“Hey!” April gives her a high five and signals the waiter over for a drink. “Pitcher of sangria, please.”
I giggle at her. She’s nothing if not fun.
Soon enough, Jane and Molly make their way in. Unfortunately, Quinn has to miss most girls’ nights given where she lives, but I know she’s got her own little group of ladies up in the mountains she loves.
I fill everyone in on the events of the last few weeks, telling them about the conversation I had with my boss today and wondering who was going to spit fire first.
I’m not surprised when it’s April.
“That’s so fucked up!” she exclaims, earning a look from a group of businessmen from the table next to ours. “He can’t do that just because you’re single now.”
“I mean.” I give a shrug, resigned to my fate. “He can do whatever he wants.”
“No way. It’s discrimination,” Jane says, her face pinched. “Honestly, it’s really, really bad. You can’t hire or fire someone based on their relationship status.”
“It’s true,” Molly says. “He could get into trouble for that.”
I shrug. “I honestly don’t even know if I care anymore.”
“Don’t care? What?” Jane questions.
“Yeah, after all that bullshit they put us through, you’re done?”
I sigh. “I don’t know… I’ve just been thinking.”
“Thinking about what?” Molly pushes, pouring more sangria into her glass. The pitcher is already empty and April signals for another round.
I’m not getting out of tonight without a headache tomorrow.
“Just… something Archer said that’s stuck with me.”
Jane pushes. “What did he say to do?”
“He says I should start my own company,” I finally announce, unsure how that’s going to be met. I’m sitting in front of someone who runs her own energy company, someone who owns a boutique store, and someone else who runs an entire charity foundation under said energy company.
“That’s a fucking fabulous idea,” April says, topping off my glass. I frown because I’m drinking whiskey and seven, which is now mixed with sangria. “I think you should do it! Absolutely. And also, I would like to hire you.”
I blink at her. “How drunk are you?”
She scoffs. “Just barely south of tipsy.”
“Okay…” I clear my throat. “Hire me for what?”
“To do my marketing for Curve. I need it. Desperately. There’re so many small boutiques now that I need to be up to date on my marketing to stay ahead.”
“April, I’m happy to help you but don’t say this because of pity.”
She narrows her eyes and gives me a look I’d rather never see again. “I’m not! Warren says you’ve been doing such great work for him. Between you doing the marketing and Garrett building the sites, he’s been able to take his art to the next level.”
Jane nods. “It’s true. Plus, you handling all of it helps Warren focus on art. He’s thrilled he doesn’t have to do much, or come up with the content.”
I’m glad to hear it, because I do a lot to stay ahead of the game. It’s not easy to learn different arenas of marketing, different products take different approaches, but it’s been fun to learn.
“Plus, you’ve got Graham’s brother, right?”
I nod. “Yeah, CT. I need to have a meeting with him soon.” We were going to have to go over everything and get the logo finalized so we could get the word out before the festival in a couple of weeks. I was already working on mock-ups, I just needed his approval.
“Okay, so you have Warren, CT, now me. That’s a good start, right?”