Page 40 of Dominate
“I’m a born, bred, and cattle-fed Missourian! Where are you from?”
“Chicago!” I exclaim, tickled to have met a fellow Midwesterner.
“How crazy that we are meeting in West Africa!” she exclaims with wide eyes as she sucks through the straw of her drink.
Belle suddenly holds a glass out in front of me and says, “Drink up. Tequila Sunrise cocktails are the recipe to all that is good in life. You’ll thank me later.”
I accept it with a shrug and take a fortifying sip of the refreshing drink. “So you guys just arrived today, right?” I ask Leslie as Vi gets pulled into another conversation.
Leslie nods. “Yes. My two-year-old daughter, Marisa, cried almost the entire flight. It was awful. Luckily, my husband’s parents are on babysitting duty tonight, so Mama gets to party!” She swivels her hips and takes another drink.
“Oh, that’s so nice!” I reply with a smile. “My daughter, Sophia, is seven now, but she was three when we moved to England. I’m pretty sure that flight is where these came from.”
I point to the fine lines by the corners of my eyes, and Leslie bats my hand away with a scoff. “Please, I don’t see lines at all! You’re gorgeous.”
“And you’re sweet,” I reply with a laugh. Her accent reminds me of Sophia a bit because sometimes her words don’t sound fully American. She’s clearly been living in England longer than I have. “What brought you to England? Was it Hayden’s brother?”
“No. He was just a lucky bonus!” She smiles a Cheshire Cat sort of grin. “I work for Nikon with Vilma…Sorry, I know the rest of you call her Vi. We’re both camera bag designers and their headquarters are in London, so that’s kind of how I ended up over here.”
“Oh, how cool!” I exclaim. “I haven’t really had a chance to talk to Vi much about her job. I’m, well…I’m technically just a stylist, but I love designing and sewing when I have time.”
“OMG, me too! What do you make?” Leslie asks, her green eyes wide and excited.
“I make a bit of everything, but I really love designing menswear surprisingly. Tailored suits mostly.”
“Shut up! That is so cool. My favourite is dresses. I made this actually,” she states and twirls in her yellow floral-print, fifties-style, flare dress.
“Shut up yourself!” I repeat her sentiment because it’s fitting. “It’s amazing! It’s so fun and flirty.”
We sit down on a nearby couch so I can take a closer look at the stitching on Leslie’s dress. I’m pretty sure we lose over an hour of the night talking about fashion. She has dreams of opening her own boutique in East London, but the kind of capital and contacts she needs for such an endeavour is far more than she can handle.
I understand the struggle completely. The high fashion industry is a very niche market. If it weren’t for Callum’s connections with the affluent residents of Manchester, I never would have acquired the type of A-list clients I currently have.
Leslie also opens up to me about how she knows a startup business would be a huge commitment. Her husband, Theo, owns a successful custom furniture store even though he had a rough start. The difference is that he opened his business when he was single and unattached. The thought of missing out on time with Theo and Marisa weighs heavily on Leslie’s mind.
The conversation opens the door for me to talk about the struggles I face being away from Sophia since the divorce. I don’t know if it’s the Tequila Sunrise talking or what, but I even open up about Sophia’s cancer battle and how overly cautious I am about her health and schedule.
Leslie has an incredible way of just listening, too. She doesn’t judge or offer any words of advice. Rather, she simply nods or agrees at all the right times. It’s a moment of genuine connection between two mothers that I’ve not had with anyone since I moved to England. My mother and sisters came to visit before the divorce was finalised, but their advice was to do whatever I could to work things out with Callum. That definitely strained my relationship with them when my marriage still ended in divorce.
But something about Leslie listening and giving me the opportunity to express my feelings out loud is incredibly uplifting. I don’t know if it’s because we’re both American or if it’s because of our similar interests, but I connect with her on a very different level. It feels like we were best friends in another life or something. It makes me sad that she lives in London and I live in Manchester.
It’s almost eleven when I hear Belle screech loudly from her spot on the couch. “You’ve got to be joking!” she exclaims to the female waitress, who shrugs her shoulders sheepishly and hands her a drink.
Belle turns her wide eyes to all of us, fresh cocktail in hand. “You guys, guess what she just told me?”
“What?” Vi asks, leaning in to take a sip through her straw, clearly feeling no pain.
“Tanner and Camden booked out this nightclub for the evening.”
“What does that mean?” Indie asks, adjusting the gold-framed glasses on her face.
Belle’s dark eyes turn menacing. “It means they booked it out for the entire night because those wankers didn’t want any strangers dancing with us. They paid off the hotel to keep us away from other men all night long.”
“No!” Vi exclaims with her jaw dropped. “Did Hayden have any part of that?”
“Oh my God, I’m sure they all chipped in like the insane freaks they are,” Belle all but growls. “If I didn’t find Tanner’s jealousy kind of hot, I would be really angry right now instead of slightly turned on.”
“Ew!” Vi cries, plugging her ears and rocking herself back and forth. “Please tell me it’s 11:11 so I can make a wish to go back in time and make that comment disappear from my mind.”
