“Anise I’ll need you to meet with Ellie Manson. She’s the reporter from Valley Bridal. They’re giving us a chance to comment before they go to print.”
Why me? I hardly knew Shannon. I’m new to Tiffany’s, well relatively new. “I don’t think so,” I say this with more of a ‘not going to happen’ tone then I intended.
“You’re going to have to be my voice Anise. I just can’t do it.”
She has a sad puppy dog look. This is a look I haven’t seen before, and it completely shatters me. “When is the interview?”
“In an hour.”
“An hour?” I half yell this and then I remember that I’m talking to my boss. I do feel guilty for lying my way into this job, and I can’t just walk out on her. She looks at her watch.
“Forty-five minutes actually.”
“So you’re telling us all this now so we’ll know how to react if we’re asked anything.” She is gearing everybody up so we are not blindsided by the reporter.
“Yes. And so that you can think of what would be appropriate to say.”
Me? I just spent the weekend cursing like a sailor because my ex-husband made me angry? On the other hand, I do have a certain finesse about me.
“Shelly we’re going to have to talk.”
“Later,” she says.
“No. Now. I need answers before I’m asked the questions.” I’m proud of my non pushover status right now, but I wonder if I’m pushing it too far.
“Okay.” She whispers and the rest of the crew realizes it’s now time for them to take their leave.
“We’re behind you one hundred percent Shelly,” Paul says. I think of how supportive he’s being. I also realize if Tiffany falters so do they and nobody wants that.
After everybody gives their comments of support they file out the room as if somebody just died. Thrilling, but I’m hoping they can muster a smile and the usual Tiffany cheer before the reporter gets here. Well maybe not the usual cheer, as that would scare that reporter right out of here.
I wait until the door closes behind the last consultant before I speak. “Shelly sit down.” I say this calmly because I can tell she’s about to fall apart. She has the same look I had when I found out my marriage was ending.
“Listen,” I take her hand in mine. “We’re going to get through this. Our consultants have been doing an amazing job and you’ve got the best wedding etiquette in the Valley. This isn’t going to sink your ship.”
“She wants to sue me because I fired her.” She says and I realize it’s worse than just a reporter.
“She can’t sue you.” I notice Shelly doesn’t really seem to be agreeing. “Shelly we all signed a contract—in which was a long ass bridal creed.” She looks at me, and I realize I’ve once again cursed. “Sorry,” I smile. “I don’t know if they read it, but I did. Rule number two eighty states no sexual relationships among clients.” I remembered that rule because I went back and double checked when I found myself very attracted to Alex. I wanted to make sure he didn’t fit in the no sexual relationships category—and he didn’t. Contract or not, it’s against the bridal creed anyway.
“Really?”
“Don’t you read your own rules?”
“They were my mom’s rules. I just incorporated them into the business. I figured my mom had the strictest regimen when it came to brides. I knew that everything in there had to work.”
She too had obviously found it too long to read.
I wondered why Shelly had ventured into bridal consulting, and now I knew. Her mom was the bridal consultant that had inspired her. None of us had taken the time to get to know Shelly. If we had taken time to get to know her we would have seen she was just like us. Instead, we saw her as some super diva that didn’t really need any of us at Tiffany Weddings. I guess we all thought she probably could run the place on her own.
“Well it’s in there. And I guess that explains rule number two eighty-five about wearing stockings when we meet a client.” She laughs, and I know that she’s relaxing a little. “Make sure your lawyer looks at that when he’s putting together the case.”
“My lawyer just dropped me.”
“What!” Okay, that wasn’t so calm. She starts to cry.
“He doesn’t want this kind of case.” She says, and I think what a coward. What lawyer would turn his back on his client without first seeing if the client’s guilty?
“Asshole,” she says. Now I’m thinking we have more in common than I originally thought. We both have potty mouths when we’re angry.
“I know somebody who won’t back away.” Finally she wipes a tear from her cheek and looks up at me.
“Really?”
She’s breaking my heart. “The best lawyer this side of Texas.” I smile and finally she smiles. “My ex. The man is lousy at fidelity, but great at business. He’s only lost two cases—and for both of those he struck a settlement.” I pick up the conference phone and I call him. I have him on speaker because I am not sure how he’s going to react to me and I think if he’s on speaker he’ll be less hostile.
“Hey Anise.” He sounds as if he’s back to normal. I swear that man has a split personality.
“We need your legal services.” I explain the problem in as much detail as I can. This case is right up his alley. He loves ripping other lawyers apart. Mister Big Time Corporate Lawyer is what we always called him. His business major in undergraduate studies and then law school were a lethal combination.
“I can be there at three.”
Shelly shakes her head yes. I tell him that’s fine, and we’ll see him then. I say we because Shelly has my hand again, and she’s squeezing it rather hard. I can tell she is stressed about facing this legal meeting alone. I say my pleasant goodbye, still amazed at how he can act as if the weekend didn’t happen.
“Thank you,” she smiles—a real one this time.
