Page 90 of True Honey
I turned around, searching for the silver bin that Susanna liked to use for the easy papers without luck. “Where did you go?” I mumbled to myself and wandered back to the storage office, flicking the light on and staring around at the chaos of towered boxes and old merchandise left to collect dust.
In the corner on the bottom shelf there was a box, old and water damaged but opened that caught my attention. I knelt down, pulling it out so I could get a better look at what was inside.
“Oh my god,” I laughed, scooping up the box and carrying it out into the main office.
Susanna was setting paper bags on the desk when I appeared from the hallway, “now where the heck did you find that?” she asked me as I stopped in front of her.
“It was in the storage room,” I said. “What is this?”
“A few years ago, the baseball team did a fundraiser to raise money for cancer awareness. It was just after Lorraine died.” Susanna pulled a copy out and flipped through the pages. “I didn’t think there were any more boxes of those things around.”
“There must be like a hundred calendars in here,” I said in disbelief.
“They sold about a hundred thousand,” she said looking up at me, “it raised so much money they had to print a second run to keep up with the demand.”
“Is—” before I had the chance to finish she was flipping to the image of Silas in a doctor's coat practically naked and bringing a blush to my cheeks. “Do you think I could take a fifteen-minute break?” I asked her, my mind turning with ideas.
“Of course.” She shrugged, “I’ll put your lunch in the kitchen.” She called after me as I started through the stadium. I had to follow the signage back to the medical wing because I’d never been this far down but eventually I popped out down a hallway leading to two giant doors. Beside it was a smaller, empty office with Silas’s name on it and of course it was left unused in favor of the very public medical room.
I turned my back, pushing open the doors with the box still in my arms and spun to see him working with an athlete, “sorry,” I mouthed, not realizing I was interrupting until it was too late. He didn’t look upset, more surprised that I was there as he excused the player, walking them out and locking the doors behind him to give me his full attention.
“Well hello to you too.” Silas circled me and the box, swiping his clipboard off the bed and tossing it on his bed after marking a couple things in pen.
“You need to do another one,” I said, digging into the box and holding the calendar up and letting it fall open to Mr. August.
“No.” Silas jumped toward me but I held it out of his reach with a smile on my face.
“Why not?” I asked, sincerely confused by his immediate refusal.
“Let me rephrase,hell no.” He reached for the calendar again but I stepped back and narrowed my eyes on him.
“Why not?”I repeated, my tone dropping.
“It was humiliating the first time and we will never outlive it!” He sighed, “where did you even find that box?”
“The storage room.” I shrugged, “and are you going to listen towhyyou should do another?” I set the box down and crossed my arms over my chest. Silas stared at me, locking us in a silent standoff.
“There’s no good reason for it,” he argued.
“Susanna said last time you sold over a hundred thousand copies,” I said. “At what price?”
“Twenty-seven dollars and ninety-nine cents,” Silas said.
“And what was the printing cost?” I asked.
“Local place in Harbor did it, I think it was like six bucks per…” He said, his brows knitting together as I did the math in my head.
“So close to two point five million dollars in revenue, give or take?”
“Give or take,” he chuckled at the fast math.
“Two million dollars that didn’t come from your father’s name. Two million dollars that only existed because ofyou.” I tapped my finger on the calendar. “You want to show people that there is still good in the world? You don’t need him, you don’t even need their money if you don’t want it. You just have to get creative,” I said with a smile.
“How?” He asked, and I knew that he was interested because his shoulders relaxed.
“Reshoot the calendar.”
“Drew, no,” he laughed and if I wasn't so determined to get my way I'd swoon at the way his eyes scrunched up and created little lines around his face.
