CHAPTER 27:
The Fashion Heats Up event proved to be another schmooze fest but it was also marked as Willie and Daniel's first public appearance since the scandal surfaced. Not by choice, but because it was one of Connor's money saving tactics, on the night of the Fashion Heats Up party, Willie, Daniel and Claire boarded the same limo. Willie and Daniel's attention was on their phones as Claire glared at them disapprovingly.
"Oh, finally. Connor left me a message." Said Daniel, seemingly cutting the undisputed tension in the car. He put the device on his ear to listen to the voice message.
"Why wasn't he at that dreadful party? If I had to sit and listen to Scarlett Johansson babble about climate change, he should have. But I have to admit it was a hell of a lot better than hearing those reporters going on and on about the event being your first red carpet appearance since being outted as a couple." Claire retorted with venom as she slipped her gloves off.
"Just shut up, Claire. You mentioned that already." Spat Willie.
"Bite me." The older woman shot back.
"He said his meeting went late, he's gonna see me at the after party." Said Daniel. Suddenly, Suzuki's voice echoed in the vehicle, and trio's gaze shifted to the TV.
"Drama at Casa del Meade…. Word on the boulevard is that Meade Publications is selling off some magazines. My anonymous source, Reginald has confirmed that Meade's new CFO, Connor Owens, met with Condé Nast for several hours this afternoon."
"What?" Exclaimed Willie "Didn't we…"
"I know." Said Daniel.
"I'm sorry, Daniel." Claire said solemnly
"Oh, he's gonna be, too." Daniel spat angrily.
Upon their arrival at the party, the couple scanned the crowd for Connor. Daniel offered to get Willie something to drink and walked off. Finally, she managed to spot Connor and sashayed over to where he stood, ready to give him a piece of her mind.
"You look beautiful." Said Connor when she stood in front of him, however, Willie wasn't impressed and didn't show any reaction.
"I think we're done with the charm, aren't we? Daniel and I hired you and now you start having secret meetings and making major budget cuts without us. You start playing by our rules or I will reveal some things about you, you probably don't want out there." Willie affirmed.
"Wilhelmina, can we go somewhere and talk?" Connor said calmly and just then, Daniel appeared.
"Connor, I know all about your meetings at Condé Nast. What the hell happened to our deal?"
"I thought we agreed that we'll explore other options before setting up meetings for selling off our publications." Willie added. Connor then looked at Daniel before speaking.
"I took the meeting because you asked me exercise my judgment. Which is this, that selling off a couple of magazines makes financial sense…far more sense than preserving your father's legacy at any cost. Now you two hired a CFO; someone to oversee your finances and I happen to be that someone. Now you let me do the job you hired me for or fire me." He said firmly and then walked off.
As the evening wore on, the couple stood in a quiet spot away from the rest of the guests, chatting, giggling and flirting. However, Willie decided to voice something that has been bothering her for a while.
"Daniel, honey…are you terrified of me?" Willie asked softly.
"What?...Uh…"
"I guess that's a yes." She said monotonously, her disappointment evident.
"Willie, maybe…" He replied and then chuckled nervously.
"I don't want you to be afraid of me. I want to be your partner that you can talk to about anything."
"Willie, I want that more than anything." He said softly as he ran his hands up and down her arms.
"Why didn't you tell me about your past with Connor's ex? What were you afraid of?"
"That you'd…see me as the man-slut that I was when I started at Mode, the guy who kissed you while you were engaged to my dad, the asshole that slept with your sister three weeks after we broke up. I want to be the man you deserve, I don't want you to see me as the man-whore. I want you to see me as the man you have a future with." Daniel explained softly.
"Well, it seems like it's you who has issues with your own past. Daniel, I had sex with your father, I broke up your parents' marriage and was engaged to him and I had sex with someone too after I discovered that you screwed Renée. But you managed to forgive me. Wait, are these insecurities there because that is the way you feel about me? That I'll never change?"
"No, no, no…" He disagreed, shooting down the accusation.
"Is that how you see me? As the slut who screwed your dad for control of the magazine? The conniving bitch that tried to kick you out of the magazine repeatedly?"
