Page 81 of Love Like This

Hadley lifted one shoulder. “Claudette Fournier offered her a job,and Spencer pulled the order.”

“The hell she did,” Trudy said, and rifled through the papers onthe desk. “We have a contract.”

“With an out,” Hadley said, pointing to the second page, fourthparagraph. “She’s taking it.”

Trudy turned to Hadley and removed her glasses, dropping them onthe desk with a thud. “I put this in your hands.”

“I realize that.”

“And now I’m hugely disappointed. What do you suppose we do now?We’re late on any kind of replacement and will be waiting in line now behindeveryone else for inventory from our standard designers.”

“I realize that. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t help anyone, Hadley. Does it?” Trudy made clickingsounds with her mouth which is what she did when she was too furious tovocalize. “Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, while I try to sort outyour mess?”

“Let me do that. I can call around and reorder—”

“Oh, I think you’ve done quite enough, don’t you? Lesson learned.”She made a show of dusting off her hands. “I’ll handle all the big decisionsfrom here on out. You can ring up sales. How would that be?”

Hadley nodded. She swallowed any further response to thedemoralizing declaration, collected her things, and returned home, where she staredat the wall for a short period before retreating to the solitude of her bed.The awful day at work was one thing, but her inclination was to call Spencerand tell her all about it. The fact that she didn’t have that luxury any longercut deeper than any guilt trip Trudy could lay at her feet. No tears, however.None.

Now that it was weeks later, she’d gotten better at the stoicmaneuvering. If her friends didn’t care for it, there was very little she coulddo for them. When she arrived at work after the semi-intervention at BreakfastClub, Hadley was shocked to see Daisy dressing a mannequin in the green skirtand top from Spencer’s collection. It didn’t add up. She surveyed the room,surprised to see most all of Spencer’s clothes on display.

“Why do we have these?” she asked Daisy, as she touched the fabricfrom the military jacket she was so fond of.

Daisy moved closer and glanced around to make sure they werealone. “From what I could piece together from paperwork and overheardconversations, Spencer Adair didn’t pull the order in the end. I heard Trudy onthe phone a couple of weeks back. Something about Spencer negotiating withBertrand to fulfill all existing orders and Bertrand finally giving in andallowing her that leeway.”

Hadley nodded. Spencer had gone to bat for her, even after they’dsaid goodbye. Her heart ached and pulled, but she pushed past it. “Fantastic.I’m sure she’s going to sell well. A coup for us. Did the FedEx representativestop by yet?” she asked, back to business as usual as she headed back to theoffice.

“No. Haven’t seen him.”

“Great. Let me know when he’s here.”

Daisy smiled. “Will do.”

“Appointments today?” Hadley asked.

She quickly flipped through the schedule. “I have three beforelunch.”

“I’ll make myself available on the floor shortly.”

“Thanks, Had,” Daisy said, and went back to work.

Just a regular day. Her life itself wasn’t all that much differentfrom before Spencer Adair had walked into it. The difference was in Hadleyherself. Now that she knew what it was to have that person who she longed forand shared so much with, it was hard to revert to a life barren of thoseoverflowing feelings. She felt like a cleared-out, desolate warehouse. Shemissed Spencer, and not just the role she filled in Hadley’s life. She missedSpencer herself. The way she tolerated Hadley’s wild hairs and spontaneouswhimsy with a secret smile hidden away, or the way she looked after Hadleykissed her when she wasn’t expecting it, or showcased her sarcastic charm witha dry quip that came out of nowhere. That didn’t even touch on their amazingsexual compatibility, or the tenderness they shared late at night afterward.Spencer had opened her eyes to a part of life she’d always hoped for but hadnever quite experienced. Now that she had, how was she supposed to settle forless without this kind of fallout?

No. Spencer was her big bang, and now she was gone. That’s allthere was to it.

She scrubbed away the feelings and focused on the here and now.Better to be numb and barren than experience the depth of her loss at fullvolume. Yep. Safer to feel nothing at all.

* * *

Paris was turning out to be everything Spencer had always imaginedit would be. Well, outside of the rain there’d been so much of. She’d been intown six weeks and was beginning to find her footing at Bertrand. She’d beengiven her own office with a high-end drafting table and a handful of assistantsshe could call upon should she need anything. It was entirely different fromanything she was used to, and flattering, too. Did she feel like a fish out ofwater? Hell, yes, but Gerhard (pronounced with a hardG, apparently) hadtaken her under his wing for mentoring.

“Let me see,” he said of her sketches, one afternoon. He tossedhis blond hair out of his eyes in a dramatic fashion as he studied her work.“Yes, yes, definitely yes, no.”

“You don’t like the burgundy?” she asked, taking the offendingsketch from his hands.

“The texture is not to be loved,” he explained in his Frenchaccent. “It makes me feel heavy. Sad. Blah.” He made a show of looking weigheddown and depressed. “The rest is so light. Find your lightness, Spencer.”

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