He had minutes before his conference call and no time for her games. “See that you do. Today,” he said, and walked away. He’d have to keep a better eye on her manipulations. He turned and glanced at her one last time. She stood with her arms crossed, staring at Riley’s desk.
“Was there something you were looking for?” Josh asked.
She spun around. “Not at all. Just thinking.” She stalked away.
It must suck to be that competitive and insecure. If she’d been anyone else, he’d have felt sorry for her, but if she wanted to become a designer, she needed to spend more time honing her design skills and less time worrying about who else might pass her along the way.
Mia grabbed his arm and pulled him into a conference room. “I have Peter on line three. They’re talking the Bliss line. Ready?”
Bliss. His favorite new clothing line. He nodded, plastered a smile on his face, and went to work selling his line to Peter Stafford, the head of one of the first modeling agencies to have taken a chance on dressing his models in Josh’s clothes years earlier. Peter had helped Josh’s name reach the status he now enjoyed, and because of that, he’d hired his niece Claudia. He didn’t know then what type of person Claudia was, and now he was too trapped by loyalty to let her go.
Chapter Five
RILEY FOLLOWED CLAUDIA to her new desk in the design studio, set among the other employees’ desks and in full view of a wall of windows. Riley breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what miracle had occurred overnight, but she was thankful—and now even more inspired to do a good job and make her mark in the industry. She hadn’t liked the feeling of oppression she’d slept with last night, and she’d awoken determined to change things before they had a chance to get any worse. She’d decided to try to become friends with Claudia. No matter how much Claudia might fight her efforts, Riley had to try.
“Clay, this is Riley Banks, our new design assistant.” Claudia introduced Riley with what looked like a genuine smile.
Riley wondered if emotions were like hair color—after they’d been faked for too long, could a person forget what real emotions were?
“I heard you were starting this week. A pleasure,” he said with a nod. Clay was a tall, gangly man, about Riley’s age, with a flat top and pasty white skin.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Riley said, just as Claudia rudely dragged her away, leading her to a group of people hovering around a clothing rack. They were discussing the merits of A-line skirts versus flared skirts, and Riley wanted to jump in and give her two cents. Depending on the material you used, a flared skirt can easily be made more formal, giving a woman more options for going from daywear to eveningwear, whereas an A-line is usually more casual. But an A-line can make the right figure pop.
Claudia cleared her throat.
A woman and a man spun around, their faces pinched. “What?” they said in unison.
Riley noticed the blond woman remained facing the rack, a skirt in each hand. Her head moved back and forth from one to the other, as if she were watching a tennis match.
“This is Riley Banks. Riley, this is Simone, and K.T.”
Riley swallowed the embarrassment of Claudia having interrupted their discussion to introduce her. Her smile felt shaky.
“Great to have you on board,” Simone said, wrapping Riley in a hug.
“Nice to meet you, too, and thank you,” Riley said.
Simone looked like…a Simone. She wore a colorful scarf around her slim shoulders, and her black hair was cropped in a severe blunt cut just below her ears. Her round, wire-rimmed glasses were perched high on the bridge of her upturned nose, and when she flashed a Julia Roberts smile, it softened her angular face.
Riley beamed. Between the overcrowded street, scary sardine-style subway that she couldn’t even think about riding on, and Claudia’s cold personality, Riley had begun to wonder if she’d ever fit in. Simone’s friendly embrace and warm smile offered a thread of hope for Riley to hold on to.
“This is Chantal,” Simone said, nodding toward the blonde who had her back turned to the group. She turned around, and when their eyes met, Chantal flashed a radiant smile. She was nearly six feet tall, and up close, her green eyes seemed even greener than they had when they’d first met.
“We met yesterday morning. Hi, Riley. I can’t wait to get to know you better.” Chantal air-kissed both of Riley’s cheeks.
“How did you know my name yesterday?” Riley asked.
“Oh.” She swatted the air with her hand. “Mr. B. told me, since I fill in at the front desk. It’s always nice to be greeted personally, don’t you think?” She didn’t wait for Riley to answer. “I hear you’re new to New York.”
