Chapter 25
Quinn
Now
Thursday was the last day of the conference, and when Quinn awoke that morning, she was alone in Liv’s hotel bed, though she quickly realized that Liv was returning with a room service cart.
She took a moment to enjoy the view, as Liv was absolutely stunning in just a silky white robe, her shiny hair cascading in tousled waves over her shoulders.
“I was just about to wake you,” Liv said, voice soft and a little nervous.
“What time is it?” Quinn asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
“Right about 6:00 AM,” Liv answered. As if on cue, Quinn’s alarm sounded, indicating that the clock had, in fact, flipped to exactly 6:00.
“Why are you up so early?” Quinn asked. She sat up in the bed, Liv eyeing her as the bedding fell, revealing her bare chest.
It wasn’t until Quinn wrapped the sheet around herself that Liv remembered to answer her question.
“I figured that you’d want to get some laps in the pool before your presentation today,” Liv explained, cheeks slightly flushed, before softly adding, “I didn’t want to wake up alone.”
Quinn tensed, rueful. “I see.”
“Plus, I figured it would be good to feed you,” Liv added, in a much lighter tone. “Or at least provide some caffeine. ”
She said the last part while handing Quinn a streaming mug of black coffee that smelled heavenly. Liv began flipping the lids off the trays on the cart, revealing fruit bowls, yogurt, oatmeal, and some kind of omelet.
“You ordered a smorgasbord,” Quinn said, amused, picking at the fruit bowl.
“I wasn’t sure what you’d want,” Liv replied, somewhat sheepishly.
“I’m not picky,” Quinn answered. She took another few bites, glancing at Liv every so often, finding Liv’s eyes on her each time. Finally, Quinn cleared her throat and said, “You’re staring at me.”
“I’m sorry,” Liv replied. Her cheeks pinked again when she added simply, “You’re just really beautiful this morning.”
Quinn felt her own cheeks heat. “You are also beautiful.”
They gazed at each other for several beats before Liv breathily teased, “I think maybe you just like the robe.”
It was the woman wearing the robe, but Quinn knew not to say that. Still, she reached her hand out, placing it softly on Liv’s thigh, where soft material stopped and smooth skin began. “I don’t hate it.”
“You have to go,” Liv said when Quinn started drawing lazy circles on her leg. Quinn could sense that she was also reminding herself. It worked, for Liv at least, because she stood, putting some distance between them. “I want you to do well this morning. You need to get going.”
She was right, of course. Quinn felt most herself, most in her body, on days she started in the pool.
She knew that, even with the lack of sleep from the previous night, just a few laps would help steady her for this workshop, which could significantly impact her company.
This was the big day, the whole supposed reason that she’d proposed they attend the conference.
She needed to get her head on right, and unfortunately, that meant she should take a bit of distance .
“You’re right,” Quinn said, before she paused, thinking about how Liv was taking care of her in this moment.
Not just the coffee, the food, the wake up, the insistence she followed her routine.
The fact that she anticipated and understood exactly what Quinn needed.
She tried not to sound overwhelmed when she said, “Thank you.”
Maybe it was the weight in her voice, but Liv seemed to understand, without them exchanging words, that Quinn was thinking about a lot more than breakfast. “Of course.”
Quinn jumped into her clothes from the previous day and slid into her shoes. Liv, still in that unbelievable robe, threaded their fingers together, pulling Quinn toward the door.
“I’ll see you in a little while,” Liv said, sounding very much like her words were a question. When Quinn simply nodded, an expression of genuine excitement took over Liv’s face, like she may have been worried that Quinn would ask her not to come. “You guys are going to be great.”
Quinn gazed warmly at her before remembering herself, saying the first thing that she could think of in the moment to put them back in the correct box. “Will you wear the robe tonight?”
Liv’s face changed, softness fading to need, and Quinn watched her tongue with rapt attention as she licked her lips. “If that’s what you want.”
Quinn nodded again, deciding that she had time for one kiss. It started chaste, their mouths meeting gently, but it wasn’t long before lips parted, tongues tangled, hands twisting in hair, their bodies melding together.
“Fuck, I’m sorry,” Liv said, and Quinn hated the way it felt when she peeled their bodies apart. “Go away.”
Quinn laughed at the ineffectual shove Liv pressed into her shoulder, but she finally took her leave with just a wink and a wave.
Quinn, clad in her navy suit and looking, she would proudly admit, quite handsome, knocked on the door to Mel’s hotel room an hour before their workshop was scheduled to start, exactly as planned.
Mel welcomed her in, indicating that she’d be ready in just a minute, and Quinn stood at the window, patiently waiting for her.
“Did you make it to the pool this morning?” Mel asked as she laced up her black boots.
She was perfectly professional while maintaining her effortlessly cool aura in a sleek, dark grey plaid suit.
When Quinn nodded, Mel said, as if Quinn should have asked, “You’ll be glad to hear that I also had the opportunity to get some energy out. Last night.”
“I’ll be glad to hear, huh,” Quinn responded. Mel was always going to be Mel. “Jessica?”
The pretty assistant from Phoenix had been flirting with Mel all week, and they’d agreed to grab drinks at the hotel bar after their dinner the previous night.
“Oh, no, turns out she’s only twenty-three,” Mel replied. Age was pretty much the only boundary she had, and she shuddered when she spoke, before her expression turned to delight. “It was Audrey. I’ll spare the details, because y’all are basically family.”
