The elevator dinged signaling they’d arrived at the garage. Gwen stepped out of Cole’s embrace and he clasped her hand before moving out of the elevator towards the awaiting town car. Doug, Cole’s driver was waiting for them. He opened the rear door for them when they got close. Cole signaled for Gwen to enter first before sliding in next to her. Gwen smiled when he took her hand again. He rested their hands on his knee. His phone started ringing and he slipped it out of his pocket.
“Sorry, I have to take this.” Cole said giving her a brief kiss before answering the phone. Gwen tuned him out sure it was just one of many business phone calls he dealt with a day. She took out her own phone from her purse and sent McKayla a quick text to wish her a good day and let her know she’d call her later in the day. Then she sat back and watched the scenery pass by as they made their way through the sea of cabs and pedestrians on the way to the office. Cole still had her hand in his while the fingers of her other hand were drumming on her leg. Finally his call ended and he pulled her closer so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders, her head resting on his shoulder. “I’m already hooked. I could seriously get used to this. So much nicer than making the ride alone to work or dealing with all the people on the subway.”
“Eh, you know I personally like the subway better. I met someone pretty special to me there.” Gwen smiled. Cole laughed softly.
“Yea I suppose that is true. If I hadn’t decided to use the subway, I’d never have met you.” Cole took a deep breath with his nose in her hair. “I suppose I do love the subway for bringing me you.”
“You are so sappy sometimes.” Gwen wrinkled her nose looking up at him.
“Only for you.” Cole leaned down to capture her lips with his. Unfortunately, they were pulling in front of the office. Doug guided the car down into the underground parking garage. He moved quickly around the car and had the door open for them. Cole got out and held out his hand to help Gwen from the car. “Now the fun starts.”
Gwen wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but she knew their relationship would be kept secret. They’d talked a bit about it over the last few days. Gwen didn’t want everyone to think she got the job because she was sleeping with the boss and Cole was very careful about his persona at the office. He didn’t want anyone to think he had a weakness they could use against him or his business.
As they walked to the elevator, Cole didn’t take her hand. Gwen found she missed his large warm hand wrapped around hers. But she crossed her hands around her purse that she held in front of her as they waited for the elevator. She cut her eyes over to look at Cole. He was doing the same thing to look at her and it made her laugh loudly. She mumbled “Stop looking at me.”
“You first.” Cole said quietly back. He was trying to keep the smile from his face but was failing. They both entered the elevator when it arrived. Cole pressed both her floor and his floor buttons. She would be a few floors under his office in her own design space. Before the doors could close, two other people entered the elevator. Gwen stepped back to the very back to make room for them. Cole however stayed at the front. He leaned back on the side of the elevator so he could still see her, as well as the other people in the elevator.
The elevator stopped at the lobby picking up a few more people. One of whom seemed to know Cole and started quietly talking to him. As the elevator moved up people got off and on at various floors. When they reached Gwen’s floor, there was still a handful of other people on the elevator. Gwen stepped off and waited a beat before looking over her shoulder. She glanced at Cole and winked just as the doors closed
Gwen walked to her office to find the door open. She looked left and right but there was no one else around. She slowly stepped inside the room. She jumped back when a loud clatter came from the far corner of the room. Her heart pounded in her chest as fear surged thick and hard through her. But, a short blonde haired woman with a thick black streak near the front, popped out from behind one of the counters. Her hair was longer in the front almost long enough to tuck behind her ears but pixie short in the back. Noticing Gwen, she quickly made her way to the front of the room. She was speaking as fast as she walked.
“Hi there. You’re Gwen, right? I’m Coral Lyn Shaw. I’m your assistant. I hope you don’t mind but I opened the room and was just making sure everything was where it was supposed to be before you got here.” The woman couldn’t have been older than 23 or taller than 5’2”, Gwen noticed as she tried to keep up with the words spilling from her mouth at lightning speed.
“Um, hi. Thanks, I guess.” Gwen’s heart was still beating overtime from the fear that’d surged when she heard the unexpected noise. She took a few deep breathes to calm herself then straightened her shoulders and walked into the room. It was exactly as she remembered; a large room with large tables, bare mannequins and a table with various supplies. She noticed now there were three sewing machines placed on the farthest table that hadn’t been there the last time she’d been here. That’d been when she had been hired and had come to do the paperwork. The lovely lady in Human Resources had given her a tour of the whole building. “Yes, I am Gwen. Nice to meet you. So, do you go by Coral Lyn or Coral or Lyn?”
Coral Lyn laughed, “Call me Coral or Coral Lyn. I’ll answer to either. Just not Lyn. I can’t stand that name. It’s actually what my name is but when I turned 18, I changed it to fit my personality better. Lyn is so boring and I’m anything but boring.”
Gwen smiled at her. Apparently it was normal for the girl to speak fast and often. “Ok. Got it. Anything but Lyn. Check.”
“Yep. That works.” Coral Lyn flipped out her arm to look at her wrist, which was adorned with a bright yellow watch that went perfectly with her bright yellow jeans and bright blue t-shirt that was tucked into them. She had heels on to match. “Time to get to the meeting.”
