Chapter 2
BBella pulled into her spot at Bella Pelle, the skincare company she'd built from scratch two years ago, channeling grief into something she could be proud of.
Bella Pelle roughly translates to "beautiful skin" in Italian—a play on Bella's name—and was one of the hottest up-and-coming companies in the beauty world.
Cosmetics and skincare products had always been close to an obsession for Bella—she was sure she had Rouge status for life at Sephora—so it was natural for her to have her own line focusing on high-quality ingredients with proven results and amazing packaging.
Bella knew how lucky she was to have the company be so successful right out of the gate, something she freely attributed to the two key people at Bella Pelle: creative director Jerome Nash and Carrie.
She looked over to see Carrie's toy and favorite thing in the world, next to her daughter Madison: a new Mercedes G Wagon in pearl white with a custom leather interior in Carrie's favorite shade of pink.
Of course, Carrie would be here already, although the office didn't open for another hour.
Carrie was nothing if not prepared, so if the meeting they had for today was as big as she suggested, it made sense for her to come in early and make sure everything was ready for the possible client.
It amused Bella to no end that their latest product, which was taking the beauty world by storm, had come from a night of too many margaritas and Carrie's car.
She, Carrie, and Jerome had been out one evening after a long day, unwinding with drinks, guacamole, queso, and chips at their favorite Mexican restaurant when Carrie remarked that the color of her leather seats would be the perfect shade for a lipstick, and the idea took off from there.
They decided to offer a product for both lips and cheeks in colors that offered long wear, hydration, and other skin benefits.
Jerome sketched out a design for a sleek white case on a napkin, and voilà—Carrie's Color Crayons were born.
Naming all the shades after the women in their lives and the strong women they admired, the shades ranged from Carrie—a fun, playful pink to match her leather seats—to Chelsea, named after Jerome's daughter, a sweet dusty rose shade, to Bella's favorite classic red.
They had been a huge success, something they all agreed was because they made sure they had colors for all ages and skin tones.
The best part for Bella was the fact that the profits from the Color Crayons were allowing them to build a licensed daycare on-site for employees.
At some point, they had all been single parents and understood the struggles of trying to juggle work with care for younger children and after-school care once the school day ended.
It was an important thing for all of them and would be offered free of charge to anyone at Bella Pelle who needed it.
The process of getting a license was hard and involved, but worth it.
Getting out of the car, Bella glanced over at the building that would house the daycare as she walked to the office door.
It was coming along nicely, and the hope was that it would be ready by the start of the new school year in September.
Bella called out, "Hey, Carrie, I'm here," as she came in the door. Walking over to her office, she dropped her purse next to her desk and jiggled the mouse, bringing her computer to life and revealing the photo of Angela and Madeline with Primrose that she had as her screensaver.
"Hey girl, are you ready for the day?" Carrie said as she poked her head into Bella's office.
Carrie was a gorgeous blonde who turned heads everywhere she went.
Men wanted to meet her, and women wanted to be her friend because she was so vivacious.
Bella and Carrie had met one night at a sports bar while watching a hockey game.
Bella's Philadelphia Flyers were playing Carrie's Dallas Stars, and after a night of fun trash talk, they'd stayed in touch and become friends.
Carrie was meticulous and thorough with her work, so when Bella Pelle was in the planning stages, Bella poached Carrie from her previous job, and it had been one of the best decisions she had ever made.
They worked well together and had a ton of fun doing it—some days they wondered how they got anything done because they laughed so much.
And when Jerome came on board, that just tripled—everyone at the office called them the Three Amigos, and it was true!
"Are you going to tell me now who this mystery appointment is with? I need to know what to prepare for. Are they wanting to bring our products into stores or what? Please tell me it's not another offer to buy the company—we are NOT for sale!" Bella replied.
Carrie laughed and said, "You know I just tell those people, 'Thank you, no,' when they call," as she slid a cup of coffee across the desk to Bella. "Anyway, our appointment this morning is with Dr. Phillip Campbell from NASA."
"NASA? Get out. Who is this with, really?" Bella said, certain she'd heard Carrie wrong.
"No, it's NASA. He called last week asking about meeting with us for a 'top secret' project," Carrie replied, making air quotes with her fingers. "I don't know more than that, except he said he thought we would be very interested."
"I'm more interested in finding out whether he knows he has to pay the meeting tax," Bella said.
The meeting tax meant bringing donuts or breakfast tacos—if you wanted an early-morning meeting at Bella Pelle, you came bearing food.
"Jerome is on his way in, and he has no idea who we're meeting with either—I can't wait to see his face when I tell him," Carrie said, miming an exaggerated jaw drop and pushing her chin back up with one finger.
"What face is that?" they heard from the doorway.
Jerome bounced into the room. Bella thought he was like Tigger from the Winnie-the-Pooh stories in human form.
Jerome was energetic, always in a good mood, and a brilliant designer who handled all the artwork for their packaging and led the creative side of the company.
He was a welcome addition to their little work family, and he was universally adored by everyone there.
"Well, Jeromeo, we are meeting with NASA!"
"Is NASA a new ingredient company?" Jerome said.
"No, it's actually NASA, the space agency," Carrie told him. "Some doctor is flying in from Houston."
"Of all the companies you could have told me were coming in, NASA wouldn't have even made my list of the top one million. Do we know what they want?" Jerome said.
"No, apparently it's a mystery to be revealed when he gets here," Bella replied.
"Well, I hope he brought us a moon rock. Do you think he's bringing a moon rock? A moon rock would look good on my desk," Jerome said.
"If anyone gets a moon rock, it's going to be me. I'm the one who made the appointment," Carrie laughed.
"Anyway, he'll be here soon, so I'll go make sure the conference room is set up!"
And with that, Carrie was gone.
Jerome turned to Bella with wide eyes.
"NASA," he said quietly, as if saying it again might make it more real.
"NASA," Bella agreed, already reaching for her coffee.
Whatever this was, she had a feeling everything was about to get very interesting.