Chapter 2
Only thirty minutes late. Not so bad, right?
Beth grimaced as she sat down at her desk and opened up her computer, waiting for the emails to roll in.
Knock. "Beth?" Phil opened her office door and stepped inside, closing it behind him.
"Hey, sorry I'm late this morning. It's been a crazy weekend," she apologized lamely.
"That's alright. I know your family has had a lot going on lately but I wanted to talk to you about a couple of things," Phil began, taking the seat across from her desk.
"Of course." He looked serious and Beth wouldn't blame him if he threatened to fire her, she'd been so distracted lately.
"First, about the DeBourgh account, Mrs. DeBourgh did contact me and she does still want to continue to use us however, she asked that I, personally, be in charge of her account. I don't know what happened, but after your email, I was prepared for the worst. However, while she was very displeased with you, for what seemed like personal reasons, she doesn't want to change firms at this point. So, if you could email me all of your files and notes for that account I would appreciate it."
"Of course." Her answer hesitant for a moment out of surprise at his revelation. She was sure after their last conversation that Mrs. DeBourgh was going to fire Gardiner - or worse, because of her.
What was she planning?
Her thoughts immediately went to an ulterior motive. There was no way this wasn't part of some grander plan to ruin her or at the very least spy on her. Beth knew how determined Mrs. DeBourgh was that Darcy should end up with Anne and this could only be another move to make sure that came to pass. "I'm sorry about that whole situation. All I can say is that because of my family and our relative closeness to certain people, she was using me and our business relationship for personal reasons that I wasn't comfortable with; when she began making demands on my personal life, I had to put my foot down. I don't trust her and I would be very careful in how you handle your future dealings with her."
"I see. You know you are like family to me and I know that you would never do anything to purposefully jeopardize the work that we do here. Having spoken with her, I get the sense she isn't used to people standing up to her or denying her what she wants. So, I can understand where the conflict might have arisen and I will be cautious with her in the future."
"I also wanted to talk to you about, well, you," he began again, "I know we try to keep our relationship professional but I'm asking you this both as your boss and as your family. Are you ok? Your father and I have both noticed how distracted and lost you've seemed lately; it's really been out of character for you and I just want to let you know that I'm here if you need anything."
Lost was an understatement.
"Thank you. I've been struggling with some things but I think I've got a handle on it now. I appreciate your concern," she replied sincerely, feeling blessed to have such caring people in her life.
"That being said, I've been very understanding with everything going on with your family and about the DeBourgh situation; however, I can't continue to cut you slack here at the office even though you are like family to me, and I don't think you would want me do. I expect you to be here on time and performing - you are the head of this team for a reason," he concluded sternly.
"Of course. It won't happen again. Thank you," she responded, knowing how hard it was for him to reprimand her like that but she understood and was grateful. She couldn't continue to take advantage of their family relationship; plus, she needed some semblance of normalcy in her life right now.
"Great. Now, I have a new client from you. She's just back from the Europe, a pretty well-known artist over there and wants to do a few select exhibits of her work here. Obviously the whole press thing you will have under control, however, she also asked if we could recommend any events coordinators and on a whim, I told her that you also do event planning; because you do, and you are excellent at it."
At Beth's shocked and silent reaction, he continued, "I know you enjoy it and after my brief discussion with Mr. Darcy the other week, I've really been thinking about expanding the company to include more comprehensive event planning as well as the associated PR. I think strengthening this could be huge for the company; I want potential clients to look to us for all their event needs, not just for ones associated with specific PR goals. What do you think?"
"Well, I, um… yeah, I mean I think that is a great idea," she stammered, trying to quickly process what she was being asked to do. She'd only ever planned her family's events and a few select parties for old clients of hers, aside from helping with the DeBourgh party, but it couldn't be much different, right?
"Are you ok with that?" Phil asked again, still waiting for her acceptance.
"Of course! I'd be happy to. Sorry - I wasn't prepared for that at all, but I can definitely do it, not a problem. Who is the client?" she replied more confidently.
"Well, I think you met her briefly but, it's actually Charles' older sister, Caroline Bingley. All the more reason I thought it would be a great place to test out this new aspect of the business."
"Oh, wonderful!" Beth exclaimed. She barely remembered meeting Caroline, thanks to the champagne she'd consumed the night of Jane and Charles' party, but she recalled a tall, voluptuous blond who'd greeted her warmly; if she was anything like Charles, working with her was going to be a treat.
"Awesome, I'll email you her contact info and we'll go from there," Phil said as he stood up to leave, "And remember, Beth, anything you need, I'm here for you."
She gave him a small nod and a smile as he left the room.
Opening up her calendar, she reoriented herself to her schedule - three events this weekend. Her assistant, Cindy, would be handling the new book release for the latest James Patterson novel on Saturday; her other assistant, Alaina, would be attending the soft opening for one of the newest restaurants in the city, ABC Kitchen. Beth would be working the major event of the weekend - a masquerade to celebrate a combination birthday party/movie premier after-party for her client, Renée Zellweger's, latest film - Bridget Jones Baby; she was actually excited for that one.
