A/N: Quick update for the weekend - Friday at last! Have a good one :-)
Piper got her laptop out on the counter and started to look at places for either free or inexpensive marketing advice that they could access. She hadn't wanted to argue with Polly this morning, especially having already had an argument with Alex only hours before. To be honest, she hadn't really thought about Polly when she cancelled the meeting this morning, so Polly's reaction was a bit of a surprise at the time. Thinking about it now, she knew she would have reacted in exactly the same way and didn't blame her friend for needing to get some space. The fact that she had not though about Polly when cancelling made Piper realise that she'd made the snap decision for personal, rather than business reasons. There wasn't a sound reason to have cancelled from a business perspective and Piper could see now that her argument with Alex was the root of it.
Trying to work out a way to make this right without going back and grovelling to John Peters, Piper sat making notes on the various web sites she was finding when her phone rang. She didn't recognise the number and was expecting a sales call when she answered.
"Hello?"
"Hi, is that Piper?"
"It is."
"Hi Piper, it's Sarah Phillips from the VSU. Can you talk somewhere in private for a minute?"
Piper looked around at the empty store before answering. "Oh hey, yeah I can talk."
"OK. So, when I saw you and Alex on Monday at our meeting you said you'd be willing to consider some specialist counselling for sexual abuse. You remember?"
"Yeah….."
"So I've got the number for a place we've used many times before. It's here in the city and you can have a female counsellor if you prefer. They only take referrals, so I'll need to make your first appointment if you're still happy to go ahead with it?"
"Um, I don't know. We've got kind of a lot do to at the store at the moment…" Piper faltered quietly.
"So, there's an appointment on Friday morning first thing so you can get acquainted. I already asked them about available slots because I know you were keen to start work on the process and I didn't want to delay. Can I say you'll be there at 9am?" Sarah pushed.
Piper considered whether she should ask Polly first or whether she could just say to Sarah that she didn't need counselling for that and she was feeling much better….but she knew she wasn't.
"OK, I'll do it. But if I don't like it, I don't have to go back do I?"
"If you don't like it, we can talk about why. It's not my area of expertise and I wanted to make sure you had access to someone who has experience in this area. Our sessions will continue of course and we're still on for Monday, right?"
"Yeah, OK. Thanks."
"You're welcome. I'll email you with the address and confirm your appointment time too. Have a great day Piper."
"Bye."
XXXXX
Alex put the phone down to Polly, frustrated that Piper had cancelled the meeting with John. She knew there was no point in stoking up the fires by trying to call her to find out why and she already had so much to do for her own business at the moment. She was sitting at her dining table, having showered and changed into some jeans and a loose grey t-shirt, tying up her wet hair while she set to work on her laptop. There were 3 more contracts to make the additions to before she discussed them with her lawyer this afternoon. She quickly called John Peters to confirm PoPi still wanted to meet up, but they wanted to do some more work before they talked to him and he was fine with that.
Stopping for a break at lunch time, Alex was making a bowl of soup when she heard her phone beep with a new mail. Normally, she'd leave it until she was done with lunch, but she was waiting on the Italian contract to be confirmed and every ping of new mail had her eagerly checking her messages. She picked her phone up and recognised her lawyer's email address and the message title 'Rigoveri Contract' as being the one she had been waiting on. Taking a deep breath, she clicked to open it and scanned it quickly for confirmation. They'd got it! After a few fist pumps in the air above her, she re-read the mail properly to see that they needed to start straight away on the hair fashion event and excitedly called Nicky.
"Hey Stretch. How's it going?"
"Hi Nick. Is Lorna with you?"
"Yeah, she's just making coffee. You want to talk to her?"
"No, but can you go and stand with her and put me on speaker?"
"Hang on…." There was some muffled sounds as Nicky moved and put the phone on speaker.
"OK, we're both here. Are you about to ask us if we'll be God parents to your unborn child?"
"What? No! I just got confirmation that we won the Rigoveri contract!"
"Oh my God Alex, that's amazing!" Lorna shouted and Alex could hear them both jumping up and down in the background. Alex laughed and grinned that they shared her excitement.
"I know right? This is a huge deal and it all starts with that hair event, so we've got to pull out all the stops now to prove we can handle this. I'll send you the information I have so far and we'll get the full details through now we're all legally in contract. Nicky, do you want to tell the others and work out what overtime we can cover with our existing staff and what extra we need?"
