The Allure of Julian Lefray (The Allure #1)(76)

With an hour left on the first leg of my bus trip, Gladys pulled out her tuna sandwich and I truly contemplated what it would be like to hurl myself out the window of a moving bus.

Yup, there’s my silver lining.





Chapter Forty-Six


Julian





“You’ve reached Josephine Keller. Sorry I can’t come to the phone. Leave a message after the beep.”

I hung up and threw my phone on the couch. I’m going crazy. I’d never been crazy over a woman, and there I was, at the ripe age of thirty-one, finally having my ass handed to me by one Josephine Ann Keller.

I knew I was going crazy because that’s the only excuse I had for calling Josephine ten times in the last three hours. I’d already left two voicemails. The first one was calm and normal. The second one? I was pretty sure I’d sounded a little off my rocker.

I left lunch with Dean feeling like the floor had been ripped out from under me. I thought Jo and I were on the same page. I knew she was crazy about me, but now I suddenly needed to hear her say it and I wanted to say it back. I needed to tell her that I loved her, that I wanted a real relationship.

As luck would have it, Dean would knock sense into me during the one day Josephine was off in the middle of Texas and therefore incommunicado. Do they have cell service in Texas?

My phone vibrated on the couch and I lunged for it. Lorena’s name flashed across the screen and I resisted the urge to groan.

“Hey Lorena.”

“Top o’ the morning to you too, sunshine. How about a little excitement when your little sister calls you?”

I forced a smile even though she couldn’t see it.

“I am excited you’re calling me. What’s up?”

“I have something important to ask you.”

I sank down into the couch. “What?”

“What would you say if I asked you to stay on at my company and take over as the official COO?”

“But—”

“Just hear me out first. You already own nearly half of the company, and you’re much better at the business side of things than I am. I should have asked for your help years ago, but I was too proud.”

“Are you sure?”

She laughed. “Believe me, it won’t be easy to work with your baby sister every day, but I promise to give you lots of space.”

I tilted my head back and stared up at the ceiling. A few months back, when I’d received word that Lorena needed me to step in and help with her company, I’d been less than keen on entering the fashion world. It still wasn’t my thing, but I’d enjoyed my time in New York more than I’d thought I would. I liked helping her find a new office space and interviewing architecture firms. I liked helping her rebuild her company from the ground up. Obviously, most of all, I’d enjoyed working alongside Josephine.

Which made me consider the idea that if Lorena still needed me, would she still need Josephine too?

“What about Jo?”

She hummed, mulling over my question. “I love Jo and I think she’s really been an asset over the last few months.”

“So you’ll keep her on?” I prodded.

“Yeah, if she wants to keep working for me. She’s really blown up since that runway show last week. Even if I just pay her to wear my designs, it’d be really good for the brand.”

“What other positions are you having people apply for?” I asked.

“Ideally, I’d like to find two good interns and an assistant designer. Obviously I need to really vet every applicant, but if I expect to create a new line by next season I need way more manpower.”

“Yeah, I agree.”

“We can start to tackle that on Monday though. I just wanted to call you and get your opinion on staying on while I was brave enough to do it.”

I laughed.

“Do you think you’ll miss living in Boston?” she asked.

I narrowed my eyes as I thought over her question. “It was pretty nice to have some distance from Mom.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I bet. Did you get her invitation for dinner tomorrow night?”

My mother had sent us both formal invitations for a family dinner. The card was like an inch thick and embossed with our family crest. It was all too pretentious for me, but it made my mother happy to cut down trees for dinner parties, so whatever.

“Yeah, and I have to go or I’ll look like an asshole.”

“You’re the prodigal son finally back in New York City! She’s probably going to parade a line of fertile females for you to select from.”

I cringed. “You make it sound like she’s running a brothel.”

She laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. That’s pretty gross.”

“You know what though, I was surprised she came down to visit you in rehab.”

It’d taken guts for my mother to face the music. She’d always lived in eternal la la land where the only thing that could go wrong was that she’d arrive five minutes after a sale ended at Bergdorf’s.

“Yeah. I know. She’s called and checked in on me every day since then too. I really do think she’s coming around. We need to go to dinner tomorrow.”

I groaned. “Fine. I’ll start ironing my three-piece suit now.”