Chapter 16
“You’re headed off to your friend’s wedding this weekend, right?”
Elina Sinclair barely managed to keep herself from groaning out loud to her boss. She hated weddings. Reece was the sole reason she was going. Her best friend had seen her through enough trauma in her life. The least she could do was be there for her girl as she walked down the marriage-guillotine-aisle. “Yeah, I leave tonight. I’ll be back on Sunday. But if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”
Her boss, Delilah Donovan, leaned back against the sofa in the lounge area of their office. In the far corner, Delilah’s business partner, Willow, hunched over her laptop.
“Honey, it’s a wedding, and a couple of days off. Enjoy it. Flirt with the cute best man. That’s what you’re supposed to do.”
Elina considered this. Maybe right now was not the time to tell Delilah that she loathed every single thing about weddings. That, thanks to her mother, the fairy-tale luster had worn off...probably not a good idea to mention that since her boss had just tied the knot herself. “Yep, I hear you. Fun, fun. That’s me.” She forced a smile.
More like she’d rather be following some survival guide through the Mojave Desert, eating things gross enough to make her stomach turn, than go to this wedding. It’s for Reece. Yeah, for her bestie, she could suck it up and put on her big-girl thong.
Delilah rolled her eyes. “Elina, I swear it’s like you don’t want the time off.”
“Not really. I’ve gotten used to the pace, and I like it.” D. Donovan Image Consultants was a boutique public relations agency. They cleaned up the reputation of the worst media screwups. Made problems go away. Technically they were PR firm meets law firm, but they were so much more than that. They affected real change in people’s lives. Their clients included CEOs, diplomats, politicians and athletes. Delilah didn’t handle celebrities anymore though, thanks to several bad apples.
After graduation, Elina had been drifting, looking for something permanent. Trying to decide if she was going to grad school or not, and she’d seen one of Delilah’s clients on television with Delilah standing right next to him—clearly in charge of things. Elina had been fascinated and contacted the agency right away, practically begging for an interview. She’d even offered to work for free for a month. To her surprise, Delilah had said yes. During that month, Elina did everything from pick up dry cleaning for Delilah and her partner, Willow Green, to chasing down wayward clients and dragging them back to rehab, to drafting media statements. Delilah had hired her after that. That had been a year ago, and Elina wasn’t looking back. She didn’t know any of her friends who had that dynamic of a job. Especially not at twenty-three. And the best part was, Delilah was having a huge impact in the PR industry and she was only twenty-six. The story was she’d worked a great deal at Park & Associates where they paid for law school while she worked for them. So she’d gone to school at night, all the while getting hands-on experience from the best. Elina wanted to be her when she grew up.
“Speaking of you working your butt off, Willow and I wanted to talk to you about something.”
The stunning redhead’s alabaster skin looked like the center of an Oreo, where Elina and Delilah acted as the cookies. Willow smiled. “You’ve done some outstanding work and really stepped up in the last year. It doesn’t matter what we ask of you, and that’s really impressive.”
Delilah added, “I think you’re almost ready for your first solo client. Maybe we’ll start with someone who doesn’t have a huge profile to not overwhelm you. The next client I have coming in might be a pain, but I’ll give you parts of the account for sure. We’ll see how you do, then bump you up to do one all on your own. How does that sound?”
Elina giddily shifted in her seat like a kid on the last day of school. She tried to speak but all she could manage was a guppy impression. Finally, she found the words. “Oh my God, are you serious?”
Delilah nodded. “Yep. You’ve done great work. And you make things happen for yourself. You remind me of me.”
“Thank you so much. I really appreciate it,” Elina sputtered.
“You should celebrate and take off to the wedding early. Catch the off-peak jitney before everyone else heads to the Hamptons and it gets too crowded.”
Willow unfolded her long limbs and stood up from the bright pink lounger. The office decor was cool, comfy and contemporary with a mix of boho chic. Delilah had converted the warehouse space next to her old apartment into the offices for D. Donovan. When she’d married her husband, Nate, they’d moved to some fancy penthouse, and Willow had rented her old apartment from the couple.
As Elina walked back to her desk, she wanted to dance. Or laugh, or run and tell someone. Except there’s no one to tell. There was her mother. And she had friends. Good friends, though none as good as Reece. But she hardly saw them, because she’d been so focused on her job for the last year. Well, it didn’t matter that she had no one to call. Maybe Willow was right. She could head up now and spend some extra time with Reece...before the wedding. Inject some fun into her life.
And just like that, her happy mood evaporated. Maybe it wasn’t too late to back out. No. She could support her best friend no matter how she personally felt about weddings. Even if it killed her...slowly...with a pickax to the soul.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out to answer. But when she saw it was her mother, she sent the call directly to voice mail. Elina knew her mother by now. It was her mother’s third call that morning, which could only mean one thing.
Either she had some new boyfriend that she was desperate to introduce Elina to, or, she had a man for Elina. The last thing Elina needed was a guy in her life. She’d told her mother this countless times. Of course her mother didn’t listen. The woman was always chasing love. Had been ever since Elina was little. Hell, she’d been married seven times. On paper, her mother was Gigi Meyers Sinclair James Adams Sinclair Thomas Stoya Sinclair.
Her parents had married three times. They just couldn’t leave each other alone. No matter how destructive and codependent they were. Growing up, Elina must have been the only kid of divorced parents who wished her parents wouldn’t get back together. She adored her father and could never understand why he put up with her mother’s dramatics. Must have been love. After he
