“Perfect,” Barbara said, looking at her watch. “You two are right on time. I’ll take you into Lillith’s office, but we have to be quiet. She’ll be finishing up with her last appointment.”
“Maybe we should wait,” I said cautiously, not wanting to upset the harmonious balance of Lillith’s appointment calendar.
“Are we seeing her together?” Sheila asked.
“Yes,” Barbara answered. “Follow me. It’s okay.”
Barbara led us into Lillith’s cavernous office and quietly shut the door behind us. French doors opened to a sitting room, where Lillith was seated on a Victorian fainting couch posing for a photographer. Her dark, graying hair was twisted on top of her head in a chignon and held in place by a jeweled comb. Although her face was slightly equine, long with pronounced cheekbones and jutting chin, she had a regal beauty. Her brown eyes were accented by the shimmering brown of Zodiac’s Aquarius eye shadow, and her lips were rouged in the deep red from Zodiac’s Leo line.
As Lillith turned her face to the left and the photographer’s shutter started clicking again, I whispered to Barbara, “Is this for a magazine?”
“No,” Barbara whispered back. “She’s having her aura photographed. She does it periodically to monitor changes. We can often predict how our fiscal quarters will turn out based on the color of Lillith’s aura.”
I could see Sheila, standing behind Barbara, suddenly bite down on her fist to keep from laughing out loud. Feeling as though I had now heard everything, I merely said, “I see,” and watched as Lillith rose from the settee and thanked the photographer.
“I think she’s ready for you now,” Barbara said, turning to leave the office. “Good luck.”
“Ah,” I said, “but Barbara, you know there’s no such thing as luck.” She snickered softly and winked before shutting the door behind her.
“Blaine. Sheila,” Lillith said, striding toward us with an outstretched hand. “It’s so good of you both to cooperate with my busy schedule and see me today. I’m sorry about the short notice, but you know how it is. Please sit down.” As Lillith sat behind her desk and began opening a few folders, Sheila and I situated ourselves in two ornately carved chairs, each with dragon heads protruding from the armrests. “Sheila,” Lillith went on, glancing over what looked like a memo, “Barbara informs me that you have issues with your Zodiac contract.”
“Yes,” Sheila said somewhat meekly. “Sort of.”
Lillith looked up from the memo, arched her eyebrows, and looked down her nose to where Sheila met her line of vision. “Sort of,” she repeated. “That must be a business term that I’ve yet to encounter. Be that as it may, Sheila, I adore you as if you were my own child. I want you to know that I have your best interests at heart. I know you’re well aware that I prefer to conduct my business affairs one-on-one without the interfering energies of lawyers, agents, and the like. So first of all, thank you both for bringing yourselves and nobody else.”
Unsure of what to say, Sheila and I answered in unison, “You’re welcome.”
“I’m unclear what the dissatisfactory nature of your contract might be, Sheila,” Lillith continued, dropping the memo in favor of a red stone, which she began rubbing with her fingers as she spoke. “Whatever it is, I sense that it’s of a personal nature. Am I correct?”
“I guess it is,” Sheila slowly agreed.
“I’m sure it is,” Lillith said, smiling as she dropped the stone on her desk. “My astrologer recommends business before pleasure today. Therefore, Sheila, please allow me to conduct business with Blaine before we attend to your personal issues.”
Sheila opened her mouth, perhaps to protest that her contract was indeed a business-related issue, but she sighed instead and answered, “Sure, Lillith. Should I leave while you talk with Blaine?”
“No, my dear. Our interests, our jobs, and our energies are all connected,” replied Lillith. She turned her brown eyes to me and said, “Blaine, the time has come for me to remove clutter and restore balance to my company.”
“Yes. My assistant relayed that message to me,” I said. “But what does that have to do with me? As far as I know, things are going well for Lillith Allure and Zodiac.”
“Be that as it may, for some time now, I’ve been wanting to make changes within our company. As Saturn has entered Virgo, it’s time to remove the clutter and business will improve.”