"Yes! Oh man, they're gonna be so happy with this."
"Lorna, can you work out what space we're going to need to rent to handle all the shipments and get everything together for transport? We know we won't have enough space here for everything, so we need to look at secure warehouse space, close to the docks if possible. Secure and safe is most important. They charge too much for run down sheds on the docks."
"No problem, send me as much info as you can so I know what we're storing and I'll get some prices together."
"Great. I need to get these other contracts sorted out today and then I'll be able to help out. Thanks guys."
"No worries. Alex?"
"Yeah?"
"Congratulations. You've worked hard for this and you deserve it. Your Mom would be real proud right now." Nicky was serious for a rare moment and it put a lump in Alex's throat when she mentioned her Mom.
"Thanks Nick. I know."
"We'll get started then. Speak later."
"Yeah, bye." Alex hung up and was suddenly hit with a wave of emotion at the unexpected sentiment from Nicky. The lump in her throat wouldn't go down and she felt her eyes getting watery.
"Fucking Hell, get it together Vause." She whispered as she wiped her eyes.
XXXXX
Piper shut down the cash register, counting about a hundred dollars in sales today. It wasn't going to be enough to pay 2 wages and the utilities if that was a regular event and she knew that was already on Polly's mind when they argued this morning. She closed the store up and headed home for the night on the subway, arriving home to the loose pile of papers she'd gathered after swiping them onto the floor that morning. Yes, she had a temper and yes, Sarah was trying to get her to recognise and deal with it. And yes….she didn't take advice easily.
Searching the fridge for inspiration, she made some chicken pesto pasta and sat at the dining table to eat it with a glass of water. The TV was on in the background, but her eyes were constantly drawn to the sport where she knew the NYPD envelopes were lying unopened. Knowing they were there and not being able to ignore them now, was making her angry with herself for not being able to forget about them. She was half way through her meal when the frustration became too much and she stood to pick them up. The temptation was very much there to run them through the shredder unopened and it seemed like the quickest and easiest way to get them out of her mind. But she knew there would be more to follow and calls and visits until she was dragged back into those memories kicking and screaming. She lay them in front of her plate and finished eating her meal before tidying the dishes away, all stalling tactics that wouldn't change the words inside those envelopes, but meant she could remain ignorant for a while longer.
Eventually, she decided to run a bath and came out to pick up the envelopes while the tub filled with hot water. She ripped the first one open, treating it as though it were a reminder to pay the gas bill as a way to get past the seal. It was a letter confirming that Darryl was going to be prosecuted for the attack on Piper in December and they had used this to link him to 3 other rape cases in Massachusetts and Connecticut, giving enough evidence to make a case. No great surprise as all that she'd heard from the police in her previous meetings suggested there would be a good case. Piper put the papers down for a moment and added some bath foam to the water as it continued to fill. She thanked her lucky stars that she hadn't been raped by him and hoped those other women were going to be OK. She wasn't the only one going through this. The second envelope was confirmation that she would be required to attend the court as a key witness and that she should ensure she has appropriate legal representation to advise her throughout the process. Sarah had mentioned this before, so she knew it might be needed if it got this far. With only one envelope left, she opened it sitting on the side of the bath. It was a date for the first court hearing, where he would be formally told of the charges he was being tried for and given the opportunity to plead guilty or not. It was only 2 weeks away and would take place in New York. She put the letters down in the kitchen and poured a shot of vodka. Swallowing it down quickly, she closed her eyes at the taste. It reminded her of an easy route to forgetting. The taste of blissful ignorance…She twirled the glass in her fingers and watched the remnants of the vodka move as they stuck to the sides of the empty glass. Conscious of the bath getting full, she took the glass with her and turned the taps off while she considered whether to have another.
XXXXX
Alex hadn't quite finished the changes to the contract with the French company they were partnering with when she had to leave to meet with her lawyer. She packed up her laptop to take with her and made a coffee to go before getting in her car and driving into the city. The news of the Rigoveri contract this morning was big and Alex knew this was going to be a massive test for the small team she had been working with for the last couple of years. Starting to worry a little that she was biting off more than she could chew, she resolved to seek some extra help, but give her existing team an opportunity to show their capabilities to step up to the challenges ahead. Pulling into the gated car park behind her lawyers office, Alex got her bag out and headed inside. Although she wasn't using exactly the same lawyer as she did for her criminal case when she left the cartel, it was the same firm. Different specialisms meant they were big enough to have top people in most fields and Alex had an established relationship with this firm over many years, so kept her dollars with the same people. She had given them thousands of dollars over the years and the deal she made for bringing down the cartel made the firm a lot of money. She knew she was in good hands and they knew all of her investments made her a cash cow, so she was always top of the Christmas card list.