“You’re welcome,” I pat her hand. I mostly want to let her know I need my hand in tact, and I’d like it if she would stop squeezing it so hard.
“Shelly I have to tell you something.” I’m not sure now is the right time, but if I don’t do it now then I won’t ever. I just can’t lie to her anymore. I take a deep breath. “I have been lying to you. It’s just I wanted this job so much, and then once I was here it was the only thing I thought I might be good at.” I take another breath because she has this unreadable expression on her face. “I haven’t planned fifteen weddings, let alone fifteen in one summer. I did help my friends, but in their haste to help me move on after the divorce, and find a good career path, they embellished with a really huge ship of lies. I didn’t know before you read it and after I was just too scared that I might lose this…” I can’t go on. I feel so utterly terrible.
“Oh honey,” she pats my knee. “I already knew that.” She smiles at me. “Sweetie I check everybody out very thoroughly. Maybe not thoroughly enough,” she rolls her eyes as if she’s mentally making a note to make some changes in the future. “I figured if you would go through so much trouble to get the job, you’d probably go through more to keep it. It’s why I hired you Anise. You have spirit and determination. I don’t find that in everybody. You were the dreamer, the perfect consultant for the perfect wedding. If you could put together a portfolio that professional, convince people to write recommendations, and on top of that they lie without you asking them to, then you can convince a bride that her last minute jitters are just last minute jitters. I had faith in you, admired you and respected you. I still do.”
Now I want to cry. “Really?”
“You reminded me of me at your age. You’re full of life, fresh out of a divorce, yet you still believed in love and romance. My mom was good at this, but she never really believed in the dream.”
She was right. Every bride I had worked with believed in the dream wedding, the dream marriage, the happily ever after even when it’s clear that it takes a lot of work to get there, and even then, happily ever after doesn’t truly exist.
; “I didn’t know you had been married.”
“Oh yes. It was a long time ago. I planned his wedding.” She laughed. “We were friends. It was a very amicable divorce. Actually we were better friends than lovers, and that’s why we divorced. I figured if I could do it, so could you.”
“But that’s different. Brendon and I—”
“Divorced and you had to move on. When Donna suggested it, I knew what was going on. When I got a call from Brendon the same day requesting you, I knew then too. I figured this would either help you get over him and realize you’re better off, or you’d wash out and quit. In which case I would have been very disappointed Anise Meyers.”
“Well thank you. I think I was over Brendon a long time ago. I just had to deal with his betrayal, and planning actually helped.” She smiles as if she knew that would happen.
“Though I don’t think you will be friends like David and I are. Your ex looks at you as if he’s ready to strip you and take you right where you stand.”
I’m shocked. I actually haven’t seen Brendon look at me like that, but I’m more shocked at Shelly’s verbiage. There’s a lot about her I don’t know.
She laughs. “I’m glad you don’t return the look or I’d have to oust you for that. No way am I losing two weddings in one year. I don’t think I need to worry. I hear your hair looks like that because you spent the morning having sex with your boyfriend.”
I nearly fall out the chair. She must have been rounding the corner when I mentioned it to Donna. “Oh my God,” I lower my eyes unable to hold her gaze. She laughs.
“Oh please, been there...” she stops. She looks at me with this strangely devilish look. “In fact I’m still there.” We giggle together and I realize that we could be really good friends given a chance.
In With the Reporter; Out With the Trash
I tried to prepare myself, but I have to admit that talking to this reporter makes me nervous. Brendon had said it was definitely okay, but to watch what I say. He didn’t have to tell me that; I remembered as much from the Perry Mason episodes my mom and I used to watch. I know not to make any comments I don’t want to bite Shelly in the butt if this case goes to trial.
I also know not to mention too much of the legal possibilities to Ellie. I’m sure she knows about the possible lawsuit since she got the first half of the story from Shannon. I just don’t want to be the one to drag Shelly through a media legal battle any sooner than she has to be.
Ellie is beautiful. Light blonde hair, beautiful cerulean eyes. She’s slender too, which probably puts her in the category with “soon to be on TV” news reporters. If her bridal magazine ever goes on air, she definitely has the lead anchor spot. I’m sure of this because she’s drop dead gorgeous, and obviously good enough at her job to grab the story of the decade in the bridal world—the Arizona bridal world anyway.
“I know you’re busy.” I think about the fact that I’m really not that busy today. “I’ll keep this as short as possible.”
I wonder if short is good. On one hand it gives me less of an opportunity to screw up. On the other hand it gives me less of a chance to state all the facts.
“We would like to thank you for meeting with us on such short notice.” Ellie could have written the story on Shannon’s interview alone.
“I hate one sided pieces,” she says with a smile. “I like to present the facts. Honestly, I wasn’t sure Ms. Pratt would agree to this interview.
“Shall we start?” She turns on the recorder, and I instantly feel as if I’m sitting in an interrogation room instead of my office. I had insisted on my office because I thought I would feel more comfortable.
I remind myself not to fidget. Fortunately, my nervousness seems to be lost on Ellie.
“Shannon says she was fired because of her sexual orientation.” Since she left a pause I feel a need to reply.
