Epilogue
S O L A C E
Eight Weeks Later
I sat at the head of a conference table listening to one of my managers explain why his team needed another forty thousand dollars added to a launch budget I had already sent back twice.
“We added the influencer dinner and increased the paid social spend based on the numbers from the Chicago launch,” Kevin explained as he pulled the revised deck onto the screen. “If we cut either one, I think we risk coming in under target during the first week.”
I looked at the numbers again before closing the deck on my laptop.
“Then cut something that isn’t making us money.
I’m not approving another forty thousand dollars because somebody added a dinner after the budget was finalized.
Keep the social spend, reduce the guest list, and bring the event budget back down. ”
Kevin nodded and made a note on his tablet. “I can have the revision back to you this afternoon.”
“Send it before three, so Finance has time to review it today. I don’t want this sitting until Monday because we couldn’t get a final budget approved before everybody went home for the weekend.
” I looked around the table at the rest of my team.
“Does anybody have anything else that actually needs me before we wrap?”
Monica raised her hand slightly from the other end of the table. “I need final approval on the San Francisco media schedule, but I can send that to you instead of holding everybody.”
“That works. I want it before I leave today because I’m not reviewing it from the airport next week.” I closed my laptop and stood. “Everything else can wait until Monday. Have a good weekend, everybody.”
People started gathering laptops, coffee cups, and phones while I answered Kevin's last question about the revised budget.
By the time I walked out of the conference room, I had another meeting in forty-five minutes, three urgent emails, and a text from my assistant reminding me the San Francisco hotel had changed.
None of it bothered me. I smiled as I headed back toward my office, already pulling up the first email on my phone.
“Solace, do you have a second?” Monica caught me before I reached my office and held up her laptop. “I know I said I would email this, but there are two placements I want you to see before I send the final schedule.”
“I have a few minutes. Come in.” I opened my office door and set my laptop on my desk while she pulled up the schedule.
We spent less than ten minutes going over the placements before I approved one and told her to replace the other.
When she thanked me and started toward the door, I stopped her.
“You don’t have to bring me every decision because my title changed.
I hired you to know what you’re doing, so trust yourself. ”
Monica smiled. “I’m still getting used to having a boss who actually means that.”
“You’ll get used to it.” I picked up my phone when she left and saw another message from Cindy asking whether I had eaten.
I hadn’t, which wasn’t unusual anymore. My days moved fast, and I usually didn’t think about lunch until normal people were thinking about dinner.
The difference was my stomach had been growling for the last hour, and I was fucking starving.
I was still getting used to how busy my life had become since taking the promotion.
The Senior Director position had been kicking my ass since I started it, but I loved every minute of it.
I had more people reporting to me, more money attached to my decisions, and more responsibility when somebody else’s mistake became my problem.
I had already traveled to Chicago and New York, and Atlanta was next.
I was tired more often than I wasn’t, but I had worked too hard for this position to get here and suddenly act like I didn’t want everything that came with it.
The company apartment gave me somewhere to stay whenever I needed to be in the city, and keeping another place made no sense when I already knew Los Angeles wasn’t going to be my permanent home anymore.
Smoke knew I was heavily considering moving back to Bellhaven.
We had talked about it without turning the conversation into a plan for our entire lives.
We had kept our promise after I left. I called him, and he called me.
Sometimes we talked while I was getting ready for work and he was already at a job site.
Other times he called late enough that I ended up in bed listening to him complain about Anthony eating something he had specifically told him not to touch.
He sent me pictures of Keyana’s winter dance, progress on whatever his crew was building, and food from Loretta’s whenever he wanted to piss me off while I was eating something disappointing.
I told him about work, my trips, and the things that annoyed me.
He listened even when half of what I was talking about had nothing to do with anything he understood or cared about.
When I started complaining about a meeting in Chicago and used too much corporate language, he asked me what the fuck any of that meant, and I laughed hard enough that somebody in the hotel hallway probably heard me.
