I’d never met her, nor did I remember her name. The only thing I recalled was that she’d disowned her family at some point, including Max, simply to extract their crazy mother from her life. Max had stuck it out with his mom mainly because she owned the majority share of Cole Cosmetics. As for his father, I got the impression that the man never stepped up for his children, perhaps a victim himself of his wife’s sadistic personality.
“The last you mentioned, you were looking for her,” I replied. At least, I thought that was right. He’d only brought her up once or twice and not in great detail.
“Yes. And that was the private detective I hired six months ago. He just found her.”
Then why didn’t Max look happy? “That’s great news. I’m so happy for you. But…?”
“She was so difficult to track down because she got married—took another last name—and moved to Argentina.”
I suddenly realized how disconnected I’d truly been from Max’s life these past months. While I’d been living in my world, trying to get my life back on track, he’d been doing the same.
Idiot. You started a boutique and got a shitty apartment. Max had been trying to lay the foundation of a new life for the two of us and reconcile with his estranged sister. Shut up, fugly voice. You’re a stupid loser.
“That’s good, right? You found her,” I said.
“She’s sick.”
Oh no. “What kind of sick?”
“She’s pregnant and something’s wrong—the detective is having a hard time finding out details. He’s not family, and I’ve given him strict instructions not to make himself known.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I have to leave.”
My body recoiled with the thought, but I couldn’t be selfish. Not now. “Sure. I understand. If you need anything—”
“Funny you should mention that because I need you to run the ship while I’m gone.”
What? “Max, I can’t do that—”
“Lily,” Max grabbed my shoulders, “the reason you didn’t hear about LLL is because I kept my involvement a secret. I worked through my staff and lawyers. But that was only so I could get the initial phase in place and surprise you. I came to see you when I did because it was time to let the cat out of the bag and begin courting retailers. Those meetings will begin tomorrow morning and so will the media campaign about our new venture—you at the helm and me driving the marketing. It’s going to be big.”
Oh crap. Mr. Perfect strikes again. He’d had this all planned out. Surprising me, making a huge to-do about the company’s launch, he and I starting our life together.
He went on, “I have the head of purchasing from the world’s most exclusive retail chain and her entire team coming to see the pilot store.”
“But I can’t—”
“Yes. You can, Lily,” he said without doubt or room for negotiation. “I’ve got the presentation all set. You simply need to smile, shake hands, and talk about our marketing strategy. It’s all stuff you’ve done before.” Yes. My background was in sales and, of course, I’d worked for Cole Cosmetics for a brief period as a senior sales manager, so the question wasn’t if I could sell or engage with customers. It was that up until a day ago, I hadn’t known this company existed.
“Don’t you have a head of sales or someone to step in?” I asked.
“You. You were supposed to be head of sales. And no, there is no one else, Lily. We have a skeleton crew in place to support the initial phase, but that’s it.”
“So…when you say that’s it, how many people are we talkin’?”
“Ten.”
“Ten?” My jaw dropped.
“Lily, we’re in proof-of-concept mode right now. And frankly, I held back doing any major hiring until you were on board.”
Ohmygod. He was just so damned…so damned…perfect. Dammit! Why does he have to be so domineering and aggressive and thoughtful? It just killed me to say no to him.
“Lily, I need you to step in for just a few days. I’m sure you can handle it, and considering it took a month to pull this meeting together, I can’t risk postponing. This isn’t Cole Cosmetics. We’re the new kids.”
Meaning, when he snapped his fingers, the entire industry didn’t jump. Not yet.
He continued, “Everything is in the presentation. Keri will help you with any questions, as will the team.”
I sighed. “Max, I really ca—”
“Thank you.”
“Max!” I dropped my shoulders. “I have a store to run in California. I can’t ditch it.”
“Who’s running it now?”
“My mother, and she’s absolutely terrified of being in charge.”
Max slipped his phone from his pocket, dialed a number, and held it to his ear. “Hello? Gladys?”
He’s calling my mother?
He smiled and made a little chuckle. “Nice to hear your voice, too.”
Whoa. Since when were these two all chummy?
He went on, “Great. I’m great. Even better now that I’m looking at your beautiful daughter.”
I narrowed my eyes, but at the same time couldn’t help letting a tiny smile sneak past my lips. Max was always so full of surprises and such a shameless charmer.
He listened for a moment. “I know what you mean. She really does look lovelier than ever.”