35. Kamryn
Nina: Landed at the airport. Be at your office shortly.
Me: Be waiting with open arms
When we graduated, I didn’t take Nina’s word to heart about us helping each other out. Tack on my issues with Liam and my spiral through grief and I wasn’t in a good headspace to reach out to anyone. Let alone think about fashion design. But when I was thinking of my next line, I was stuck. Call it writer’s block for fashion. Nothing helped. Not strolling around the city, not watching TV, or listening to music. Nothing sparked for my next line. So I reached out to Nina on Instagram.
It was tricky with a lot of back and forth to get our schedules to match up. She does fashion consulting for the businesswomen and men in the DC metropolitan area. The fear of her rejection to collaborate was always at the back of my mind. But when she stated she wanted to do something other than suits, we both jumped at the chance for her to fly out here.
I’m pouring my first cup of coffee, when a knock sounds at my office door.
“Hey!” I greet as I rush over to Nina. “You’re stunning.” It’s true that Nina was gorgeous in college but the years away from collegiate life have done her well. “Do you want some coffee? Or tea?”
“Coffee would be great.”
She sets her bag and sweater on the couch in front of my desk while I get to work on her coffee. “This place is great, Kamryn.”
“Thank you.”
When I have Nina’s coffee prepared, she follows me over to the oversized couch that’s in my office. I have a few small mood boards laid out with hopes that it would spark something. But apparently my inspiration and talent have disappeared.
“So what were you thinking?” Nina notes as she shuffles around the mood boards.
Placing my coffee on the floor and kneeling closer in front of the coffee table, I find a picture of a couple of dresses. “Maybe do a dress line?”
Nina looks at me like I just said she was debt free, “Genius.”
For the next few hours we pour over every type of dress to make: casual, cocktail, black tie, work casual, little black dress, club dresses, and every type of print, cut, and length.
“What about wedding guest dresses?”
We add that to the design board. We sketch until we’ve filled up multiple pages of our sketch books and Procreate pages. We mix patterns and fabrics. We pull out our phones and look at the dresses we may have worn in the past and alter the designs to have more function that what we had.
In the end, we scratch the idea of wedding guest dresses for the time being. And focus on the everyday type of dress.
My stomach rumbles, breaking us out of the zone. “I guess that’s a sign for us to take a break. Do you want to go out for lunch, or order in?”
“Order in. I’m not picky,” Nina replies.
I order from my favorite deli and then grab us some water.
“So how’s life been?”
A soft smile graces her face. “Really good. Work is insane, but it keeps that part of my life full. As for love, my best friend and I started dating about a year ago.”
“Is this the guy you were telling me about while we were in school?”
“Yeah. It was…I don’t know. I guess it took being apart from him to realize that he’s the one for me. College was not an easy time for our friendship. We continually did and said things that hurt the other. But when I moved back home, the next day he was at my parents front door and it was like this fog finally lifted,” Nina takes a sip of water before continuing. “As hard as it was going from friends to more than friends, it’s also been so easy being with him. He challenges me in a way I never knew I could be challenged.”
“You are so in love it’s not even funny.”
“I am. We have our issues and working them out is never the issue. Because at the end of the day, we both have each others heart. I know that sounds cheesy, but it’s true,” the far away look she gets on her face is envious, even for someone in a relationship. “Kamryn I wanted to say how sorry I am about Liam.”
I give her a soft smile, “Thank you. But really it should be telling you how sorry I am?”
“For what?” Her brows scrunch in confusement.
“When you reached out to me, I tossed you to the side.”
“That was on me.”
“No. In this phase of my life I’ve been taking accountability of the damage I did to the relationships that were important to me. Your friendship was one of those and I had no idea if you’d wave me off when I reached out. But I took a chance.”
She squeezes my hand, “I’m glad you reached out. Truly. What we’ve created has the potential to be huge. Two black, female fashion designers. That’s huge, Kamryn!”
Her excitement is contagious in a way I haven’t felt in a while. I’ve gotten stagnant in my work. The creativity I felt when I first started my company has dimmed. But with this line I just know my inspiration and creativity will be flowing.
“But enough about work. We still have time before our food arrives. I saw you and Mason are back together.”
“Seeing him at a dance club was not on my bingo sheet. We’ve been back together for almost a year, although it feels like more.”
“And you’re happy?” Nina asks me.
“Yeah. I am. I have days when I’m not. As I’m sure everyone does.”
“Good. I’m really happy for you Kam. This brand you’ve built is extraordinary.” She looks around my office and out into the main floor again.
“Thank you. Any plans for your own brand?”
We get lost in Nina’s hopeful plans. Her work plans and her romantic plans. We walk down memory lane and tear up with how far we’ve come along. Our lunch arrives during our memory lane stroll. And before I know it, it’s the end of the day. Meaning Nina has to hop back on a flight to get home.
“Should we tease our collaboration on social media?” I ask.
“I was hoping you would ask.”
I pop my head out of my office, “Olivia? Will you come take our picture?”
“Sure thing boss,” She says with a sly grin.
I pass her my digital camera and we pose in front of the door to the main floor of the office.
“On three. One, two, three,” the flash from the camera is the sign that she took the picture. “Beautiful.”
She passes me the camera on her way back to her desk, “Thanks, Olivia.”
“Welcome.”
Nina and I face each other. My cheeks hurt from how much smiling I’ve done today and my stomach feels toned from all of the laughter.
“Are you sure you don’t want to grab a hotel room?” I question again as we’re walking downstairs.
“Positive. It’s a short flight anyway.”
We lean in at the same time to hug each other, “I’m so glad we’re doing this.”
“Me too. And anytime you want a tour of DC, you have my number.”
A soft laugh slips out, “I’m gonna take you up on that.”
The Uber Nina ordered pulls up to the curb next to us.
“This is me.”
“I hope you get home safe.”
She pulls open the back passenger door, “Thanks Kamryn. I’ll see you later.”
I watch the car drive off and head back up to the office.
“Mason?” I call out when I get home. Home. It’s so weird that we live together.
I hear his steps coming down the stairs. “Hey, baby. How was work with Nina?”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I absorb his warmth. “Really good. What we have planned is going to be so beneficial for women, and men, that they’ll be kissing the ground we walk on.”
My head vibrates as his chest shakes with a laugh. “Are you done working for the night?”
“Yeah. Why?” I ask, leaning back to look up at him.
“I wanna take you somewhere.”
“I don’t need to grab anything?”
“Nope. Well, your phone if you want it.”
I do as he says and then we’re locking up my house before jumping in his truck. Looking over at him driving takes me back to when he drove us to the beach house our first summer together.
He sees me looking over at him. “What are you thinking about ya goof?”
“Our trip to the beach during our first summer together.” It comes out more melancholy than I had hoped. That’s when our downfall happened. But even I can’t deny that our summer at the beach was epic.
“That was a fun summer,” he agrees with me.
I face forward and take in the scenery as he drives.