Chapter Twelve
Artimus
With the interview for the New York Times set up, the newspaper decided that they also wanted to do a photoshoot with me, so Julia and I were headed to Bergdorf Goodman to get something to wear.
We sat in the back of my car. I’d been noticing that something wasn’t right with her. “You okay?”
She stared out the window, looking at nothing in particular. “Huh?” It wasn’t like her to be so spacey.
“Are you okay, Julia?” I reached out to run my hand over her shoulder. “You haven’t exactly been yourself these last few days. Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, sure.” She looked at me with a smile on her face. But it was forced, I could tell that much.
There had to be something bothering her. “You can tell me anything. I want you to know that.” I meant it, too. Our friendship was growing all the time. Even with her being out of sorts, she and I grew closer with each passing day.
My driver stopped at our destination and Julia took the opportunity to avoid having to explain anything to me. “Here we are, Artimus.”
I let it go for the time being. But I was set on getting her head out of the fog it had been in. On a good note, I did have her eating more than she was when she first started her job. I called out for lunch and had it delivered every day. The key was small portions of delectable food, and she’d eat it all up.
As soon as we got inside and the salesladies descended upon us, I made sure she knew she was getting a new outfit too. “I’m here for something dressy yet casual, and I want her in something sophisticated and timeless.”
Julia looked at me with a frown. “We’re here to get you something, Artimus. Not me.”
I cocked my head to the side as I shoved my hands into my pockets. “Who knows. They might want a picture of both of us both. You know, the woman behind the man.”
“Oh, is this your wife, sir?” one of the salesladies asked.
Julia was quick to reply, “No. I’m just his assistant.” She cut her eyes at me. “I don’t know why he’d say such a thing.”
“Because you are the woman behind me. I would be lost without you. So, come on, and let’s get our clothes picked out for this photo shoot.” I grabbed her hand, pulling her along with me.
Reluctantly, she came along, but I could tell she was going to argue about everything along the way. “This is crazy,” she leaned in to whisper. “And I can’t afford a damn thing in this store.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. We’ll write it down as a business expense.” A thought came to me all of a sudden. “I’m opening an account for you here. I want to see you in something new and expensive each day.”
She didn’t look pleased at all, and her tone was serious. “No way.”
I should’ve expected that reaction, but hadn’t. So I told her a little white lie. “It’s on WOLF, Julia. You need to look the part of my assistant. And I know you don’t have the funds for that. As a business account, the station can write off all the purchases you make.”
She slowed down, thinking for a moment. “We do have those meetings with the FCC in a few weeks. I probably should dress a bit savvier than I normally do.” She looked at me with her lips pulled to one side, making little wrinkles appear around her mouth. “Okay, I’ll accept a company account.”
“Good. You can have a stylist help you out too. Perhaps you could take this weekend to get yourself a number of items to add to your wardrobe. Make a day out of it. Have some fun.” I’d been wondering if Julia was having any fun at all. She’d been working so hard, spreading herself so thin for me. I didn’t want to dominate all her time.
“Bethey would love to help me shop.” She nodded. “I’ll do that, then.”
Happy to hear she’d have someone to shop with, I decided to add a bit to her weekly pay. It would mean I’d have to give the same bonuses to the rest of the employees, but I was ready to do that. I was ready to do anything that would get that beautiful smile back on her face.
“No better weekend to do that than this upcoming one. Friday’s paychecks have the bonuses in them. So you’ll have more than enough extra money to help you have a great weekend.” I smiled, patting myself on the back for being so clever.
The saleslady stopped and pointed at the menswear section. “Randolph will help you, sir.”
“Okay. I want Julia to come with me though. I need her advice on what I pick out today.” I pulled her along with me, and the saleslady seemed a bit put out, probably worrying she was about to lose the commission that would go along with helping Julia. “Not to worry. We’ll have Randolph call you when we’re done here.”
A smile replaced the anguished expression she’d worn. “Tell him to call Phoebe, please.”
Julia smiled reassuringly at her. “We will, Phoebe. And I’ll ask for you when I come back on Saturday if you’re working that day.”
The lady was over the moon now. “Oh, I will be working on Saturday. From nine in the morning to seven in the evening. Please do ask for me. And your name is?”
“Julia Bengal.” She waved at the woman. “See you in a bit.”
“I’ll get some things together for you in the meantime to speed things up for you, Julia.” And with that, the woman left with a skip in her step as she saw dollar signs in her future.
