Page 6 of Sincerely Not Yours

“More profitable?” she questioned, unable to hide the skepticism in her tone. Gigi had poured her heart into building this brand, and now the brother that’d abandoned his family and made a sketchy dating app was going to mess with it? She glanced at Dean, but he didn’t look as worried as she felt. “How so?”

Harris tilted his head, emphasizing his arrogance. “By making smart business decisions. We need to align our investments with our business goals. We can’t continue supporting a brand that isn’t making money.”

Gigi’s cheeks flamed, but this time, it wasn’t from embarrassment. Was he insinuating that SheTime was a poor investment? Anger bubbled in her chest, threatening to spew out.

Kim intervened, sensing the tension. “Gigi, Harris has a background in business and technology. I’m sure he’ll bring valuable insights to SheTime. You two will make a great team.”

Gigi pressed her lips together, keeping her skepticism and comments to herself.

“And speaking of teams,” Kim continued, “Harris will help you with the Gal’s Gift Guide events.”

Gigi’s eyes widened. She almost dropped the laptop she’d been clutching. “Wait, what?” She exchanged a quick glance with Harris, who seemed equally unenthusiastic about the idea.

“I don’t know about that—” Harris started, but Dean jumped in, interrupting his brother.

“That’s right.” Dean smiled brightly, overcompensating for his brother’s blatant rudeness. “Harris is going to take Kim’s spot and attend the Christmas events with you.”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Harris spoke up, clearly not thrilled about the prospect. “Dean, I saw what these events are costing us. Why don’t we focus on the bottom line and skip the holiday fluff? We don’t need these events to sell soap to women.”

Sell soap to women?Gig’s mouth hinged open. SheTime was so much more than that. Clearly, this guy didn’t have a clue about the business. And now he was going to be running it?

“Not happening.” Her words came out sharp. Harris grimaced like she’d poked him with a pointy stick. “SheTime is a major sponsor of the Gal’s Gift Guide. We’ve already committed. There’s no backing out now. It starts tomorrow.” She’d spent all year planning the event with the Chicago Women’s Association, but Harris saunters in and suddenly knows best? He wanted to cut the event with no concept of the backlash? “If we cancel, we won’t get reimbursed for our sponsorship. Plus, we’d lose out on the opportunity to connect with thousands of holiday shoppers, both at the events and through the extensive media campaigns.” Not to mention, the company would look ridiculous for canceling last minute.

“See?” Dean shrugged, looking happy at Gigi’s rebuttal. “No cost savings in canceling. Looks like you’re going to be busy for the next few weeks.”

“Few weeks?” Harris looked like he’d just seen the Ghost of Christmas Past. “How many of these events are there?”

“Ten,” Gigi said, raising a brow.

“You’ve got to be joking,” Harris replied.

“It’s the perfect way for you to learn about the business,” Dean said, still smiling despite Harris’s furrowed brow and deep frown. “You’ll have time to interact with customers and understand the product. It’ll be your crash course for SheTime, and a lot more informative than just staring at spreadsheets.” Dean locked gazes with Harris, and they seemed to exchange an entire conversation without another word.

Finally, Harris blew out a breath. “Fine,” he conceded.

“Great!” Dean smacked his hands together in a clap. “You’ll get to spend a ton of time with Gigi. She’s very knowledgeable about the market. You could learn a lot from her.” Dean gave Gigi a supportive smile.

Harris squinted, looking suspicious, but he didn’t protest further.

“Great,” Gigi replied, but without the same enthusiasm as Dean. She couldn’t shake the bad feeling coursing through her. Kim was leaving and her new boss was about to rip apart all of Gigi’s hard work. The Gal’s Gift Guide would be a disaster. After all, what could the creator of a hookup-dating-app contribute to a business that catered to women? His values were about as far from SheTime’s as one could get.

Working with him was like discovering a big lump of coal in her Christmas stocking.

Chapter Four

“He’s the worst,” Gigi declared to her friends, Alice and Paige. The three of them were cozied up in Alice’s apartment for their weekly “Yappy Hour,” which included margaritas, girl talk, and various other activities. They cooked together, watched movies, and did a lot of laughing. Tonight, they were knitting—a hobby Alice had recently picked up. As the crafter of the group, she was teaching Gigi and Paige, and Gigi found the rhythmic click of the needles oddly soothing. Paired with great conversation and drinks, it was the perfect antidote to a stressful week.

“He just walked in and started barking orders?” Alice’s eyes were wide and unbelieving. She stared at Gigi from the armchair where she sat cross-legged, dressed in leggings and a cowlneck sweater. Two needles moved swiftly in her hands, pulling from the bundle of yarn in her lap.

“Yeah,” Gigi huffed and snuggled deeper into the couch’s big pillow, leaving her needles and yarn splayed out on the cushion next to her. She had exactly two rows of stitches completed on a scarf she wanted to give to her sister for Christmas. Alice had helped her restart it three times. Instead of working on her gift, Gigi was petting Alice’s husky black-and-white cat, Mister Tuxedo. He purred in her lap. “He made some flippant comment about SheTime not being profitable and said he was going to ‘fix’ that.” She made air quotes, along with a disgusted face. “Then he stared me down with those grumpy, sea-glass eyes like I was the bane of his existence.”

“Sea-glass eyes?” Paige piped up, showing interest in the one descriptor Gigi hadn’t meant to divulge. “You convenientlyforgotto tell us what Harris looks like. Is your new boss a hunk?” Paige had barely recovered from her giggle fit after Gigi had reenacted her encounter with Harris in the elevator. “So . . . what does he look like? Do tell.” Paige was spread across the other armchair, her legs hanging over one armrest, a half-empty margarita glass in one hand. The salted rim was inches from her lips.

“He’s not ugly,” Gigi admitted, noncommittally. “But he’d be a lot cuter if he wasn’t trying to blow up my life.”

“Why didn’t Dean promote you to director, in place of Kim?” Alice asked. “You’ve been running that division for years.”

“Yeah, you seriously do it all. You could step right into Kim’s role,” Paige added.

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