As Kelly waved at a couple leaving, she was surprised to find her New York friends still there.
“I thought you’d gone hours ago,” Kelly said, going to where they stood.
“We wanted to talk to you,” Perry said.
“About what?”
He looked around. “Do you think there is a more private place we can go?”
“My office,” Kelly said. It was clean and clear of any debris. She wanted them to know that she had a neat mind and a neat office, even though six people would make it crowded.
Cass closed the door after the last of them came inside.
“I apologize for the space. I rarely have more than a couple of people in here at a time.” She rarely had anyone in there. Jace had come and Ari. The modeling agency sent a crew, but they wanted to walk the property and scout locations. Mainly the place was her sanctuary.
“All right,” Kelly began. “Let’s have it.”
“What?” Perry asked.
“What’s the real reason you’re here. This is an awfully long way from Madison Avenue. And you six didn’t make this trip to look at an old house.”
“You’ve done wonders with it,” Cass complimented. “From what I hear the place was a relic and you’ve brought it back to life.”
“And I love the costumes,” Alex Wheatly said. Alex had been her friend, giving her advice and keeping her abreast of the office gossip. It was Alex who informed her of Perry Streeter’s promotion over her. And it was Alex who let her know that the account she’d been working on was leaving the agency.
“So you like what I’ve done with the place,” she said, trying not to allow the sarcasm she felt to filter into her voice.
“We like the marketing ideas you used to get this place up and running,” Cass said.
“They were nothing short of brilliant,” Perry added.
“Thank you,” Kelly said. There has to be a shoe ready to drop, she reminded herself. Kelly looked at them, allowing her gaze to settle on each face before she responded.
“The truth is, Kelly, we want you to come back to your old job,” Perry said.
Kelly was stunned. “Return?”
“You’ve done a great job here. This will undoubtedly be an ongoing concern for some time,” Cass explained. “But don’t you miss the drumbeat of New York? You were right there with the best, coming up with the ideas, working with the staff.”
Cass handled a lot of the advertising at the firm.
“Everyone liked you,” Alex said.
“But according to you—” Kelly looked directly at Perry “—I lost the Grissom account. As I remember it, something in the neighborhood of six million dollars.”
“Grissom is back,” Alex interjected. “And they want you.”
“Me, why?”
“When they left us, they didn’t know what they were doing. We, and by that I mean you, gave them more customer service and better ideas than anyone else. So they want to work with us—you—again.”
Kelly grinned. She understood. There was a six-million-dollar contract with a provisional clause in it.
“I’m sorry,” Kelly began. “I have other obligations.”
“Where?” Cass asked. “Here?”
“Yes,” Kelly said, her brows rising. “Here.”
“You’ve done an amazing job, but to handle the Grissom account...” Cass left the sentence hanging as if there was no contest between what she’d spent the past two years doing and what they were offering.
“We’re prepared to double your salary,” Perry said. “Think of it, twice what you made before, corner office, expense account. You can move into a swanky apartment in Manhattan and live the good life.”
“You’re assuming I don’t have a good life here.”
“Let’s not rush into anything,” Perry said. “Take some time to look over the offer, get used to the idea,” Perry said. He pulled an envelope from his pocket and laid it on her desk. “As added incentive that loft you wanted to renovate in Soho is available. With the added salary you’d be able to afford it.”
“I’ll give that some consideration,” Kelly said.
“Take a couple of weeks,” Perry said. “I’ll give you a call then and we can work out the details.”
She watched as the entourage left her office and subsequently the property. Alex hung back and gave her a hug.
“I’d love to work with you again,” he said.
“We were good together,” she agreed. She’d enjoyed working with Alex. As the artistic director, he complemented her ideas and transformed them into visual beauty.