Page 32 of Bargain With The Boss (Crescent Cove: The Moguls #2)
Sydney
Seattle was a dreary, rainy day when I landed.
Summertime was usually more on the sunny side, but the weather fit my mood. I called a rideshare to bring me home and immediately missed my Mini Cooper when a battered SUV rolled up. I climbed in the back, struggling with my bag.
Because why would the driver want to help me?
I rattled off my address and stared out the rain-splattered window. My phone buzzed in my carry-on, dragging me out of my thoughts. Three texts from my mother waited for me from when I was on the flight, but the new text was Jude.
Jude:
Are you home?
Yes. Just arrived.
Jude:
If you need backup, I can figure it out.
My chest eased a little at the offer. I wouldn’t be taking him up on it, but I appreciated that he was willing to join me in the viper’s den.
I’ll deal with Mother. Kiss the kids for me and tell Maddie hello.
Jude:
I will. I’m sorry, Syd.
I smiled at the screen. Even my brother had the shortened name for me. I felt a lot more like that woman and wished I could have stayed in her skin.
Instead, I was back here.
Alone.
I should have gone straight to the office. It was still midday with the time change on the plane ride to the West Coast, but I needed to recharge and put Sydney Keller, Head of Design Operations back on. And that required a shower and sleep.
Even if Xavier followed me into dreams.
Sometimes, he was touching me in that teasing stroke that made my heart race. More often than not it was those accusing eyes with his hand on that fucking box.
The box that was still in my carry-on.
I couldn’t seem to make myself take it.
Which was stupid. I’d screwed things up with him. What if we’d actually created a baby? My hand slid across my middle. Would I become my mother?
No.
No, I would never screw up a kid as much as she did. At least that much I knew to be true. I sure as hell didn’t know anything else.
The driver pulled up to my condo and I got out silently.
Of course, he didn’t offer to help. I was used to it. I held my head up as I walked to my door. The only one on the block that had different flowers.
I touched one of my happy little pansies on my way in the door. Inside, the house was stuffy with disuse. I left my bags at the bottom of the stairs, dropped my keys into the bowl at the entryway and went right up the stairs. After a shower, I fell into my bed and slept for four hours straight.
I woke in the middle of the night for some food. Even if it didn’t sound appetizing, my body needed it. Ramen and a bottle of water filled the void, and I slept a few more hours.
Then I put my armor on. A Chanel suit in a soft camel color with a wine red shell. My heels were the same wine color as well as my lips. I carefully applied my makeup and took a page from the book of Taylor Swift with a winged liner.
My phone buzzed on my bedside table.
Claire:
Miss you already. Come back soon. Better yet, I can come to you.
You’d come here?
Claire:
Hell yes. Just say the word.
I was tempted to say the word. Scream the word, yes. Please come here and let me lean on someone.
But I didn’t. She didn’t deserve to sit here in my condo while I worked. While I tried to save my team by facing my mother.
Thanks. I didn’t know I needed to hear that.
Claire:
Should I book?
I’ll let you know.
Claire:
Okay. Don’t work too hard.
No guarantees.
I took a moment to fluff and deadhead my flowers while drinking coffee as the sun peeked from the rooflines of my neighborhood. It was time to face the day.
The ride into work was on autopilot. No one knew I was coming back, least of all my mother. I parked in the garage, frowning when I didn’t see my mother’s car in her usual spot.
Great.
I dug out my phone and finally read the texts from her. She was going to London for three days.
So I did all this for nothing.
That’s what I got for not checking my messages. As if ignoring things would make everything okay.
Hadn’t I already learned that lesson?
I sighed and got out of my car, crossing to the elevators.
Instead of going up to my floor, I went right to the studio on the lower level.
Lynn, my head of graphics, was busy behind her massive three screens.
She took care of our social media photos of the new collections.
She had a whole bedroom, living room, and kitchen set up in the massive space.
Like our very own IKEA showroom.
It was her job to show off the line to its maximum potential. Then the individual stores would take cues from her and create similar displays. We allowed them to take liberties and make each store special, but Lynn had a knack for finding the best way to work with each piece.
A Home You Love was a bit less clean lines and more elegant over the top.
We were on the cusp of summer, but a twelve foot Christmas tree was already decorated in the Charlotte print ribbons.
Fat white and silver ornaments filled the tree along with picks of massive white poinsettias to fill in the spaces.
It was fussy as hell, but as usual Lynn made it work.
There was a couch with the same blue tone of the pattern with decorative pillows in the French pattern. Club chairs in the Charlotte pattern flanked a long coffee table, with candles and ornaments artfully arranged in a long tray.
“You outdid yourself.”
Lynn’s head popped up. “Oh my God, you’re back.” She rushed over to me, throwing her arms around me.
I patted her back. I’d become a bit easier with hugs thanks to my time in Crescent Cove, but I hadn’t been expecting one from Lynn. “Nice to see you, too.”
“It feels like you’ve been gone forever.”
“Not even a month.”
“Couldn’t tell it by anyone around here.”
“Hey, kiddo.” Pete’s booming voice had me twisting around.
I rushed over to him. “I thought you were fired.”
Pete waved that away. “She hired me back within three days at an increase in my salary.”
I laughed. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. The holiday catalog was in shambles without me.” He winked. “Mrs. Keller has no idea what we do down here. I don’t care what kind of people she supposedly has shadowing us.” He glanced up at a camera that had never been down here before. He waved. “Hey Robert.”
“Who’s Robert?”
“We have some catching up to do, kiddo. Big time.”
“I guess we do.”
Lynn nodded. “Like I said, it feels like forever since you’ve been here.”
“The London store is having issues with finding a place to build.”
“I told her that wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought,” I muttered.
Pete snickered. “You did?”
“It was a moment of madness. She doesn’t understand that London shopping is not like American shopping.”
“Watching her fall on her face couldn’t happen to a better person.” Pete whistled a happy tune as he went back to his side of the room. “Nice to have you back.”
Was I really back?
A tiny voice in the back of my head whispered I wasn’t so sure.
Word of my return spread and I was inundated with questions and fires to put out. Everything felt a little off and the smooth department was now fractured thanks to my mother’s handiwork. She had ideas that shifted our usual process, messing up the timeline on some of our distribution schedules.
It took me the rest of the day to untangle her “ideas.”
The news of my return finally got to my mother, and she demanded a video call which I ignored.
When I faced the fire, I was going to do it face-to-face.
On my terms.