Total pages in book: 122
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115288 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 576(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
I take notes and listen while Avery and London do most of the talking. Half an hour into the meeting, I glance over at London, whose hands are laced together, her chin resting on her pointer finger. She unclasps them and tucks her hair behind her ear which is when I notice an issue that will be impossible to hide soon. I’m also aware that in a few minutes she’s going to talk about the creative side of this venture, and the tutorials we’ve been creating to help the new teams with things like centerpieces and events.
She’s sitting across the table from me, so I slide down in my seat and try to kick her under the table without alerting everyone. Unfortunately my legs aren’t long enough. I resort to texting her instead, but she ignores the message.
So I switch to texting Jackson who’s seated beside her. Unlike London, he’s forever multitasking. His brows pull together when he notices the message. His gaze darts to me and then back to his screen. I flare my eyes, hoping he takes the bait and I don’t have to do anything else that’s going to draw more attention to myself or my sister.
Thankfully, he checks the message. His brows lift, then he glances quickly at London, recognizing the issue is indeed dire and she needs to make a swift exit before anyone else notices what I have. He extends an arm across the back of her seat and leans in, whispering in her ear. She glances down at the front of her blouse and claps a hand over her mouth. There are two very obvious wet spots on her chest. London is breastfeeding and trying to wean Ella, but it’s been a slow transition, and every once in a while her body is a jerk. Like right now.
I slide a folder across the table, and she uses it as a shield while she excuses herself from the meeting and rushes out the door. Jackson mouths thank you to me.
“Is everything okay?” Avery asks.
“Everything’s fine. London will be back in a few minutes.”
“Should we wait? I know London wanted to talk about the creative aspect of Spark House,” Selene asks.
“Maybe you can step in, Harley?” Avery suggests.
“Oh, uh, sure.” My face heats with the unexpected attention, but I clear my throat. “London and I have been creating a video tutorial series for her centerpieces. She’s been doing it for years for the staff here, but we thought putting together something more official would be a good way to streamline it.” But as I consider the scope of this venture, I’m not so sure it’s all that important anymore. “It’s a small part of what we do. And with everything else that goes into setting up a franchise, maybe it’s not something we should focus on right now. It was just an idea.” And one London could have explained way better than me.
“I actually think this is a great idea,” Selene interjects.
“I know the centerpieces are a small part of the events, so I don’t know if it’s really a valuable use of resources. And we already have lots of mini-tutorials. I could always clean those up,” I offer, not wanting to make more work for London or the rest of the team.
“I definitely think it’s worth having a look at those old videos. At the very least, it would be good to take a few professional ones to showcase just how much care goes into every aspect of running Spark House,” Selene replies.
“Okay. In the past we’ve made step-by-step videos for different centerpiece prototypes. We know they’re usually unique to the event, but we thought it would be helpful in giving the franchise staff a jumping-off point.” I feel a bit better having Selene on my side for this. It makes me feel more confident in my role again. Plus, this is the kind of thing I enjoy, and it would give me a side project to be excited about.
“That is exactly what we need, especially when it comes to the small details. Do you think London would agree to a crew coming in to film her for these?” Selene taps a pen against her lips. “It would be some great additional content for social, which we’re going to streamline further so we make it consistent across all franchise locations.”
“What do you mean by streamlining it further?” I ask, and catch Jackson and Declan exchanging a look.
“Selene has agreed to head the social media for the entire Spark House franchise. We thought it made more sense to have her team managing that, so we could free you up to focus in-house,” Jackson explains.
“Right. Yeah. I guess that makes sense.” I sink back into my chair as Jackson, Selene, and Avery volley ideas. I’d been planning to take videos for London, and we started getting things organized for it, but it looks like that job isn’t going to be mine. And it also looks like the job that was mine isn’t going to be anymore either. Which puts me back at square one. It’s hard not to feel defeated.