Chapter 35
“Alone at last,”Tristan says, smirking.
I take another step away from him.
“How’d you like the tour?” I ask.
“Very much, actually. I’ve visited here before. But it’s much more fun when I’m coerced.” He folds his arms across his chest.
“Well, I’m glad you feel that way. I had to get creative.”
“Don’t tell me you did all this just for me? There are much easier ways to get me alone, Olivia.”
“You’ve made that very clear,” I murmur. “But you’ve turned down all my attempts to get you involved in business conversations.”
“I told you, I’m letting Darnell handle it. He asked for more responsibility. Did you get the impression I was avoiding you?”
“I did, actually.” My words come out a little softer than I’d like. I lean my hip against one of the barrels. “I’ve tried my best to keep our relationship professional, as hard as you make that for me. And I have been working well with Darnell. Unfortunately, all our recent communications have him saying he’s waiting on leadership. And I’m pretty sure that’s you.”
He grins, like this is all just a game to him.
“Is this a kidnapping situation, Olivia? Are you about to lock me in the cellar until we agree to sign?”
“No,” I breathe out, exasperated. “You’d enjoy that way too much and this deal would probably go on forever.”
He laughs, nods in agreement. Does this man take anything seriously?
“Look,” I continue. “This might all be one big joke to you, I honestly can’t tell. But my job is on the line, and I need to know if this is happening or not. Darnell is frothing to get his hands on our platform, I can tell. It seems like the only blocker in this deal is you.”
“You’ve got tenacity, Olivia. I might ask you to come work for me if you weren’t so tempting.” Oh, for the love of god. Another man treating me like Eve with an apple. “The truth is, I’m working on getting us out of our current contract. As soon as I do that, we’ll sign with you. Patience is a virtue, even for someone as gorgeous as you.”
“Are you for real?” The words come out abruptly, not exactly the professional tone I’ve been going for.
“That you’re gorgeous? Of course.”
“No, about the contract. You need to get out of your contract with MarketingStream?”
“Yes. They’re being…difficult. We still have fourteen months left. The idiot who signed before I joined the team locked us into a five-year agreement.”
“So,” I start pacing. I can’t help it. “You’re saying that as soon as you can terminate your MarketingStream contract, you’ll sign with us?”
“Yes, though I might add a clause to your service agreement that all future negotiations are held in this cave.”
“Yeah, sure, umm, hold that thought!”
Rushing back into the main room, my eyes dart to every corner searching for golden hair and aqua eyes.
“Hey, you okay?” I jump when Gavin comes up behind me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders.
I turn into him. “Fine,” I answer. “Just need you.”
“What did he do?” Gavin’s gaze turns stormy.
“Nothing. All good, I swear. I just need your expertise, that’s all. Come on.”
I pull Gavin with me back toward Tristan.
“Tristan, this is Gavin Scott. He’s one of the original folks at Sizzl and I think he can help you with your problem.”
“This is Gavin?” Tristan asks. It’s then I remember I told him Gavin’s name. Told him before we were actually even dating.
“Yes,” I say with enough force to get my point across. Don’t you dare. “And Gavin has helped many of our clients navigate early terminations at other vendors, specifically MarketingStream. So if you’d like to save yourself some time, and money, and make Darnell’s team very happy, you two should talk.”
Gavin looks at me. At first, I can’t read his expression. But then I realize what barrel I’m leaning against and see him bite his lip. Is this conversation turning him on?
“All right,” Tristan says, cutting off my current train of thought. “Let’s hear it.”
Gavin goesto get his computer and we spend the next hour digging into Tristan’s contract and finding the best solution for him to terminate early.
At first, watching Gavin and Tristan interact resembled a cock fight. They each took little jabs where they could, trying and failing to be subtle about it. But I refused to engage, and eventually we fell into a professional rhythm. Thank god.
We were busy working on this as the event wrapped up and the shuttles took everyone else back to the city. I got a text from Andie letting me know Mario and Daanesh thought the event was a huge success, then another asking if I’d ever consider joining her on the marketing team.
By the time Tristan leaves the vineyard, he has a finalized contract from me in his inbox, and a solid plan to have his current contract voided in thirty days. Somehow, by some sorcery of will, I pulled this off.
I feel amazing. I don’t even care that I had to pull Gavin in at the last minute. I did this. Me. Olivia fucking Diamond.
“Sparkles, you’re incredible,” Gavin says, once we’re finally alone. “Can we do unspeakable things to each other now?”
We head backto the city the next morning, and to my surprise, Owen asks if he can join us.
“Not on the ride, obviously. But our schedule is light this weekend and Dad said he could deal without me. I thought I could come down and spend a day with you.”
“Yes!” I cheer. “That would be so fun. There are like a million places I’ve been dying to show you. We can get sundaes at Ghirardelli and go see the sea lions and Land’s End and—can you stay the night? My couch is really comfy. One day isn’t enough.” I know I’m rambling. I can tell by the way Gavin squeezes my hand, but I don’t care.
“Yeah, that sounds awesome. I’ll go pack a bag and meet at your place?”
“Yes.” I hug my big brother. “I’ll text you the address and where to park.”
