seventeen
I swiped to answer the call. “James?” After our rather public good-bye, I hadn’t heard one word from him, and I couldn’t imagine what would possess him to call now.
“Grace! Hello!” He sounded triumphant. “I’m so glad to finally reach you. I’ve been trying for the last two hours, nonstop. Cell service a little rough in the great beyond, eh?” He laughed, but it sounded forced.
I looked at Tucker, who was watching me from his seat at the table, candlelight flickering on his face. Gigi caught my eye and narrowed hers. I’d made rough sketches of James to Tucker, but Gigi had a fuller picture of those last few weeks in New York, including James’s notable silence after the Milano debacle. I could see the skepticism fall over her expression.
“How can I help you?” I said, hoping the cold reception would remind him of a helpful Target associate, not a former eager flirting partner and employee.
“Well,” he said, drawing out the word, “I have some news. And a proposal.”
I broke my gaze with Tucker and walked a bit into the backyard. Tucker within reach and James’s voice in my ear was a pairing that was freaking me out. “I’m listening,” I said when James didn’t continue.
“Great. That’s great.” I could hear relief in his voice. “I just want you to listen. I’ve left Milano.”
“You left?” I sputtered, trying to imagine a Milano without James and a James without Milano. They were so connected in my mind and in my experience, I could barely comprehend what he was saying. “When? Why?”
“The day after you left, actually,” he said. “I’d been trying to get up my nerve for months. I’d been working on a side project in off-hours, really loving what I was doing, and Milano had become a place where I was paid well but not thriving at all. Let’s just say Nancy and I had creative differences. Perhaps you can identify.”
I paused, waiting for him to continue.
“So,” he said when I said nothing, “when I saw how Nancy treated you and how crazy she was to let you go, I realized I was done there. It was time to jump ship.”
“Wow,” I said, mind reeling. “Sounds terrifying.”
He laughed. “It was. But it was definitely the right decision. I know that more every day.”
“That’s wonderful,” I said. “I’m happy for you, James.” I said it slowly, wondering what on earth his Oprah lightbulb moment had to do with me.
“Actually,” James said, as if reading my thoughts, “this whole story is the reason for my call. Grace, I’m starting my own line, and I want you to be a part of it.”
I could hear Tucker and Gigi talking quietly, but with the roar in my ears I didn’t register a word they were saying. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ve leased a space in the Garment District. I have a full team of people, many from Milano who followed me and my vision. We are creating a full line of women’s everyday and evening. I’m calling it Saffron, and I want your new company—your new genius company—to be a part of it.”
“Wait,” I said. I was pacing, my free hand on my forehead. “You want my dresses? Our dresses?”
“Absolutely,” he said without hesitation. “You’re on to something phenomenal. The fabrics, the silhouettes, the easy elegance, the grannies, everything. I love it all. And I’m not alone, as you know. Congrats on the Catwalk piece, by the way.” His laugh was a low rumble in my ear. “Iowa girl makes good, Miss Kleren. The whole story is, well, seductive.”
I felt my pulse quicken, his words seeping into my parched NYC pride, still injured and smarting months after our last conversation. “I’ve found a great team here,” I said. “We’ve hit on something really fantastic. And I love it.”
“That’s wonderful. Grace.” His words were coming fast, urgent. “Come back. I’ll give Flyover full financial backing, and I’m in the position to do what you need to grow this company. I have a seat on United on hold for you right now. Just say the word and get on the plane tomorrow. I’ll do everything else.”
I realized I needed to blink. My eyes had widened so big and for so long, I had forgotten to blink. Get it together, Kleren, I thought, eyes on the blue-black grass under my sandals. The lights strung in Gigi’s tree were far behind me now. “Will it still be my company?”
“Yes.” He spoke decisively. “Totally yours, just under the larger paradigm of Saffron.”
“What about my design authority? My vision?”
“That’s what I love most. Your ideas, your vision, your designs—we want it all. You have the final word on everything.”