Randolph showed up with a tape measure laid across his neck. “Hi. Are you looking for something in particular?”
Julia stepped right up, taking over the way she was so good at. “He’s going to need to look dressed up and professional, but in a casual way. I like him in dark blues, and deep browns accent his hair well. So, let’s start looking at those color wheels and see where that takes us.”
As we followed the salesman, I nudged her with my shoulder. “I like the color red on you, just so you know.”
Her cheeks went red as she tugged her hand out of mine. “You’re so silly.”
I wasn’t trying to be silly at all. I was trying to move things forward with her. Her mood had put a halt to most of the plans I’d decided on for how to move our working relationship to a romantic one.
After that crazy, hot night of her at the center of my fantasies and dreams, I’d decided to start laying the groundwork for me and her to start something.
Of course, there was the off chance that we might not last forever—even though that word seemed to be as much a part of my fantasies as Julia herself—but that was a chance I was willing to take.
While Randolph picked out some outfits, I took a seat and made her take one too. “Sit. Let him do all the legwork.”
She sat down in the chair next to mine. “You’re right. I should let him do his job.” She tapped her fingers on the rails as she sat back. Her body looked relaxed, but the tapping nails told me something was on her mind.
Something that had been on her mind for the last few days and now was as good a time as any to get into it. “While we’re waiting, I’d like to get to the bottom of this mood you’ve been in.”
Her nails stopped tapping as she looked at them, then me. “Why do you think I’ve been in a mood?”
My eyes rolled of their own volition. “Really, Julia?”
She looked down at the floor. “You notice too much.”
I had to laugh at that. “You and I spend too much time together for me not to. And maybe I could help you out of this funk if you just tell me what put you in it in the first place.”
Her eyes held mine for a very long time, and I knew she was considering whether or not she should let me in on what was going on. But then Randolph showed up with an armload of things for me to try on. “Here you go, sir. Let me show you to the dressing room over here.”
Julia got up and followed along, taking a seat outside of the dressing room. “Make sure you come out and show me each outfit, Artimus. I want you to look fantastic for this shoot.”
So I had to drop the conversation right there. For the next two hours, I played model for her as she nitpicked everything that Randolph had picked out for me.
In the end, she mixed up a shirt he’d chosen and found a pair of slacks she picked out herself, and then added a pair of shoes he said would work well with the ensemble.
I finally had my clothes picked out, and we went to get her something too. I’d never tried on so many damn clothes in my life and vowed I would never shop for myself with her again.
I had wanted to let my stylist pick something out and send it to me, but Julia wasn’t having any of that. She wanted me to be as close to perfect as possible for this interview. She even went so far as to make up some questions for me to answer and gave me several mock interviews.
With her as my coach, I didn’t think failure was an option.
As we looked through the clothes her saleslady had picked out, I found Julia wasn’t nearly as picky about her own clothes as she’d been with mine.
Her exact words were, “The red dress, the black heels, the black pearl necklace. Wrap that up, and we’ll be ready to go.”
“Add some matching pearl earrings,” I added. “And a purse, too—something nice and expensive. Like that black Givenchy over there. That one will do.”
“Artimus, that’s too much,” Julia argued. “I’ve got a black purse already and some earrings too.”
I could only shake my head. “No. I want it all to match.” I looked at the saleslady. “If you have a bracelet that’ll match, add that too.”
Julia crossed her arms over her chest. “Artimus!”
“It’s on the station and is a tax write-off, Julia. Now let me do what I have to in order to keep our tax debt down.” I was particularly proud of coming up with that excuse as a reason to buy her things.
The fact was that it made me happy to buy her stuff. It made me happy to order things that I knew she’d eat. The expense was nothing compared to the joy I felt when I was able to provide anything for her.
I knew she loved everything she’d gotten that day. I had even overheard her and the saleslady talking about how gorgeous everything was and how happy Julia was with everything. And they were already talking about what they’d be looking at on Saturday.
So Julia could balk all she wanted. I knew our little shopping trip had improved her bad mood. If I hadn’t already known as we left the cash register, I would have known a few minutes later when we got into the car. As my driver was putting the purchases in the trunk, she reached across and hugged me.
Her smile was bright when she let me go. “Thank you, boss. You’ve brightened my day.”
The only thing that would’ve made that moment better was if I’d gotten to kiss her. But that would have to wait. The groundwork had to be laid out first.