"Of course not, baby. I swear." He said cupping her face.
"I don't want you to be afraid of me, Daniel. I don't want secrets that have the potential of screwing up our relationship or our company. I don't want secrets and lies in this relationship and I know you didn't exactly lie to me but I strongly believe that the omission of the truth is still a lie."
"Willie, I promise I will never do something like this again."
"I don't expect you to write me a list of every woman you've ever fucked but please be honest with me if she has any serious association with our business."
"I will." He promised.
"I promise, I'll do the same."
"Pinky swear?" He said, holding his pinky up.
"No." She said hastily causing Daniel to laugh. "But we can lip swear." She said suggestively.
Soon after, Connor suggested that the annual Meade Publications Editors retreat be held earlier than usual due to the company's complex finances. Connor believed that time away from the office and in nature will aid the editors of Meade Publications think clearly and come up with fresh ideas to keep them ahead of competition. Obviously Wilhelmina didn't think so, she thought the retreat was a waste of time but Daniel managed to finally persuade her into going. After the prepress was done, the Eye Of The Fashion Storm issue was sent for printing. Since it was Daniel's turn to give final approval for shipping, he was supposed to stay behind for a few more hours, however, Betty insisted to give the final approval as she hoped for more responsibility. That set Daniel free and he rode to the retreat with Connor.
The Meade Publications' editors stood in the foyer as they waited for Connor to step up to the podium to declare what was anticipated from the retreat and for the schedules to be handed out. Daniel took the podium and cleared his throat before speaking.
"Welcome everyone to Meade's annual Editor's retreat. Without further ado, let me turn things over to the newest member of our team; CFO of Meade Publications, Connor Owens." Daniel spoke followed by surrounding applause. Connor stepped up to the podium.
"Thank you, everyone. But before the fun begins, some sobering facts, this is not a happy time for the publishing industry. Fewer readers plus more competition equals far, far less money. If we can't come up with creative ways to cut costs and increase revenues, Meade might have to take drastic steps. Some of you might find your magazines shut down. The next few hours that were scheduled as personal time will now be a walk in the woods…some time with your thoughts. Bring me bold ideas, I don't care how silly or far out they may seem to you. That crazy idea may just be the one that saves your magazine."
As Connor continued to speak, Claire who had been watching with irritation as Wilhelmina typed ferociously on her blackberry, not paying attention decided to speak up.
"Excuse me? May I offer a CRAZY suggestion right now?"
"Of course." Replied Connor.
"Take everyone's phones and PDAs." Claire suggested causing Willie's eyes to broaden in horror.
"What?"
"You really want people to focus, cut off all distractions."
"Great idea." Connor agreed and then proceeded to reach into his pocket for his cell phone, obviously leading by example.
"Well, I don't think so." Willie protested firmly, with her hand on her waist.
"I do. I mean, going off the grid, I like the way that sounds." Daniel said but immediately regretted it upon seeing Wilhelmina's pissed expression. And then she mouthed 'traitor' to him.
"Alright, people, hand them over. On the table right now." Connor commanded. Claire smirked while sipping her tea, Wilhelmina gave her a murderous look as she sauntered over to her.
"Oh, Claire, just so you know, I'm going hunting later on today. Feel free to walk in front of my gun." She said venomously and then walked off.
The next day:
For an hour and a half, Daniel still didn't have any ideas that could turn the company around and save the publications. He sat alone outside skimming through the document and making notes. Suddenly a wave of jealousy and envy ran through him as an image of Wilhelmina and Connor sharing incredible ideas all alone while they went hunting in the woods filled his thoughts. He would have liked to go too.
"So, I'm torn." His mother spoke, interjecting his thoughts. "Much as I like to see Wilhelmina suffer, I'm kind of ready to strangle someone if I don't get my phone back." Said Claire, sitting on the chair opposite his, earning a chuckle from Daniel.
"You and everyone else here." He replied.
"Why are you sulking?" Claire asked bluntly.
"What? I'm not sulking."