Owen runs back inside, and I grin up at Gavin. “He’s visiting me!” I squeal. “I’m so excited. Will you play tourist with us?”
“Sure, beautiful. Ready to ride? Or are you gonna fight me to drive again?”
“No, you drive. I’m too happy right now to pay attention.”
Owen leaveslate Sunday afternoon and it’s the first time I’ve been alone in three days.
Gavin spent Saturday with us, but today it was just me and my brother. I’m still in a food coma from our brunch, but Owen had never had dim sum before. I had to make sure we tried everything.
I fall into my bed, extremely bloated but my heart feeling fuller than it has in years. Owen said he wants to come visit more, even to bring Phil and Deacon sometime. He also asked me to come home more often. I think he might have convinced Gavin to join a bocce league in Sonoma for the summer.
I pick up my phone to respond to Gavin’s last text, inviting me to sleep at his place.
Me:
I can barely move. And I don’t think you want to see what I look like after swallowing all the dumplings in California
Gavin Scott:
You could eat all the dumplings in the world and you’d still by the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen
Okay I know that was cheesy as hell, I’m sorry
If you want to sleep alone tonight it’s no problem
Hedge you later
I’m about to respond again when my phone rings, an unknown number glowing on my screen. I debate sending it to voicemail, but end up answering it, holding my breath for what awaits me.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Olivia. It’s Daanesh, from work.”
I stifle a laugh. From work. Like my CEO needed to clarify himself. I can see why Andie must like him. For a man in his position, he’s incredibly humble, and he really seems to care about the people around him. What he said about his sisters wasn’t lost on me.
“Hey, how are you?”
“I’m great, actually. I just wanted to congratulate you on such a successful event on Friday. Mario and I were both disappointed when we didn’t get a chance to talk to you before leaving.”
“Oh. Well, thank you. I thought it went well too.”
“Better than well, Liv. Can I call you Liv? Gavin always calls you Liv.”
“Yeah, of course. Liv is great.”
“It was a huge success. Mario has been struggling to secure testimonials from a few big clients. After Friday, they all agreed, one even offered to speak at our next showcase. And Gavin told me it’s possible you’ll be closing your first deal? With someone as big as Surf and Stream. It’s huge, Liv.”
“He helped a lot,” I reply and immediately regret it. He did at the end, but the event was mine. I can’t let myself forget that. “But I put in a lot of effort so I’m really glad it paid off.”
“Your effort hasn’t gone unnoticed, and I actually called to talk to you about an opportunity.”
“Okay,” I say with a bit of trepidation. What kind of opportunity? I don’t know how my family would feel if I asked to repeat this type of event regularly.
“First of all, Andie wanted me to make it very clear that this was not her idea, and it has nothing to do with your friendship. I thought it would be best coming from her, but she said you’d never believe it wasn’t a favor, so I’m confirming right now, this is not a favor.”
I laugh, having no trouble imagining Andie’s voice when she told him that.
“Okay, not a favor. I understand.”
“Good. Mario and I discussed this on the ride back to the city, and I went over it with Vaughn when I got home. We’d like to create a new position for you on the marketing team, as a Client Event Manager. We’ll be setting aside a budget and don’t expect your family to offer free services in the future. But we’d like you to plan similar events around the country, to help retain and attract more business. I can email you the full job description now, so you can see the details and what’s expected of you.”
He pauses, but I can’t find any words. Is this real? Because it sounds a little too good to be— “Is this because of what happened with?—”
“I’m still not sure about the details of what happened with Mitch. Honestly, I hope that one day soon you’ll feel comfortable enough to tell me. I’m already looking into other behavior that we could terminate him for, especially considering he’s been in Portland for the last month.” He mumbles this last part and I wonder if Andie had a chance to share my suspicions yet.
“But this has nothing to do with him,” Daanesh continues. “Mario and I both want you to know that your work is impressive, and we feel like your talents are being wasted right now. The fact that we’ve already determined a salary and event budget for you should tell you this is serious. Come talk to either of us tomorrow and we can discuss the details. I really hope you’ll consider it.”
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll consider it. Thanks Daan–”
“One more thing.”
“Yeah?”
There’s a long pause. For a second I wonder if the call dropped.
“Look, I don’t know if this is inappropriate. I’m dating your best friend and vice versa, so I think some lines have been blurred already. I just wanted to say that Andie adores you. When I told her about the position and how Mario wanted you on the marketing team, she actually cried. And I know she’s been feeling guilty about lying to you. But that’s entirely my fault. I feel like shit about it, truly. I just hope it doesn”t affect your relationship.”
“Oh.” It takes me a second to formulate my thoughts. “If anyone understands wanting to keep their personal life private, it’s me. I just hope you can go public with it soon. Andie and I are both eager for a double date.”
“Yeah, me too. Sorry for calling on a Sunday, but please consider the offer. We really want this for you.”
“Thanks.”
After we hang up, my first thought is to call Gavin and get his opinion on the position. Or maybe Andie, though she isn’t exactly impartial. Instead, I throw on my noise-canceling headphones and turn on my favorite playlist.
And I think about what would make me happy.