Page 1 of The Meeting
1
Kailynn Winters brushed her auburn hair out of her eyes as she stared at the dress before her. It was already on a mannequin waiting for its close up to be posted on the website, but something was missing.
She chewed on her lower lip, a pin in her hand ready to pierce the fabric. But she needed to know what to pierce first. Doing a slow walk around the dress, she eyed it.
Drew, her boyfriend of nine years and her business partner, walked into the room. He noisily shuffled some papers on the table behind her, and she had to refrain from snapping at him. She was trying to concentrate! Couldn’t he see that?
Several minutes went by with him being noisy and her circling the mannequin before she tossed her hands in the air.
“I give up! This dress is shit.”
Drew walked over and looked at the dress. He peered down at it past his black-rimmed glasses. She used to find those glasses sexy on him, but right now, they made him look like a critic.
“It’s good enough. Just take the picture so I can upload it.”
She shot daggers at him through her eyes. “Good enough? I don’t sell items that are good enough. I sell items that are great! Or fantastic!”
Her high school friend and marketer Jessica walked into the room. Jessica had come onto their team back in the beginning when they opened the company seven years ago. She used to give them suggestions for marketing Kailynn’s work while Drew handled the business side and website. Eventually, he convinced Kailynn they needed more help. Jessica had another job, so she only helped them occasionally, or when they asked her to come by when Kailynn got a lot of items out in quick succession. It had been a long time since that had happened.
He rolled his eyes. “Seriously, Kailynn? We need to upload new stuff and you’ve been on a bit of a dry spell. Just call it good and move on.”
“That’s not who I am. You know that.”
He shook his head and shoved his laptop into his bag. “Well, maybe you should think about changing.”
She lifted an eyebrow.Who the hell does he think he is?
He rolled his eyes. Again.
“You know what I’m saying.” And then he left.
Jessica watched Drew walk away before walking over to Kailynn. She looked over the dress.
“Kailynn, it’s beautiful. I don’t think there’s much more that could be added to it unless you want more sparkle.”
Kailynn didn’t hear what she said, though. She still fumed as she stared at the door where he had just left. So much for support.
“He just told me to change. What the hell was that?”
Jessica leaned against the table. “I don’t think he meant that.”
“Yeah, he did.” She sighed. “We haven’t had the best go at our relationship lately.”
“You guys will work it out. You always do.” Jessica patted Kailynn’s shoulder before walking toward the door. “I’m going to call it a night. Text me when you get out of here. I want to make sure you aren’t up all night.”
Kailynn waved and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Night.”
But she would text Jessica. She always did. It was nice having someone care about her wellbeing.
Finally, she looked back at the mannequin and snapped her fingers. “Bling! It needs bling!”
* * *
Several hours later,Kailynn drove home. It was already late, but she wouldn’t hear the end of it if she didn’t call Jessica.
Jessica picked up on the first ring and sounded out of breath.
“Did you finally leave?”
