Page 47 of Sweet Heat at Bayside
A puckish look sparked in his eyes. “A gentleman never tells.”
“Ah, so you’re a gentlemanly woman whisperer. Got it. Are you from Boston?” she asked as they headed for the elevators.
“No. I’m from a small town in Virginia, where everyone knows your nameandyour secrets.”
“That sounds ominous. I guess you had a lot of secrets to escape?” she said as they rode the elevator up to the second floor.
“I wanted more than the town had to offer,” he finally said as they stepped off the elevator. “Not much has changed about how business is done here over the years. But the Market Stalls are pretty amazing.”
She followed him toward the west wing. “Nice subject change.”
“I have many talents.”
Goose bumps rose on her arms as the Market Stalls came into view, featuring high-end antiques dealers with goods from around the world.
“Wow. This is even more incredible than I remember.” Being here was exhilarating.
“I know. This is my favorite part. I love the high-end contemporary designs, but there’s nothing like finding the right period piece to anchor a room.”
“Agreed,” she said as they made their way through room after room of an eclectic mix of furniture, lighting, and art from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries. “There are so many antique shops on the Cape. Some are ridiculous, you know, where they call a 1989 table a fineantique.” She made air quotes as she saidantique. “But some are incredible. I love knowing that every antique has a story. I want to know what each piece would say if they could tell us what they’d seen over the years.”
“A good shop owner can tell you that.” He cocked a brow. “Or make up something.”
She laughed. “Yeah. That’s true, sort of. But you know what I mean.”
They meandered through the displays, commenting on pieces and showing each other which looks they gravitated toward and why. Gavin introduced her to several vendors. He was as charming with the men as he was with the women, and Serena realized he simply knew how to work a room. She’d always thought she was a master at that, but she was more of a hugger and more likely to ask about people’s families and personal lives once she knew them well. Those were things she needed to get over in this industry. At least in the heart of Boston, where she wouldn’t see clients at the beach, flea markets, or local concerts.
“Where did you source materials at the Cape?” Gavin asked as they made their way back downstairs.
“Locally, of course. At least as often as I could. Someone needs to support the local economy. We may be small, but we have incredible shops. Have you been there?”
“Twice, when I first moved to Boston. But life gets busy, you know? And all the things you hoped to do get put on the back-burner.”
“Gosh. I hope not too much. I love my life back home. I’m heading back this weekend.”
“Good luck with weekend traffic. It’ll take you several hours instead of one and a half.”
“Oh, shoot. I hadn’t thought about that.” She knew how awful traffic was on the weekends. He was right. It would take her forever to get there.
“I can see you stressing. Do you want to call your cookie beau?”
“His name is Drake,” she said with a smile. “I’ll call him later. I’m sure he’s busy with the resort.”
As they left the building, Gavin said, “Do you still want to get food to take back to the office, or did you say that to impress the juniors?”
“I don’t need to impress them. I have a ton of work to do, and I happen to like my teammates. So be careful how you refer to them, or I might have to bring out my nasty side.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I like my juniors, too, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to give up my lunches.”
“Sorry. I’m still trying to find my comfort zone with the infrastructure of the company. I’m not used to being around the type of people who take credit for the work of others. You should have seen their faces when I said I wanted them to come to an initial meeting with a new client. It was like they wanted to go but thought they’d get their noses swatted with a newspaper. It was pretty awful.”
He was quiet for so long, she realized he might be just like the others. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you. Wow, foot in mouth much?”
He chuckled. “Relax. I was just thinking about how I felt when I first came on board and how much I’ve let go since then. I know what you mean. It’s unfortunate that they’ve learned their place, but fortunate for them as far as job longevity goes. I know a great café by the office where we can get food to go. Let’s take a cab and talk on the way over.”
They flagged down a cab, and as they rode to the café, Gavin filled her in on the ins and outs of the office.
“Here’s what you need to know about KHB. Like any business, there are two distinct areas that matter. Quality of work and image. KHB prides itself on working with the upper echelon of the business world, which is why we get clients like Younger, who want our name behind them. And that’s cool. You know, KHB has made a name for itself and achieved something not many companies could. But it comes at a price. A few days after turning in your billable hours, Suzanne will come talk to you. She’ll advise you to take your clients to BDC and rack up as many billable hours as possible. That makes the clients feel special and also fills the well.”
