Page 32 of Up All Night
"I can't wait."Oh yeah, I didn't mention the fact that her products are kickass.I don't use anything other than hers for all my bath and beauty needs.It helps that I get them for free.
Turns out, my client doesn't put in an offer, so I kick out of work earlier than expected, knowing that Lucy is out for lunch, anyway.Liv is cashing out a customer when I arrive."No sale?"She checks, but she knows the deal.If I'm finished early, there's no way an offer was made.Geena, Liv's employee, is stocking shelves.I give her a quick wave, and she reciprocates.
"Not today."I say on exhale.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
I wave."Nah.You win some you lose some."
"Okay."She smiles."Come out back and you can test this product for me while we eat."
"Where's the food?"
Liv gestures with her hand to the back.I follow her, while she tells Geena that she's on lunch.My sister is never further than a stone's throw away from her work.She goes into the small bar fridge out back and pulls out two salads in reusable containers.Did I mention that Liv is also a fantastic cook?We dig in and she grabs a small jug with the letters 'TEST' and a call number, so that she can keep track of new samples, etc.The logbook is old and tattered, and she's working towards saving it into an Excel spreadsheet, but that process is long and arduous."Rub this in and tell me what you think.It's a hand specific lotion."
I do the usual sniff, texture, and absorption test that she's taught me, and I like it."It's like raspberries."
"Yes.I've got the recipe down pat for that scent, but if this lotion is good, I'll work on it with peach and maybe some herbal scents as well.But I'm thinking that this product is going to be touted as more medicinal, so it can't smell perfumy."
I nod as I rub it in more and give it another sniff."I like it."
"Is it better or worse than the oatmeal stuff?"
"Better.I hardly use that one, but I'd use this, especially in the winter."
"Exactly."She takes a bite of her salad."So, I wanted to talk to you about something."
I'm chewing, so I mutter for her to go on.
"I know you, Lark.And I know that something is bothering you.You've not been yourself for a couple of weeks, maybe longer, and I can't help but wonder if maybe you're still letting old ghosts haunt you.You did well for so long, what with working with Lucy, but I feel like you're headed down that road again, and I worry about you."
I never told Liv about Stone.I couldn't bring myself to do it.She's heard so much about my past with me that I just couldn't put her through that.I couldn't put me through that, either.But it also tears me apart to know that I've been the cause of her worry for what sounds like weeks now."I made a mistake."Is what I say."And I'm trying to stop making the same mistake, but somehow I feel like I'm a glutton for punishment."
"Is this about Steve?"
My eyes widen."No.I told you I haven't spoken to him since we broke up."
A hand goes to her chest."Thank God.Anything else we can work through."
"Really?And what about the fact that all of the shit that I went through with him is paralyzing?"
"I told you to speak to a therapist, Lark.I don't know why you won't listen."
"If your face was pasted on bus stops, you wouldn't be caught dead in a therapist's office, either."
She frowns, tilting her head."True."A moment to digest and she continues."So, what happened?What mistake did you make?"
I don't have to be reminded that anything I say will be held in strict confidence.Liv has never betrayed my trust."There's this rich family, the Lawsons."I start with, which isn't a strange opener for me, considering that I practice real estate, primarily for the elite."Anyway, I slept with one of them, a cousin of Jagger Lawson, the owner of Lawson Enterprises."
"Uh huh."She knows that this isn't all the story.God love her but I also hate her for being so goddamn sharp and knowing me all too well.
"He's currently under Lucy's wing.He's a client of hers."
"And she has a strict policy about that?"
"Not exactly.But you have to admit that that would totally be frowned upon, right?"
She winces slightly."Maybe.Has anyone else done that and been the talk around the water cooler?"
