Page 22 of Secrets, Scandals and Baby Shoes

“All right.” Elliot held up a hand. “Dominic has already met with them a few times, so we should go in there and lay out the facts. We can present the numbers on how much more business they can expect if they partner with us, the breakdown of the costs and fees, everything.”

“No way.” Lucy shook her head, her brown hair furling around her ears. “We have excellent creative work about how to present the vineyards as a lifestyle destination, not just another vacation. I think Pura Vida would really respond to that.”

Elliot sighed. “Listen, I have about a million things to do before that meeting. Let’s circle back to it later.”

“I think we should talk about it now.” Lucy’s eyes narrowed. “We can’t lose a client Dominic was working so hard to land.”

“And we won’t.” Elliot ran a hand through his hair. “Look, let me handle the prep for the meeting. Okay? You can handle the prep for our next client.” It would be easier if he could take care of this himself instead of arguing with Lucy about it for hours first.

Lucy hesitated, then sighed. “Fine. But include some of the creative work, okay? You can’t come at this from a purely financial perspective.”

“I will, I will.” Elliot put his headphones back in, wishing for the day to be over already. It was hard enough taking over as co-CEO of Borderless when he was already CEO of his own company. Having to fight every step of the way against a woman he’d once loved made it so much harder.

CHAPTER 11

LUCY

“Hey.” Lucy followed Elliot down the hall toward the meeting room, half-running to keep up with him. “Can I see the presentation you made for Pura Vida?”

“Now?” Elliot stopped in his tracks and looked down at her with thinly veiled distaste. “We’re literally walking into the meeting.”

“I know, but you’ve been in other meetings all morning. I want to be sure we’re on the same page.” Lucy tried to keep her tone constructive and friendly without unleashing the annoyance she felt. She wouldn’t be surprised if Elliot had packed his morning with other meetings on purpose to avoid having to talk to her about this one.

“We are. Let’s go.” Elliot held open the door to the conference room for Lucy to enter, and shooting one last annoyed look at Elliot, she did. Their client, the vineyard chain’s director, Monica Castillo, was already seated at the table with Lukas Grant, her account manager. Or future account manager if she signed on with Borderless.

Smiling, Lucy held out a hand to Monica, who took it with an equal smile.

“It’s lovely to see you again,” Monica said. “And I truly appreciate you taking this meeting. I realize it’s a turbulent time for both you and the company.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Lucy said quickly. “We’re excited to show you everything Borderless can offer.”

“We haven’t met before,” Elliot put in, stepping up beside Lucy and holding out his hand. “I’m Elliot Cobb, and along with Lucy here, I’m co-CEO of Borderless for the time being.”

Lucy couldn’t help but notice thefor the time beingpart. It might have been just an innocent turn of phrase, but it grated on her nerves.

“Nice to meet you, Elliot. I’m Monica.” They shook briefly, and Elliot urged Monica to have a seat. He cued up the presentation, and Lucy’s heart sank as the first slide appeared. It was full of statistics. Lucy glanced at Monica, who looked politely interested, and hoped that Elliot had included some of their beautiful creative work as well.

He hadn’t. Elliot clicked through slide after slide of finances and figures. Finally, at the very end, one slide showed the potential Pura Vida tab that would be on the app, but Elliot didn’t pause to explain anything about it. He just clicked on to the next slide, which was about profit margins.

“Sorry.” Lucy got to her feet and joined Elliot at the end of the table. “Could you please go back to the previous slide?”

“It’s fine, Lucy,” Elliot said. He flashed a winning smile at Monica. “We can keep moving.”

“No. I just wanted to point out a few things about the Pura Vida homepage.” Lucy gave Monica her own smile, then shot daggers at Elliot. Grudgingly, he clicked back, and Lucy began to explain.

“As much as the finances make sense — and they do — I know that money isn’t all you care about. Working with Borderless won’t just help Pura Vida attract more guests. A partnership with us will also help make Pura Vida into the vineyard chain you want: a place where people can come together to share good wine, good food, and good stories.”

“While that’s all very lovely,” Elliot cut her off. “I don’t want you to think that your gains would be purely hypothetical. A chain of beach resorts we worked with clocked a twenty percent increase in?—”

“We’re not talking about beach resorts, though,” Lucy cut him off. “We’re talking about Pura Vida, which is a unique company with unique strengths and advantages.”

“I want to show that we understand that Monica is a businesswoman. No matter how special her vineyards are, she needs guests, or she won’t succeed. The math matters.”

“So does the company itself!” Lucy was getting frustrated. “You can’t use a cookie-cutter financial strategy for all clients equally.”

“That’s better than what you’re doing, which is trying to distract people with pretty pictures and catchy slogans instead of focusing on substance.”

“That’s not what?—”

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