Chapter Eight

Caroline it seemed was always in a hurry no matter how hard she tried not to be. She felt like a chicken with her head cut off on most days, and that was never a good feeling for anyone. Daily she was filled with stress, and often she felt overloaded, but that was the life of a designer she supposed. She loved the fashion world, and although it could be stressful at times, she wouldn’t trade her life for anything.

She made her way to the café down the street to get her usual dose of caffeine to help through the day. She found she drank a lot of coffee, mainly because she was up late at night working on her designs, and mornings came way too fast. The café was not far from the design studio she rented, and she always liked to bring back her team some cupcakes, and they made the best in the city! Caroline approached the counter and put in her order, trying as best as she could to be patient. She drummed her fingers on the countertop as she waited. She couldn’t get last night’s designs out of her head and wondered if they needed a bit of a change. It certainly wouldn’t hurt, but she was so close to presenting them during fashion week that she didn’t want to lose any time by changing things unnecessarily. Sometimes she could be a perfectionist, and that got her in hot water often.

She had one very exciting thing on her schedule for the day, and just thinking about it boiled up some excitement in her. An order had come in a few weeks ago for a popular pop star who was looking for a particular design. The deadline was for today, and she needed to have the sketches and thumbnails to the pop star that day. She needed a design for some music awards that were coming up, and it was a true honor that Caroline had been chosen to do the design. What more could a designer want than to see one of her dresses on a celebrity? It didn’t get much better than that.

It was important that she offer the girl her best designs possible, and it had been something that weighed heavily on her mind all the time. She couldn’t screw it up. This client could bring her to the next level in her career, and her heart beat fast just thinking about it.

It had been six months since she had been in Africa, and it was almost as if it never happened. It’s funny how being back in the big city could make you forget certain things. The hustle and bustle of the city was nothing like the laidback living she found in Africa. She found if she thought about it too often, she would find herself going back there, and she missed it. She missed the children, the work that made her feel so fulfilled in many ways, and the people. Since she had been back from Africa, she had been working her ass off, so time just seemed to pass by her.

It was important for her after seeing how things went in Africa to really make her own dreams come true. One thing that she learned from being in Africa was that life was fleeting, and it went by so fast. It was important for her to chase her dreams while she was still young because she felt she owed it to her experience to do her best in life.

She refused to believe that she chased the hours in the day to try to forget something or someone. Caroline definitely didn’t enjoy idle time in which she could just sit there and contemplate things. But there were times when she couldn’t help thinking about Joshua and the time that they had shared together. She had not spoken to Joshua since she had walked away from him at his cabin in Africa. At the time, she felt it was what was best for her, and she couldn’t question that decision. Not now. Joshua was a man who was troubled in more ways than one. She considered it a fling and nothing more. These things happened when people were away, and they generally didn’t mean anything. Caroline wanted what happened to stay in her past; there was no point in dwelling on that time. If she were honest with herself, she would admit that maybe the crazy way she had been working lately had more to do with the fact that she was hiding unresolved feelings for Joshua. Which was completely stupid because they had only known each other for a short time. How could she feel something for him in such a short period? Caroline refused to believe that she fell for a guy she had just met. Not to mention the fact that the man had never been in a serious relationship in his life, so why would she shackle herself to a man like that. It was a recipe for disaster.

Caroline had been working her ass off the past six months to disguise the fact that thinking about Joshua reminded her of what it had felt like to have his hands on her body. She couldn’t exactly complain, however, as working her ass off had really paid off, and the company she started had grown significantly. Things were going great business-wise; she had a great team, and they worked just as hard as she did in making sure her designs were realized. At first, she had been doing all the work herself, and now she had people she could delegate those tasks to. It was a liberating feeling to have, and she couldn’t be happier with the position she was in. That was the upside, the downside was that she often found herself standing in a coffee line with a zombie expression across her face. She would be laughing, however, if the pop star loved her design and wore it to the show. The pop star could make a garbage bag look good, so if she wore her designs, it was likely that more orders would just keep piling in.

She smiled at the counter person as he handed her the trays of coffee and cupcakes. Her teams would need it just as much as she did, and she liked taking care of a hardworking team. Getting coffee was no different than how she cared for people in Africa; she just liked making people happy. It made her life so much more fulfilling.

When she stepped outside, the sun was beating down so brightly that she just had to stop for a moment to take it in. She rarely just stopped and took a breath, and there she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk just forcing herself to relax and enjoy the sun for a moment. It felt good beating against her skin, and it made her miss Africa. She loved her life—there wasn’t a bad thing about it, so she should be grateful. She also should consider slowing down, so she didn’t burn out. When there were people in the world dying, being stressed about whether her designs would sell or not was a silly thing to do. After all, life went on; it always did. Her future looked bright and successful, so what was she stressing out about? She needed to start living her life as if every day was her last.

Caroline headed towards her office with a new lightness to her step thinking about how well the day was going to go. She opened the doors to the brightly lit studio. One of the interns made a beeline for her and snatched the trays from her hand.

