11. Lucy
LUCY
“ H ey.” Lucy followed Elliot down the hall toward the meeting room, half-running to keep up with him. “Can I see the presentation you made for Pura Vida?”
“Now?” Elliot stopped in his tracks and looked down at her with thinly veiled distaste. “We’re literally walking into the meeting.”
“I know, but you’ve been in other meetings all morning.
I want to be sure we’re on the same page.
” Lucy tried to keep her tone constructive and friendly without unleashing the annoyance she felt.
She wouldn’t be surprised if Elliot had packed his morning with other meetings on purpose to avoid having to talk to her about this one.
“We are. Let’s go.” Elliot held open the door to the conference room for Lucy to enter, and shooting one last annoyed look at Elliot, she did.
Their client, the vineyard chain’s director, Monica Castillo, was already seated at the table with Lukas Grant, her account manager.
Or future account manager if she signed on with Borderless.
Smiling, Lucy held out a hand to Monica, who took it with an equal smile.
“It’s lovely to see you again,” Monica said. “And I truly appreciate you taking this meeting. I realize it’s a turbulent time for both you and the company.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Lucy said quickly. “We’re excited to show you everything Borderless can offer.”
“We haven’t met before,” Elliot put in, stepping up beside Lucy and holding out his hand. “I’m Elliot Cobb, and along with Lucy here, I’m co-CEO of Borderless for the time being.”
Lucy couldn’t help but notice the for the time being part. It might have been just an innocent turn of phrase, but it grated on her nerves.
“Nice to meet you, Elliot. I’m Monica.” They shook briefly, and Elliot urged Monica to have a seat.
He cued up the presentation, and Lucy’s heart sank as the first slide appeared.
It was full of statistics. Lucy glanced at Monica, who looked politely interested, and hoped that Elliot had included some of their beautiful creative work as well.
He hadn’t. Elliot clicked through slide after slide of finances and figures. Finally, at the very end, one slide showed the potential Pura Vida tab that would be on the app, but Elliot didn’t pause to explain anything about it. He just clicked on to the next slide, which was about profit margins.
“Sorry.” Lucy got to her feet and joined Elliot at the end of the table. “Could you please go back to the previous slide?”
“It’s fine, Lucy,” Elliot said. He flashed a winning smile at Monica. “We can keep moving.”
“No. I just wanted to point out a few things about the Pura Vida homepage.” Lucy gave Monica her own smile, then shot daggers at Elliot. Grudgingly, he clicked back, and Lucy began to explain.
“As much as the finances make sense — and they do — I know that money isn’t all you care about.
Working with Borderless won’t just help Pura Vida attract more guests.
A partnership with us will also help make Pura Vida into the vineyard chain you want: a place where people can come together to share good wine, good food, and good stories. ”
“While that’s all very lovely,” Elliot cut her off. “I don’t want you to think that your gains would be purely hypothetical. A chain of beach resorts we worked with clocked a twenty percent increase in?—”
“We’re not talking about beach resorts, though,” Lucy cut him off. “We’re talking about Pura Vida, which is a unique company with unique strengths and advantages.”
“I want to show that we understand that Monica is a businesswoman. No matter how special her vineyards are, she needs guests, or she won’t succeed. The math matters.”
“So does the company itself!” Lucy was getting frustrated. “You can’t use a cookie-cutter financial strategy for all clients equally.”
“That’s better than what you’re doing, which is trying to distract people with pretty pictures and catchy slogans instead of focusing on substance.”
“That’s not what?—”
“Thank you.” Monica’s voice rang out, and Elliot and Lucy froze.
Lucy felt like a wayward child having been called out for stealing a cookie.
In unison, they turned to Monica, who looked at them kindly.
“I appreciate how passionate you both are, and I know this is a trying time. However, it’s clear that you don’t agree on a strategy, and I don’t feel comfortable partnering with a company that can’t even agree internally. ”
Lucy’s stomach dropped. Their inability to agree had just caused Borderless to lose an important potential client. Dominic would have been so disappointed.
“If you would—” Elliot began, but Monica held up a hand. She stood, buttoned her suit jacket, and held out a hand to Elliot. He took it.