"Yes, you are. I know you, Daniel. Is it the fact that your girlfriend and your friend went hunting together?" His mother probed, smiling tightly.
"Mom, it's not like that…"
"Daniel…" His mom said in a warning tone. Daniel just shrugged.
"Okay, maybe just a little. I mean, she and Connor are so alike, they have the same ideas at work, they share a love for hunting and guns. And now they went hunting and they're probably coming up with some 'bold' ideas and…I'd like to contribute too. I mean I'm the co-owner of…" He stopped at seeing his mother's widening grin "What?"
"You're jealous." Claire stated halfheartedly, not liking the fact that her son was in too deep.
"It's just that they're getting close and I overheard this girl from styles making a comment that she and Connor would be perfect for each other if Wilhelmina wasn't dating me. She said that they are like two peas in a pod. It kind of got to me." He admitted.
Claire watched her son and truly wanted to tell him that the way Wilhelmina looks at him is genuine and it doesn't look like Wilhelmina would do such a thing to him. She mentally prepared to say the words which would serve as the equivalent of swallowing poison. Before she could speak, something caught her attention,
"Daniel…" Claire pointed to the sky. Daniel looked up, reading DANIEL CALL BETTY in sky writing.
"Looks like we're getting our phones back." Claire said gleefully.
Daniel paced the terrace of their suite with his phone pressed to his ear while Wilhelmina and Connor remained inside deliberating the matter at hand. After seeing the coverage of the tornado on television and speaking to Betty, he knew that the issue had to be stopped from shipping off. He disconnected the call and continued to pace the terrace, just then Willie appeared.
"Well, you'll be happy to know that this retreat is gonna end early so we can deal with this whole thing." Daniel said wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "We're gonna have to figure out a whole new cover, eat the cost of the old one…"
"Do we? Before you make that call, why don't we have a little chat?" She pulled him into their room and led him to sit on the foot end of the bed.
"So…"
"Danny, Hon, conceiving and shooting a new cover is going to cost us time and money. Connor and I had a talk just now, and he suggested that we should go ahead and let the issue ship as planned." She explained.
"What? Willie, that's wrong."
"How? We didn't cause that tornado, Daniel. The only thing we're guilty of is being creative." She disagreed.
"Willie, this could be a huge PR disaster." He reasoned.
"I'm aware of that but this is exactly what we need. This Fashion Storm cover is going to fly off the shelves. People love controversy. We'll deal with PR in a week or two."
"How?" He questioned
"We'll tell the truth; that the issue went to print a week before the tornado and it shipped earlier today and we had no way of stopping it. And we can add that it would have been costly to change and reshoot our cover and in this trying time for the economy, they should understand."
"Willie, I just…I don't feel right about this."
"Daniel, honey, we had no way of knowing that a tornado was going to hit some state. That isn't our fault but I guarantee that sales are going to increase because of it. Business is not always about doing stuff we like." He still said nothing, but she knew how he was so he pulled him closer and ran her hand on his back in an attempt to calm his nerves. She then kissed his temple "I'm sorry, honey."
Soon after, the Mode Editors jumped into damage control mode, spending hours on the phone with PR executives and dealing with the media scrutiny. Every gossip television program seemed to feature Mode's Fashion Storm issue every chance they got.
Daniel stood by the television watching yet another bulletin about the issue while Willie sat at her desk immersed in documents, peering up every now and again to glance at the TV.
"Any last words, Tornado Girl?" Suzuki questioned Betty. Daniel muted the TV set in frustration as Betty was being branded as tornado girl on national TV.
"No, Wilhelmina, I have to tell the truth. They are blaming Betty." He exclaimed.
"Don't be a boob, Daniel. Have you seen these numbers? Like I said before, Connor asked us to increase our revenue and this is the highest selling issue of Mode in history."
"Yeah, but Betty's getting blamed for it. I never would have agreed to this if I knew that this was going to happen."
"Tra la la la la, look at the big picture man! So what if some frumpy assistant gets her feelings hurt today, she's used to it. Ultimately, it may help us avoid lay-offs tomorrow. Trust me, it'll all blow over."