She reported to Reception and waited about 5 minutes for her lawyer to come and find her.
"Hey Alex, good news about Rigoveri hey?" He smiled warmly as he shook her hand.
"Hi Rob. Yeah, we're really excited to get started on it now. It feels like the hard work is only just beginning after a lot of talking these last couple of weeks." Alex rose to follow him into his office along the corridor.
"You're right. It was a real win to get those bonus conditions in there though. I really thought they were gonna play hard ball on the percentages you were pushing for, but it will be a nice pay day for you at the end of the year if you can get the others to sign up to the same terms. Take a seat. Can I get you a coffee? We just got a fancy new machine in and I'm addicted already." Rob was waiting for her order by the door, pre-empting a yes.
"Coffee would be great. Espresso please."
"I'll leave it with Wendy. I'd go, but I don't think you're here to look at my wall art and I know you're a busy lady. Give me a second."
Alex got her laptop out while she was waiting and it wasn't long before Rob was back and sitting down behind his desk.
"OK. So, I got the amendments to everything except one of them now I think…unless you sent it through recently?"
"No, the French one is the last. I was running late, so thought we'd just finish that up first. It will only take me 10 minutes tops. I'll bring it up now. Can you get me all of the details on the Italian contract out while you wait? I need my guys setting things up today really if we're going to get this fashion show sorted out in time."
Rob and Alex both tapped away on their keyboards and Wendy brought their coffees in as they worked quietly. Thanking her, it was a minute before Alex took a sip while she waited for a file to load.
"Mmm, you weren't kidding about this coffee. What is it, some big ass grinding machine with a slot for coins you're paying through the nose for?"
"We used to have exactly that, but a vending machine wasn't giving the right image to our high flying customers when we were raking our pockets for spare change to get them a drink for their $500 an hour consultations. So, we got something a little more discreet and low maintenance. It's the latest Nespresso machine. Just sits on the counter top in the kitchen back there. I think they've got a couple for every floor."
"Any going spare?"
"Coffee machines?"
"Yeah, like still in the box and yet to be put to use."
"Er, I don't know. I think they're all out. Why, are you wanting one?"
"Yes. Could you get one sorted for me while we're having our meeting do you think? Since I'm one of your favourite customers and all?" Alex batted her eyelashes and grinned.
"One of the strangest requests I've ever heard for keeping the clients sweet, but we can do that for you I think. Let me ask Wendy if they can organise something now."
XXXXX
On Thursday morning, Piper was just pulling on her jeans when there was a loud knock at the door. She quickly fastened them and pulled on the closest hoodie she could find before jogging to the front door.
"Hi….I ….wasn't expecting you….was I?" Piper looked past Poussey to see if she was alone.
"Well good morning! I've had nicer welcomes, but it's early, so I'll give you that Blondie."
"Right, thanks. Um, would you like to come in?" Piper stood aside to leave the doorway open.
"No thanks, I just came by to drop this off for you. Apparently, you might need it before you go to work….and I'm also supposed to give you a ride…..So, yes I'd better come in actually." Poussey bent down and lifted a large box wrapped in brown paper.
"OK….come on in then." Piper let her walk past her carrying the box, before placing it on the dining table and dropping onto the sofa.
"So, I need to open this now do I?"
"Yes."
"I don't think I ordered anything online recently."
"You'd better not make me late playing 20 questions lady. Nicky is cracking the whip today, so open it already!"
There wasn't any label on it with a name or address, so it was hand delivered and not posted. Piper regarded it curiously for a moment before Poussey cleared her throat loudly to speed her up. She ripped the paper off to find a note on top of the box.
'Pipes, sorry for breaking your coffee habit (and machine). Hope you accept my first apology instalment. Alex. X…. P.S. The pods can be recycled and the coffee bean pickers are paid a fair wage.'
Poussey looked over Piper's shoulder to read the note and huffed. "Did I seriously just get sent over here at 8 in the morning to deliver a God damn love letter or what? And no I ain't taking one back for you."