“I want to give you both another chance,” Monica said. “Come visit one of our vineyards — next week, perhaps.” She let go of Elliot’s hand and took Lucy’s. “See what Pura Vida is all about. Then I’ll give you another chance to pitch your strategy to me.”
“Thank you,” Lucy and Elliot chorused.
“We really appreciate it,” Lucy added.
Monica smiled briefly. “Lukas, will you walk me out?”
“Of course.” The account manager exited with Monica, leaving Lucy and Elliot standing alone in the conference room.
“How could you do that?” Elliot seethed. “You almost cost us that client.”
“ I almost cost us the client?” Lucy shook her head. “It was you who insisted on preparing the presentation, refused to show it to me, and then left out the creative work I asked you to include!”
“Yes, I did, because I knew my strategy would work. This isn’t my first time pitching to a company!” Elliot ran a hand through his hair. “I know you want to be part of this, but that can’t mean cutting me off when I’m about to land a client.”
“You weren’t about to land that client,” Lucy snapped. “You were definitely losing Monica. She may be a businesswoman, but she also cares about her image and what Pura Vida means to the people who visit.”
“At the end of the day, money wins over image nine times out of ten.”
“Well, maybe this was the tenth. Or maybe that’s just another useless statistic!”
They glared at each other for several long moments. Then Lucy sighed, slumping back into her chair.
“Look,” she said, her voice calmer. “I shouldn’t have interrupted you. At the end of the day, we’re doing this for Dominic, and we need to remember that.”
“I know.” Elliot sighed and leaned against the table. “I should have consulted you on the presentation. Clearly, we’re going to need to find a better way to work together.”
“How about this?” Lucy held out a hand, palm open. “We agree to a truce — just for the vineyard trip. Let’s try to get along. Let’s show Monica that we can work together and present a cohesive strategy.”
“That does make sense.” Elliot took her hand, and, for the briefest of seconds, Lucy felt that electric thrill she’d always experienced when Elliot touched her. Then they both pulled away. “That means no fighting in front of the client.”
“Agreed. And no trying to undermine each other.”
“I wasn’t—” Elliot cut himself off. “Agreed. None of that, either.”
“And no suggesting that I’m not qualified to be a CEO. And you need to focus on Borderless, not Keype, while we’re on the trip.”
“We’re getting close to having too many conditions, Winter,” Elliot said.
“And…” Lucy trailed off, smiled, and pretended to zip her lips. “And nothing. That’s it. Let’s see if we can get through a few days without fighting. I’ll make the arrangements with the vineyard.”
“Deal.” Elliot lifted his hand as if to shake again, then seemed to reconsider and dropped it to his side. “See you later.”
With that, he left. Lucy watched him go through the clear glass panels of the conference room.
If only she could work with anyone else — absolutely anyone else.
It wasn’t just that Elliot had turned into someone cold and distant, although that was certainly part of it.
Another part was that if they were to spend much time together, she’d soon have to hear about all the women Elliot had probably dated since her.
Dominic, when pressed, had occasionally mentioned Elliot going on a date or two, but he’d seemed hesitant to bring it up with her.
Elliot would certainly have no such inhibitions.
A sudden realization dawned on Lucy. What if Elliot brought a date to the vineyard?
After all, a weekend getaway at a vineyard at the end of summer in Napa Valley could be a very romantic affair indeed.
Lucy was halfway onto her feet to tell Elliot not to bring anyone.
They needed to focus on business, after all.
But she forced herself not to impose any more rules.
If Elliot wanted to bring someone, she couldn’t stop him.
“Sorry, Dominic,” Lucy muttered. She should be completely focused on Borderless and on preserving Dominic’s legacy, not on some silly rivalry between her and Elliot. When they went to the vineyard, Lucy would focus on what mattered, Borderless, not on Elliot.
Lucy stood, packed her things, and headed back to the office she shared with Elliot.
She was both relieved and annoyed to find that he was in yet another meeting.
Alone, she settled into her chair and began organizing their visit to one of the Pura Vida vineyards.
This was going to be an interesting trip, to say the least.
And they had to get along, or they’d lose an important client. The stakes were high.