The one thing we didn’t talk about much was Denisha.
I had asked twice about the paternity test. The first time, Smoke told me there wasn’t anything to tell yet.
The second time, he said everything was being handled and reminded me that he had promised I would know when he knew.
I believed him, so I stopped asking. That didn’t stop me from thinking about it, but I wasn’t going to spend every conversation asking whether another woman’s baby belonged to the man I loved.
My phone rang while I was answering an email, and I glanced at the screen before answering. “What do you want?”
Cindy laughed. “Damn. Hello to you too.”
“You have texted me four times about lunch while I’m working, so I know you want something.”
“I want your ass to eat because suddenly you think coffee counts as a meal.”
“I ate breakfast.”
“Iced coffee and a banana is hardly breakfast, Solace.”
I leaned back in my chair and looked at the time. “I have another meeting soon, so if you’re trying to drag me somewhere, the answer is no.”
“You should probably come downstairs before you decide that.”
I frowned. “Why are you downstairs?”
“Because I came to see you! Now come on!”
“You have never randomly come to my job in the middle of a workday to see me.”
“There is a first time for everything.”
Something in her voice made me sit up just as a faint flutter moved low inside me. My hand drifted to my stomach before I even thought about it. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. Come downstairs.”
“Why are you acting weird?”
“Solace, bring your ass downstairs.” She hung up before I could ask anything else.
I stared at my phone for a few seconds before getting up and grabbing my purse. Whatever she had going on could’ve been handled through a text like a normal person, but I had known her long enough to know she wasn’t going to tell me anything else until I went downstairs.
My assistant looked up when I stepped out of my office. “Are you leaving for lunch?”
“Apparently. If I’m not back before two o’clock, I’ll text you.” I took the elevator down and found Cindy standing near the lobby entrance. She smiled as soon as she saw me, and I immediately knew she was full of shit. “Why are you smiling like that?” I asked when I reached her.
“I can’t be happy to see you?”
“You can, but that’s not your happy-to-see-me face. That’s your I-know-something-you-don’t-know face.”
She tried to hold the smile in and failed. “I was going to ask if you wanted lunch.”
“You could’ve asked me that without making me come downstairs.”
“I could have.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Her eyes moved past me, and I turned around to see Smoke walking across the lobby. I stared at him because my brain needed a second to catch up with what my eyes were seeing.
He had on fitted black jeans, a heavyweight cream T-shirt that fit tight across his chest and arms, his chain and watch, and a fresh pair of Jordans.
He looked good as fuck, and judging by the way a couple of women walking through the lobby looked back at him, I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
His beard was freshly trimmed, and the look in his eyes was so intense.
I hadn’t seen him in eight weeks. Seeing him on FaceTime hadn’t prepared me for seeing him standing twenty feet away.
Cindy leaned closer while I watched him approach and whispered, “Bitch, you obviously left some important shit out when you described this fine ass man.”
I finally looked at her. “Shut up.”
“I’m just saying that I understand some things better now.”
I let out a small laugh and bumped her arm with mine. “You need to stop talking.”
Smoke reached us before she could say anything else. His eyes stayed on me for a second before he looked at her, and I could already tell he knew exactly who she was. I folded my arms with a smile on my face. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Smoke smiled slightly. “I came to see you.”
“You have a phone, babe.”
“I know.”
“You’ve used it almost every day for eight weeks, so you also know how to tell me you’re getting on a plane.”
“I wanted to surprise yo’ ass. Damn.”
I stared at him because Smoke standing in the middle of my job talking about surprising me was not something I had prepared for when I got dressed that morning. Cindy cleared her throat beside me. She looked him over once without any shame. “Well, it was very nice to meet you in person finally.”
“Girl.”
“What?” She looked at me like I was the problem. Smoke laughed, and I closed my eyes for a second. Cindy pulled me into a quick hug before stepping away. “I’m gonna leave now because clearly you don’t need me for lunch anymore. You can call me later.”
“I hate you.”