“David, could you excuse me for a minute?” Kendal asked, and she bolted from her office.
As I waited, I was starting to get pissed. I’d taken a reduced fee for my shoots to garner the resale rights on my photos. After waiting a long ten minutes, I’d had enough and came out of Kendal’s office. I found Eve in the conference room, alone.
“Hey, where is everyone?”
“It seems that you’ve stirred something up. They’re in a little bit of a panic.” She looked at my photo. “Nice butt.”
“I’m glad you like it,” I chuckled. “I’m just getting used to it being on display. D’you know where they went?”
She pointed to Tom’s office. I was greeted by his secretary.
“Hey, David, they just asked me to track you down. You can go in.”
I walked in to find five other men and Kendal. The suits I assumed were lawyers at the firm. Tom’s face was red, and it looked like he had been dressing down the group before I came in.
“David, first of all, I want to apologize personally for my firm losing control of your photos,” Tom said.
“How bad is it?” I asked.
Tom handed me a list and at the bottom was the estimated value. It was in the six-figure range. My head snapped up and I looked Tom in the eye.
“Everybody out, David and I need to talk,” Tom ordered.
I could tell that Kendal had been crying, but right now, I didn’t want to deal with that.
When the door closed, Tom started.
“I think of you as a son. What Kendal did was a huge mistake. I haven’t decided if I’m going to terminate her or not, but she wasn’t the only one. All I can say is I’m sorry. I’ve ordered all, and I mean all, prints brought back to the office.”
Tom and I both recognized that his staff and their friends could not afford to pay me for the prints taken. I was in a tough spot, and he’d played the family card. We knew that I was getting a hell of a rate on the fees they were charging me. I was also critical to the division’s future. A prime example was sitting in their conference room as we spoke.
“Tom, if this gets out, it’ll kill your business. Nevertheless, you’re right, we are family. Here’s my concern: I don’t need to see these pictures on eBay. The ones that went to employees I’m okay with, as long as you can get assurances in place that they can’t gift or sell the prints. Were any given to people other than employees?”
He went through the list and found five that went to clients as holiday gifts.
“What do you want to do about these?” I asked.
“I guess I’m going to have to write you a check,” Tom said, not looking too happy.
I knew with any startup, cash flow was tight. Tom was staking his reputation at the firm by starting their new entertainment division. He and the partners would have to pony up the funds.
“No, you’re not,” I said, and he looked up with hope in his eyes. “I need write-offs for taxes.”
“David, I really appreciate you doing that. I assume you don’t want me to fire anyone either.”
“You assume right, my friend. I trust you’ll get control over this and I think people have learned their lesson. My main concern is hurting Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Wesleyan’s businesses,” I reminded him.
“I think we need to get out front on this. I’ll call them both today and let them know what happened,” Tom offered.
“Please do. Work it out. If I have to give them back some money or give them first looks on pictures, do it. They took a chance, and we have a good thing going now.”
Tom just nodded.
“Do me a favor and keep me in the loop on Eve,” I said, changing the subject. “If there’s anything I can do to help her, call me.”
We shook hands and he went back to finish up with Eve, and I went to find Kendal. She was sitting in her office with the other lawyers. I walked in and smiled. That was all Kendal needed to jump up and hug me.
“I didn’t even think. It won’t happen again,” Kendal promised.
“I know it won’t. We just need to think of Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Wesleyan’s business. They pay us good money to sell those prints.
“I assume you’re picking up Tracy and me for our trip to Florida.”
“I’ll meet you at Tracy’s for the party, and we’ll leave at 5:00 to make our flight. I’ll see you in a little bit. I need to make amends with Tom before I leave,” Kendal told me.
I went out to the lobby and found Eve smiling.
“Congratulations on getting new management,” I said, hugging her and kissing her on the cheek.
“Mom and Dad will be in later to sign to make it official, but we’re good to go. Thank you for helping. Now Tracy said I was supposed to take you to lunch, and then we’re to go to the party at her house. I’m buying, and just got back, so we’re going to Monical’s.”
Hey, it’s not just me. Their pizza is addicting. I just smiled and went along for the ride.
EVE GOT ME TO THE DOLE’S home in time for everyone to open their Christmas gifts. When I saw what I gave everyone, it reminded me to take my debit card back from Tracy. I even paid for airline tickets so my grandparents could come and stay through the holiday season. That and having Angie’s family come (excluding her mom and dad) were the best gifts I gave.
Selfishly, I was most excited about what Devin and Sandy Range sent me. I found a snowboard, snowboard carrier (for the plane) and complete ski outfit under the Christmas tree. They also gave me a company credit card with instructions to buy a wardrobe from any of their company stores. They wanted me to be seen in their clothes on a daily basis. Kendal had filled them in on my Florida trip, so they were having clothes delivered to my hotel.
Mary outdid herself. Her gift to me was cooking lessons. I looked forward to spending time with her and really learning how to cook. I could get by, but Mary had learned from her dad, who was a master chef.
Tom and I took Mom and Dad into his office, and we told them about getting her into Stanford Cancer Center. I could tell by her reaction that everyone was keeping how bad this cancer was from me. She broke down in Dad’s arms. I basically lost it when I saw my parents’ reaction. Tom held me while my parents recovered from the news. Then Mom and Dad came over and hugged me as we all cried. Tom’s office opened up to the pool area, so I snuck out to get some air while Mom told everyone at the party.
Shortly after, Kendal showed up, and the three of us went to the airport.
WE ARRIVED AT THE RITZ-Carlton on Amelia Island just before midnight. Kendal was staying with Kara, and Tracy and I had a suite. We were loaded down because we were going straight to the ski resort from the photo shoot. We had both winter and summer clothes with us.
Tracy was like a kid in a candy store when we finally made it to our room.
“David, come look at this. There are boxes from Range Sports. One’s addressed to you, and the other to me.”
“Open it,” I said.
She grabbed a letter opener and opened her box. It had several sporting outfits, from swimsuits and pullovers to a ski suit. She opened mine to find board shorts and t-shirts plus an assortment of casual wear.
There was also an envelope from the photographer for the diamond photo shoot. Inside was a rider to my contract for confidentiality as to who the client was. The accompanying note said that Hollywood Central and Entertainment Tonight had been stalking the hotel, trying to figure out what Kara was doing and whom she was meeting. I called Kendal, and she stopped by our room and read the rider. I called Kara and talked to her about her feelings, and she said it was no big deal. She had signed off on it, so I followed her lead and did too ... well, Kendal did for me. Before she got off the phone, we arranged to run in the morning.
Tracy was treating this trip like a trial honeymoon, so I wasn’t getting to sleep until we made love at least once. She finally left me alone when I explained what time I needed to get up at to exercise. She actually threatened me that if I woke her up, I might not make it to Christmas day.