"What if it doesn't?" He asked, looking at her wearily.
"You and I run this company. We cannot afford to get our hands dirty. Taking the fall is what the little people are for." She affirmed in defense of her decision.
"That may be how you feel when it comes to Marc, but Betty is more than just an errand girl to me." Daniel snapped irritably.
"What the hell does that mean?" Willie asked angrily.
"It means exactly what I'm saying, Wilhelmina. You may be comfortable with throwing your assistant who's been working with you for a long time under the bus, but I'm not. Betty and I are friends." He said through gritted teeth.
"So, my iron fist and killer management skills are great for business, so long as your assistant doesn't get hurt? It's good when it serves the magazine but when Betty Suarez gets into trouble suddenly I'm the bad guy? I heard you, Daniel. Loud and clear." She said, her glare turning icy by the second.
"Wilhelmina, you know that's…"
"You know what's funny? Your assistant wouldn't be in any hot water if you stayed behind and handled everything yourself instead of leaving early so you can ride the 'FUN car'."
"I was just…"
"Now, please leave. I've got work to do." She said icily Daniel didn't argue any further and retreaded from her office.
In a united front, the Meade Publication heads along with the CFO held a press conference at Mode. The trio stood confidently in front of the podium as the cameras snapped and flashed.
"Rest assured, Meade Publications is doing everything it possibly can to rectify this terrible situation. By tomorrow, or the latest, next week, every issue will be off the newsstands." Wilhelmina stated.
"And how are you dealing with Tornado Girl?" Suzuki questioned causing an eruption of laughter among the crowd "Fired? Reprimanded? Banished to a basement somewhere?" Suzuki pressed on. All the while Daniel scanned the crowd for Betty.
"Now, now that is an internal issue that we are handling privately. We are all human, we all make mistakes. So, thank you." She finished and took a step back allowing Daniel to step forward to say his part.
"Wilhelmina's right. We all do make mistakes, especially those of us in charge. I was the one who made the decision to let the magazine run in the newsstands. It was a very cynical decision, and I regret it, but not nearly as much as I regret watching my assistant, Betty Suarez, take the blame. It was my fault, mine alone." Daniel admitted solemnly.
"Well, I for one I am shocked, Daniel. Personally shocked and embarrassed that our company is involved in something like this." Wilhelmina said coyly, feigning innocence.
"Which is why Meade Publications will donate all profits from the sale of this issue to the relief fund to benefit the victims of these tornadoes." Daniel continued. Wilhelmina kept her smile even though she was pissed. "That's…that's all I have to say. Thank you, everyone." Daniel stepped down the podium making his way through the reporters who were all chattering, trying to make his way to Betty. Wilhelmina and Connor managed to keep their composure and kept on smiling meekly as the cameras flashed.
Shortly after his talk with Betty, Daniel watched as Wilhelmina wrapped up the press conference. After she had a quick word with Connor, she headed towards her office and Daniel proceeded to follow her. He knocked slightly and walked in.
"Hey, Willie." He said cautiously. Her back was turned to him as she fixed herself a drink on her credenza.
"Yeah?" She replied dryly without looking at him.
"Baby, we need to talk. I don't like…in fact I hate it when we fight. It's been almost a week now, Willie and whenever I bring up our fight in your office about Betty, you tell me to get lost." She finally turned to face him, meeting him with a firm stare.
"And for a good reason. What do you want, Daniel?" She asked coldly.
"I just wanna say I'm sorry." He offered sincerely.
"I'm sorry, too…for being a heartless bitch who's always thinking about what's best for this company and this magazine…your father's legacy; the legacy that you were so adamant to preserve." She said before gulping her scotch.
"Willie, I was apologizing…"
"You need to understand that there are times when 'sorry' just doesn't cut it." She said hastily.
"So, you don't accept my apology? You gonna stay mad at me forever?"
"Honey, I'm saying…saying 'sorry' is not going to fix things. Saying 'sorry' and me accepting it would be sweeping our issues under the rug. I don't want that, I want to communicate with my partner."
