Chapter 5
Willow started her Monday morning like any other morning of her life.
She woke, showered, ate breakfast then checked her e-mail.
She frowned when the first one she opened was from her assistant, and it was a quick, terse message.
All in caps, the note said for Willow to call her as soon as possible.
Frowning she picked up her phone and dialed, she swore it never rang before her assistant was on the line.
“Willow! Oh my god!”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, well I hope it isn’t nothing. But time will tell. I have to tell you that I don’t know if I should fire my assistant or give her a raise. I’m just so, so, so...”
“Trish.” Willow laughed. “Take a deep breath, you’re babbling and not making a lick of sense.”
“Damn.” Trish sighed then laughed. “Okay, let me see if I can say this without freaking out again.”
“Why would you freak out?” Willow frowned as she picked up her cup of tea.
“First, you know when I told you I needed an assistant? Because your work was starting to take off?”
“Yes, and you hired Amy. As long as Amy doesn’t know where I am or try to contact me, I’m happy with that.”
“Hell, I don’t even know where you are. Part of the reason you hired me was that I wouldn’t bother you and that I would probably never meet you in person.
Okay, to recap, I’ve been taking several of your pieces to local craft fairs and set up a booth with not only your stuff, but some other pieces from other artists that I assist for. ”
“I know this.”
“Yeah, well, ever since I hired Amy, she’s been taking some of your pieces to actual brick and mortar stores and talking to the owners about setting up a section in their stores for you.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“Absolutely, but Willow, she’s commissioned twenty-five stores in the Pacific Northwest, in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California.”
“But that’s good, isn’t it?”
“Yes! But that’s not my point!”
“Well, get to the point then.” Willow laughed. She heard Trish take several deep breaths.
“Okay, Amy asked me if she could be in charge of the inventory I have here on hand to take the items to the brick-and-mortar stores. I said sure. She took everything that I had here two months ago. When you’d send stuff, she’d replace it.”
“Trish, why do I get the feeling you’re stalling?” Willow laughed. She’d never met her assistant in person, but over the phone and internet, she really liked her. And trusted her which was the most important thing.
“Damn,” Trish said, and Willow heard her take several deeper breaths. “We have nothing.” She blurted out.
“I don’t understand.”
“All the inventory we had here, Amy gave to the brick-and-mortar stores. Everything, even those fifty boxes we got last week. I have no overstock. Thank god Amy told the owners that you are a single person and it takes time to craft your work. She got them to agree to take whatever you could send, and they’ve told their customers that it could take at least three months for a piece.
And on that note, one of the e-mails I sent was for orders we got online over the weekend.
I don’t know where you are, or how much stock you have where you are, but I need anything you can send me.
If you don’t have it, fine, at least Amy told people they were going to have to wait.
Oh god, I forgot. Look at your bank account. ”
Willow did as she heard Trish talk to someone in the background and sucked in her breath. “Trish, why is there all that money in my account? Where did it come from?”
“That’s what I’m telling you. That money is from the sale of all your inventory. Minus my pay and Amy’s but that’s from the last two weeks of sales.”
“Oh my,” Willow said, and frowned at the bottom line. She had never set the prices on her items. She had trusted Trish to do that. “I’m afraid to look, but can you roughly tell me about the orders you e-mailed me?”
“Total, about four hundred pieces were ordered just online in the last week alone. That’s not including the list I sent that the stores want. I don’t know if you’re the panicking type like I am, but we put it on the website that it would take at least three months for delivery.”
“That’s good. I’ll organize everything, all the e-mails and make a list of what I have to get. I think I can do this. I’ll keep you posted. If you don’t need me, I’ll talk to you next week.”
“Okay, and if you have any questions let me know.”
“I will. Thanks, Trish.” Willow hung up and stared stunned at her bottom line in her work account.
She studied it for several minutes then began laughing and stood to do a happy dance.
Something she set out to do as a hobby, just turned into an outstanding business.
She quickly printed the orders and organized them.
While still staring at her bottom line, she found a business card that she received two years ago and literally crossed her fingers as she dialed.
“Hello?”
“Is Magnolia there?”
“Who is this?”
“Willow Raintree. I talked to Magnolia almost four years ago. She helped me get started with lessons and purchasing my first kiln.”
“Oh, unfortunately, Mother’s been sick lately, and last night she took a turn for the worse. I’m sorry she can’t come to the phone right now. Was there anything I could tell her?”
“Actually, she told me if I ever wanted to purchase another kiln to call her. But I’m sorry, I’ll leave you alone so you can be with your mother.”
“Wait. You wanted to buy one of my mother’s kilns?”
“I did. I was in her shop six months ago, and that’s when she told me if I ever wanted to expand to come there first, since your mother was thinking of selling.”
“She was. Mom had just found out she had cancer and thought she could sell her kilns to help with the medical bills. Unfortunately, she never got to advertise them. And also, I know nothing about the pottery business. Tell you what, if it’s not inconvenient for you, would you like to stop by and take a look?
Mother did tell me she wrote a list of what she wanted to sell her stuff for. It’s in her shop.”
“It’s not inconvenient for me, but I don’t want to intrude on your family if your mother’s ill.”
“It might give her a boost, who knows?” The woman sighed. “Oh, I’m Sara by the way.”
“Sara, can I come over now? I’m about thirty minutes away.”
“Sure. I’ll put the coffee on.”
“Thanks, but unfortunately I only drink tea.”
