I don’t think anyone has been the focus of such intent looks of disbelief since Moses came down from the mountain with some rocks and said, hey, guys, I’ve got some new rules.
“Uh, Kate,” Brian said with an amount of fake pity you usually only saw in celebrity photo ops with starving children, “that’s Asher Young. If you’re going to be desperate enough to lie about your business, maybe set your sights a little lower so it’s actually believable.”
I saw red, every single shade and variation of it. “Excuse me?” I asked, a jagged buzzsaw edge working its way into my voice. “Did you just accuse me of lying? I’ll have you know, Asher has been in my studio twice in the last week offering me business advice.”
“Business advice?” Brian asked. “Actual advice, really. Or did he see your silly little lingerie line and offer you ‘business advice?’ The kind that comes with a bottle of red wine and an invitation to his penthouse suite?”
That stung, mostly because it was true.
“I’ll have you know,” I began in a hot rage, “that some people actually think I show some promise!”
I didn’t care about the truth anymore, I just cared about wiping that smug little smirk off my asshole brother’s face, and wiping the matching looks of pity and disappointment off the faces of my parents.
“Asher offered to invest a half million in my ‘silly little lingerie line!’ He thinks I can be in stores within a month, and making a profit within another month! We’re having a meeting this week to see if our goals line up and to work out stock options, so you can take your condescending attitude and shove it so far up your ass it comes out your nose when you blow it!”
My family’s eyes had been getting wider and wider as I delivered this stirring speech; I assumed because of the combination of wild claims I was pitching out like baseballs and my increasingly unladylike language. But then—
“Speaking of that meeting, Kate, I’m going to have to reschedule.”
Asher’s voice, coming directly from behind my shoulder.
I felt all the blood in my body drain into my feet.
Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m so screwed. I am more screwed than a cheerleader on prom night.
There was a scraping sound as Asher pulled up a chair next to me. “Yes, silly me, it turns out that the annual wine-tasting for charity is this Thursday, and I do hate to disappoint Grant, he’s been going on about it for ages. I don’t suppose you could do tomorrow instead?”
“Tomorrow?” I echoed blankly.
“Yes, if it’s not too inconvenient. I suppose I could reschedule for the week after, but I’m just so excited about this venture; I don’t want to wait longer than I really have to. After all, if I do, you might find another investor!”
I felt him kick me under the table, and then he turned to my parents, felling my mother instantly with a megawatt smile as he brushed his dark locks out of his eyes.
“Have you seen Kate’s work? She’s a real artist.”
Wait, was he…playing along with this?
“I—ah—I, yes, I suppose Kate has always been artistic,” my mother said, really flustered for the first time that I could ever remember. The words came out slowly, as if she was having to carefully piece together a new worldview, one in which I was not a complete fuck-up, and it was coming hard. “She is always drawing…”
“I think she could be a major player on the world fashion scene,” Asher said, simultaneously taking the wine bottle and refilling Brian’s glass, thus making Brian close his mouth before he could interrupt and sip the wine instead to be polite. “She has real vision.”
“Vision doesn’t pay the bills, though,” my father harrumphed. “I still don’t see how frilly little fripperies are enough for a business.”
“Often in these cases all that’s needed is sufficient capital to get the ball rolling,” Asher said smoothly. “Once Kate and I have established her brand, its reputation will keep it in demand without new infusions of capital needed. Thankfully, Kate has in many ways already set up the framework for what needs to be done. I’m sure you agree, setting up the framework is vital?” he added, turning to Brian.
Brian was staring at Asher like he had flown down from the heavens on the back of a pure white horse with wings. “Yeah,” he said. “Totally. I agree. Can I just say how much I admire the work you did with Louise Alexovich and her digitization technique?”
“Thank you,” Asher said, clapping Brian on the shoulder as he stood. “I’ll be doing much the same thing with Kate and her company, so I’m glad you understand how these things go. It’s can be a bit dicey at first, which is why the support of friends and family is so very crucial in these early stages.”