"Okay. Now we're getting somewhere." He said plunking himself on her chase.
"I understand that Betty is the most important person in your life…"
"That's not true…" He protested.
"I love Marc as much as you love Betty. But I am a business woman first; An Editor-in-Chief of this magazine and as a co-owner of the company I'm willing to rip off an arm to save the body every now and again. Maybe you are a much better person than I am, and if you want to take the fall for this situation, be my guest, but don't ask me to do the same. If you want to admit that you screwed up…"
"Baby, we did not screw up. We did nothing wrong. This was a natural disaster."
"Tell that to Suzuki. In this industry, nobody gives a damn that the issue went to print a week before that tornado hit and was shipped two days prior. The entertainment tabloids don't give a shit about the victims or those trailer parks, they want to point a finger at someone in the industry to sell their own publications. They want somebody to blame because the actual disaster is worth shit to them and they are not going to blame me."
"I know what I did and I was…"
"Trying to do the right thing. We may have now avoided the PR shit storm with your proposal to donate the proceeds to the tornado victims but it might hurt us in the long run."
"I'm sorry."
"It's done." She said hastily.
"So am I forgiven yet?" Daniel asked hopefully. Before she could respond, Daniel saw her gaze darting to the doorway. Whirling, he met Connor's profile stood on the threshold. He only gave Daniel curt a nod and Daniel could tell he was pissed.
"Willie, should we do the meeting here, or the conference room or the third floor?" Asked Connor.
"Let's get set up in the conference room, I'll be there shortly." She replied.
"Good." Replied Connor and he turned on his heel.
"Uh…meeting?" Daniel asked knitting his brows confusedly.
"Oh, yes after the press conference, Connor suggested that he and I meet to come up with new strategies to increase our revenue." She replied.
"And I wasn't included?" He asked. She let out an exasperated sigh.
"Well, you had plans for tonight."
"Willie, it's just a boys' night out. This is our company, pool and beers can wait."
"Daniel, don't worry, this isn't a real meeting, it's just a brainstorming session. If anything important comes up, I'll run it by you tomorrow morning."
"Willie..."
"Danny bear, you remember what we talked about? About how just because we are in a committed relationship, doesn't mean we are going to forgo the rest of our social lives?"
"Of course."
"Look, I promise that if anything of importance comes up, I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning. You made plans with your friends, now run along." She said collecting a file and her laptop, getting ready for her meeting with Connor. He rose to his feet despite the urge to protest, but he could see that Wilhelmina didn't want him present during their meeting because of his earlier stupidity. She walked over and pulled him for a quick kiss.
"See you in the morning." She whispered and walked out.
The following morning, Daniel sat quietly in his office skimming through the spreadsheets on the monitor; feeling like shit for deciding to give away the proceeds of Mode's highest selling issue.
"Hey, Danny." Willie greeted. He jolted, looking up immediately to find Willie in front of his desk and to his surprise her gaze was surprisingly warm and calm.
"Hi, babe. I didn't hear you come in." He replied flatly. She circled his desk and bent down, giving him a soft quick kiss.
"I wanted to talk to you about an idea Connor and I came up with…what's wrong with you?" She asked, seeing the inscrutable look on his face.
"There's nothing wrong." He lied. Willie turned his chair and plunked herself on his lap.
"Daniel, honey if you listened to the phrasing of my question you'd notice that I didn't ask if there was anything wrong, I asked what is wrong." She said caressing his face.
"Ms. Smarty pants." He teased. Willie pinched his cheek in response.
"Did you just refer to me as 'Miss Smarty Pants'?"
"Or do you prefer 'smart ass'?"
"Shut up. Seriously, Danny, what's going on?"
"Willie, baby I don't like how things ended between us last night." He said softly.
"What do you mean? I thought we talked it over and-…"
"No, we didn't, you did. Yesterday, I really wanted to stay and brainstorm like you said you and Connor would. But you clearly didn't want me in that meeting."