“Exactly what is this clutter that you keep referring to?” I asked, suddenly nervous.
“Breslin Evans Fox and Dean, of course,” she said with a half smile. I tried to remain passive as I felt my stomach churn in horror. My hands began strangling the dragon heads on the arms of my chair as Lillith went on. “In the long run, I’ll be making a move to benefit Lillith Allure. I want to cut out the middle man, so to speak. Breslin Evans Fox and Dean are getting the boot. They’re the clutter.”
“Who’s taking over your advertising? Who are you going to find that’s better than our company?”
“I think Lillith is looking to hire you,” Sheila guessed.
“Exactly,” Lillith said. “I’m willing to break my contract with Breslin Evans Fox and Dean, and pay whatever fee I have to, if you’ll quit and work for me. I want you to run an in-house ad department. It’s more cost-effective for the company, so I’m going to do it whether or not you take the job, Blaine. It’s your call.”
“What about Frank?” I asked. “How does he fit into this?”
“Perhaps that’s what I mean when I say restore the balance. Wouldn’t you say that Lillith Parker is the big number in the Lillith Allure equation?”
I stared at her, thinking of all that Frank had done for me. It would take more than the expense of my Manhattan lifestyle, not to mention the bottomless pit that was Sydney’s blackmail, to make me betray the goodhearted soul of Frank Allen. Although I knew it might be professional suicide, I heard myself saying, “If you’re planning to push Frank out, I’m afraid I can’t be part of your team, Lillith.”
She picked up her seer’s stone—I flinched inwardly, remembering how Daniel loved to call it her Sears stone—and stared into it. Her face was calm, as if I hadn’t rejected her offer.
“Blaine, you understand me so little, but I’m glad that I understand you so well. If you’d said anything else, I’d have been disappointed. I want your kind of loyalty. Frank has become a friend as well as my business partner over these last two years. I can’t imagine going forward without either of you.” I exhaled, and she finally smiled, then continued. “After consulting with my advisors, I understand that it’s best if we relocate our base of operations to Manhattan. Frank agrees. That’s going to be expensive, and we’d like to cut costs in other areas. I can double what the agency is paying you and still save money.”
“I want to stay with you, Lillith,” I said. “But I have two requests.”
“Indeed?” The hand on the seer’s stone became still.
“We have to stop shooting our print ads so close to deadline. It’s awful for the morale of everyone involved. It builds resentment and jacks up our ad prices. It may be astrologically sound, but it’s bad business. And at least this year, we need to double up on the Cancer and Leo campaigns, because Sheila needs a rest afterward. She’s hardly going to be our fresh-faced, healthy spokesmodel if we work her half to death.”
I could sense Sheila leaning forward to grip her dragon heads.
“Gracious, Sheila, why do you pay your agency twenty percent when Blaine is doing their work?” Lillith asked. “Here I thought you simply wanted time off for something so frivolous as your wedding.”
“You knew?” Sheila asked.
“I had three of my most reliable psychics do a reading for you, dear. Better make it July, not June. We’ll shoot the Cancer, Leo, and Virgo campaigns between now and then, which will give you all of July to marry, honeymoon, and, er, rest, as Blaine says. So, do we have a deal?”
“I thought you said it was business before pleasure today,” Sheila
said, giving Lillith her most dazzling smile as she stood and held out her hand.
Lillith took it then turned to me and asked, “Blaine?”
“I’d like to see everything on paper, but my tentative answer is yes,” I said.
“I’ll leave all that to you, Frank, and the attorneys,” Lillith said. “Now if you two will excuse me, I have a shiatsu session scheduled.”
I felt like we should back out of there bowing, but we managed to leave with our dignity. At least until Barbara winked at us outside the door and gave us a thumbs-up. Both Sheila and I laughed with nervous relief.
“Josh is going to be so happy,” Sheila said. “I mean, he wanted June, but to get the whole month of July! We can have a real wedding and a real honeymoon! Blaine, would you really have made your employment contingent on what Lillith would do for me?”
