Chapter Fifteen
Reaves hesitated when he reached the door to his dad's study. He'd shown Delaney in here when she arrived—much to her surprise, and he'd left the two of them together, Delaney looking a little put out, and his dad looking wary but determined, before excusing himself to go and check on Alara.
Now that Alara and Zia were getting set up in her office, he was back.
He strained to hear anything, but couldn't. That had to be a good sign, didn't it? At least there were no raised voices. Relief flooded through him when he heard laughter—both of them.
He knocked on the door, eager to find out what they were laughing about.
"Come in," called his dad.
"Did I give you enough time?" he asked as he walked in.
"I think so," said his dad. "Unless you have any questions?" He raised his eyebrows at Delaney.
"No, we're good. I understand, and I'm on board." She turned to Reaves. "You can relax. I'm not going to give Alara a hard time. I want to look out for her just as much as you do." She smiled. "Well, maybe not that much. But you know what I mean."
Reaves felt bad. "I didn't think you'd give her a hard time. I just… I know you're focused and driven, and she needs to take it easy."
"I get that." She smiled at his dad. "And I want to say I have every confidence that we'll be able to pull it all together in time."
His dad frowned. "If it's going to take longer, perhaps we should talk to the Hartman Sterling guys. Perhaps they'd understand…"
Reaves cringed, waiting for Delaney to correct him. His dad wasn't doing himself any favors if he was going to get the distributor's company name wrong.
Delaney shocked him when she gave his dad a warm smile.
"I understand the sentiment, Charles. But as I just explained, we have to approach it as though we're the only ones who understand sentiment in any way when it comes to this business.
We'll be able to work around it, I'm sure, but those guys—Caleb especially—are working under a strict deadline.
If we can't fit in with it, we'll fall out of it.
" She gave him a grim smile. "No sentiment involved. "
She sat forward. "I won't put any pressure on Alara.
And from what she's told me, she's already had the major breakthrough she needed.
The rest of it should be downhill for her from here.
But if we're going to get House of St. James included in this new Provenance line, we can't ask for more time.
If anything, we want to be ahead of schedule.
" She held up her hand before either of them could interrupt.
"And I think the two of you maybe need to give her more credit.
No matter how rough she feels physically, she's an artist. She's driven.
And I think we all know she's deeply invested—this isn't just a job to her. "
Reaves had to smile. Delaney was surprising him in the best way.
She chuckled. "There's no need to look so shocked. My reputation is a tool I use, because it's the most effective way to get things done the way I want them." She shot his dad a quick smile. "I can't afford sentiment in my business. Mostly."
Reaves knew that whatever they'd talked about in his absence, his dad had really taken a shine to her. It was obvious in the way he smiled as he said, "I have to hand it to you. The reputation and the outer shell had me fooled. But I'm glad to be on the inside now."
Delaney got to her feet. "I'm glad too. And I'm grateful that I wasn't able to fool you completely. You must have seen a chink in my armor, or you wouldn't have called me in to chat like this."
His dad chuckled. "I don't mind telling you that I wasn't entirely convinced. And I thought perhaps I was fooling myself. I'm glad to be wrong. I think we'll work together better now." He got to his feet and came to shake her hand. "Thank you, Delaney. This means a lot."
She looked gentler than Reaves had ever seen her as she shook his dad's hand and said, "It means the world to me too."
"I can see that. And perhaps one day you'll tell me why."
Reaves watched the exchange, intrigued. He felt bad that it had never occurred to him until now—that maybe Delaney had a story of her own that made her the way she was.
After they'd left his dad in the study, her heels clicked on the hardwood floor as they headed to Alara's office.
"Don't you dare go telling anyone I've gone soft."
He chuckled. "Dare is the right word. I wouldn't. I'd hate to get on your bad side."
"Pfft. Maybe I've worked my hard-ass image a little too well."
"Shit. Sorry. I didn't mean to make you sound all that bad."
"No, I know. It's all good. And listen, Reaves. I like Alara. I'll adapt the way I work with her so she can do her thing." She glanced at him. "She's insanely talented, you know."
He nodded. "Yeah. I know."
"Good. I didn't know if you were so blinded by love that you couldn't even see that."
He just stared at her, and she laughed.
"Oops. Sorry. Did I slip a four-letter word in there before you were ready to admit it?"
