“Damn, I hope I get the chance to meet him. But maybe this one is different J. I mean you have never not had a man sign your contract before and you are glowing and zoning out. Also, something that has never happened before. Maybe you should just let things flow naturally.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. If I see him again, I will definitely have him sign the contract and if he refuses, then I won’t see him again.”
“OK boss,” she says, like she does not believe what I’ve said.
“Why did you say it like that?”
“Like what?” she says innocently. I squint my eyes at her.
“Don’t worry about it. I can show you better than I can tell you!”
“I didn’t say anything!”
“You didn’t have to. I…” The phone interrupts me. “Hello,” I answered.
“Oh hello. I expected to be leaving a message, but I see you work as much as I do. This is Peter Bennett, owner of Fairchild Hotel & Resorts. We spoke a couple of weeks ago concerning using your products in my properties.”
“Oh yes! Mr. Bennett, how are you? I was hoping to hear back from you, but I expected an assistant to contact me.”
“You will find out I am very hands on when it comes to my business. I would like to set up a time to meet with you. I know you are busy with your line release, so just let me know when you are available.”
“Well, everything for the release at this point is online. I can make room in my schedule to come back to Mississippi whenever you are free.”
We set a day and time and hang up.
“A new collaboration?”
“Yes, while I was there, I met the owner of Fairchild Hotels & Resorts and I had to shoot my shot. I told him I would like to talk with him or his CEO to talk about using my products in his hotels. That was him and he wants to talk about the possibility.”
“Now that would be an amazing opportunity to break into international sales on a level, we haven’t been able to reach yet.”
“I know. Even though we do ok in that area, there is easily room for growth.”
“So, when are you going? And are you going to see your new toy?”
“I thought you could come with me; I’m heading back in a few days. And I did plan on calling him.”
“I can’t make it with you this time. Remember I am flying out to Africa to work on getting the ingredients for the new line? But please let me know how the meeting with your toy goes,” she says. “I gotta get back to work. This new hair care line we are working on is going to be our best one yet.”
Before I can blink, she is back out of the door. I get back to work as best as I can with flashbacks and phantom touches of my time with Joseph. If I was home, I may have to pull out Mr. Big and enjoy my memories, but I am not home and I have work to do. But before I can get too far into working, I head into my personal storage room. I grab a box, add the crinkly paper shreds in, and pack the box full of the new line. I put the custom tissue paper in and sealed it with a Melanique sticker and tape the box shut. I repeat that four more times, print out shipping labels, and place them on the box. I place the boxes on the dolly and wheel them into my office so the delivery guy can grab them on Monday to be shipped out. That done, I pull my phone out and send a text to the number on the card he gave me. I put the phone away and get to work, not expecting a response since I have not reached out to him since our one night together.
I shut the computer down and begin to pack up to go home when I realize my phone was on silent and I have several notifications. A couple from the shipping company confirming the pickup for Monday, a couple from T letting me know she is leaving, and one from him. I take a deep breath and open the text message. A smile splits my face when I read that he is free and would love to see me. I respond with the day and time, grab my belongings, turn the lights and computer off, and head home.