“You heard me say it,” I reminded her.
She threw her arms around me and said, “I’m sorry for being so vile to you on the plane. You’re my best friend in the whole world!”
She was wrong. Daniel was her best friend in the whole world, but he still had enough influence over me to make me put her happiness before my business concerns.
“Hey, would you mind flying back to New York solo?” I asked. “There are some things I’d like to take care of here. I need to see Frank.”
“Not at all,” she said. “I could practically fly back under my own power right now. I don’t need Lillith’s psychics to know I’m going to have a great night with Josh.”
I hugged her at the elevator. When the doors closed and I could no longer see her beaming face, I glanced at my watch, sure Frank would still be in his office.
Unlike Lillith, Frank didn’t keep his desk between us when his secretary Phyllis ushered me in to see him. I never had to worry about the position of the moon when meeting with Frank, who operated on a normal schedule and took Lillith’s astrological beliefs with a grain of salt. The only charts Frank was interested in were net gains and customer demographics. I admired his sound business practices, but I also appreciated his amiable approach to the people who were part of his business. After several years of his support and belief in my work, I felt an almost familial connection with him.
He enthusiastically shook my hand and guided me to his leather sofa, sitting down next to me. As I always did in his presence, I felt relaxed and unworried, as if we were sitting on a porch swing drinking lemonade, while we went over the reasons why Lillith’s offer was a good one for me.
“It’s not as bad being in the same office with her as you might think,” Frank assured me. “In fact, there’s fun to be had trying to anticipate what hocus pocus might be part of any given day. And she’s a damn shrewd businesswoman, with terrific ideas.”
“I agree with you there,” I conceded. “I just never thought you’d move to Manhattan, Frank.”
“It’s all been downhill since Kenosha,” he said with a smile. “Baltimore, New York. Six of one, half dozen of another. Rowdy and I get back to Lake Michigan for R and R whenever we can.”
Rowdy was Frank’s yellow Labrador retriever and his constant companion since his wife’s death a few years before. Frank seemed to be satisfied with that arrangement, although I was sure there must be women who pursued him. Not only was he a gentleman with a good sense of humor, but he wasn’t bad looking for a man in his late fifties who’d lost most of his hair. In fact, I thought the bald look worked for him. But I’d never heard him mention anyone special in his life, except his son, who did something at the Pentagon, and Rowdy.
Thinking of Frank’s dog reminded me of Dexter, my cat, and I made a mental note to call Violet and ask her to check on him in my absence.
“Oh,” I said, “if I accept Lillith’s offer, there’s no way I can go anywhere without Violet. I can’t function without her.”
“Way ahead of you,” Frank said. “Lillith and I already decided to have Violet work with our realtor to look at office space in Manhattan and coordinate the move with our people here. I’ll feel better knowing she’s involved.”
“Good. I can give your agent a recommendation regarding moving and setting up computer equipment. A friend of mine who’s based in Wisconsin has a Manhattan office, too.”
“I always like to give business to someone from the Badger State,” Frank said. After a pause, he added, “You said if you decide to take our offer. What’s making you hesitate, Blaine?”
“I was thinking earlier of when I first went to Breslin Evans Fox and Dean,” I said. “Except for your account, I was basically a grunt. You were the one who trusted me. They didn’t. They gave me the most menial tasks on other accounts because they thought I didn’t have what it takes. I used to seethe about the humiliation and think to myself, ‘One day, it will be Breslin Evans Fox and Dunhill.’ ”
“What happened to Dean?” Frank asked with a laugh.
“I’ll never tell where the bodies are buried,” I said. I gave him a rueful smile and said, “If I leave, it’s like I’ll never get a chance to prove myself there. Does that sound pathetic?”
“Not pathetic. Inaccurate,” Frank said. “Your creativity helped put Allure Cosmetics in a new league and was an important part of the Lillith Parker/Allure merger. You don’t have anything to prove to anyone. If you choose to come to Lillith Allure, you’ll be the final authority on our advertising, reporting only to Lillith and me. That’s not a step back.”