“Tea it is then.” Sara laughed, and they said they’d meet in an hour. Willow quickly finished dressing and printed off some sheets from the computer and was out the door in minutes.
*****
“I’ll take it all,” Willow said three hours later as she walked around Sara’s mother’s studio.
“All what?”
“The three kilns, the boxes of clay, the glazes, the paints. Unfortunately, I won’t take her finished products. You and your family might want them as memories of her.”
“I never thought of that. There are some beautiful pieces here,” Sara said as she picked up a bowl and studied it.
“I’ll get the list Mother had made out for her asking prices.
” They compared prices, and they finally settled after much haggling.
Sara called her son and asked him to come over with a couple of friends of his to load everything up and take it to Willow’s house.
She stayed to supervise the dismantling of the kilns and by three that afternoon, they were already set up and ready to be put to work.
Willow spent the rest of the afternoon going over the e-mail orders and organizing them again, then she ordered more supplies over the internet and called it an early night.
When she arose the next morning, she was well rested and ready to hit the ground running.
*****
Trish Bower stood at her desk looking down at the computer, and she was actually shaking in anger.
She held out her hands and saw them tremble.
She took several deep breaths, but it didn’t seem to calm her down.
Unable to hold her anger any longer she threw her head back and bellowed at the top of her lungs, “AMY!”
“What’s wrong?” Amy came rushing into Trish’s office.
“I’d swear, but since it’s unprofessional I’ll ask what is that?” She pointed to the computer screen. She watched as Amy hurried around her desk and looked at it.
“I don’t see anything wrong. It’s Willow’s website.”
“Why is it changed? Who designed it and why is the lead time on her orders three weeks? Who the hell fucked with this website?” She actually screamed the words as she pointed to the screen.
“I did,” Amy admitted. “I don’t see why you’re so upset, she’s a hot item. If it weren’t for us, she wouldn’t be this hot.”
“You have ten seconds to change it back Amy. If you don’t, you’re fired.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Put that back the way it was, and I’ll tell you a few home truths as you do.
” When Amy didn’t do anything, she pointed to her chair and actually growled.
“Sit.” Amy sat quickly. Trish watched as Amy ended up taking five minutes to put the website back to the way it was, and Trish watched her every move.
When she was satisfied, she pointed to the chair across from her desk.
She took her own seat and studied the woman across from her.
“First, let me apologize for losing it on you. But you have it wrong. Willow doesn’t work for us.
I’m her personal assistant, and through working with her, I’ve been able to obtain other artists to represent.
That’s why I hired you as my assistant. In my contract with Willow and in yours with me, it’s an understanding that no one but me is to work directly with Willow.
I’m the one to monitor her website. I had to ask her permission to allow you to take her items to the brick-and-mortar stores.
“When I applied to her advertisement, she gave a phone number for calling to set up an interview. We ended up talking for over two hours on the phone. Three days later I got a contract in the mail. In it, it was stressed on several occasions, that I had to put my initials next to each time it was mentioned, that Willow’s identity was not to be revealed at any costs.
She’s so private that I can only contact her by e-mail if I need to talk to her then I have to tell her to call me.
As I said, that is done through e-mail. Hell, I don’t even know if Willow’s her real name or if it’s her artist’s name. ”
She reached down and opened her bottom drawer and pulled a file.
“If you don’t believe me, this is the contract I signed with her.
Before this, I was nothing but an unemployed college student.
I only answered their ad a little over three years ago.
Selling her stuff is what put us both on the map, so to speak.
“As you can see from the contract Willow sent me, and I signed, her identity isn’t to be revealed. I’m only able to contact her through e-mail and then she reaches me at her convenience.” She watched as Amy read the contract and then she nodded.
“That’s what the clause in my contract was about?”
“Yes. No one but me is allowed to work with Willow, and as I’ve already said, I’ve gone from an unemployed college student to this office with ten clients in three years.
So, if it weren’t for Willow, we wouldn’t be here.
I ask you to please don’t mess with Willow’s website.
If anything happened to lose her as a client, we wouldn’t be as successful as we are now. ”
“I’m sorry, I just thought I was helping.”
“Any other client and I’d agree, but not Willow. She’s mine. Exclusively. I have the contracts to prove it. If you recall, there’s a clause in yours that you are not to have any access to Willow unless it’s through me and then it’s only her finished product.”
“Yes.” Amy sighed and leaned back in her chair. “I’m sorry, I thought she worked for us. I wasn’t aware we worked for her. But I did the website change because she’s so hot right now, everyone is demanding her work.”
“You thought by changing her lead time on the products she makes from scratch, by hand, to three weeks instead of three to six months would do what? Make her work faster? Make her burn herself out, and we lose her altogether? I have a suggestion. Go find a local potter and have them talk you through the process of making something. I did when I first took the contract. It’s a daunting process. Nothing that can be rushed.”
“I’ll look into it.” Amy seemed contrite, but after Trish dismissed her, she had just opened the door when Trish called out.
“Oh, and Amy?”
“Yes?”
“Next time something like this happens, you’re fired.
” She finally got her point across, and it was with a heavy heart that Trish turned back to the computer and actually deleted the entire website and spent the rest of the night rebuilding it again.
Because it was made from her laptop, she passcode protected it, hoping that would deter Amy from getting to it again.
She couldn’t be too careful with the safety of her client.
Something about Amy seemed too pushy to sit right with Trish.
Before leaving her office for the night, she was finally satisfied she had been able to revamp the website and keep Willow’s identity a secret.