full-time. Eric called my other job and hired me to make those lucky cups for Roxy's."
"And you didn't know he was going to do that?"
"No. My boss just called me into his office yesterday and told me. I talked to Eric plenty before that, and he never mentioned it."
"Has your daddy met him?" Aunt Rhonda asked.
"No, no, no, it's nothing like that."
I knew Eric quite well as a phone acquaintance. But there had been no introducing to family—there had never even been talk of that.
"You'll get to meet him before Ben," Rhonda said, looking at Uncle E.
He nodded.
"Dad might have to give him the talk," Zeke said.
"What's that?" I asked feeling nervous.
"You know, the one where a guy gets threatened that he better take care of the lady, or else."
"Oh, no, no, no, that's okay," I said. "He doesn’t need the talk. It's not like that. There's no reason for that. We're not, it's not like that between…"
I trailed off, shaking my head and assuming they'd know what I was saying.
"Not like that between what?" Jude asked, teasing me. "You didn't finish your sentence. You talk to him every day. You must be a little interested."
My eyes widened at my brother. I had told him that Eric and I had been talking every day, but I didn't expect him to repeat it in front of everyone.
"Was I not supposed to say that?" he asked, shrugging innocently and causing multiple family members to laugh.
Justin's little girl, Piper, said, "What were you not supposed to say?"
"That Livi's boyfriend's coming to visit," Justin said, answering the question and egging me on the way Ju
de and all of my cousins did.
I had been around male cousins to know that the best way to evade teasing was to stay calm. I had learned this from years of practice. I smirked and coolly shook my head at Piper.
"He's not my boyfriend," I assured Piper. "He's my boss and my friend, and he's buying a horse from your daddy. He and Jude are."
Piper looked at Jude and he nodded, and I thought I was off the hook. But then she looked at me. "Is he coming to ouw house?"
I nodded, and try as I might, I could not stop myself from blushing. My cheeks turned pink, I knew they did.
"He is," I said, "He's coming to meet everyone and see the horse."
My family, thankfully, did not mention the blushing.
"Did you tell him he's welcome to stay at the house?" Aunt Rhonda asked. "There's an open apartment in the stables since Paul moved."
"What happened to Paul?" I asked, knowing he was Jude's neighbor in the groom's apartments.
"He still works for us," Uncle E said.
"He got married and moved out," Jude added. "Right before Christmas."
"Which means that apartment's vacant," Aunt Rhonda pointed out. "There's no sense in your friend paying for a hotel when we have all this room. It's furnished and everything. There's even towels and toilet paper. It's ready to go if he wants to stay in there."
"I already offered and he said no," Jude said.
Aunt Rhonda leveled me with a stare like she might not trust Jude's persuasion skills. "Make sure he knows how much room we have and that he's welcome," she said.
I nodded. "I will."
Chapter 8
My cousin, Stella, and I had always been close. Physical distance obviously kept us apart for most of our lives, but I saw her once or twice a year for my entire life, and every time, we would just pick up right where we left off.
I was a more open person when I was down here with my Kentucky family. I was still myself, it wasn't that my personality changed, necessarily, it was just that I adopted slightly different mannerisms here than I had in Philly.
For instance, I hugged in Kentucky. None of my Philadelphia friends or family were huggers, not even my mother. So, when I was at home, I wasn't a hugger, either. I maybe gave five or ten hugs a year to people in Philly, and I gave at least that many every day in Kentucky. That was just how my dad's side of the family greeted someone. They sometimes even did it for no other reason than they were standing next to you in a room.
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