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“Jack Mason.”
“Jack Mason.” Tremayne tapped her chin with a nail shellacked the same red as her ankle boots. “Why do I know that name?”
Gina didn’t mention that TTG had coordinated Jack’s wedding. For reasons she would have to sort out later, that cut too close to the bone.
“Who is he,” Tremayne asked, “and why would he call me?”
“He’s a friend.” That was the best she could come up with. “I told him about our interview and...and thought he might have called to weigh in.”
“Well, it certainly never hurts to have an ambassador in your corner, but no, he didn’t call me. So what’s the deal here? Do you want the job or not?”
There were probably a dozen different questions she should ask before jumping into the fray. Like how much the job paid, for one. And what her hours would be. And whether the position came with benefits. At the moment, though, Gina was too jazzed to voice any of the questions buzzing around in her head.
“Yes, ma’am, I do.”
“Good. Have my assistant direct you to the woman who handles our personnel matters. You can fill out all the necessary forms there. And call me Nikki,” she added as her new employee sprang out of her chair to shake on the deal.
* * *
Gina left the Tremayne Group’s personnel office thirty or forty forms later. The salary was less than she’d hoped for but the description of her duties made her grin. As assistant events coordinator she would be involved in all phases of operation for TTG’s midtown venue. Scheduling parties and banquets and trade shows. Devising themes to fit the clients’ desires. Creating menus. Contracting with vendors to supply food and decorations and bar stock. Arranging for limos, for security, for parking.
Even better, the personnel officer had stressed that there was plenty of room for advancement within TTG. The tantalizing prospect of a promotion danced before Gina’s eyes as she exited the high-rise housing the company’s headquarters. When she hit the still glorious May sunshine, she had to tell someone her news. Her first, almost instinctive, impulse was to call Jack. She actually had her iPhone in hand before she stopped to wonder why.
Simple answer. She wanted to crow a little.
Not so simple answer. She wanted to prove she wasn’t all fun and fluff.
With a wry grimace, she acknowledged that she should probably wait until she’d actually performed in her new position for a few weeks or months before she made that claim. She decided to text Sarah instead. The message was short and sweet.
I’m now a working mom-to-be. Call when you and Dev come up for air.
She took a cab back to the Upper West Side and popped out at a deli a few blocks from the Dakota. Osterman’s had occupied the same choice corner location since the Great Depression. Gina and Sarah had developed their passion for corned beef at the deli’s tiny, six-table eating area. The sisters still indulged whenever they were in the city, but Gina’s target tonight was the case displaying Osterman’s world famous cheesecakes. With unerring accuracy, she went for a selection that included her own, her grandmother’s and Maria’s favorites.
“One slice each of the white chocolate raspberry truffle, the key lime and the Dutch apple caramel, please. And one pineapple upside down,” she added on an afterthought.
The boxed cheesecake wedges in hand, she plucked a bottle of chilled champagne from the cooler in the wine corner. She had to search for a nonalcoholic counterpart but finally found it in with the fruit juices. Driven by the urge to celebrate, she added a wedge of aged brie and a loaf of crusty bread to her basket. On her way to check out she passed a shelf containing the deli’s selection of caviars.
The sticker price of a four-ounce jar of Caspian Sea Osetra made her gasp. Drawing in a steadying breath, she reminded herself it was Grandmama’s caviar of choice. The duchess considered Beluga too salty and Sevruga too fishy. Gina made a quick calculation and decided her credit card would cover the cost of one jar. Maybe.
“Oh, what the hell.”
To her relief, she got out of Osterman’s without having the credit card confiscated. A block and a half later she approached the Dakota with all her purchases.
“Let me help you with those!”
The doorman who’d held his post for as long as she could remember leaped forward. Although she would never say so to his face, Gina suspected Jerome assumed his present duties about the same time Osterman’s opened its doors.
“You should have called a cab, Lady Eugenia.”
Sarah and Gina had spent most of their adult years trying to get Jerome to drop their empty titles. They’d finally agreed it was a wasted effort.
“I’m okay,” Gina protested as he tried to relieve her of her burdens. “Except for this.”
She sorted through her purchases and fished out a wedge-shaped box. Jerome peeked inside and broke into a grin.
“Pineapple upside down! Trust you to remember my favorite.”
Gina’s emotions jumped on the roller coaster again as she thought about his devoted loyalty to her and Grandmama over the years.
“How could I forget?” she said with a suspicious catch to her voice. “You slipped me an extra few dollars every time I said I was going to Osterman’s.”
