Chapter Ten
"Are you going to be okay there while I work?" Alara asked Zia.
"I am going to be very okay," Zia announced.
She'd set herself up on the floor in Alara's office.
She was sitting on a large sheet of paper—the largest that Alara had been able to find at the craft store this morning, but still nowhere near as big as what Zia and Charles had used.
She had a whole pile of stickers and sparkles and googly eyes—all her favorite things to sit and make with—because this morning, Alara was on a mission.
She'd fallen asleep right after she'd had the revelation about the gold leaf last night, but that might have been a good thing; she'd dreamed all kinds of strange and beautiful dreams that had given her a lot of inspiration.
She'd loaded Zia into the Suburban this morning and headed out to get everything she needed to finally create the designs for the rebrand.
Zia got up and came to the desk. "I know you're going to be busy, and I promise I'll stay busy with my work too, but I was thinking… before I start, should I go and see if Mrs. Faye has any cookies for us? It's best if I go now, so I don't interrupt when you get in the flow."
Alara shook her head with a smile. "Okay, you're right. It probably is best if you go now. But don't pester her if she says no, okay?"
"I won't. But she won't either."
Alara set her desk up, removing the keyboard and the computer screen and placing them carefully on the floor in the corner.
Moving them left her a little out of breath, but she needed her workspace free and clear.
Of course she'd have to go back to the computer and recreate the designs on there, but the magic of this place—Charles's magic, and her own, for that matter—was something more grounded and natural than she'd ever be able to create digitally.
She set up her pencils and brushes and the little pots of gold paint, and goosebumps broke out on her arms. This was it. She finally had it. All she needed to do now was capture it.
"Come on in, Z," she called when she heard a knock on the door. "You don't need to—"
"Hey, it's me."
She spun around to see Delaney standing there. "Oh… hi. I wasn't expecting you."
Delaney grinned. "No, I know. But since things are moving along so fast, I thought I'd better come and touch base.
We need to get moving. And I spoke to Aaron this morning.
" She let out a short laugh. "Well, I spoke to Caleb first, but you don't need to worry about that part.
Aaron's the visual guy. In fact, maybe you should talk to him yourself.
He surprised me—he loves this place, and he understands the feel of it, and…
" Her words trailed off and she frowned.
"Alara, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me like I just grew a second head and might have come to abduct your firstborn?
" She glanced over her shoulder. "I assure you, you’ll never have to worry about that," Delaney said.
"Your daughter's adorable, but I have no idea how to deal with her. "
Alara let out a short laugh. "You're safe. If anything worries me about you, it's not that."
"What, then?" Delaney came in, frowned at Zia's art supplies on the floor, and stepped over them gingerly before taking a seat on the sofa.
"It's just…" Alara checked her desk, hoping that nothing there would give away her vision. She didn't want any outside influence to affect her in the embryonic stages. "Nothing's wrong. But I think I've got it, Delaney. I think—I know."
Delaney's eyebrows shot up. "Is it one of the samples you already showed me? The set with the house as a castle was really good, and it lines up with the way Aaron sees this place."
"No, no, no. It's not that. It's something new.
Something entirely different." Alara perched on the edge of her desk.
"I need you to trust me, just for today, okay?
I know exactly what I want to do. I'm ninety-five percent certain that when you see it, you'll agree.
But right now, Delaney, I don't need to talk to you.
I don't need to hear your thoughts, or the distributor's thoughts. I just need to create it."
Delaney leaned back on the sofa with a strange little smile on her face. "There you are. I've been waiting for you to appear."
"I—what do you mean?"
"You seem so meek and mild. But so much of your work—everything I've seen, in fact—it doesn't come from a meek and mild woman. It comes from someone who knows exactly how she sees the world, and how she wants to express herself."
Alara just stared at her.
"I can see it in you now. The way you talk when you're passionate like this." Delaney got to her feet. "I trust you. I trust your genius." Her smile faded. "Although if you screw this up, we'll be a day behind, and there's a lot riding on this, you know."
Alara let out a breath. "I'm fully aware of just how much is riding on it. And I won't screw you over. More importantly, I won't screw Charles or the House of St. James over. You'll see."
Delaney grinned. "Then I'll get out of your hair and let you get to it."
"Wait. There's one thing I do need to ask you, because it'll affect how I do this."