“Thanks, Betsy. It wasn’t easy getting hose here; I’m surprised I didn’t drop them.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done something like that myself.” The intern brought around the coffee to people and set out the cupcakes for whoever chose to come for them. They would be gone in 20 minutes, she could guarantee it.

“Something came for you today.”

“What is it?”

“No idea. But it looks fancy.”

Caroline laughed, “I can’t imagine what it is. Unless the pop star is trying to inspire me to create faster.”

“I have no idea who it’s from.”

“How mysterious.” Caroline couldn’t imagine who the package would be from; she hadn’t ordered anything lately. She followed Betsy to her office where a box sat on her desk. They both looked down at it, but Caroline still couldn’t determine where it came from. The package was wrapped in paper that could only be described as luxurious, which only further puzzled Caroline.

“I have to tell you, Caroline, it looks like it could be a romantic gift.”

“What? Do you think?”

“Just unwrap it for goodness sake; the suspense is killing me.”

Caroline laughed. “Okay hold on.” She quickly unwrapped the mysterious package to find a gorgeous blue dress sitting there with a diamond necklace on top.

“Oh, my God.”

“Hey, there’s a letter in there,” whispered Betsy.

“Where?”

“Right there!” Betsy was practically yelling at her. Caroline chuckled. “Easy there girl, I didn’t see it.”

Betsy handed her the letter, and she turned it over to see if there was a name. There wasn’t. She quickly opened the letter to find directions to the hottest French restaurant in town. She was to wear the dress and necklace when she went there tonight at seven.

“Wow. That is so romantic.”

“I have no idea what is going on right now,” muttered Caroline.

“It has to be Mike.”

“Really, you think so?” The thought of Mike sending her a package such as that caused her to grow warm all over.

“Of course. Who else could it be? He sent you those flowers the other day too. He’s on a roll.”

“Yeah, but flowers are one thing; this is something else entirely.”

“Sure, but the guy is loaded. It’s not like he can’t afford it.”

Caroline stared down at the letter wondering. It would be a sweet gesture; it just seemed too soon for two people who had just started to get to know one another. But maybe Mike was trying to woo her on another extreme level.

“What should I do?”

“You should definitely go.”

“Really? I don’t know.”

“Are you crazy, Caroline? If a guy did something like that for me, I would already be on my way over, even if I was like 10 hours early.”

Caroline laughed. “Yeah, but that’s assuming you think it’s Mike. It could be a stalker waiting at that table for me. Super creepy.”

“Come on. You can’t be serious.”

“Well, it’s not like I haven’t been splashed all over the papers lately. It could be anyone that sent this. To be honest, if it was Mike, I think it would say so.”

“Whoa Caroline, you are way over-thinking this one. Yes, it’s just been a week since you met Mike, but he’s been contacting you non-stop ever since. He could just be making a romantic gesture.”

She nodded, “Yeah I guess you’re right; maybe I am overreacting.”

“Well, I’ll leave you to that. I need to drink my coffee and get back to work. I’m swamped.”

“Yes, please do, you really help keep things afloat.”

Caroline sat down at her desk and started to sift through some paperwork. She kept looking up at the box, however, unable to concentrate. Who sent that beautiful dress? She picked up the letter again, reading it over, and then touched the fabric of the dress. There was one thing for sure—it was expensive material; the necklace was on a whole other level entirely. Betsy had been right about one thing, the package had been fancy, and she just wasn’t sure Mike was behind it.

Thinking about Mike, however, always brought a smile to her face. She really liked the guy but just didn’t think he would make such a grand gesture, especially so soon. But they always had a great time together, so maybe she was underestimating his attraction to her. Maybe he was all about the grand gesture.

When she met Mike, she was attending an AIDS gala fundraiser. Since leaving Africa, she wanted to be more involved in the cause. She may not be building schools or teaching students, but she still wanted to be part of the cause and lending a hand where she could now that she was back home. She had allowed one of her dresses to be auctioned off for the cause, and it had sold for almost $10,000. That was nothing to sneeze at. She ended up meeting Mike because he had been seated at the same table as she was, on purpose, surely. He was tall, dark and hard all over; very hard to resist. He was a little older than she was, but she didn’t mind at all. He owned one of the major baseball teams in the area and was quite successful at it. She had a hard time not thinking about him.

They had spent the better part of the evening talking and laughing together. Later on that night, the organizer had confessed that Mike had asked to sit at her table. She had been surprised but deeply flattered. She had never met a kinder and more thoughtful man and spending time with him had been a real treat. She couldn’t have had more fun that night and doubted that she would have had a better time had he not been there to entertain her. He had asked her out that night, and they had dinner the next evening, and ever since then, they had been talking non-stop. After the date, she had been sure that there was a reason that Mike had been brought into her life. She could really believe that he might be the one. Or was she talking crazy as well? They had only met a week ago, but then this box arrived. What did it mean?

Mike was a sexy, successful, and kind man; she should snap him up while she could. Although he was one hell of a sexy guy, they had yet to sleep together. Not that she wanted to rush things, she was fine with how things were going.

Caroline made her decision; she was going to go to the restaurant and meet that mystery man.