“Living dangerously?” Lexi asked, smoothing her napkin over her lap, breaking their eye contact.
“Just making some changes. Trying new things.” Again an awkward silence blanketed the table until Elizabeth cleared her throat.
“So, the reason I wanted to talk to both of you is, well, this.” Elizabeth waved her hand back and forth at the two of them. “And this is Elizabeth Drake speaking, your boss, not your mother. If I was speaking as your mother, this would be a very different conversation.” She looked back and forth between the pair and watched their heads slowly bob up and down in understanding. “I know there are some things of a personal nature that you both need to straighten out together.” She stressed the last word, and Lexi’s cheeks turn red. “The thing is, tomorrow is an extremely important day for Hunter. Marradesi cosmetics could easily be one of the most lucrative accounts we’ve ever secured, and I need to know that you two can put aside your personal issues and work together on this like adults.”
“Absolutely,” Vincent said quickly, shocked that she assumed he’d be anything but professional.
“Elizabeth, I’d never let anything interfere with the presentation tomorrow. I’ll get Vincent everything he needs so he’ll be ready.”
“About that,” Elizabeth paused and sipped her coffee while Lexi and Vincent both sat up straighter in their chairs, sensing she was about to drop a bomb of sorts. “I want you to give the presentation together.”
Vincent nodded his head in agreement, but Lexi paled to the point that she looked like she might faint.
“Hear me out, dear.” Elizabeth patted her hand reassuringly. “You two together are magical. I know you don’t want to hear that right now, but it’s true, and I’m not going to pretend it isn’t. You’re captivating, the way you interact with one another, the banter, the completing one another’s thoughts. i won’t even get into how much Francesca has asked about you in our phone conversations.” Elizabeth sat back and let them both take in what she had implied.
“Elizabeth, you’ve seen the headlines. Hunter is still all over the front pages of the papers. How will it look if the woman originally accused of being the mole in the company is now making multi-million dollar pitches? The gossipmongers will have a field day.”
“I don’t care what people think, dear. I don’t think you should either.”
“But the press—” Lexi tried one last time, but Elizabeth shook her head and dug in her heels.
“I’ll take care of the press.” Confident and strong, Elizabeth raised her chin and laid down the law. “The bottom line is this: the client likes you together, and I like you together, so tomorrow you will be giving this presentation together. That means the rest of today, you two are going to be locked behind closed doors prepping for this. Understand?”
“Absolutely,” Lexi and Vincent said at the same time, earning a big smile from Elizabeth.
“Excellent.”
The food arrived and saved them from any further discussion on the matter. Vincent noticed that Lexi pushed her French toast around on her plate for a while and guessed that it had something to do with the news, but after a while, she seemed to find her appetite and polished off her meal. As soon as Elizabeth paid the bill, Lexi was on her feet and excusing herself, explaining that she had so much to work on that she didn’t want to wait another second. She politely thanked Elizabeth for breakfast and told Vincent she’d see him in a few minutes in his office.
As soon as she disappeared from the restaurant, Vincent turned to his grinning mother. “That was low, even for you.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You just manipulated her into spending the day with me. You know we have the Marradesi presentation nailed down.”
Elizabeth shrugged unapologetically. “True, but she also wasn’t speaking to you before my … what did you call it? Oh yes, manipulation. I didn’t manipulate her, per say; I manipulated the situation so the two of you get to spend the day together working out the details of the presentation … or whatever else might come up.”
Elizabeth tossed a few bills onto the table for the tip and took her son’s arm as he led her from the restaurant. “Either way, you’ll be talking. And together. So don’t blow it.” She took out her keys and unlocked her car door. “I was completely serious about the presentation. I expect you both to be professional and nail it. So you better find a way to make both work. Call me if you need me. I have to drop something off down at the Chronicle.
Love you!”
∙ 32 ∙
B
ack at the office, Lexi pulled together the presentation packets and printed out the outline to make notes on when Vincent came back from his next appointment. When Elizabeth first announced that she wanted Lexi to be part of the presentation, part of her had wanted to run from the restaurant and crawl back into bed to cry the day away. But the other part of her, the one that was becoming stronger each day, wanted this. Lexi knew that she deserved to be a part of this presentation. She had worked her ass off and earned a place beside Vincent in front of the Marradesis.
Elizabeth had given her a wonderful opportunity, and she was not about to let her down, even if it meant spending the day in close proximity with Vincent.
She rifled around her desk and noticed presentation boards were missing. In a panic, she rushed into Vincent’s office, hoping to find them there, but they were gone. She was just about to call him when Tony turned the corner carrying a pile of boards.
“Hey,” he said, sounding almost polite. “Were you looking for these?” He held up the boards, and Lexi fell back against her desk and sighed.
“Yes. What were you doing with them?” Lexi eyed him suspiciously.
“I—I made some changes to them.”
Lexi’s temper exploded. “You had no right to do that. We present tomorrow and—” She grabbed the boards and scanned them. Her eyes shot back
to Tony, who rubbed the back of his neck and nervously shifted in place.
“Yeah, well, some things just needed to be erased. Before you freak out again, Elizabeth knew I was doing it. She gave me her blessing or i wouldn’t have touched it.”
Lexi hardly recognized the man in front of her. He was docile and apologetic and hadn’t uttered a horrible word to her in the few minutes he’d been there, a personal record for him. The revised boards were spectacular, particularly the new background. “Why?” she asked.