I’d left New York broke and hopeless, and I was returning to New York, still broke, but at least I knew I was capable of the extraordinary and that the extraordinary wasn’t reserved for just my dreams, and Bonita’s life stories.
And the extraordinary Hans and I had brought a bit of it back with us from Montana. Upon our return to New York, The Handsome Agency took a dramatic turn for the better, thanks to the ‘slight tweak in our business model’. We branched out into new ventures and attracted a new clientele, while still managing to give work to many of the same models that had been with us from the beginning.
My role changed. I wasn’t wielding the camera anymore but took on mainly administrative tasks. To help out with our more ‘traditional’ modeling assignments, we hired a young photographer, Ruby, straight off the bus from Wyoming.
She reminded me of someone else I knew who had come from the North West to New York with a camera and a dream. In a way, Ruby was the girl I’d been not that many years ago, which made me feel more like her big sister than her boss. Hans was working twice as hard as he had before, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, I’d never seen him happier.
Our turnaround in fortunes came just in the nick of time, too. We were about to be evicted, but managed, rather quickly, to pay our back rent and still had a substantial amount of money to invest back into the business.
Since Ruby was working out so well, I suggested to Hans that we double-down and hire a marketing director.
“That’s a good idea,” he said.
“Great. I’ll write up an ad right now.”
“Wait.” Hans put his hand up in a stop motion. “Let’s hold off a bit—a few weeks, at least.”
I tilted my head to the side. “But, we’re out of debt. We finally have money to invest. Strike while the iron’s hot, right?”
He nodded. “Agreed. But, there’s another debt we should take care of first. And it’s also an investment. Two birds with one stone.”
I furrowed my brow. “Explain.”
He gave me a wry smile. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”
With all that had been going on at work, and with Bonita off in Iceland shooting another documentary, over two months had gone by before I finally got her on the phone. We had a lot to catch up on. I told her the whole story—how I’d done a few live streams with six lovers; how I couldn’t wait for Jake to get released from jail so I could have all seven at once; how it all ended so suddenly; how I may have ended their friendship; how I had been so naive, my head in the clouds, and had ruined a perfectly good thing.
“I’m proud of you, Greta,” said Bonita. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out like you wanted, but you can hold your head high. You’ve experienced what few women can say they’ve experienced and what most wouldn’t even dream of.”
“As always, you’re right,” I said. “Still, what could have been…”
“There’s always tomorrow,” she said.
I sighed. “Tomorrow, I’ve got forty actors to interview, a set design to oversee, and a sponsorship deal I’m supposed to negotiate.”
“OK. There’s always the day after tomorrow.”
I chuckled. “Bonita, always the optimist.”
“Got to be.”
No sooner had I gotten off the phone with Bonita than everything I’d just told her became old news. I checked my emails, expecting a response to our bid on a loft in Williamsburg. Instead, the email I received had me slap myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
- Hi Greta. I hope things are working out for you. I miss you. I owe you an apology. I expected you to be a mind reader, and that wasn’t fair. I was upset at myself and took it out on you and took it out on my friends. Anyway, I have a lot to apologize for, but that’s not something I feel can be done in an email. I want to do it face to face. Also, I miss your face.
- I’m coming to New York. Actually, we’re all coming to New York, the whole gang. Normally, I’d wait for a reply to see if you want to see us, but you know me—I prepare for the best and deal with the consequences if my optimism proves unwarranted. (Actually, dealing with the consequences has never been a strength of mine. But I’m working on changing that.)
- What I won’t change, though, is my habit of preparing for the best. With that in mind, I’m on my way to North Dakota now to meet the rest of the team. From there, we’re renting a van and driving down to NYC. We should be arriving in a day or two. I know I speak for the whole team when I say that I really hope to see you and I really hope we can take care of our unfinished business.