Which meant Ryan wouldn’t ever agree with me being with Emily.
There went my plan of talking to him so I wouldn’t have to sneak around behind his back with his sister.
Fuck.
15
EMILY
Isatatmydesk, frantically working on a design concept for a new client. Tony Richmond had felt bad about getting rid of me so abruptly and had referred a friend to me. Mrs. Collier also had a big name in society. Not as big as Mr. Richmond, of course. Personally, I hadn’t heard of her yet. But she had a lot of money, she was a friend of the Richmond’s, and I would take any big contract I could get right now.
I was lucky that Mr. Richmond had felt badly enough about letting me go to help me out.
But Mrs. Collier was fussy. She didn’t know what she wanted. Except when I showed her a concept—she knew exactly what shedidn’twant. This was the third mockup I was making for her. At this rate, she would keep paying me for new designs and we would never move on to the next step.
Although payment for my designs was something, it wasn’t enough to make a living.
I hoped this would be the lucky third try.
My phone rang and Sadie’s number flashed on the caller ID.
“Let’s go out for a drink,” she said. “I just finished the biggest contract of the year, and I’m ready to celebrate.”
“I can’t,” I said and sighed. “I’m in the office working on a design for a new concept.”
“It’s Saturday!” Sadie cried out.
“You’ve been working all day too,” I said, laughing. “You know creativity doesn’t sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah ... Do you mind if I just go out drinking without you?”
I laughed again. “Why would I mind? Go, celebrate your success! One day, I’ll be right there with you, and we’ll be stinking rich.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Sadie said and ended the call.
When the conversation was over, I rubbed my eyes and got back to designing.
When I worked, time flew. Creativity removed me from this world, and I got lost in an alternate reality of color theory and the way designs came together. Usually, I loved what I did and didn’t mind working myself to death without sleeping or eating for days sometimes.
Tonight, I didn’t enjoy it that much. I struggled with the concept. The work wouldn’t flow, and every time I came up with something I would normally have been confident about, I doubted myself. What if she didn’t like it a third time? How many times would she ask me to do it all over again before she too canceled our contract?
The more I thought about it the more stressed I became, until I was a bundle of nerves.
By two in the morning, I was exhausted, my head hurt, and I was so tense I couldn’t think straight anymore.
When my phone rang, I jumped.
“Yeah?” I asked, answering.
“Hey, babe, are you up?” Parker’s throaty voice came over the phone.
I chuckled. “I’m up.”
“What are you doing?”
“I’m working,” I said.
“What?”