15. Laila
Laila
“This space is amazing,” Cass says, spinning in a slow circle in the empty warehouse.
This is the fourth space we’ve seen today and I couldn’t agree more.
It’s in a great location, still close to downtown Rosewood, and most of the updates that we would have wanted are already done.
The only thing we would have to do is some small customizations to make it exactly what we need.
Cass already wanted to expand and then this past launch went so well that she really started to put everything in motion to find Lovely Day a bigger location.
“This location just came up for lease this week so it hasn’t been seen by very many people yet. So if you want it I would suggest we put in a contract sooner rather than later, so no one else gets it,” says Rose, the realtor.
“What do you think?” Cass asks, looking at me.
“I think it’s beautiful and everything we were looking for. You should do it.”
Rose’s phone rings. “I’m going to step out to take this call.”
Her heels echo across the hardwood floors as she walks to the exit until it’s just me and Cass left inside.
“This place has room for over double the inventory of what we usually hold, so hopefully we can keep things in stock better,” Cass says.
I hum in agreement, already having a suspicion that this conversation was going in a direction that I didn’t want it to.
“Once we fulfill all the preorders, I’m thinking we should have way more stock for the next launch. You know, since the last one did so well.”
I cut my eyes to her and see the fake innocent smile on her face.
“What are you thinking for paint colors? Cream maybe?” I ask, deflecting.
“You really aren’t going to give me any details about you and him?”
“Maybe darker, like a beige could be nice,” I say, walking over to one of the large oversized windows. “The lighting is fantastic, and beige could be a great neutral for photos.”
Cass doesn’t respond. When I turn to face her, her arms are crossed over her chest.
“Please,” she says, dragging out the word. “Just give me something.”
“What do you want to know?” I ask.
“Anything. Everything! You dropped the bomb about knowing him on release day and then never said anything else. You must be close because you wouldn’t have brought just anyone to the office.”
“There isn’t much to tell.”
“Fine, how about how you even met him?”
I tell her the story, from meeting each other years ago to literally accidentally running into each other again a few months ago.
“Wow that’s a real life meet cute!” Cass says.
“But we’re just friends.”
“Is this where I’m supposed to just add in the ‘with benefits’ part or?”
“No!” I say, laughing. “I’m serious, we really do just talk. We spend a lot of time together at his place, watching tv or movies.”
I leave out the part about how much my body involuntarily reacts to his presence and how talking with him, even for a short while, is the highlight of my day. Because none of that matters.
We’re. Just. Friends.
“Mhmmm,” Cass says, disbelief in her tone.
“It’s true. You were there for everything that happened with Devin, I’m not ready to go through something like that again. Especially someone that’s as well known as Bry-, I mean Sonny, is.”
Cass notices my slip up, but doesn’t acknowledge it.
“You’re right, I was there for Devin,” Cass says. “But what happened with Devin isn’t going to happen again. You can’t give up on finding love just because of one ain’t shit nigga.”
“Love? Nobody said anything about love.”
“Girl, he sold out our entire inventory and sent you flowers unprompted on release day. He may not be in love now, but he damn sure could be if you gave him a chance.”
“Just because the chance worked for you doesn’t mean it will for me,” I argue back. “We’re just friends.”
“For now,” Cass says, her tone serious as if it’s already a foregone conclusion that Bryce and I will end up together.
“Anyway,” Cass says, shifting the conversation. “I wanted to ask you if you thought that he would be interested in doing any promotional work with Lovely Day ?”
I chew on my bottom lip. “I don’t know. Are you sure that’s something you’d want to do?”
“If he truly loves the product as much as he said that he did it would be great to do some actual promotional work with him. It’s one thing to seek someone out to try a product and give a review but for them to authentically like it on their own is even better.”
“That’s true,” I reply, hesitantly.
“We could do a photoshoot and have some small videos as well. We haven’t done one of those in forever and you’re so good at them.”
Cass gets a far away look in her eyes as she talks and I can tell she’s planning and organizing in her head at a million miles a minute. Cass loves to plan and once she gets started she’s all in.
My phone buzzes and I reach into my purse to grab it. I shake my head at the fucking coincidence when I see the name that is on the screen.
“It’s him isn’t it,” Cass says with a little squeal. “I’ll give you a minute to talk. I’m going to go tell Rose to get started on the paperwork.”
“Your ears were burning huh?” I say in reference to him calling while I was talking about him.
“You were talking about me?” he asks, a grin coming to his face. “All good things I hope.”
“Something like that. We just finished looking at the new warehouse location
“Y’all found one you like? That’s amazing.”
“Yeah it’s pretty great and has everything we were looking for.”
“Now tell me why you were talking about me,” Bryce says.
“We were talking and you just came up,” I wave my hand in the air to signify the insignificance of it.
“Bullshit,” he says, calling my bluff.
I sigh dramatically.
“Well, since someone decided to post about Lovely Day ,” I say with a fake stern look. “It left people with questions."
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think about how it would draw attention from the people you work with.”
“It’s fine, I know you didn’t mean any harm,” I reply. “But my boss did want me to ask you something.”
“Go for it.”
My heart rate rises as I gather my words, nervous to speak them aloud for some reason.
My words come out rushed and jumbled together. “My boss, well she’s my friend too, she wanted me to ask you something. But I should’ve just told her no because it’s dumb to even ask and -”
“Laila,” Bryce says softly, interrupting my rambling.
“Yeah?”
“Tell me what you need from me, pretty girl.”
I let out another sigh. This time to try to quell the nerves and anxiety of asking the question.
Once I’ve fully gathered myself I speak again. “Cass wants to know if you’d be interested in working with Lovely Day .”
“Yes.”
I don’t hear his response and instead keep rambling until I catch myself. “It wouldn’t have to be anything elaborate, or over the top and… wait, what did you say?”
A smile is back on his face, the amusement shining in his deep brown eyes. “I said yes.”
“Why?”
“Did you want me to say no?” Bryce asks
“Well no,” I reply. “But I thought that you would want more details, or even to see a contract, or pricing, or something before agreeing.”
“I want to do it because you asked me. And if posing for a picture and telling people about something I genuinely like will benefit you, I’m going to do it every time. Morgan can worry about the contract.”
“Oh,” I reply, simply, at a loss for words.
My chest warms at his words and we sit in silence for a moment as I process until Bryce speaks again.
“I was calling you because I know we said we would start the new season of the show, but I’m still in the studio and I’m probably going to be here for a while.”
“That’s okay, I’m about to head back to the office anyway. We still have a bunch of things to do since the preorder inventory is starting to arrive,” I say.
“Let me know when you get home safe tonight, okay?”
I nod. “Okay.”