We don’t let her go out on her own. One of us is always with her. She’s thinking of finishing school but I told her not to worry, I’ll always take care of her.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” I ask for the millionth time.
She rolls her eyes at me. “Stop it! I’ll be fine. I’ll have Justin to follow me around like a shadow.” She laughs but I know she’s scared to be alone. “Go to your meetings. Really, I’ll be fine.”
“Okay,” I say reluctantly. I hate leaving her but I need to get back to the office so I can finalize some deals. I’ve been splitting my time between Andrea and work, repairing the damage that was done to our company in our absence. It’s true what they say, if the boss is away the mice come out to play. The accountant was pocketing an extra few grand every month and thought we wouldn’t notice. I noticed alright. I fired his sorry ass right away.
At Fine Promotions we help to promote corporations and people. We recently scored a contract with Fitness Realm, a large chain of gyms. For the advertising we got a street dancing group. It’s amazing what some of those people can do with their bodies. The advertising was a big success and scored us a two year contract with the gym. Before the contract we were doing okay, but now we’re sitting pretty.
Business is good. Andrea is healing. Justin seems to be doing okay. We’ll all get there eventually.
“I’ll be back in time for the big day.” I lean down and kiss Andrea on the top of her head.
She takes hold of my hand and looks up at me. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Ladybug.” I say goodbye to the rest of the family.
We’re signing with a new partner. He bought sixty percent of the shares, leaving me and Justin with twenty percent each. We’ve been working with Edwin for the last six months. The man is a blessing. He knows his stuff around promotions and sourcing new clients. With him on board Justin and I will be able to spend our time with our family and take turns checking in on things every other week. We’re leaving the business in capable hands.
There’s something else I want to do, something that’s been eating away at me.
~*~
Chapter Twenty Eight
Kristine~
This Saturday is Liza’s signing. She’s coming in today to check on the swag and poster I made. I’m proud of the poster. It shows a nice picture of her with her book. The background is her book cover, a girl sitting with her back to the camera in a field of dandelions.
I’ve created a soft theme, all pastel colors. The book is an emotional masterpiece and I want to convey that at the signing. It took me almost a month to read the book. I cried so much reading it, I had to take breaks. It’s a mother’s tale of her love for her daughter, and how they struggled with the daughter being kidnapped, and how they heal when they finally find her.
It reminded me so much of my own life and made me think of my parents and how they must have suffered and still are suffering from what happened to me. I’ve been selfishly hiding away, not thinking of their pain.
I phoned them and had a long talk. I’ll be going home for Christmas to spend some time with them. I also spoke to Riza and Kelly. They’re flying in tomorrow to be here for the signing.
We’re going to work on getting our friendship back to how it was before we were taken.
The bell rings, getting my attention. When Liza walks in carrying a huge box, I smile. I come from around the counter and help her carry the box to the table we’ll be using for her. “What do you have in here? It weighs a ton,” I tease her.
“Books, hon,” she laughs and then takes a book from the box. “Amazon delivered it yesterday. I was worried they wouldn’t get to us on time. I only had fifteen books at home.”
“So how many are there now? Enough for the signing?” I help her unpack some of the books and feel excitement blossoming in my chest.
“All together we have a hundred. There are more boxes. My sons will bring them later.” She spots the box with the swag I left next to the table. “Is that the swag? Oh my, look at these!” She takes out a pack of fridge magnets and smiles dreamily. “They’re lovely. You’re so talented.”
“Thank you. I also made coasters, puzzle pieces,” I lift the box to the table for easier access, “and look, I had a few pens and cups made.”
“Keyrings, too,” she gasps. “I love them … oh, look at the little dragonfly charms.”
“I’m glad you like them. Let me show you the poster and teasers. I enlarged some of the teasers so we can put them up everywhere in the shop.” She follows me to the back and when she gasps with delight, I smile brightly. I’m so glad she loves it all.