He gave her a wry smile but didn't answer.
Just before they reached the office, she turned to him.
"You know, Aaron and Caleb aren't going to like your dad calling them Hartman Sterling.
And as fantastic as Alara is at what she does, House of St. James needs someone who can step into the ring.
I'll do my part. And I'll be honest—I'll do far more than my part, because I can see how much your dad needs this.
And he's awesome. But Reaves, you might need to step up. "
"Yeah, I know. And I'm prepared to."
She cocked an eyebrow.
"Really. I am."
"I don't just mean pitching in here and there. Before Caleb is ready to sign off on this deal, he's going to want to know that you guys can come through. Signing the contract is the beginning of things, not the end. And I know you fly."
Reaves nodded slowly. "Yeah. And I'm prepared to give it up."
"You should think it through first."
"I've been thinking it through for quite a while now."
"Okay then. It's not like you don't have friends in the business who can help you along, is it?"
He smiled at that. "Exactly. Are you ready to go in and see these labels?"
"I thought we'd never get there. All this heart-to-heart stuff just gets in the way. Can we finally get down to business on what I came for?"
He blinked, shocked by the change in her tone—and she laughed out loud. "Jeez, Reaves. You're going to have to get used to me. I'm joking."
He rolled his eyes. "Sorry. I'll get there, but it might take me a while."
~ ~ ~
"Come in," Alara called when there was a knock on the door.
She got up from her chair at the desk, then sat back down again. She didn't need to stand for Delaney, as Zia had just reminded her. It had been hard enough to persuade her daughter that she was fine to sit at the desk rather than on the sofa, so this felt like a small concession.
Delaney came in, followed by Reaves, and it looked like things were going well. It wasn't just that they were both smiling—the air around them seemed softer somehow. She didn't know how to describe it, and didn't have time to consider it, as Delaney came straight to her.
"Hey, lady. How are you feeling?"
She glanced at Reaves, wondering what he would have told her. "Yeah, I'm good, thanks. And now that I know what's going on, I'm sure I'll soon be back up to full speed."
"You said the transfusions and injections are going to take a while, Mom," said Zia.
"I did, Z. But at least I'm moving in the right direction now."
"That's great news," said Delaney, who surprised Alara by going to sit on the sofa next to Zia.
Zia blinked a couple of times and leaned her head to the side. "She has to get lots of rest, you know."
"So I heard. And I'm not here to make her work harder, you know."
"You're not?" Zia asked suspiciously.
"Nope. I'm not an artist, but I know good artists when I meet them. And your mom's one of the best." Delaney settled back against the cushions. "Do you want to know what my job is?"
Zia still looked suspicious. "What is it?"
"Well, I do lots of things. But the most important part to me is making sure that the artists I work with get whatever they need, so that they can do their job well.
I run interference…" She paused. "I mean, I stop things from interrupting them, so they can get on with it.
That's what I'm trying to do with your mom. That's all."
"But only because you want her to do the work."
Delaney smiled through pursed lips. "I can see why you'd think that.
But it's not entirely true." She shot Alara a quick smile.
"I don't know your mom very well, but I like her a lot.
It makes me sad that she's not been well, and if I can help her get better, I'm going to.
We do have a job to do here, though. And it's a very important job. For House of St. James."
Zia rested her elbow on the cushions and her chin on her hand. "I know. The old people don't want to sell Grandpa Grape's wines anymore, and the new people haven't decided if they do. Mom's pictures are important. If they like Mom's pictures, the new men will sell the wines."
"Hey. I'm sorry. I didn't realize you already understood it all." Delaney sat forward. "So you can see the problem, right?"
Zia tilted her head to the side, looking slightly more curious than suspicious now.
"Your mom needs to rest," Delaney explained. "But the work needs to be done. Maybe you and I can help each other out."
"How?"
"I'm going to make sure that I stop anything else from interfering with your mom, so that all she needs to do is design. Make her pretty pictures."
"I know what design means."
"Sorry, kid. I'll figure you out soon. In the meantime, you have to forgive me if I talk down to you."
Alara exchanged a smile with Reaves when Zia said, "That's okay. Grown-ups do it all the time. I'm used to it."
Delaney surprised Alara in the best way when she said, "Well, that sucks. You shouldn't be used to it. And I don't want to be one of those dumb grown-ups, okay?"