“But how—”
“Wait, I’m not done,” I said, and he closed his mouth, gesturing for me to continue. “The other reason I never went back to the store was because of how ‘in your face’ the brand was with their marketing. They had all these statistics written on the walls about how much clothing waste we as humans produce in a year, and how many plastic water bottles end up in the ocean.”
“Right, but all of that stuff is true.”
“Of course, it is,” I said. “But this store was located in a well-known shopping district, with people coming in and out carrying bags full of all sorts of stuff they’d just purchased. How do you think it would make you feel if you just bought a t-shirt at a big box store, and you decided to pop into this shop to do a little browsing, and bam, there’s a big sign that tells you you’re evil for purchasing something made from cheap, non-renewable fabric?”
He frowned. “I would feel… a little insulted, just like you said.”
“Exactly,” I went on. “You wouldnotfeel like you wanted to spend $100 on a hoodie from this company. You would walk out and maybe you would even spend your money elsewhere to make yourself feel better after being patronized.”
He shook his head. “But we aren’t going to win this company over by telling them they are bad at designing their stores and they patronize their possible customers.”
“I’m not going to say it exactly like that, but honestly I think we can win them over this way. At the end of the day, Lolli is a company, and that means they want to make money. You can’t make money if half the people who walk into your store walk right out again without buying something. If theyreallywant to make a difference, want to push people to buy recycled clothing, then the first step is getting people to stay in your store for longer than five seconds. I can help them do that.”
I walked back to my seat and sat down, looking Jonah directly in the eyes. “I am exactly what this store needs, and I will make that very clear. Not just them, either, but every store that we want to get in the building, I will make sure the ambassadors leave the meeting feeling as if theyneedto rent a space at our new mall.”
“That—that was a good pitch,” he admitted. “It needs a little polishing, sure, but it was good. I would hire you if I was the CEO of Lolli.”
I winked at him. “You did hire me, remember?”
He smiled, but then seemed to think better of it. He coughed and looked down at his notes, clearly avoiding my gaze. “Okay then, it’s settled. You can go instead of Penny.”
“Fantastic,” I said. “I swear, you won’t regret this.”
“You and Vince can meet at my house Wednesday morning; we can all drive together.”
Vince.
I’d forgotten about Vince. He was going to be the third wheel from hell, making it impossible for anything to happen between Jonah and I.
Damn.
“Okay, sounds good,” I said, pretending to be excited. “It’ll be a fun little road trip!”
He didn’t say anything to this, so I took that as my cue to leave. I put my hands on the table and stood up at the exact same time he did, and for a moment, we were standing right in front of one another, little to no space between us. I stared up into his eyes and allowed myself to inhale the smell of his aftershave. For just a split second, his gaze locked onto me, first my eyes, then he looked at my mouth.
Kiss me you idiot.
But of course, Jonah was smarter than that. The walls of the conference room were almost all windows, and there was no way we wouldn’t get caught. For me, that was half the fun, but he had a lot more to lose than I did.
“I, uh, have to go,” he said. He stepped away, gathered his notes, and walked to the door. “I’ll, um, have my secretary send you the details for the other brands we are meeting on Wednesday.” He kept his eyes trained on his shoes as he said this, then he said goodbye and left.
I slowly lowered myself back down into my seat and exhaled loudly.
“Whew,” I said softly to myself. “That was close.”
And next time I would make sure we got even closer. I was sick of waiting around for him to do it.
Next time, I would close the gap between us entirely.
Chapter Eight
Jonah
Iknew I must’ve looked a little crazy, as I speed-walked my way down the hall and to my office.
I hoped no one saw me, or if they did, I hoped they weren’t able to glean the panic from my face. Once I was behind closed doors, I tossed my notes on my desk and began to pace in front of the big window overlooking the Boston skyline.