“Ok.” Gwen was going to have to get used to this fast talking, very brightly dressed woman. But she thought they would get along well since Gwen didn’t normally chat a whole lot. Gwen sat her purse and bag filled with her work in one of the drawers under one of the tables before grabbing her keys and locking up behind her and Coral as they made their way towards the elevator.
“Today we are meeting in one of the conference rooms on the 30th floor. It’s where we normally have them. Sometimes they are held in other places though. It’ll be exciting to introduce you to all the old crotchety designers here. You are so young and look like you really could be fun to work with.” Coral continued to talk as they waited for the elevator. Gwen just nodded. She’d have plenty of time later to tell Coral she knew how things pretty much worked later.
The elevator arrived filled with other designers and their assistants. Coral quickly picked up a conversation with one of them and was gabbing away as the elevator continued to ascend. Gwen took a couple deep breaths. This was it. Her first real meeting as a real designer. They stopped to pick up a few more people before finally making it to the 30th floor. The doors opened to reveal the same stern elderly woman and her perfect, tight bun that had greeted Gwen the last time she’d been on the 30th floor, which had been for her interview for the job. Gwen grinned as she thought back on the day, it had been an interesting day that was for sure. It had been Cole who interviewed her and it’d been the day he’d come back into her life after more than a year of being gone.
This morning, however, the secretary didn’t even pay them any attention as the whole group exited the elevator and moved to go down one of the hallways before spilling into one of the many conference rooms. It was a large room with a very large table in the middle. There was also a small table with coffee and numerous breakfast foods to snack on just inside the door. Coral was back at Gwen’s side as everyone started to find seats. There had only been a couple people that had arrived before their group. More and more people were filling into the room behind them though.
“Hurry grab some coffee and a scone or something. Let’s grab a seat before they are all taken.” Coral said before makin
g her way to the coffee table. Gwen followed skipping on the coffee and picking up a small donut. She wasn’t really in the mood to eat. The butterflies in her stomach were making her nauseated as they fluttered around. She and Coral found a pair of seats about midway down the table. The closer spots were filled by the ass kissers and the back seats were filled by people that didn’t want the extra attention or just didn’t really want to be at the meeting.
Coral was speaking softly to Gwen about who some of the other folks at the table were. Gwen had yet to spot Victoria, the designer she had worked for as an assistant just a few weeks ago. Gwen recognized a few of the other designers too but back when she had first known them she’d only been a lowly assistant and no one paid her any attention.
Conversations quickly came to a halt and Gwen knew he’d arrived. He’d never been to any of the meetings she’d been at the last year because he’d been out of the country on other business so it was interesting to see how everyone reacted to him. She kept her head ducked as he made his way to the front of the room. His Vice President was close on his heels, Gwen was familiar with the Vice President. His name was Harry Agar. He was British and in his late 50s. He must work out because he still looked pretty good in Gwen’s mind for an older gentleman.
“Good morning ladies and gentleman. Thank you for all being prompt as we have quite a few matters to get through.” Harry started. Cole unbuttoned his suit jacket as he took a seat at the head of the table. His eyes looked at every single person sitting around the table as Harry continued on with matters. Gwen wasn’t listening, she was trying to look at anything but Cole. She could feel when his eyes landed on her. It was like a spark jumped inside her. She slowly moved her eyes to meet his down the long table. He let his eyes linger on her for a moment before moving on. Gwen tried not to smile. She looked down at her hands and the pad of paper she had in front of her. They had been supplied for every spot at the table. She fiddled with it for a few moments before looking back at Harry. He was still going on and on about standard meeting things that they talked about every single month. Gwen could probably recite half of it back verbatim since it barely changed over the last year. “And now as most of you can see, our CEO has made it back from his extended trip and now he would like to share a few new items. All yours, Cole.”
“Thank you, Henry.” Cole slowly stood and rebuttoned his suit jacket. “I’d like to thank every one of you for keeping up the good work even when I was away. Because everyone did their part and things ran smoothly, I’d like to give everyone a bonus. They will be given out with the next pay checks as my way of saying thank you to each and every one of you. Also, we will be having a St Patrick’s Day Party coming next month so submit where you’d like to see the party held to my secretary. Next, I’d like to introduce our newest designer. Some of you may remember her. She was Victoria’s assistant last year and starting today, she is the newest designer on staff. Give a warm welcome to Gwen Black.”
Gwen tried to modestly nod at the few people near her but Cole gestured for her to stand so she pushed out of her chair. That’s when she finally laid her eyes on Victoria. She was towards the end of the table farthest from Cole clapping loudly with a huge smile on her face. Gwen waved at her and a few other familiar faces before sitting back down.
“And finally, you will all find your next assignments in your emails with your deadlines. I will be making appointments with each of you over the next week or two so we can talk about what you have in mind for the shows.” Cole continued after giving them a moment to quiet down. “That is all. I’ll be seeing each of you soon.”
Gwen watched as Cole made his way back out the door. He didn’t stop to socialize or even acknowledge anyone specifically before the door closed behind him. Everyone started to slowly disperse after he was gone. Harry stayed at the front of the room talking to those who’d been near the front that had questions. Gwen was just starting to stand when she was embraced roughly from the side.