For a moment she thought the embarrassed doorman would pat her on the head as he’d done so many times when she was a child. He controlled the impulse and commented instead on the bottles poking out of her bag.
“Still celebrating Lady Sarah’s wedding?”
“Nope. This celebration is in my honor.”
Riding her emotional roller coaster to its gravity-defying apex, she poured out her news.
“I’m moving back to New York, Jerome.”
“Lady Eugenia! That’s wonderful news. I admit I was a bit worried about the duchess.”
“There’s more. I’ve got a job.”
“Good for you.”
“Oh,” she added over her shoulder as she made for the lobby. “I’m also pregnant.”
Four (#uf787832a-bba3-5d25-8934-389f8b91f761)
Gina walked into the Tremayne Group’s midtown venue at 9:30 a.m. the next morning. She didn’t drag out again until well past midnight.
Her first impression was wow! What had once been a crumbling brick warehouse overlooking the East River was now a glass-fronted, ultra-high-rent complex of offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. TTG occupied a slightly recessed four-story suite smack in the center of the complex. The primo location allowed into a private ground-floor courtyard with bubbling fountains and a top-floor terrace that had to offer magnificent views of the river.
A young woman with wings of blue in her otherwise lipstick-red hair sat at a curved glass reception desk and fielded phone calls. Gina waited until she finished with one caller and put two others on hold to introduce herself.
“I’m Gina St. Sebastian. I’m the new...”
“Assistant coordinator. Thank God you’re here! I’m Kallie. Samuel’s in the banquet hall. He said to send you right up. Third floor. The elevators are to your right.”
Gina used the ride to do a quick check in mirrored panels. She’d left her hair down today but confined the silky curls behind a wide fuchsia headband studded with crystals. A belt in the same hot pink circled the waist of her apple-green J. Crew tunic. Since this was her first day on the job she’d gone with sedate black tights instead of the colorful prints she preferred. She made a quick swipe with her lip gloss and drew in a deep, steadying breath. Then the elevator door glided open and she stepped out into a vortex of sound and fury.
What looked like a small army of workers in blue overalls was yanking folded chairs from metal-sided carrier racks, popping them open and thumping them around a room full of circluar tables. Another crew, this one in black pants and white shirts, scurried after the first. They draped each chair in shimmering green, the tables in cloth of gold. Right behind them came yet another crew rattling down place settings of china and crystal. The rat-tat-tat of staple guns fired by intent set designers erecting a fantastic Emerald City added to the barrage of noise, while the heady scent of magnolias wafted from dozens of tall topiaries stacked on carts waiting to be rolled to the tables.
Soaking up the energy like a sponge, Gina wove her way through the tables to a wild-haired broomstick with a clipboard in one hand, a walkie-talkie in the other and a Bluetooth headset hooked over one ear. “Not The Wizard of Oz,” he was shouting into the headset. “Christ, who does Judy Garland anymore? This is the new movie. Oz the... Oz the...”
Scowling, he snapped his fingers at Gina.
“Oz the Great and Powerful,” she dutifully asserted.
“Right. Oz the Great and Powerful. It’s a Disney flick starring Rachel Weisz and...”
More finger snaps.
“Mila Kunis.”
“Right. Mila Kunis. That’s the music the clients requested.” The scowl deepened. “Hell, no, I don’t! Hold on.”
He whipped his head around and barked at Gina. “You the new AC?”
“Yes.”
“I’m Samuel DeGrange.”
“Nice to...”
He brushed aside the pleasantries with an impatient hand. “Go upstairs and tell the DJ to pull his head out of his ass. The clients don’t want Dorothy and Toto, for God’s sake! Then make sure the bar supervisor knows how to mix the fizzy green juice concoction that’s supposed to make the kids think they’re dancing down a new, improved Yellow Brick Road.”
* * *
Eight and a half hours later Gina was zipped into the Glinda the Good Witch costume that had been rented for her predecessor and making frantic last-minute changes to seating charts. Kallie the receptionist—now garbed as a munchkin—wielded a calligraphy pen to scribble out place cards for the twenty additional guests the honoree’s mother had somehow forgotten she’d invited until she was in the limo and on her way from Temple with the newly bat mitzvahed Rachel.
* * *
Another six hours later, Gina collapsed into a green-draped chair and gazed at the rubble. Iridescent streamers in green and gold littered the dance floor. Scattered among them was a forgotten emerald tiara here, an empty party-favors box there. The booths where the seventy-five kids invited to celebrate Rachel’s coming of age had fired green lasers and demolished video villains were being dismantled. Only a few crumbs remained of the fourteen-layer cake with its glittering towers and turrets. The kids invited to the party had devoured it with almost as much gusto as the more than two hundred parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends had drained the open bar upstairs.
