She glanced at her watch. “Soon. They had theater club after school.”
She passed me a glass of lemonade. “What are you going to do with the designs?”
“Well, you know things have gone sort of sideways for me at work. I’m working on patterns, based on these sketches, and will start sewing samples at my kitchen table in the next few days.”
“Oh, sweetie, that’s so exciting.”
I nodded, and the butterflies that had been making themselves at home in my stomach, returned. “Nerve-wracking, too.”
“I bet. This is a big freaking deal. Going out there with your own collection. What will Forest say? And will you be able to pull it off?”
I grinned. “Good questions. It all remains to be seen. First, I believe Forest will be surprised but happy for me. Even thought he was bit a bit of an ass about the whole Muse fiasco, I know he supports people who leave the company to do their own thing. About pulling it off, well, yeah. There’s that. I mean, it’s one thing to create fifteen or twenty new designs and get them out there in front of people. But having the cash to produce the inventory to ship to the stores—that’s another story.”
And it really was. I’d heard the horror stories of up and coming designers, loved by the fashion press, who took orders from tons of stores, only to find they couldn’t raise the couple hundred thousand dollars they needed to produce the garments they’d promised to ship. You didn’t get a second chance when something like that happened. Too many burned bridges.
“Yeah, I’ll be talking to some investors, for sure.”
At least, that was the plan.
“Maybe I can help you, Kealy,” Marina said.
The tears came rushing back. Dammit.
I shook my head violently. “No. I mean, no thank you, Marina. You’ve already done so much for me. I do know some people who might be able to help me with fashion shows and shoots, things like that.”
“Of course, you do. You’ve been in the business now long enough to know all sorts of people.”
I hesitated to tell her about the men. But not for long.
“I’ve met this group of guys. They’re models and often work in Forest’s shows and in his shoots. They want to help.”
If she only knew…
“Well, there you go. And male models. Must be some nice eye candy.”
What an understatement.
“You like any of them? Any romantic intrigue?” Marina had been gunning for me to get back into dating after the last asshole I’d been with.
“Um, yeah. I guess so.”
“Yeah?” She leaned forward, excited out of her mind. “Which one? What does he look like?”
Shit. I just needed to spill it.
“Well, there’s Shane, who is Irish with red hair and a crooked nose. Tall and thin. And then there is Cross, who has long blond hair he keeps in a man bun—”
“No, no, I mean, which guy is it who you like?” She was understandably confused.
“—and Rand has shoulder-length brown hair, earrings, and huge muscles. Last is Marlon. He is black, shaves his head, and dresses really preppy.”
“Wow. What a collection. Which do you like?”
I took a deep breath. “All of them.”
She threw her head back, laughing. “I bet you like them all. I like them too, from the way you described them.”
“Marina, I really mean all of them,” I said.
“Oh. Okay. Well, I guess, in time, you can narrow down your choice.”
Time to be a bit more direct. “What I’m saying, Marina, is that I’m dating all of them. At least, at the moment.”
Her eyes opened wide. “Well, you little vixen. You know, you’re at the age when you should play the field. Good for you. How do you keep it secret from each of them?”
I sipped my lemonade. “I don’t. They all know about each other. Sometimes I’m with more than one of them at a time, even.”
She fell back in her chair. “No. Way.”
I felt a blush moving its way over my face, which pissed me off. I didn’t want to be embarrassed by my um…unconventional…arrangement.
“They share. They all date the same woman. They share her.”
“No kidding. Wow. I’ve heard of threesomes, ménage a trois, but one woman and four men? Holy shit. How…does it work? It sounds kind of crazy.”
“I’m not sure how it works. I’m just taking it day by day. I mean, I don’t think it could be a long-term thing. I don’t see how it would be possible. I want to end up with one, if one will have me. But it’s early days, and I like them all. A lot. So we’ll see what happens.”
Yes. We would.