Page 11 of Kiss and Makeup
Chapter Five
Kristen
Not going to lie, after Xavier explained to me why he was suddenly taking such an interest in the family business, I worried a bit about my own goals.
For just a moment, as he looked at me earnestly with those soft brown eyes and explained his dilemma, I saw something I had thought we lacked— similarity. Both Xavier and I stood in the same tenuous position. We both had someone to please and we both faced severe consequences if we couldn’t do that.
I swept my hair back over my ear so I could grab the scattered blocks off the floor and deposit them in the toybox without seizing handfuls of brown curls. Since BeautyBee was putting everything into this massive holiday campaign, even as head of marketing, I didn’t have much reason to be at the office. Anything my marketing staff or Grant required from me had been easily handled over email or quick phone calls, which I could take from home with Emma or from filming locations.
I straightened, placing my hands in the small of my back to stretch muscles aching from bending over. The nooks and crannies of the playroom were now spotless, but I took a moment to appreciate the rare sight—and that I could be here to do this at all. Working away from the office felt so good! Much better than I had expected. I genuinely enjoyed my job with BeautyBee and was thankful for this respite.
And we didn’t just work at the Cruise Media location, either. My own marketing team’s contribution through the documents prepared for Cruise Media, the creative director’s clever additions and changes, and my own experience had taken the film crew all over Chicago to film under the Christmas lights in parks or in staged apartments.
Filming outside had set us all to stamping our feet and bouncing up and down on our toes to keep warm, and we hadn’t been above sending Cruise Media interns to nearby coffee shops (with money for their own coffee too, of course), but I had loved every second of it. Spending time outdoors and seeing places in Chicago I hadn’t been to before — all paid for by my job.
But, that whole time and even still a little now, there was that voice in the back of my head. The one that reminded me I’d never been in this kind of situation at work before. I’d never personally overseen things that usually came to my attention in the form of reports before.
Everything was different than usual, uncalculated, and even though I knew it wasn’t his fault, I still walked a little cautiously around Xavier.
In the past, he’d promised to start his homework days before it was due. He never did. He promised he wouldn’t party with his football friends the night before exams. He’d never stopped.
Xavier had a record of breaking promises to me, his family, and himself, and I couldn’t trust him to handle something that could lose me my job. Not fully, not yet. The day he had explained his father’s ultimatum, I had determined to give him a chance to prove that he’d changed.
Nine years was a long time, after all. I had grown and matured. Why shouldn’t he have changed as well?
Each day on set or at meetings, we talked a little more openly. Not usually about us, as we had been in the past when it was “we”. We shifted from foot to foot, chatting about friends we had once shared, places we’d visited, things we’d done…
I hadn’t realized just how much I missed him until I realized how much about him I had missed. And this new Xavier… This man was everything I had wanted him to be in college.
So, when Xavier stopped me after one of those shoots outside under the omnipresent glow of strands of lights and holiday wreaths, I didn’t turn away.
“Kristen, wait,” he called after me as I turned to follow the camera crew carrying their last pieces of equipment back to the Cruise Media vans.
The wind couldn’t reach through my fur-lined coat to calm the sudden uptick in the beating of my heart. “What is it?”
For a moment, words failed even Xavier’s slick vocabulary, then he visibly drew himself together with a deep breath. “I missed you, and I’ve really enjoyed catching up… but on the job isn’t the best place to do that. We need to plan the next shoot, too,” he added quickly. “Madison has a few options for you to consider.”
I never noticed until now how much I missed the way his eyes could smile wider than his mouth.
“Would you like to join me for dinner? I can give you those options. And we can catch up, of course. Somewhere that isn’t work.”
“I—”I don’t think that would be professional. I’d rather hear it from Madison.“Dinner… sounds good.”
“The day after tomorrow? Wednesday?”
“Wednesday is… perfect.” The relief on his face almost made me laugh. Clearly, he thought I was reconsidering my answer. Really, I just had to comb my mind for Lauren’s schedule. She never minded babysitting Emma as long as she was free, and I remembered asking for her on a Wednesday evening once or twice.
“Great. See you Wednesday, then. I’ll email you to confirm the time?”
“Sure.” The wind blew my ponytail across my face, and by the time I managed to clear my eyesight, he had already turned away.
What had been on his face before he left? Still relief? Or hope? Or happiness?
I didn't have time to dwell on it. This had taken longer than I expected, and I needed to pick up Emma in less than an hour.
Emma burst out of the preschool into the walled-in outside play area, leaping through the entryway at the head of her classmates and laughing up a storm with one of the little girls as usual. That probably meant that she’d be kicking and screaming this evening when I tried to get her into her unicorn pajamas to go to bed.
For now, a little, energetic, bouncy Emma was just what I needed. She beelined for me, and I scooped her up, her momentum taking us in a graceful little circle. “Oof,” I coughed as she wrapped her arms a little too close to my throat and squeezed. “How was school, Honey?”