“I appreciate that,” Quinn replied, rolling her eyes. “You ready?”
Mel grabbed her laptop, which housed their presentation, and they walked together toward the elevator that would take them to the conference center floor.
They’d completed a technology check the previous afternoon, so there wasn’t much to do except plug in their computer and wait patiently for their session’s start time.
Quinn was all energy while they waited, bouncing on her feet, while Mel preferred a much calmer warm up, sitting and visualizing the presentation from beginning through the end.
Maybe they shouldn’t put so much pressure on this one workshop, but the whole week had been leading to this point.
Quinn had literally risked their friendship, maybe even their business, not telling Mel about her connection with Liv, all purportedly because of the opportunities that could arise from this next ninety minutes.
But the reality was that this was where they were most in their element.
They were great at the schmoozing, and they both enjoyed the consulting piece of their business, but the trainings, particularly for big groups, were where they really shone.
Mel had dabbled in theater, and she just had a performance side of her that excelled.
Quinn had never met a group of people that she couldn’t win over.
They had an energy in the way they presented.
Maybe it wasn’t the sexiest thing, Quinn knew, to stand in front of a room and talk to a bunch of professionals about performance management, but there was something incredible about feeling like she was good at something, that she could perfectly accomplish the job in front of her.
In a way, it reminded her of competitive swimming.
She was finding ways to be successful at something that came naturally to her, though she was still willing to put in the work.
They kicked off the presentation with brief introductions, each of them giving an overview of their background. Quinn, for her part, shared photos of her childhood, highlighting in particular her larger than average family.
They rounded out the intro portion with a short clip of the video that went viral.
“Just so you know, we don’t include that video in all our presentations,” Quinn said.
Mel laughed. “So many of you have quoted ‘do it badly’ to us this week that we added it in, for y’all.”
“We got our first major piece of brand recognition because of that simple message,” Quinn added, working into the transition that they’d planned.
“Our goal is that your takeaways from this session today feel just as simple. And, in the spirit of innovating through excellence, there are examples of these tools in the conference app. ”
They dove into what they liked to refer to as the “HR nerd” portion of their presentation, walking the participants through the basic forms and tools that they’d brought with them, and then they led the attendees through several activities, asking them to work through examples with their own teams, with time to practice, roleplaying with each other.
They finished with some quick tips on giving difficult feedback, before thanking the attendees and letting everyone know that they’d be around for a while after if anyone had questions.
They were pleasantly surprised by the number of people who stayed after to talk, even more so when it became clear that, of those, only a few seemed to be fangirling over Mel.
It wasn’t until several minutes after their presentation had ended that Quinn realized that multiple members of the Palmer family were still in the room, sitting in a small group with Rhea. She expected Audrey or Liv to come over, but it was Liv’s dad who approached them first.
“Mr. Palmer,” Quinn greeted him, extending her hand to shake. “Thank you for coming to our session.”
“Scott,” he corrected her, shaking their hands each in turn.
“Good to see you again,” Mel said. “What did you think of our presentation?”
“I thought it was well done,” he replied simply. Quinn was proud for a moment, before he continued, “It’s my understanding that you two have been working my teams, trying to drum up business across our different locations. How’s that going?”
Quinn’s heart raced at his words, concern washing over her that they’d overstepped. “Is that okay? We thought it was encouraged for vendors and speakers to connect with the individual teams?”
“Oh, you misunderstand me,” he responded, seeming surprised by her response. “I’m glad to hear my teams have been receptive to training and leadership coaching. You met with Phoenix, correct?”
“Yes, Daniel Copper and his team,” Quinn confirmed. The dinner had gone well the previous night, and they were planning to travel to Arizona sometime in the next quarter for a round of foundational leadership trainings.
“Perfect. I’m going to keep my ear to the ground about you two. We have some different training initiatives coming down the pipeline that we might need support on.”
Mel and Quinn both lost all sense of professionalism in their surprise at what he said.
“Whoa,” Mel breathed.
“It’s just us. We’re limited in how much we can offer,” Quinn said, and she found her eyes darting to Liv for just a moment, wondering if she was aware of the content of this conversation.
Mr. Palmer held his hand up to his mouth, as if whispering a secret to them, and said, “If this works out, you could probably scale up. I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”
“Of course,” Mel replied, recovering before Quinn.
“I look forward to hearing more from Prism,” he said, and it was clear that the conversation was over. He shook both of their hands again before excusing himself.
“Holy fucking shit,” Mel muttered under her breath.
“You took the words out of my mouth,” Quinn replied.
“You’re welcome for bringing you here,” Mel added. “I’m taking credit for this idea.”
“Whatever you say, buddy,” Quinn said, slapping her friend on the shoulder. She didn’t care who got the credit when it came down to it. Maybe it wasn’t anything solid, but it felt like they were moving towards something that could be huge for Prism.
Quinn’s thoughts turned again to Liv, still in the room, and she had to force herself not to run to her, to throw her arms around her in excitement. Because…did this complicate things? Did this mean that there was a chance they’d stay in each other’s lives?
No, Quinn had to stop that line of thought, to shoot it down entirely.
If any additional projects with J&P moved forward, Mel would have to take point if the project touched Liv’s teams. Quinn could continue to enjoy the rest of the time she had with Liv this week.
And then they would part on a real goodbye and leave each other’s lives for good.
She didn’t dare hope for more.