“Now let me get this straight,” Jeff said. “She took your job?”
“Yes.”
“Because her mom’s retirement depended on it?”
Mark frowned. “It didn’t…at least, not at first. Her mom pulled a power play and made it necessary for Sophie to take the job, or she’d walk away from the sale. See, I said it was complicated.”
“No, it isn’t,” Jeff protested. “Was it Sophie’s idea to take your job?”
“Well, no.”
“And if she didn’t take the job, her mom would’ve walked and then lost her house and all her money, right?”
“It was her own choice, though—”
“Boy, I take back what I said. Nobody smart would say something like that.” Jeff crossed his arms. “I’m not saying the mom was right for doing what she did, but you can’t blame that girl for taking the job and standing up for her family. Sounds like she did the right thing, and she wanted you to understand. But you let the whole thing get all twisted, and then you walked away.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It’s not easy,” Jeff said. “But do you love her?”
Mark had been twisted in knots over that very question since the day he’d been fired. Longer than that, if he thought about it. “I love her,” he said. “But…”
“No buts,” Jeff countered. “If you love her, then this is a problem, but it’s not the end of it. You need to talk this out with her.”
“I need to get my career in place first,” Mark said sharply.
“Mark, there are more important things than a career,” Jeff said.
“I know that!” Mark didn’t mean to yell and was surprised to hear his own voice sounding so sharp. “You think I don’t know that? This isn’t just about the job, though. You said that you knew I was smart. Well…I guess I didn’t. I wasn’t trying to prove something to those jerks over in New York. I wasn’t even trying to prove something to the woman I love. I was trying to prove something to me, that I could make it on my own. Not because of my looks, but because of who I was.”
Jeff was quiet for a long moment. “I’m sorry,” he said, and his voice sounded sincere. “I really didn’t know you felt that way.”
“Yeah, well, you were always the smart one,” Mark said, knowing that it was true. “And Mom and Dad were good businesspeople. And there I was, making money by getting my picture taken, and everybody thought it was a big joke. Thought I was a big joke.”
“Does this woman love you?”
“She says she does,” Mark said. “No. I’m sure she does. And maybe it’s dumb to need to prove myself. But if I don’t do this…I’ll always wonder, and it’ll always stand between us.”
His brother clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Do what you have to do, Mark,” Jeff said. “But I will say this—don’t wait forever to figure this out. Don’t wait until you make your first million. Otherwise, you’re going to find out that as proud as you are of yourself, she’s moved on while you were out proving yourself.”
Mark felt a cold chill wash over him. “I’m praying it doesn’t get to that point,” he said vehemently.
Jeff sighed. “I’ll pray for both of you.”
12
“SOPHIE,” HER MOTHER SAID, when she opened the door of her mom’s home. “You look terrible!”
“Hi to you, too, Mom,” Sophie said, putting her laptop case and purse on the kitchen table.
Her mother reddened. “I’m sorry. It’s that…I haven’t seen you in a few months.” She bit her lip. “You’ve lost weight.”
“I’ve been busy,” Sophie said.
“I know,” her mother said, and her voice was shaded with tones of pride. “I’ve been reading about Diva Nation in the trade mags, and when I saw the display they put out in the Marion & Co. over in Santa Monica—oh, Sophie, it was everything I could’ve dreamed of. And then some.”
“You’ve got Lydia to thank for that,” Sophie said. “The launch went better than we’d hoped. Orders are pouring in. You should have your retirement covered, and then some.”
“And how is working with Trimera?” her mother asked eagerly. “I’ll bet they’re choking on it, having to work with you.”
“Some of them are,” Sophie admitted, “but only because they worked so hard internally, and they didn’t want to see somebody on the outside taking over and messing stuff up. I showed them I knew what I was doing, we figured out how to work together. Problem solved, drama over.”
Her mother blinked. “You sound angry.”
“I’m tired,” Sophie said. Then she sat down. “No, you’re right. I’m angry.”
“What did they do?” her mother said, sitting down, her face concerned.
“It’s not what they did,” Sophie said. “It’s what you did.”
“What I did?” Her mother sighed. “Sophie, you knew what this meant to me. You knew…”
“I knew what it meant to you,” Sophie replied. “Did it ever occur to you what this would mean to me?”
Her mother was quiet for a long moment. “Is this about that man again?”
Sophie winced. Just thinking about Mark…it had been six long months, and she hadn’t heard from him. Hadn’t even heard of him. Apparently, he’d disappeared from the cosmetics industry altogether. “This isn’t about him,” Sophie continued. “That’s over, anyway. I don’t even know where he is.”
“I said I was sorry about that,” her mother said defensively.
“I know. But your company was more important.”
Her mother sat up straighter in her chair. “All my future and my finances were tied up in it,” she said. “I suppose you wanted me to be a bag lady?”
“Here’s the thing,” Sophie said. “You didn’t have to be. You could have sold Diva Nation without any stipulations, and still been set for life. But you had to make sure that I was running it.”
“I had to make sure that they didn’t drive the company that I’d created into the ground with crappy products and stupid management decisions,” she replied. “I had to make sure that it was in the hands of someone I trusted!”
“No, actually, you didn’t,” Sophie said. “And the worst part is, I let you. I knew that you’d be stubborn enough to sabotage your own welfare out of spite.”
“You make me sound like a six-year-old.”
“You’ve been acting like one,” Sophie said. “I love you, Mom. But this has got to stop.”
Her mother stood up and started pacing. “Is this the conversation we have, where I’m Mommy Dearest, and I don’t let you—”
“I’ve got an ulcer, Mom.”
Her mother stopped cold. “What? When did you find out about this?”
“I’ve been working my butt off, trying to make Diva Nation everything you wanted it to be,” Sophie said. “I was working ninety-hour weeks. I didn’t have Mark in my life or anybody else.”
“You can’t blame that on me,” her mother said, obviously sounding shaken.
“I don’t,” Sophie said. “I blame that on me. I was working too hard and for the wrong reasons.” She took a deep breath. “Diva Nation is doing fine. I’ve got a team in place that will make sure it continues producing the quality products we’re known for. And now that it’s on its way…I’m quitting. I wanted to tell you myself, before I announced anything official.”
Her mother continued pacing. “You shouldn’t have worked so hard,” she chided.
Sophie smiled gently. “I know. I’ve been trying to prove myself to you, and trying to do what I keep thinking you want. That’s dumb.”
“I never…” Her mother couldn’t even continue the sentence. “I didn’t do this to you,” she repeated.
“No. I did this to me,” Sophie said, getting up and standing next to her mother. “And now I’m not going to do that anymore.”
She hugged her mother, and to her surprise, her mother started to cry.
“I know…I know I put you in a bad position,” she said against Sophie’s shoulder. “I just wanted to get even with those bastards so badly! They ruined me. I wasn’t going to let them win.”
“So you kept control,” Sophie said.
“And you paid for it.” Her mother took a deep breath. “I made my point, and you made yours. I’m sorry for that.” She paused. “So you’ll walk away from it, then?”
“Yes.”
“There’s no way you could maybe take a break, and go back?”
Sophie stared at her mother, then shook her head. “I’m done,” she said softly. “I want to get my own job and live my own life from now on.”
Her mother frowned, but nodded. “I can understand that.”
They stood there for a moment, silently taking the situation in. Then her mother wiped at her eyes and stepped away.