Her office line began to ring.
"Hello, this is Beth."
"Hey, I just tried your cell but you didn't answer," Jane responded from the other end.
"Sorry, I put it on 'Do Not Disturb' - trying to focus on work this morning."
"It's ok. I just wanted to check in. You haven't been home all weekend, I thought maybe you had decided to stay with Char for a bit on account of Charles and I, but I just saw her this morning and she asked what you've been up to because she hasn't heard from you…" Jane trailed off.
She'd kept the whole staying-with-Darcy quiet, letting everyone assume what they wanted as to where she was. It was only one weekend, who was going to notice? Of course Jane would.
"Sorry - I was going to tell you. I've been staying with Darcy," she paused pregnantly, waiting for Jane's reaction.
"Oh, I didn't realize," she replied, clearly startled, "So, everything is ok between you? What happened?"
"I'm not sure." Understatement. "We are trying to figure things out between us. I'll talk to you about it later though but, if you could keep in on the down-low for now, especially from mom; I don't want any unnecessary drama or gossip to crop up," Beth begged her sister.
"Oh, ok. She's pretty preoccupied right now anyway but I can cover for you. I just want to make sure that you are doing what's best for you; I know you love him but I don't want to see him take advantage of your feelings." Jane's concern for her was evident.
"I'm good, really. Thank you," Beth tried to sound confident, even though she wasn't right now, "I'll talk to you later."
"Ok, bye."
She appreciated her sister's concern, but she needed to figure this out on her own. What happened between her and Darcy was theirs and it was hard enough for the both of them to let each other in, it was only going to make things more complicated if she tried to bring other people into the mix. She needed to be stronger with him; she needed to control her emotions, and no one was going to be able to help her do that but herself.
The ding of an incoming email had Beth return to her computer. She did a double -take on reading the email address of the sender: mrintolerable . She couldn't suppress the smile that stole over her face. Someone was definitely feeling guilty. She also couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Mr. Cool-and-Collected asking his IT guys for a company email for "Mr. Intolerable;" it was such a small thing, but it achingly tempted her to forget her anger and disappointment from this morning.
No, Beth. You have to stay strong. He'll never change if you don't make him.
Acknowledging that, she opened up his email.
Subject: Dinner
Beth,
I know we didn't leave things on a good note this morning, but I look forward to seeing you for dinner tonight. And to making it up to you afterward.
Please.
Yours,
Mr. Intolerable
P.S. - I put a keycard for my place in the outside pocket of your bag.
She smiled at his continued use of her nickname for him; it was meant to be an insult, yet, every time he used it, it seemed like it had become an endearment to him. It still didn't make up for how he had treated her, or that he didn't even ask her about dinner, just assumed that she would be coming back to his apartment - with her very own keycard! It was like the weight of what she had agreed to had sunk in; she was living with Darcy and the thought gave her goosebumps.
At least he said please. It was still a long way from an apology, or a request - the nagging voice inside her head reminded her. You know you want to be made up to. She crossed her legs at the surge of desire that spread through her; she did, but now wasn't the time to think about that. She needed to stay strong. Opening up a new message, she responded:
Subject: Re: Dinner AND Conversation
Mr. Intolerable,
You did not leave things on a good note this morning however, I look forward to talking to you at dinner tonight. And being apologized to afterward.
Thank you,
Beth
Send. She clicked the button before she had a chance to second-guess her decisive tone; he needed to know that she meant business.
Deleting his email, she refocused her thoughts back onto work. Opening up two more emails, she messaged her assistants giving them the pertinent details for the events that they needed to supervise this weekend.
Cindy,
You'll be at the Patterson "Bullseye" event on Saturday at the Midtown Barnes & Noble. We will need photos of the crowd, James with some of his readers, as well as him autographing copies. I also want you to Snapchat during set-up and during the event. We will need quotes from readers before/after meeting James and if you could Facebook Live interview some of the crowd on James' account that would be great.
He will want Fiji water on hand and prefers to be called James, not Mr. Patterson.
We will meet on Monday to go over the images and interviews to create copy to go out.
Thanks,
Beth
Alaina,
You'll be in charge of the ABC Kitchen soft opening on Friday night from 8-11pm. I want you there getting photos of the chefs and staff before the event starts ad while the food is being prepped. Chef interview - "What made you want to pursue this culinary line? What are your favorite options on the menu?" etc; feel free to live feed some of the Q&A's as well. Once the food is out, pics/video/snapchat of the party and initial reviews of the food - the basics.
You've handled these before, if you could have a rough draft of the social and print copy to go out to me on Monday that would be great.