“True,” I said, knowing he was right.
After I left Frank, I called Violet so I could tell her that I’d decided to stay in Baltimore.
“I know; I already spoke to Sheila,” Violet said. “I’ll check on Dexter.”
“A couple of hundred years ago, you’d have been on trial for witchcraft,” I said, awed as always by her efficiency.
“A couple of hundred years ago, I wouldn’t have been anywhere near your Puritan ancestors. I would have been reading chicken entrails in Cuba.”
“Could you please not ever mention that to Lillith?” I begged.
Violet laughed and said, “I booked you a suite at the Harbor Court Hotel. It’s got a view of the Inner Harbor, a fitness center, and a couple of restaurants. Or twenty-four-hour room service if you prefer, because I also took the liberty of booking a massage therapist—his name is Gavin—to come to your room at nine. Henry from Brooks Brothers will be delivering a couple of changes of clothes and underwear to you. Anything else?”
“Yes. Will you marry me?”
“No. The first thing you’d do is cut my salary. Have a good night, Mr. Dunhill.”
“You, too, Ms. Medina. Tell Dexter I miss him.”
The view from my hotel room was as pleasing as Violet had led me to believe. I decided to forgo the restaurants and fitness center, ordering from room service. While I was eating, Henry arrived with my new clothes, crisp and fresh from a detour to the cleaners. He made me try on everything to reassure himself that Violet’s measurements had been accurate. Obviously he had no idea how thorough she was.
I had been through many assistants before and after the days of Sharon. Even Daniel had worked for me, until it became obvious that our relationship was getting serious and we needed to separate our personal and business lives. But no one could compare to Violet Medina, who’d initially been assigned to me on a temporary basis. After a week, I’d have given her anything, including my salary, to hold on to her.
More than a year later, I had only one reason to regret hiring her—her physical appearance. She was a dead ringer for Jennifer Lopez. In fact, building security had more than once ushered the celebrity’s young fans out of the lobby when they’d followed Violet from the subway or the sidewalk. Straight men in the office tended to gather wherever she was, but she paid them little attention. My biggest fear was that she’d get married one day and leave me. I knew nothing about her personal life, but Sheila told me to relax. She was sure Violet would be with me for a long time. Since Sheila always seemed to know everything about everyone,
I took her word for it. Mainly because anything else was unthinkable.
I took a quick shower and was watching CNN in the terry-cloth robe provided by the hotel when Gavin arrived. I was impressed. Violet had managed to locate a massage therapist who was not only courteous and professional, but also handsome. His curly auburn hair was clipped short and gelled off of his high forehead. His bright brown eyes matched his chatter as he set up a massage table. Once I dropped my robe and settled onto the table, he was quiet, only asking if I minded if he turned off the television to play a CD.
As soon as his hands made their first pass down my back, I knew how much I’d needed this kind of work. “Did my assistant schedule you for one or two hours?” I asked.
“One.”
“You’re staying for two. I hope that’s not a problem.”
“Not at all.”
I relaxed, letting my mind drift as Gavin found knots and aches I hadn’t known were there. After only a couple of minutes, I was bored thinking about work. It was obvious to everyone, including me, that I’d leave Breslin Evans and go in-house with Lillith Allure. It would be exciting to manage a staff of my own, with Violet’s help, and get more creative freedom than I’d had as part of the agency. And the salary increase would be great. Of course, it was nothing compared to what Sheila was making. But Sheila’s career had a short shelf life, as she was well aware. I had decades ahead of me, and I knew Frank was right. Going to Lillith Allure was not a step back but a step forward.
It was weird not to call Daniel and share my good news. I wondered if Sheila would tell him. Or if he’d call to congratulate me. Or if he’d even care.
I didn’t realize I was crying until I noticed the dampness of the cover on the face rest. I felt like an idiot and hoped Gavin couldn’t tell. He was working deep into my lower back and glutes, though, so unless I sniffed or something . . .
“Do you need a Kleenex?” Gavin asked quietly.
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