Nell would do what she did so many times before; forget the adversity and concentrate on success.
After moving some of the more manageable furniture out of the dining room, which was the brightest room with the best lighting, Nell settled in the sunroom at the back of the house. She always traveled with her sketchbook and her pencils. She had lots of brainstorming to do. Whatever she came up with had to be completely different from what she had intended. She couldn’t have anyone thinking she was “stealing” from Javier’s style even though he’d already stolen it first. The irony wasn’t lost on her. Unfortunately her break from him was well enough known in the industry that people would take his side.
For three hours she worked furiously, her pencil flying over the paper. She hated to do it, but she borrowed some ideas from the spring line she had been planning, converting them so they’d be more appropriate for autumn.
By the time she broke for lunch, she had five outfits planned out. She got on the phone and called an already overwhelmed Jill to plead with the young woman to stop at their favorite fabric store to pick up some needed material before leaving the city. There wasn’t much to choose from up in New Hampshire, so if they bought the majority of what was needed before coming up, it would help.
Next, she called Eli. She felt bad running out on him that morning. He seemed to have understood her state of mind, but she wanted to let him know the latest. She hoped he’d be at the house working in his shop.
“Hello.”
His voice was a blessed relief to her frazzled nerves. An odd reaction. He wasn’t supposed to do that for her. “Hey, how are you doing?” she asked, letting her stress untangle itself and leave her body.
“That you, Nell? I’m doing fine. I’ve been concerned about you.”
“Well, besides thanking God that I’m up in New Hampshire and not close enough to Javier to murder him, I’m doing okay. But I’m taking a power break before heading back to work.”
“When you say ‘heading back to work,’ do you mean heading back to New York? I’m kind of surprised that you haven’t gone already.”
“Yeah, about that. Here’s the long and the short of it. One of my employees stabbed me in the back, deserted me and compromised my workspace in the city. So I made a big decision. Gwen is letting me use her mother’s house as my studio. Believe it or not, I’m having my other assistant packing everything up and she’s bringing it here. I need a safe, quiet place to work, out of my ex’s reach.”
“Wow.”
“‘Wow’ doesn’t nearly cover it. ‘Holy shit’ is more like it. He took all my designs, everything I had planned out for my show. And it’s right there in the pages of Vogue . There’s no way I could parade my stuff out. Everyone would accuse me of stealing from him. I’m not a knock-off designer.”
“You’re not going to let him get away with this, are you?”
Nell sighed. She’d already thought of many, many ways she could dispose of Javier, but none that wouldn’t implicate her in his demise. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. But this isn’t over, not by a long shot. He’s not going to keep doing this. He will be hearing from me. But I’ll be up to my eyeballs in work for the next few weeks. It’s going to be a pain working from here, but I have to. I don’t want to risk anyone finding out my plans.”
“I hope you’ll have a chance to get away now and then.”
“I may have to, just to retain my sanity. What do you have in mind?”
They continued to chat for another fifteen minutes while she made a sandwich. Before they hung up, they’d agreed on meeting for a few drinks and a game of pool that night.
Nell knew she’d have to grab time with him while she could. Tomorrow morning Jill, her boyfriend Chuck and a few of his buddies would be arriving with all the equipment and then they’d be buried in work.
As Nell ate, she had her
After moving some of the more manageable furniture out of the dining room, which was the brightest room with the best lighting, Nell settled in the sunroom at the back of the house. She always traveled with her sketchbook and her pencils. She had lots of brainstorming to do. Whatever she came up with had to be completely different from what she had intended. She couldn’t have anyone thinking she was “stealing” from Javier’s style even though he’d already stolen it first. The irony wasn’t lost on her. Unfortunately her break from him was well enough known in the industry that people would take his side.
For three hours she worked furiously, her pencil flying over the paper. She hated to do it, but she borrowed some ideas from the spring line she had been planning, converting them so they’d be more appropriate for autumn.
By the time she broke for lunch, she had five outfits planned out. She got on the phone and called an already overwhelmed Jill to plead with the young woman to stop at their favorite fabric store to pick up some needed material before leaving the city. There wasn’t much to choose from up in New Hampshire, so if they bought the majority of what was needed before coming up, it would help.
Next, she called Eli. She felt bad running out on him that morning. He seemed to have understood her state of mind, but she wanted to let him know the latest. She hoped he’d be at the house working in his shop.
“Hello.”
His voice was a blessed relief to her frazzled nerves. An odd reaction. He wasn’t supposed to do that for her. “Hey, how are you doing?” she asked, letting her stress untangle itself and leave her body.
“That you, Nell? I’m doing fine. I’ve been concerned about you.”
“Well, besides thanking God that I’m up in New Hampshire and not close enough to Javier to murder him, I’m doing okay. But I’m taking a power break before heading back to work.”
“When you say ‘heading back to work,’ do you mean heading back to New York? I’m kind of surprised that you haven’t gone already.”
“Yeah, about that. Here’s the long and the short of it. One of my employees stabbed me in the back, deserted me and compromised my workspace in the city. So I made a big decision. Gwen is letting me use her mother’s house as my studio. Believe it or not, I’m having my other assistant packing everything up and she’s bringing it here. I need a safe, quiet place to work, out of my ex’s reach.”
“Wow.”
“‘Wow’ doesn’t nearly cover it. ‘Holy shit’ is more like it. He took all my designs, everything I had planned out for my show. And it’s right there in the pages of Vogue . There’s no way I could parade my stuff out. Everyone would accuse me of stealing from him. I’m not a knock-off designer.”
“You’re not going to let him get away with this, are you?”
Nell sighed. She’d already thought of many, many ways she could dispose of Javier, but none that wouldn’t implicate her in his demise. “There’s not a whole lot I can do. But this isn’t over, not by a long shot. He’s not going to keep doing this. He will be hearing from me. But I’ll be up to my eyeballs in work for the next few weeks. It’s going to be a pain working from here, but I have to. I don’t want to risk anyone finding out my plans.”
“I hope you’ll have a chance to get away now and then.”
“I may have to, just to retain my sanity. What do you have in mind?”
They continued to chat for another fifteen minutes while she made a sandwich. Before they hung up, they’d agreed on meeting for a few drinks and a game of pool that night.
Nell knew she’d have to grab time with him while she could. Tomorrow morning Jill, her boyfriend Chuck and a few of his buddies would be arriving with all the equipment and then they’d be buried in work.
As Nell ate, she had her
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