Worthy Opponents

Ben had just fallen asleep when Bill Kelly called Spencer. He wanted to come by. She felt like she was on a merry-go-round at full speed. Bart hadn’t responded to her text about Ben’s broken arm, and hadn’t called at all to see how he was, and she was upset about that too. He left her to deal with all the hard stuff. Everything rested on her shoulders, the store, the boys, the decisions, the crises, the senator’s wife stealing and how to handle it, the loss of a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise damaged at the warehouse. And now Bill wanted to come by.

“I can’t,” she said, sounding stressed. “The boys are here. It’s a school night, and Ben broke his arm today. He might wake up during the night, and it’ll be awkward if you’re here.”

“I can just come over for a while and bring dinner, if you want.” She was too tired and stressed to eat, and she hated to say it to him, but it was just too much. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, she just wanted to sit on the couch by herself and stare into space. “It sounds like you had a rough day.” She laughed ruefully.

“I did. Today was insane. I’m sorry, Bill, I’m too wiped out to even talk.” He was gracious about it but didn’t sound pleased. She rarely refused him, but she was too exhausted to move. She ended up falling asleep on the couch without having dinner. Ben woke up twice in the night, and she was glad that she was there alone and hadn’t let Bill come over. She finally spent the rest of the night with both twins in her bed until morning.

Ben went to school with his cast, and a marking pen so his friends could sign it. She dropped the twins off at school herself, instead of Francine, and got to the store early.

She had an hour of peace before everyone else would arrive and sat at her desk answering the emails she hadn’t read the night before. She was halfway through them when she saw one from a PR agent she knew. He wanted to know if his clients, a famous rock star and his wife, could come to the store. They wanted the store closed for them. She had already done that once that week, for the First Lady, which had been chaotic beyond belief. And inevitably, it had disappointed their customers who showed up and found the store closed. She couldn’t do that to them twice in one week. Her regulars were her bread and butter. Although stars were good too. She needed both.

She responded that she would be happy to accommodate them, but it would have to be after hours. They were welcome to come at six o’clock. The agent thanked her and responded that would be fine. It meant that she would have to ask a skeleton crew of salespeople to stay overtime. She emailed Beau Vincent, their fashion director, and asked him to handle it for her.

He walked into her office half an hour later. She had just finished her last email. She thought he was there to complain about the rock star couple, but he had come about something else.

“There’s a big charity event at the Met tomorrow night. They’re inviting you for free. I know you hate things like that, but I think you should go. They want you at the head table. It’s good publicity for the store. You can bring a date.” She groaned at the thought.

“I have nothing to wear,” she said, and he laughed.

“I think I can find something for you here,” he said, and she grinned.

“Do you want to be my date?”

“I’d love to, but I can’t. I’m hosting a birthday party for a friend.” She didn’t really want to ask Bill, after having refused to see him the night before, but she couldn’t think of anyone else, and he was good at things like this. He had the right clothes and was usually happy to go to black-tie events. She had taken him with her before, on the rare times she went. “I’ll dig around in the designer department, and send a rack up to your office.” Beau knew what she liked and what looked good on her. She trusted him to pick the right thing. She didn’t have time to do it herself.

As soon as Beau left her office, on his mission to dress her for the Met party, Paul Trask walked through the door. “I’m here to harass you about Mike Weston. He says he just wants to meet you. He loves the store.”

“He wants to throw money at us, and get a controlling interest. That’s what guys like him do. I don’t want to meet him,” she said, looking exasperated. “What part of No doesn’t he understand?”

“It’s a word he’s never heard before.” Paul smiled at her. “It wouldn’t kill you to meet him.”

“My grandfather never had investors. I don’t want them either. We’ll just have to figure out how to implement your expansion program without an investor.”

“We don’t have the money for it, Spencer. He does. Or a different investor. It would take us years to come up with that kind of money.”

“We’d lose control of the store. I can’t let that happen.”

“We could do so much with an infusion of funds.” He looked sad.

“We’re doing fine without it,” she insisted.

“We’re holding the fort. But without it, we can’t grow. An investor would safeguard our future.”

“Or take it over, or destroy the store, or change it. I’m not going to be the first Brooke to lose the store.” Her great-grandfather had lost his in 1929, she wasn’t going to be the next nearly a hundred years later.

“I don’t see what harm it would do to talk to him,” Paul insisted.

“That’s what Eve said to Adam about the snake in the Garden of Eden. Let’s not talk to snakes.”

“He’s not a snake. People say he’s brilliant and an honorable guy. We could dictate our terms.”

“No, Paul, we couldn’t,” she said gently, but firmly. She was a woman who knew her own mind. And Paul knew her well enough to know he wouldn’t change it. He left her office looking dejected. Mike Weston was such a great opportunity to turn down. He was huge.

An hour later, Beau rolled a rack in with five dresses for her to try. She eliminated two immediately. One was bright pink, and he loved it, but he had been almost sure she wouldn’t. The second one was black and looked too severe. The other three were more her style. She was immediately drawn to a soft brushed gold gown, which hung simply and draped from one shoulder and molded her figure. It would have to be shortened, but their alterations department could do it in an hour. She tried it on, and it looked as though it had been made for her.

“You look like a goddess,” Beau said, smiling at her. “It’s perfect.” He had brought shoes for her to try with it. And she had a gold evening bag at home that would be a perfect match. There was a soft gold-colored wrap she could wear if she got cold. She had some beautiful pieces in her own wardrobe, which she seldom wore. She had hardly gone to formal parties since her divorce. It was no longer part of her lifestyle. She went to work and spent weekends with her sons. She didn’t need an evening gown to have dinner with Bill Kelly. They rarely went anywhere, except to the Italian restaurant near her house. “You look incredible,” Beau said, admiring her. “You should get dressed up more often.”

“I’d look silly coming to work in a ball gown, and it’s a little over the top for the playground with the boys.” She smiled at him.

“We have to do something to jazz up your life,” he said.

“This is all the jazz I need.” But she had to admit the dress was beautiful, and wearing it was going to be fun.

Beau pinned the hem for her and took the dress to alterations, and she called Bill and apologized for the night before. “I need a favor,” she said. “Will you go to a black-tie event at the Met with me tomorrow night? I have to go for the store.” He only hesitated for an instant, still a little miffed that she hadn’t seen him the night before, but it sounded like fun to him too.

“Sure.”

“We don’t have to stay late.” He promised to pick her up, and she went back to her desk. She was all set for the Met. She had a dress and a date. She wasn’t going to make a big evening of it. She’d had a long week. All she had to do was put in an appearance for the store, and the dress was a knockout. Maybe it would be a fun evening after all.





Chapter 5