CHAPTER 40 Tatum Barker
Branding
The Beasts take off on their team plane shortly after the game, and I’m waiting at the airport for my flight that keeps getting delayed due to inclement weather.
I’m exhausted. I just want to be home, but I still have a three-hour flight once we finally board.
I sit near an outlet so I can plug my phone in since I’m draining the battery doing my best to level up in Subway Surfers. I should download a movie or something, but I didn’t think I’d be sitting at the airport this long.
A text comes through a little after ten.
Ford: Just landed.
Me: Haven’t even boarded yet.
Ford: You haven’t?
Me: Right after your plane left, they delayed mine due to weather.
Ford: Shit. I’m sorry. Where are you?
Me: At the airport. Bored out of my mind.
Ford: We can sext again.
Me: LOL. In the middle of an airport?
Ford: Put your earbuds in.
Me: Maybe later. How are you doing?
Ford: Need you.
Me: Sorry about the game.
Ford: It wasn’t the ending we were hoping for, but we never stood a chance.
Me: Of course you did. You wouldn’t have been there if you didn’t.
Ford: Season’s over now. Not sure what I’ll do with all this newfound time on my hands.
Me: Your wife?
Ford: Good call.
Me: I can use some help, to be honest. Ever since I released our wedding photos, my phone has been ringing nonstop to book Winston Manor. I’ve pushed out the first one to March so I can work on planning and get Devon and Lindsay under my belt, but I’m feeling a bit like I’m in over my head here.
Ford: Do you still have plans in Vegas?
Me: I do, but Kenzie is pretty self-sufficient. She calls me for the big stuff, but she can pretty much run things there.
Ford: Then we find you an assistant so you can run things here.
Me: Are you volunteering?
Ford: I could help with certain tasks, sure. But I’m only free for the next six months, give or take.
Me: Do you think Everleigh would be willing to help me with some branding stuff?
Ford: I can ask her.
Me: I talked to Madden a bit, and he’s on board to help with reno work whenever I need him.
Ford: Good.
Me: Is that okay?
Ford: Yeah, sure.
I’m trying to figure out what to say next when I hear a voice over the loudspeaker. “Flight twelve twenty-nine with service to Tampa Bay is now boarding at gate C-eleven.”
Thank goodness.
I stand and stretch, and I unplug my phone, which should have enough battery to get me home.
I text Ford.
Me: Hate to cut this short, but we’re FINALLY boarding.
Ford: Safe flight. See you when you get here.
When I finally do get home nearly four hours later, he’s sleeping. He shifts when I climb into bed, and he kisses my neck as he wraps his arms around me.
I sleep in the next morning, and he’s already gone when I wake up. I find a note from him on the kitchen counter.
Glad you’re home safe. I need to head to the training facility for exit interviews. There’s a breakfast order in the fridge for you from the restaurant downstairs if you want to heat it up.
I find the food and pour myself a cup of coffee, and then I grab my laptop and start to triage my poor, poor inbox.
I give up on that pretty quickly as I think about how Ford is absolutely right. I need an assistant.
I didn’t find Kenzie until I rented an office space, and maybe it’s time for me to get out and explore this city a bit more.
Though truth be told, I’m perfectly fine working out of the penthouse, and the offices at Winston Manor would be an ideal place if I needed to get away. But with either of those options, I don’t have the luxury of meeting people.
I decide to take it to Starbucks for the day in hopes of meeting people and making a place for myself here.
Except when I arrive, I realize I left my laptop on the kitchen counter at the penthouse.
I grab myself a coffee, let out a heavy sigh, and head back home.
My phone rings as I’m in transit back home, and it’s a Chicago number I don’t recognize. I pick up.
“Tatum Barker,” I answer.
“I thought it was Bradley now,” the female voice on the other end says, and my brows dip as I wonder who the hell it is. “I’m teasing. This is Everleigh, by the way. Ford said you wanted to chat about branding?”
Wow. He made quick work of that one.
“Yeah,” I mumble. “I do. I have one venue, and I’m planning to expand into more, but I’m overwhelmed with the one, and I have no idea how to build a brand.
My entire business in Vegas has been word of mouth, and word’s getting out here, and I need an assistant and someone who can make decisions and help me figure out my life but—”
“Tate,” she interrupts, and I stop talking.
“I think this could be mutually beneficial. I’m just getting my branding business going, so I’d love to add you to my portfolio. This would be a full brand build for multiple venues, am I correct?”
“I guess that’s what I’m looking for, yes,” I say.
“Market value on that runs right around twenty thousand and would take me about a month to turn around to you.”
“Twenty thousand?” I repeat. I mean, yeah, we just got that five million back from Ms. Winston when we opened her wedding envelope to us, but twenty thousand sounds steep when I’m trying to pinch pennies to invest in another venue and save a bit for any reno work we need to do at Winston.
“Oh, sorry—that’s market value. I’d do yours free of charge, of course, as long as you agree to tell anyone and everyone that I’m your brand strategist and help me with my wedding to Maverick. And I’ll agree to share your venues with everyone I know, too. As I said, I think we can help each other.”
“Free of charge?” I echo. “For services you’d charge other people twenty thousand dollars for?”
“Well, yeah,” she murmurs. “You’re making me second-guess myself.”
“No take backs! I agree! Send me the contract, okay bye!”
She laughs. “Don’t hang up! Just to be clear, a full brand build would include new logos, color patterns, press kits, a growth campaign strategy, styled photoshoots, social media campaigns, advertising strategies, brand books…the works. Is that what you’re looking for?”
“Yes. All of it.” My voice is adamant. I’m ready for this.
“Then I’ll send over the contract plus the paperwork that details everything I’ll need from you to build your brand.
Think mission, vision, brand pillars, even favorite colors for the palettes.
And your company name, of course. Then I’ll come up with a logo, a slogan, and everything else we talked about,” she says.
“A company name?” I echo. “You mean…I can’t just use Tatum Barker?”
She chuckles. “No. Not Tatum Barker. You are not the brand. Your company is. File the necessary paperwork to become an LLC. Something like Effortless Luxury, LLC. The Bradley Collective. Forever Estates Group. Something that sounds high-end. Use a buzzword like timeless, private, or prestigious. Barker Reserve Limited. Tatum Signature Collection.”
Wow. She’s good.
“Okay,” I say meekly.
It appears I might have even more work cut out for me than I thought.