The Best Friend Scandal - Lucia Jordan Page 0,55
there were at least a dozen stores in the city to adorn with an enticing window display. Some of the stores had even requested to have multiple windows dressed when I had called to ask for their blessing on the idea. The only way this was going to work was if the displays were visually stunning, and for that, I thought that Hensley was going to need more time and more workforce than we had.
When it was time to leave for work, Hensley headed toward her F.I.T. workshop for some “surprise idea” that she had, while I drove into the office at Luscious. It seemed like she never had any shortage of surprise ideas.
I was immensely distracted by thoughts of making love to Henley all morning, but when my secretary came into my office with news that Cai had accepted my deal, I refocused myself on the tasks at hand for the day. I shot Hensley a quick text to let her know about Cai because I knew that would ease her mind, and then I got to work handling things on my end for the launch. After a couple of hours, Hensley texted me back and asked me to meet her at the store site for the first window. I asked her if she wanted me to bring my design team along to help, and she said it wasn’t necessary yet. Was she planning to do this whole thing by herself? There was just no way; that would be physically impossible. Regardless, I went to see what she was up to and met her at one of the high-end department stores in upper Manhattan. When I pulled up, I was amazed to see the crowd of people gathered around her outside the store window.
“Hey,” I said as I walked over and kissed Hensley on the cheek. “Who are all these people?”
“These,” she said with a beaming smile that indicated she was proud of herself. “Are all the students who were in my design cohort at F.I.T. when I did my undergrad work. And they have all graciously offered to come to help us with the windows. No charge, no contracts; they just want the experience.”
I looked around; there were at least a dozen designers. “Are you serious?” I asked. “This is great!”
It wasn’t the cost that I cared about, but just the manpower that Hensley would need in order to pull it off and get it all done before the first shipment of fashions arrived at each store. She would certainly have enough hands on deck now. I stood back and watched as she and the designers went inside the store and climbed into the giant display area. I could see her talking rapidly with her hands moving as she spoke to the other designers on the other side of the glass. She looked as if she was completely in her element. And then, all of a sudden, I had a great idea, one that I would keep to myself until the time was exactly right.
I spent the rest of the day watching as Hensley and her team went from store to store and window to window, laying out ideas and dispersing the information to the other designers who then engaged in verbal collaboration about what they would do. A few of them even offered to be live mannequins, the kind of faux model that would stand perfectly still in the window, making everyone believe they were just a mannequin until they suddenly moved and changed position. It was almost like performance art, and it would add an edge of intrigue to some of the displays.
Hensley spent the next few days working on the launch, and although I was working on my end of things for it, too, I was also working on a bit of a side-project.
“Mr. Pratt, how lovely to see you again,” the manager of Closet Magic said to me as I walked into her store.
It was one of the most prestigious shops in the city, and the store was already well-known for its elaborate window displays year-round. The building itself had a historic brick-stone façade that was partially covered in crawling ivy, and it was located on one of the most beautiful corners near Soho.
“Actually,” I said. “I have a rather unusual favor to ask of you.”
Fortunately, I knew the manager well. We were even on a first name basis once we got behind closed doors and could drop all the pretentious formalities. Meg and