"Fire away."
"Do you think the budget would cover the use of gold leaf?"
Delaney's eyebrows drew together, a sharp, calculating look on her face. Alara pushed up from the desk to stand as she waited for her answer.
Delaney raised an eyebrow. "What? Something else?"
"Yeah. I realized that it's not a question—or at least, I asked the wrong one. I'm not asking you for permission depending on how much it costs. I'm telling you that I need it to be gold leaf, and you have to figure out how to make it work. That's your job, right?" she added with a tentative smile.
Delaney burst out laughing. "Now I'm finally convinced that we can work together, no problem. Yes, absolutely. You want gold leaf; I'll get gold leaf. I'll make sure it works."
Alara stared at her for a moment, wondering if she was being sarcastic.
Delaney reached out to touch her arm. "I know I can be a lot.
Some people will even tell you that I'm a bitch.
I don't come across as all warm and fuzzy, because I'm not.
But I'll never mock you, Alara. I can see what you're thinking, and you don't ever have to worry about that, okay?
I'll tell you straight. I might be too sharp, but I will never mock you.
And that's not what I'm doing here. You just earned my respect.
You do your thing, girl. I'll talk to you later. "
It was only when she turned for the door that they spotted Zia standing there, watching them.
"Hey, kid. I hope you're gonna be good and let your mom work today."
Zia looked up at her and blinked, then looked down at her sneakers. Eventually she looked up again, put her little hands on her hips and jutted her chin as she spoke. "I'm always good. I know what my mom needs. You don't."
Delaney looked a little taken aback. "Yeah, I'm sure you do. I was trying to help your mom, that's all."
"I know." Zia glowered at her.
Delaney shrugged and gave Alara a wry smile. "Yep. You definitely have no worries about the kidnapping thing. I'll talk to you later."
~ ~ ~
"So, you think it's all going to work out with the new distributors?" asked Ollie.
Reaves stirred his coffee and nodded. "I'm hopeful. The one guy, Aaron, already loves the wines." He chuckled. "He gets the vibe of the place too."
Ollie rolled his eyes. "That word seems to have hung over everything. I understand it, but I hope we can work our way past it somehow."
Reaves nodded, and this time he didn't call his friend out for including himself in that we.
"Yeah, those guys know Delaney, and they seem to have every confidence in her to deliver a brand they can sell well."
"That's good," said Ollie. "Or is it? Your dad still didn't seem convinced about her last time I talked to him."
"I think she's growing on him. But at the same time, I think he's classified her as part of the whole business side of things that he doesn't really understand.
" Reaves smiled. "But she's less important in his mind than Alara is.
I know he's not exactly an artist, but it's the same kind of thing, isn't it?
That whole creative side. Alara gets the visual side of things, and she gets the feeling too—and for my dad it's all about the feeling.
Those two relate to each other, and I just know she'll be able to come up with something that works, and works well. "
Ollie smiled. "Are you guys getting anywhere yet?"
"No. I'm not even thinking about it."
Ollie raised his eyebrows.
"Okay, so I'm trying not to think about it, and that's pretty damn hard. But Ollie, there's so much going on. She's waiting for her follow-up appointment. She can't afford to think about anything else until she knows what's going on."
"And what about you? Do you feel the same?"
"Hell no. I want to be there for her through it all, no matter what it turns out to be. But I can't throw myself at her."
Ollie laughed. "Last I checked, your whole problem was girls throwing themselves at you."
Reaves rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but this is different—Alara’s different."
"And how you feel about her is different, right?"
Ollie held his gaze, but Reaves didn’t say anything. They both knew the answer, even if he didn’t dare say it out loud yet.
They looked up when Grady approached their table.
"Can I get you guys anything else?"
Reaves checked his watch. "No thanks, I should get going."
"Me too," said Ollie. "Just the check, please."
"I'll get it," said Reaves. "And I need to settle up with you for the last time we were here."
"That's okay, call it my treat," said Grady. "It seemed like you guys needed to get out of here in a hurry. Was Alara okay?"
"Yeah, she's fine. She just needed to get back to Zia."
"Well, do me a favor and remind her that Zia's welcome to come hang out with us anytime."
"Thanks, Grady."
As they walked back to their vehicles, Ollie punched his shoulder. "I'm proud of you."