“Yes, I moved from Colorado.” Riley barely got the words out before noticing that K.T., a twenty-something African American man, was sizing her up. He stood with his arms crossed, one hip jutted out and his foot resting on its heel. She bristled.
“Mm-mm-mmm. What do we have here? A bit of Juicy Couture?” He touched the sleeve of her dress. “And a girl who’s not afraid to eat. I like that.”
Riley stiffened. Did you just call me fat?
Claudia snickered, and Riley wished she could shrivel up and disappear.
He must have read her mind. “Girl, I want to go to lunch with you. Eating with these waifs is like, Just wave the food in front of them and they survive on the fumes.”
Simone swatted his arm. “Ignore him. He hasn’t had his meds yet this morning. It’s really great to meet you. If you need any help, just let us know.”
Even with the food comment, Riley was relieved. She could see herself working with them. They teased, they hugged, and they were nice. It seemed Claudia was an anomaly—one Riley had to deal with. I can do this.
Claudia sighed. “Okay, now that that’s over with, today you’ll be going over all the line sheets for the Bliss line. I want you to ensure that all details and changes for the past two days have been made and sent to the corresponding staff. Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” Riley checked her emotions. She wasn’t feeling anything negative at the moment. She had no idea what Claudia was referring to.
“Like you’re too good for line sheets. These are critical. If one style number, price, color, or size is wrong, it can wreak havoc with the line. Updates need to be sent daily, but since you just began yesterday, we’re a day behind.” Claudia walked quickly toward Riley’s new desk. “We’ll be attending a trade show in two weeks, and we have a lot to go over, so let’s get to work. Be sure the sketches are up-to-date, and remember, accuracy is everything. Match all changes to the line sheets. Double-check your work. Oh, and there was a photo shoot yesterday morning. When the trunk arrives, go through it and make sure we got all of our samples back. If anything’s missing, call over to Phil and track the samples. Make sure those greedy models didn’t walk off with our stuff.”
“Phil?” Riley asked.
Claudia pointed to Riley’s computer. “Phil Lancorn. Look him up in your company address book.”
Finally, some real work. It might not be designing, but at least she’d get her hands on fabric. It was a step in the right direction.
“Okay, got it,” she said.
“Good.”
Riley watched Claudia walk away with her nose in the air. She mentally ticked off what was expected of her: Line sheets, trade show prep, sample inventory, and then she got to work.
BY TWO O’CLOCK, when the trunk of clothing showed up, Riley had finished all of the line sheets, confirmed receipt with the corresponding team members, and was famished. No wonder everyone’s so skinny. There’s no time for lunch.
Mia rifled through the trunk. “I need the fuchsia pencil skirt from his spring line.”
“I haven’t inventoried the samples yet,” Riley said, flipping through her checklist of clothing that had gone out to the shoot.
Simone breezed into the room. “We’ve got Carlisle coming over at four. Where’s the scarf that goes with the Bliss jumpsuit?” She flung clothes from the trunk onto the couch in the corner of the room.
“I swear, every time there’s a shoot, something goes missing,” Mia said.
Riley grabbed the garments as they were tossed about and tried to match them up with the inventory as quickly as she could. Claudia walked into the room just as Riley snagged a belt from Simone. “Let me just mark it off. Then you can whisk it away. I promise.”
Claudia snapped the belt from Riley’s hands. “Josh comes first. He needs this stuff now, not later.” She snapped her fingers.
“How can I inventory if I don’t have the items? It will only take a minute to go through these as they take them away.” Riley watched Simone stand with a stack of clothes in her arms and head for the door.
“Wait! Please. Just tell me what you have and I’ll write it down. Rattle it off as fast as you can,” she pleaded, then immediately cringed. Simone and Mia froze. Shit. Did I step out of line?
“I like her,” Simone said to Claudia.
Thank you, Lord. She snuck a sideways glance at Claudia and held her breath.
Claudia narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms firmly over her chest.