The Invitation by Vi Keeland(43)
“You usually get all quiet and do this staring-at-me thing before you say something snarky. But you’re driving, so your eyes are stuck on the road.”
“Actually, I was thinking about how well lunch went. You did a great job. I might’ve made the introduction, but you sealed the deal.”
From my peripheral vision, I saw Stella blink a few times.
“Was that…a compliment? Are you giving my happiness system a test run?”
We stopped at a light, so I looked over at her. “Definitely not. Though I am capable of giving them when due.”
Her lips curved to an adorable smile. “I was good, wasn’t I?”
“I already gave you one compliment, let’s not go fishing for another so soon.”
She laughed. “Alright. I guess I’ll take what I can get.”
***
Three days later, my assistant buzzed in to my office. “Jack Sullivan is on the line for you.”
“Thanks, Helena.”
I leaned back in my chair and picked up the phone. “I know I still owe you a beer, but it’s only eight in the morning.”
Jack laughed. “Like we haven’t had beer for breakfast before.”
I smiled. “That was a lot of years ago.”
“Speak for yourself. You didn’t go to Frank’s bachelor party a few months ago.”
I chuckled. “What’s going on?”
“I have some news that should get you big points with your little girlfriend.”
I knew exactly who he was referring to, yet I said, “There’s no woman in my life at the moment. Plus, if there was, I wouldn’t need your sorry ass to help me earn points with her.”
“So you must not want to hear the news then…”
“Spit it out, Sullivan. What’s up?”
“There’s good news and bad news. The good news is, the new Steamer-Beamer—some sort of contraption that lets you get the wrinkles out of your clothes while wearing them—caused second-degree burns on one of our producers.”
“Someone you work with got burned? That’s the good news? I hate to hear the bad news.”
“Obviously it’s bad news for that dude. But it’s good news for you. The Home Shopping Channel had to yank the Steamer-Beamer from its scheduled spot, and that means they have an opening for a product with some immediate air time.”
“Oh yeah? Think Signature Scent might have a shot?”
“Better than a shot. Spot’s yours if you can be ready faster than you originally planned.”
The launch was set for nine weeks from now, but we could definitely speed things up a bit if needed. “No problem. When would we need to be ready?”
“That’s the bad news. You’d have to be ready next week.”
“Next week?” I shook my head. “That’s impossible.”
“Well, the show would film then. It would air the following weekend. But they quote two to four weeks for shipping. So you’d have some time to get the goods out the door.”
I blew out a deep breath. “I don’t know if we can move things up that much.”
“Have I mentioned the volume they’re forecasting?”
“No, what are we talking?”
It took a lot to make my jaw drop, but the number that came out of Jack’s mouth left me catching flies.
“Jesus. That’s more than we anticipated selling the entire first year.”
“Women eat up the products they hawk on that channel. Robyn needs an answer within an hour. If you can’t do it, she has a list of anxious people with products who can. So you better figure that shit out.”
CHAPTER 15
Hudson
“Seriously? They think they can sell that many?” Stella sat down, as if the number was too big to digest while standing.
“According to Jack, their sales forecasting is pretty spot-on. They know their audiences and buying power.”
“My God. That’s crazy. But we can’t be ready that soon.”
“Yes, we can!” Olivia chimed in. “We have no choice. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We have to be ready.”
Stella raised a hand to her forehead. “But how? We just ordered some of the products we need, and they’re coming from overseas. Shipping alone is almost two months. We won’t have anything ready next week.”
“Well, we have longer than next week,” I said. “The show would film next week, but air the following Saturday. Then they allow two to four weeks for shipping. So we could stretch it before we’d have to start moving products out the door. We’d either have to expedite the stuff we’re missing—put them on a plane instead of a slow boat. Or find suppliers locally to start shipping until the full stock comes in. Maybe both.”
Stella shook her head. “That’ll all be really expensive.”
“We could increase the price point to help make it up,” Olivia said.
Stella looked skeptical. “I don’t know. Perfume is really price sensitive when you aren’t a well-known brand or don’t have a celebrity endorsement.”
“The shopping channel sells their products on a three-payment plan,” Olivia said. “So items aren’t as price sensitive as they normally are. Something that’s fifty-nine ninety-nine might be hard to swallow, but when it becomes three easy payments of nineteen ninety-nine, it’s a lot more palatable for a consumer.”