Tuesday, June 13 at 12:06 pm
Toni drove back to her apartment in a panic. She was still in shock at seeing Paul in person. There was no reason for him to think that it was anything other than a coincidence about her being there. Still, she wondered if he would say something to Olivia.
Would that be so bad? Maybe Olivia needed to know who she was engaged to marry.
Toni pulled up to her apartment and sat in the car with the air condition running for a while so she wouldn’t suffocate in the summer heat. She didn’t like deceit. The whole point of showing her collection to Olivia was so she could share her healing process with others. She really didn’t want to lose that opportunity now. She slapped the steering wheel and turned the car off.
Once inside her apartment, she leaned her portfolio against the coffee table, dropped her bag on the floor and plopped on the couch. She sat in silence with her arms folded for several moments before glancing at her bag.
Toni reached into the side pocket and pulled out the paper Olivia had scribbled Carol Landers’s contact information on. She may need to drop the foundation opportunity for now to avoid Paul, but she still had lingering questions. Her whole intention for going to the Niles Foundation last week was to talk to Jade again. Here Toni was running into people she didn’t need to be seeing and she still hadn’t made contact with Jade.
So what was her story?
It appeared Carol Landers was the connection to Jade.
She reached back in her bag and pulled out her phone. After staring at the paper for a minute, she tapped the numbers. Toni waited as the phone rang on the other end.
“Hello.”
Toni sat up. “Hello, is this Carol Landers?”
“Yes, this is she. Can I help you?”
“I’m in need of a social media manager. Olivia Niles referred me to you.”
“Oh wow. Well certainly, if Olivia referred you, you’re good people. Olivia rarely sends me clients.”
“She said you’re really good.”
“I do what I can. What type of social media platforms are you on?”
“Facebook and Twitter, but I really need help with my Instagram. I have tons of photos that a friend helped me take and it’s just hard to remember to post them. I have a Pinterest account I started, but I never remember to update it.”
“Well, I can certainly help you with that. I manage a few Instagram and Pinterest accounts. Are you a photographer?”
“An artist. I have photos of my artwork and jewelry designs. So, how do we get started? Do we need to meet in person?”
“It’s not necessary. I do everything remotely, but I don’t have anything against meeting in person as long as you’re local. ”
“I’m in Charlotte and I’m free anytime this week.”
“Awesome. How about we meet on Friday at Park Place Mall. Let’s say 11:00 am?”
“Perfect.”
“What’s your usernames for your accounts so I can take a look?”
“All my accounts are under my name Toni with an ‘i.’ My last name is Reed. Toni Reed.”
“Okay, great. I will take a look tonight and I look forward to talking to you on Friday.”
“Sounds good. Goodbye.”
Toni hung up the phone and laid it on the table. She wasn’t sure where anything was going lately. What she did know was she had her own business to run. Even more importantly, she needed to feed her stomach. She got up, went into the kitchen and opened the fridge. Empty. She should have taken time to go to the grocery store. There was only so much eating out she could do.
After scrounging through her cabinets, she settled on peanut butter and crackers. No wonder her mom and sisters complained about her weight. She didn’t eat worth two cents.
She grabbed a water bottle. As she chomped on her crackers, she noticed her phone screen had lit up.
Who is calling me?
With a mouthful of crackers, Toni went over to the phone and picked it up. Whoever had called left a message. She didn’t recognize the phone number though.
Maybe it was Carol calling back on another number.
Toni placed another cracker in her mouth and pressed the voicemail.
She froze as she listened to the familiar voice.
“What do you think you’re doing? Haven’t you done enough to me already? Now you’re going to show up in my life again. Stay away from ‘Liv. Leave me alone!”
Paul!
His voice was tight with anger. Just like that day.
Her mouth felt like it was stuck. She forgot she’d been chewing and found herself trying to swallow. She wrenched the cap off the water bottle and guzzled the water. With shaking hands, she held onto the kitchen chair until she caught her breath. Her heart was beating so fast.
Did Paul forget? He wasn’t supposed to contact her. Just because they ran into each other today, didn’t give him the right to violate his order.
As she calmed her frazzled nerves, it occurred to her that Paul seemed awfully focused on her not having contact with his fiancée.
Did that mean Olivia was really clueless about Paul’s past?
Toni always prayed that no one else would feel Paul’s wrath. Now she wondered if there were other reasons why she had crossed paths with Olivia.