Thanks,
Beth
After making sure her team had everything they needed for the weekend, she ran next door to Starbucks to grab a coffee and a sandwich for lunch. When she got back up to her office, she decided to keep working while she ate and proceeded to do some preliminary research her new client, Caroline Bingley. She thought about just calling Jane to see what she knew of her future sister-in-law but she didn't feel like bugging Jane again today. So, Beth began with the easiest, yet, most unreliable source: Google.
She skimmed over the basic facts, some of which Phil had already relayed to her. Caroline, or Caro, Bingley graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a degree in fine art. After spending several years in the city working as an artist and exhibition curator at several of the museums, she abruptly left the states five years ago for Italy. There, it seemed that after her first solo exhibit, her career as an artist really took off.
Finishing her sandwich, Beth switched the search over to images, trying to get a sense of Caroline's artwork and a feel for her style and what she might be looking for in her exhibition space. The first several images were of Caroline herself - a visage that Beth fuzzily recalled meeting at the engagement party: tall, blonde, curvaceous. She clicked through the photos; she could definitely see the resemblance between the two siblings. Although, Caroline didn't seem to have that same depth of openness and warmth that her brother did, but maybe it was just the photos. Finally she reached photos of the artwork itself which was mostly portraits and nude sketches, some in color, mostly in charcoal. Many of the oldest ones were of the same young man who, according to the tabloids at the time, had been her boyfriend whom she had run away to Italy with. How romantic. There were more recent nudes that appeared to be of the same person for a period of time, before switching to a new model. The Italian press had nicknamed her "the Art Lover," suggesting that her nudes only consisted of men that she had been in a relationship with. It must not have worked out with any of them though because Caro was back in the states and looking to set up a permanent residence in the city.
Opening up a new email to the address that Phil had given her, she took the first step in contacting her new client.
Hi Caroline,
It's Beth Bennet. I just spoke with Phil re: your new gallery and event planning and I'm very excited to be working with you on this. Do you have some free time this week that we can meet for lunch or coffee to go over the details? I'm sorry we didn't get to chat much at Charles' and Jane's party but, I'm looking forward to working with you as it looks like we will be family soon! Let me know when is most convenient for you.
Warm regards,
Beth
Throwing away the sandwich wrapper, Beth opened up iMessages on her computer and pulled up her conversation with Jane.
Hey, what do you know about Charles' sister, Caroline? She quickly messaged Jane
Hi. Well, she only landed in the states right before our party so I hadn't met her before that, but she seemed really nice and very happy for Charles and I. What do you want to know?
Anything really - more so about her professional career. She contacted Phil for a PR agent/event planner, and so he gave me her as a client since we will be family soon.
Oh, that's wonderful! She's very talented from what Charles says; I haven't seen any of her work but he said that her work is very popular in Europe and that she's been commissioned by a lot of very wealthy people to do their portraits.
It looks like she does a lot of nude drawings.
Charles said that she hasn't done many of them recently - that was more when she was younger. He says that's why she went abroad - because their dad wouldn't sponsor a gallery full of nude sketches. He says she's your typical artsy type - very go-with-the-flow, liberal thinker.
Gotcha.
That's why she doesn't get along so well with her parents, they would have preferred a more structured career for her, according to Charles. I mean, they are close now, but I guess there was a lot of tension several years ago that she moved out and was living in the city with some guy and she didn't even really talk to Charles during that time.
Ok, thanks! Just trying to get some background…
Sure. She actually wants to go to brunch with me on Friday to chat a little and go over wedding plans, if you want to come.
Thanks, but I don't want to intrude. I'm sure I'll be meeting with her soon anyway.
Ok.
Closing the message, she was greeted with the sight of a new email in her inbox from the very topic of her conversation. Opening Caroline's email, she read:
Beth,
Thank you for touching base! Very excited to be working together. I'm meeting Jane on Friday for brunch, do you want to join us? That way we can discuss for a bit and then afterward, I can take you over to my gallery space and go over some of my thoughts for the opening. I'm cleaning it up this week, so by Friday it should be semi-presentable
11:30 on Friday at Balthazar - I've already adjusted the reservation.
Ciao!
Caro
Well, that was fast. Beth was intrigued by Caroline Bingley, a woman who had seemingly defied her family, freely involved herself in numerous romantic relationships, and yet still has made a career and name for herself. She genuinely looked forward to working with her. She felt a momentary guilt for joining in on Jane's brunch with her future sister-in-law, but she knew Jane wouldn't mind.
She was about to text Jane again, letting her know the change of plans when she realized it was almost five and that she should head home.
No, not home. Darcy's.
The thought of seeing him sent a shiver of desire and anticipation through her. Even though she was still mad and was still determined to punish him, she couldn't help but admit that she missed his overbearing presence.
Packing up her things, she called an Uber to take her back to his penthouse.
Hey, Caroline wants me to come to brunch. So, it looks like I will be joining. Hope that's ok!
Of course! See you on Friday, if not before!
Determined to make the last third of her day just as productive as the rest, she got in the car and emotionally steeled herself for battle.