Page 81 of The Encounter
Maddie dropped her head in her hands. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”
Kailynn shrugged and smiled. “Honestly, the publicity might not be a bad thing for the company. Not that I’m trying to ride on your misery.”
Maddie laughed. “Well, at least one of us might benefit from this trash.” She chucked the tabloid into the trashcan and turned back to her computer. Day-after-day since going bowling with Jace, an article was published mentioning her name. Every single one made a dig on her, even if the article was about Jace. Her heart stung at the words. As much as she tried to avoid taking it personally, she couldn’t help it. Samantha played dirty, and the words being thrown at her constantly wore on her.
“Has Jace said anything about the articles?” Kailynn asked.
Maddie swiveled in her chair to look over at Kailynn. “He just apologizes that I’m being dragged into it.”
Kailynn stood up and pulled the tabloid out of the trash, flipping it open to the article. “As far as I can tell, though, it’s only one newspaper and one reporter who is doing the dragging.”
“You noticed that too?”
“Unfortunately.”
Maddie pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “I don’t think it’s ever going to stop.”
“I don’t think it will either. That woman thinks she has a claim on Jace for whatever reason.”
“Yeah,” Maddie muttered. She knew why Samantha thought she had a claim. Samantha and Jace used to use each other as a fallback, so of course she’s expecting it to happen again. But Maddie wondered if Samantha was the reason that Jace’s past relationships hadn’t worked out and he just didn’t know it. If Samantha were behind the scenes pulling the strings to make sure Jace wound up back in her arms in hopes of it being forever that time, who’s to say she wasn’t doing it again?
“I’m going to change the subject,” Kailynn stated.
Maddie smiled. She needed a subject change and Kailynn had her business face on, so Maddie knew it would be business-related. It was something to take her mind off everything that was happening, and marketing also happened to be something she enjoyed, so it was welcome.
“All right. Go ahead.”
“There’s something I’ve been wanting to discuss with you. I wanted to say it sooner, but I needed to chat with Chase about it to make sure everything I was doing was sound in the legal sense.”
Maddie’s ears perked at that. “Please tell me I’m not being fired.”
Kailynn’s eyes widened. “Fired? Of course not! You’ve been helping my company grow! I’d never fire you!”
Maddie pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, thank God. Okay, sorry to interrupt. Please continue.”
“As you know, you’ve been bringing a lot of new clients into the business because of your high-profile relationship with Jace. And that you wore one of my designs to the ball gave me an incredible amount of free publicity.”
“Well, the dress was stunning. It was my dream dress, so I thinkyoudidmethe favor.”
Kailynn waved her hand in the air. “Agree to disagree. But I spoke with Chase about it, and I would like to pay you commissions for every person who makes a purchase because of your direct influence. For instance, Jackie, Sandra, and Jen all made custom purchases because of you.”
Maddie stared in disbelief. “It wasn’t exactly a hard sell. I mean, I was wearingyourgown that you graciouslygaveto me.”
“Maddie, I’m trying to pay you a compliment on your smooth marketing skills. Just take it.”
Maddie laughed. “Okay. So what are you saying exactly?”
Kailynn turned to her desk and opened a drawer, pulling out an envelope with Maddie’s name on it. “I’m saying that I’m going to pay you a percentage of my profit from every order that comes in because of you.”
She handed Maddie the envelope. Maddie stared at it with wide eyes. “Are you serious?”
Kailynn nodded. “Yes. I’m serious. Open it.”
With shaking hands, Maddie opened the envelope and pulled out the check. Her vision blurred at the numbers in front of her eyes. It was the equivalent of a month’s salary.
Kailynn leaned over and wrapped her arms around Maddie. “I don’t know what I would do without you. You have made my life so much easier and helped ease my worries about keeping this business afloat. This is the only way I could think to repay you… by literally paying you.” She chuckled.
Maddie wrapped her arms around Kailynn. “Are you sure? I feel like this is too much.”
