Page 17 of Sunshine

“Now?” I didn’t bother to hide the panic in my voice. I jumped up, snatching at papers and trying to stack them into some sort of order.

“She said wanted to just stop in.” Zephyr rolled his eyes. “She’s dressed really well.”

I groaned. Clients dropped by because they didn’t think they actually needed appointments, or because they were trying to catch me out.

“Let me see if I can call Logan and find out about her. Tell her I’ll be with her in ten minutes.”

I sighed, and my cousin left. Logan made me think of food, and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything all day and that was probably why I had a raging headache. I fished around for some crackers in my desk drawer, while I dialed Logan. But I knew it was a long shot, he almost never had his phone nearby, especially if he was at the restaurant.

Sure enough, it rang a few times but went to voicemail. I texted Julian but didn’t get anything back.

Oh well.

I finished making my office presentable, and buzzed Ember at the front desk. “I’m ready.”

“Mrs Moira Cullen is headed your way,” Ember said.

My stomach flipped, and my temples throbbed. She was a huge mover and shaker, and from what I’d heard, she thought she was too good for the earth she walked on. If I’d known she was stopping by, I would have dressed better than the slacks and blouse I was wearing. And I would have had my office detailed.

Oh well, again. I could always offer to take her on a tour of the grounds like I did with most prospective clients, and hope that would have enough of a ‘wow’ factor.

Moira Cullen had blonde hair, a smooth complexion, and clear blue eyes. She looked like she was in her mid fifties, and was wearing diamond earrings, necklace, and bracelet that costmore than my year’s salary. Her dress suit was perfectly tailored, and her arms toned. She probably went to the gym more than I did. Since I never actually made it to the gym, that was a low bar.

“Hello.” I gave her my best smile. “I’m Sunshine Sullivan, event coordinator at Cosmic Bonds.”

“Moira Cullen.” Mrs. Cullen shook my hand, eyes flicking around my office.

“Please, take a seat.” I stepped to the side and offered her the couch to the side of my desk. Officially it was there to allow me to talk with clients about their events, but most of the time it was my napping couch. “I apologize about the disarray, I just finished up with an event and we have three others ongoing.”

Mrs. Cullen perched on the edge of the couch. “It’s quite alright. Forgive my rudeness for popping in. I thought I would stop by and see if my project was something you were interested in before moving forward.”

“Certainly.” I offered her water and tea, both of which she declined, so I grabbed some of my event books and set them on the coffee table in front of the couch and sat down. “How can I help?”

“Well…” Mrs. Cullen looked around the office again. I couldn’t tell if she disapproved or not. It wasn’t that messy considering the state it had been in ten minutes ago. “I had a meeting with Chef Kahele…”

Her voice took on a self-important tone, like Logan was her personal chef. I ignored the urge to tell her that “Chef Kahele” made me key lime pie ‘just because’ the other day.

“I was lamenting my struggles at finding an event planner to help me bring my vision to life, and he suggested your services.” She looked me in the eye, her blue eyes sharp and intelligent. “He recommended you highly, and since I’d never heard Chef Kahele recommend someone with such praise before I thought I would look into your business.”

“Sure.” I nodded. “Cosmic Bonds has worked closely with Talk of the Town for three years.”

Mrs. Cullen glanced around again, her gaze landing on the massive amethyst geode on the corner of my desk. “Does every event you manage have these…New Age elements?”

I gave a polite laugh. I’d been there, done that. Cosmic Bonds used crystals, tarot, Reiki, and other modalities that were considered New Age, but not everything we did had to come from that base.

Mrs. Cullen’s energy was weird enough that I felt like I would need to cleanse the office. She seemed uptight and like she was used to getting her way.

“Of course not.” I picked up one of my event binders. I’d had high quality pictures of my most successful events made up so that I could show them to prospective clients. “Here is some of our recent work.”

Mrs. Cullen flipped through the book quickly and then gave a short nod. “I’ve been through four event planners already, and none of them have the vision I’m looking for.”

Alarm bells went off in my head. Four different planners? The woman was probably either too controlling or not clear about what she wanted.

“I want something…unique. Exquisite.” She gestured and the diamond bracelet on her wrist sparkled.

“Why don’t you tell me a little bit about the event, what you’re looking for, what you don’t want to include, and we’ll see if there’s the potential for a good fit.”

It was important to get control of the conversation now. If she thought she could just run roughshod over me, it would be a miserable event.

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