Sisters by Choice (Blackberry Island #4)(92)

Sophie could feel Bryce’s interest slipping away. He didn’t think the cat tree was special enough and now that she stared at the quilt pictures she wondered why on earth she’d ever thought they were a good idea. They weren’t! They were stupid and she was going to lose her chance.

“We have these great cat hammocks,” she said quickly. “They’re fun and colorful and cats love them. Or these great stairs for cats. You mount them on the wall and create really cool patterns so they’re both entertaining for the pets, but also art.”

“Anything else?” Bryce asked, his tone a little strained. “Anything in the upscale cat litter market?”

Uh-oh. Sophie realized thirty seconds too late, she’d spoken when she wasn’t supposed to. Bryce leaned toward her.

“I’ve been in the business a long time, Sophie. Let me give you some advice. CK is more a box store kind of brand. You should go talk to one of them and see if you can work a deal. I think you’ll be happier. The stores I sell to have a very different way of doing business.”

While Sophie loved her box store accounts and would do anything for them, she had a feeling Bryce wasn’t paying her a compliment.

“Bryce,” Maggie began.

He shook his head. “I want exclusive. You know that. I want something special and unique. That’s what I promise my customers. They’re willing to pay for the best, but that’s what it has to be. Not some take-out menu. If you can’t believe what you bring me is worth it, then I can’t sell it. But it was real good to see you again.”

He stood and shook hands with each of them. “Have a safe flight home.”

“But... But...” Sophie glared at him. “That’s it? That’s all we get?”

Maggie grabbed her arm and hustled her out of the office.

“Don’t speak,” her sales director told her.

“I can speak if I want. It’s my company.”

When they reached the sidewalk, Maggie headed for their rental car. When she reached it, she turned and glared at Sophie.

“Yes, it’s your company. It’s your dream, blah, blah, blah. I knew bringing you along was a mistake. I knew you’d do this and I let you convince me anyway. What was I thinking? You’re impossible. You’re impulsive, you’re immune to good advice and when there are consequences, which there always are, you’re surprised. Why can’t you learn? Yes, you’ve done a great job, but you don’t know it all. You don’t. And now you’ve blown the most important meeting you were going to have all year because you couldn’t stop talking.”

Sophie refused to be the bad guy in all this. “He was impossible. He was going to say no to all of it.”

“No, he wasn’t. That is simply Bryce’s style. He was very interested in the cat trees and he probably would have gone for the quilts.”

“You can’t know that.”

“It’s my job to know that,” Maggie yelled. “It’s why you hired me. I know Bryce. I’ve worked with him nearly ten years. He was interested. But you couldn’t wait. You couldn’t trust me. You had to do it all yourself and now we have nothing.”

Sophie stared at her, unable to take it all in. She hadn’t blown it. There was no way Bryce was going to buy anything. Except, what if Maggie wasn’t wrong?

Sophie had hired her to handle sales. Sophie had begged her. She’d flown to Denver and offered her the moon, all because Maggie had experience in a market Sophie desperately wanted to get into. A market that Sophie had failed at dozens of times.

She’d never gotten as far as a meeting with Bryce. Not once. She couldn’t even get him to return her calls. But Maggie had gotten them in because she knew what to do. She’d had a plan and it had all just gone to shit.

Sophie stared at her. “I blew it.”

“That’s one way of looking at it.”

“I did everything you told me not to.”

“Yup.” Maggie unlocked the rental car. “Get in. We have to get to the airport. Maybe we can get on an earlier flight.”

“I pissed all over my dream.”

“And mine. I was supposed to get a bonus based on the order. Guess my kids aren’t getting new bikes for their birthdays.”

Sophie slid into the passenger side, a cold, horrified sensation washing through her. “It was right there, in the palm of my hand and I killed it.”

“Uh-huh.”

“It’s all my fault.”

“Totally. Now can we please stop talking about it?”

Sophie nodded. She would stop talking but she wouldn’t stop thinking. She’d always been so smart about things. She’d started CK from nothing and grown it to a multimillion-dollar corporation. She had dozens of employees and a great customer list and yet when it came to a critical moment, she’d messed up. There was no one else to blame. She’d been warned and she hadn’t listened.

She wasn’t the smartest person in the room. Not this time. Because it didn’t take a big brain to stay quiet.

Was it ego? Was it the erroneous belief that she knew better than everyone else? Was she really that kind of person?

She’d blown it—totally and completely. She’d been arrogant and thoughtless and wrong.

She looked at Maggie. “I’m sorry.”