“Sexual orientation has nothing to do with it. We all sign a contract when we join the Tiffany family,” I say family because it makes us sound close. “In that contract we have a set of Tiffany Etiquette Rules, and conducting a sexual relationship with a client is forbidden.”
“But fired, is that really necessary?”
“Well think about it. If I were planning your wedding,” I say this because I noticed the engagement ring on her finger the moment she walked through the door. It could blind someone in Kansas as much as it’s sparkling. “You would want to trust that your fiancé could come in here and handle some of the minor details that you can’t get to without having me trying to seduce him into my bed. It’s about trust. If a bride can’t trust her consultant then they can’t form a solid relationship. The consultant can’t do her job, and the bride doesn’t get the wedding she deserves. The action of one person in this office reflects on the whole.”
“Like a domino effect,” she adds and I nod in agreement.
“The next bride that comes through the door might think, hey this happened here before and the consultant’s still here. How do I know Anise won’t try to sleep with my fiancé? That’s bad for business, but also for moral. There are rules in the contract we signed here and the code that we commit to when we decide to become a bridal consultant. If one person can break it without consequence, then why can’t the next, and the next, and the next.” I say and I notice she’s nodding, but I don’t know if this is a fake “go on,” or an “I understand” type nod. I keep going.
“Shelly is happy for all of us when our personal lives are flourishing. She tends to think it adds to our ability to create the dream wedding, but she does draw the line at sexual relationships with clients.”
“Now from what I understand you’re divorced.”
I tell myself to stay calm. “Yes I am.”
“And you’re planning your ex-husband’s wedding.”
“He’s one of my clients, yes.” I laugh slightly because I don’t want to seem as if I’m going on the defensive.
“How does that help you keep with the dream Tiffany wedding?”
Right now I’m wondering if she’s comparing my situation to Shannon’s. “Well, I guess you could say I have always been the hopeful romantic. I’m realistic, and this past year has made me even more of a realist. I still love to believe in the fairytale of happily ever after. Every relationship takes work and marriage more so because you have two completely different people trying to work as one. There’s bound to be some problems.”
“I understand he cheated on you with the girl he’s marrying now.”
I could kill Shannon. “Yes he did. It was difficult at first. I think I wasn’t sure how much I could forgive and move on, but honestly it’s been sort of a healing process for me. Planning their wedding has made me put my own life into perspective. I seriously hope they’ll make it work.”
“Really? I was told you didn’t seem happy about it.”
“Well who would be?” I laugh nervously. “I started off scared. My ex and I could fight until the cows came home and we’d still never settle an argument. I envisioned planning the wedding to be the same struggle, but it hasn’t been.”
“Are you seeing anybody?”
When did this interview become about me? “I’m dating a rather charming man.” I say with a smile, and she lights up. I wonder what happened to the brief interview that she promised.
“That’s great. And it all works with working here?”
“Sure. I balance it. I try to make sure I don’t spend too much time away from work working on work, and I try not to bring home here to the office. I think it’s what any employer would want from their employee. There has to be a balance.”
“I agree,” she taps her pen on her notepad. “So planning dream weddings still leaves room for romance.” She states, not ask, so I don’t answer.
I sit through more questions about planning Brendon’s wedding and my post divorce relationship. I really do want to know where this is going, but I keep going because I’m not sure breaking the process is a good idea. It’s like Brendon alw
ays used to say, when you go in with the reporter, the reporter is usually going out with the trash.
“So you think this is a family here?”
“To an extent, yes I do. We’re kind of like an extended family. Shelly is the mom and all of the consultants and assistants are brothers and sisters. We have our moments when we’re stressed and we help each other out, and then our moments when we’re trying to show off to our mom.” That was actually almost a true statement.
“For instance, Megan, my assistant, is like my right hand. She keeps me on schedule, keeps me up to date when I miss a day at the office. At the same time she’s the first person to walk in this office and ask me how I’m doing. I know that seems trivial, but it’s nice to come in to somebody who truly cares.
“Planning a wedding is tough. You’re dealing with families, extended families, arguments, tears and laughter. At the end of a stressful consult it’s nice to know there are people here who will give me that pat on the back so to speak. They really have made me feel welcome here.”
“Does that include Donna?”
I now know Shannon has done some major dishing. Why doesn’t she just write a book or something; she could call it Tiffany Weddings—the drama behind the façade.
“Donna and I are more like, oh not sisters per se, but we’re more like two kids fighting for Shelly’s attention and approval. We both have something we want to prove; whether that’s to ourselves or to each other I don’t know. I do have to say that I think we keep each other on our toes.” That was the truth. I was always alert to her scams, and she seemed to be forever alert to what was going on with my brides.
“It sounds like a soap opera.” We both laugh.
“I think that’s life in general. We have all the drama of a soap, and it takes just as long to wrap up the storyline.” We laugh again. “Seriously,” I say as I come up for air. “This is the best job I’ve ever had, and the only one I’m afraid I’ll screw up and lose.”
The Bride Wore Black Page 7