"Daniel you made plans with your friends and remember what we talked about…"
"I know and I like that but our company is in trouble and you insisted that I go and spend an evening in a bar playing pool, drinking beer and talking shit instead of coming up with ideas to save our company. Willie, baby, come on you're not that understanding."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, I know my input wouldn't have been much, but sometimes it's nice to be respected, Wil."
"Danny, I respect you."
"Well, last night it certainly didn't feel that way. I felt like a child being told to go to his bedroom because the grownups were gonna have a talk. It sounded more like 'you fucked up and we don't need you here'."
"That was not to make you feel bad." She said sincerely.
"All I got from that is…All persons with an IQ lower than 150 or something leave the room. It was like, because I'm stupid, my ideas would be shit, just like that stupid decision."
"Daniel, honey you're not stupid." She said gripping his hand and linked their fingers. "Yes, your decision WAS stupid. You panicked because of those reporters and you were worried about what they'd say about your father's legacy and then you made a decision like that on the spot. But you are not stupid."
"You mean that?" He asked, his face lighting up.
"Yes. And maybe on some unconscious level, I was still mad at you for making a decision of that magnitude at our time of financial need. We have entered a recession and you were giving away money we do not actually have. So the 'respect' thing kind of works both ways, Danny Bear."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry, too, honey." She said as she brought her lips to his.
"So, you wanted to talk about an idea that came up last night."
"Yeah, we were thinking of working on getting the Doral account."
"Doral Resort Wear? Willie, Doral already advertises with Excursions and Travel magazine and they only agreed to fractional ads for Mode. Alexis tried when she was in charge, they just won't leave Elle and there's no way they're buying more ad space with us without leaving Elle."
"I understand. And maybe we need to persuade them." She suggested.
"How?"
"Well, when Alexis was in charge there were two missing secret weapons…me and Connor Owens."
"I'm listening."
After the tornado disaster that was now somewhat becoming old news, a strategy to increase Mode's revenue was proposed. Willie suggested that if they secured the Doral Resort Wear account, they could easily make up the money lost on the Fashion Storm issue and up Mode's revenue in the process. This required Willie and Connor to fly to the Doral headquarters in Florida.
That evening, Daniel worked on his laptop while sitting up on the bed, waiting for Willie. Emerging from the bathroom, she sauntered over to the bed and climbed on and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Hey." She said with a sultry tone.
"Hi, babe." He answered as she kissed the groove of his neck eliciting a moan of pleasure. "Baby, just let me save this first and then I'll make love to you all night long."
"I rather enjoy seducing you like this." She answered seductively as she continued her assault.
"Oh…Willie, babe you're killing me." He groaned.
"What are you doing anyway?"
"I'm looking at the Doral Resort Wear figures. You were right, if Mode takes them on, we're going to make some serious dough."
"I told you. They showed interest in our offer for exclusive back cover ad spots through 2012 and will generate a double digit increase in their revenue and ours."
"That's great. It'll make both parties happy."
She straddled him and placed sweet kisses on his face and along his jaw line.
"You're sure you don't want to come to Key Largo with me?"
"Babe, you know I'd really love to but I have to do the Michael Kors meeting and also I have to meet with the reps from Niemans."
"Bummer."
"Tell me about it. You in a bikini…and the sun, and a hotel suite and you in a bikini."
"I know. I'm trying to imagine you in a speedo." Daniel let out a chuckle.
"Trust me, I would love to go. But I think it's best that you and Connor go. He's the financial expert and you are the master brains."
"I'm gonna miss you." She whined.
"I'm gonna miss you, too." He said. "But don't worry; I'll make sure that I give it to you really good before you go." He said before placing small kisses on her neck.
"Oh, talk about a sendoff." She purred as she raked her nails on his pecks.
"But you and I, we'll get a holiday together when we go for Christmas Vacation. What do you think of a ski trip?"
"It'll be great, honey. But first, how about we visit DJ in France first?" She suggested.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes. Also I was planning on spending time with Nico in Paris before she flies to the Middle East."
"That's great, babe. So where are we skiing? Liechtenstein? Switzerland?"
"We'll decide later…right now…let's do this." She said straddling him as she dragged her lips on his neck.