“I knew it! Congratulations!” Victoria excitedly said as she squeezed Gwen.
Chapter 6
Gwen spent a few moments catching up with Victoria before Coral came by and they all made their way back to the elevator together. When they got to their floor, Gwen and Coral went one way and Victoria went to her own office. Gwen sat at the table towards the back that had her work computer set up. She logged in with the codes that Rebecca from Human Resources had given her. She had only one lonely email. It was from Cole. She opened it to see that all it contained was the fact that she needed to have ten evening gown dresses designed in six months. It was now March and the show would be in September. The designs wouldn’t be sold for at least a month after the show so they would need to be all cold weather dresses.
Pushing back from the desk, Gwen went over and pulled out her bag from the drawer she’d put it in earlier. Coral Lyn came over to look at what she was pulling out. “What’s all this?”
“These are some of the designs I’ve put together. I figured it’d help me get started today once I figured out what type designs I needed.” Gwen picked up one book and handed it to Coral Lyn. “Look through that one. There is a blue dress in there that I think would be great. Let me know when you find it. They want ten designs and I think I have enough in here that we can use so that will help speed things along.”
Coral Lyn and Gwen worked smoothly together and the next thing Gwen knew her stomach was growling at her. She looked up at the plain white and black clock on the wall to see that it was already past two in the afternoon. She’d been so busy looking for the exact material she wanted to use for one of the dresses that she’d lost track of time. She stood and stretched out the kinks from sitting for so long. She looked over at Coral Lyn, who was working on the computer. Coral was putting some of Gwen’s images into the computer system so they could play with the design. Gwen could already see the one dress completely in her mind so she didn’t need it digitized. The program would help them play with colors and materials for the other designs.
“Are you hungry?” Gwen asked. Coral Lyn looked to the clock quickly and smiled.
“Dang boss lady, you are a slave driver. I didn’t realize how late it was. Yea, I’m hungry. Want me to go get us some food?” Coral Lyn stood and stretched just as Gwen had. It made Gwen smile. The two of them were oddly quite similar.
“No, you go ahead and finish what you are doing and then we can take a break when I get back with food.” Gwen grabbed her purse. She wrote down the sandwich order Coral Lyn wanted before making her way out to the street. She quickly walked the couple of blocks to the sub shop and picked up their food. On her way back, someone bumped into her harder than normal and she stumbled back a step. Whoever it was had just kept going. Jerk. Gwen thought. Finally, she made her way back up to her office. “Food is here.”
“Oh, good. I’m so starving. I haven’t eaten for hours.” Coral Lyn said quickly rushing over to grab her sandwich. “Let’s go to the break room so we don’t make a mess in here.”
“Here, take mine. I’ll meet you there. I’m going to get some change for a drink.” Gwen handed off her sandwich to Coral Lyn. She made sure Gwen knew where to go and then left. Gwen tossed her purse on the counter and started digging in the bottom for change that she knew she’d thrown in here just minutes ago after buying the sandwiches. She dug for a few minutes but couldn’t find it. That jerk that bumped into her on the street must’ve grabbed it. Everything else appeared to be there though. Strange.
“You coming? I have some change if you need some.” Coral Lyn was standing in the doorway again. Gwen dug out her wallet and found a dollar before putting her purse back in the drawer.
“No, no I got it.” Gwen said waving the dollar in the air.
As hours passed, Gwen checked to see if Cole had sent her a message about what time he wanted to leave for the day, but there wasn’t one. After lunch, she talked briefly with McKayla about how her day was going. Then she and Coral jumped back into work. Coral had be
en gone for over an hour when Gwen heard a knock on the open door to her design studio.
“You ready to leave?” Cole asked leaning against the door frame, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Well, hello there. Give me just a minute.” Gwen smiled up at him. She cleaned up a bit but left most of it out since she would be jumping back into it in the morning. She grabbed her purse and bag with all her designs in it. Since she’d picked out the ones she planned on using, she wouldn’t need the rest of them here. Plus she didn’t want them to possibly get stolen, you never knew. Some designers weren’t afraid to steal other people’s work. It only took her a few minutes then she walked to the door with keys in her hand, “Ready.”
“I could stand here and watch you work for hours.” Cole stepped back so she could close and lock the door. They walked side by side to the elevator. “Did you have a good day?”
“Yes. It went very well. I love being here. I love working on my designs, working on in my own space with my own assistant.” Gwen let out a dreamy sigh before turning to look up at him with a huge smile on her face. “It’s a bit surreal. It’s like having my dreams come true. Happy doesn’t come close to describing how I feel.”
“That’s what I like to hear. I wanted to make it down to check in with you today but I had some other business to take care of.” Cole ran a hand through his hair before blowing out a breath. “This is hard.”
“What is hard?” Gwen looked over at him.
“Standing here and not being able to touch you.” Cole spoke softly. Gwen looked over her shoulder and sure enough there were at least five other people still in the area walking around that she could see. She frowned. She hadn’t even noticed them before. She had been so focused on her work and then on Cole.