I looked up then, my view filled with a sky full of summer starlight. “What about my team? The grandmas are a deal breaker. They stay or I’m out.” My heart was hammering in my chest, knowing this was a big ask, one that could topple the whole deal before I set one foot in New York.
“The grannies stay,” James said firmly. “They are the heart of the company and of the whole narrative. They’re a huge part of why this works.”
My throat constricted and I struggled to speak.
“Everyone is going to love the grannies.” He laughed.
“Thanks for seeing that, James.”
He waited a beat, and when he spoke again, he sounded like he was fighting some emotion. “Grace, I need you here. Please come and make this so much better than what it could ever be without you.”
When I returned to the table I bypassed my seat completely and sat instead on Tucker’s lap. I took his face in my hands and kissed him loudly. “Guess what?” I said, beaming. “James wants us.”
Tucker raised one eyebrow. “If this is the James you’ve mentioned before, I’m afraid I don’t want him. Thanks, but no thanks.”
I laughed, feeling a lightness that made an already perfect night blossom into something for the history books. “It is the same James, but I mean he wants Flyover. He wants to invest in the company but let me retain all design and staffing authority.” I felt my cheeks starting to ache, so wide was my smile.
“Honey, that’s wonderful,” Gigi said, coming to kiss me on the top of my head. “I’m so proud of you.” She tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and looked at me, her expression unreadable. “You’ve worked so hard, and you deserve to take this dream wherever you want it to land.”
“We’ve all worked hard,” I said, jumping up to help Gigi clear the dishes. “That’s the best part. He wants the whole team. Says it’s all part of the charm of the brand.”
Tucker held the door for our little party as we stepped into the dark kitchen. Gigi hit the light switch with her elbow and continued to the kitchen sink, her back to me. “That’s unbelievable,” she said over the spill of the faucet. “I’m so happy for you, Grace. Really.” She offered her cheek to me and I kissed it. “Now leave me alone. I want dish duty on my own tonight. No offense to either of you, but an old lady needs some peace and quiet every now and then.” Her smile seemed sad and I furrowed my brow.
“Are you sure you don’t want company?”
“Not at all. Just let me be. I’m about to turn on my Garth, and I know how you feel about that.” She nodded at my eye roll. Garth Brooks knew how to write a song, I supposed, but when Gigi got her Garth on, she sang along with a wide vibrato that could rival the mating calls of wildlife. “You two sit out under those lights I nearly killed myself stringing. It’s a beautiful night, and it sounds like Gracie might be gone for a while. Best to enjoy the evening while you can.”
Tucker held my hand as we walked out to the patio again, a cascade of stars and tree lights falling around us. He stopped at a spot out of view of Gigi’s kitchen window and pulled me to himself. I could hear his heart beating.
“I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks,” I said, relishing the warmth of him. “It’s been a really good day.” We could hear the strains of music filtering through Gigi’s windows and, without saying a word, started to dance, a slow sway under the night sky.
“When do you leave?” he said after a long time.
“Tomorrow,” I said, still stunned by the suddenness of it all. I pulled back to meet his eyes. “But this is different. You know that, right?”
I saw his jaw tense before he answered. “Absolutely. We are much older and much wiser. And we have our own cell plans.” He smiled, but I saw a hesitation in his eyes that made me frown.
“We won’t even need those phones that much.” I stopped swaying. “I’ll be home on Friday. This is different.” I searched his face, willing him to understand.
He leaned down and kissed me, a soft, lingering kiss that made my scalp tingle, it was so good. When he pulled away, a small smile played on his lips and in his eyes. “So far, our adult version of us is even more fantastic than our kid version. So different is good, right?”
“Right,” I said, full of confidence in the truth of the word. “Home on Friday.”
“Home on Friday.” He kissed me again, this time traveling toward my jawline, my neck. “But don’t bring the doof, okay? I want you on Friday, but James can stay in New York in his fancy Italian loafers.”
I giggled. “How did you know he loves Italian loafers?”
“Just a wild guess.” Kiss on the tender spot under my ear.
I sighed happily. “Friday it is. Just five days away.” Though, when he kissed me like that, looked at me like that, the distance between me and Friday felt like five days too many.