Gina stretched out her feet in their glittery silver slippers and aimed a grin at the toothpick-thin Tin Man who flopped into the chair beside her.
“This party business is fun.”
“You think?” Samuel shoved back his tin hat and gave her a jaundiced smile. “Talk to me again after you’ve had an inebriated best man puke all over you. Or spent two hours sifting through piles of garbage to find a guest’s diamond-and-sapphire earrings. Which, incidentally, she calls to tell you she found in her purse.”
“At least she let you know she found it,” Gina replied, laughing.
“She’s one of the few. Seems like our insurance rates take another jump after every event.” He slanted her a sideways glance. “You did good tonight, St. Sebastian. Better than I expected when I read your resumé.”
“Thanks. I think.”
“You need to keep a closer finger on the pulse of the party, though. The natives got a little restless before the cake was brought out.”
Gina bit her lip. No need to remind her new boss that he’d sent her out to the terrace to shepherd some underage smokers back inside right when the cake was supposed to have been presented.
“I’ll watch the timing,” she promised.
“So go home now. I’ll do the final bar count and leave this mess to the cleaning crew.”
She wasn’t about to argue. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Nine sharp,” he warned. “We’ve got a preliminary wedding consult. I’ll talk, you listen and learn.”
She popped a salute. “Yes, sir.”
“Christ! You got enough energy left for that?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just shooed her away. “Get out of here.”
* * *
The Oz the Great and Powerful bat mitzvah set the stage for the dozens of events that followed during the busy, busy month of May. Almost before she knew it Gina was caught up in a whirl of wedding and engagement and anniversary and graduation and coming-of-age parties. She gained both experience and confidence with each event.
So much so that Samuel soon delegated full responsibility for computing and placing orders with the subs for everything from decorations to bar stock. He also tapped her for fresh ideas for themes and settings. In rapid succession she helped plan a white-on-white wedding, a red-and-black “Puttin’ on the Ritz” debutante ball and a barefoot-on-the-beach engagement party at a private Hamptons estate. And then there was her grand coup—snaring Justin Bieber for a brief appearance at the national Girl Scout banquet to be held in the fall. He was in town for another event and Gina played shamelessly on his agent’s heartstrings until every teen’s favorite heartthrob agreed.
Not all events went smoothly. Frantically working her cell phone and walkie-talkie, Gina learned to cope with minor crises like a forgotten kosher meal for the rabbi, a groom caught frolicking in the fourth-floor bridal suite shower with the maid of honor and a drunken guest held hostage by an irate limo driver demanding payment for damage done to the vehicle’s leather seats.
In the midst of all the craziness she unpacked the boxes Dev’s assistant had shipped back from L.A. and welcomed her sister and her new brother-in-law home from their honeymoon. Gina and Sarah and the duchess were all teary-eyed when the newlyweds departed again, this time to look at homes for sale close to Dev’s corporate headquarters in California.
Miracle of miracles, Gina also managed to snag an appointment with the top OB doc on the short list of three Jack had emailed. She suspected he’d used his influence or family clout to make sure she got in to see one of them. She didn’t object to outside help in this instance. The health of her baby took precedence over pride.
As promised, she called Jack’s office to let him know about the appointment. A secretary routed her to his chief of staff.
“This is Dale Vickers, Ms. St. Sebastian. The ambassador is in conference. May I help you?”
“Jack asked me to let him know the date and time of my prenatal appointment. It’s Thursday of next week, at three-fifteen, with Dr. Sondra Martinson.”
“I’m looking at his calendar now. The ambassador is unavailable next Thursday. Please reschedule the appointment and call me back.”
The reply was as curt as it was officious. Gina held out the phone and looked at it in surprise for a moment before putting it to her ear again.
“Tell you what,” she said, oozing sweetness and light, “just tell Jack to call me. We’ll take it from there.”
The man must have realized his mistake. Softening his tone, he tried to regain lost ground.
“I’m sorry if I sounded abrupt, Ms. St. Sebastian. It’s just that the ambassador is participating all next week in a conference with senior State Department officials. They’re assessing U.S. embassy security in light of recent terrorist attacks. I can’t overstate the importance of this conference to the safety and security of our consular personnel abroad.”
Properly put in her place, Gina was about to concede the point when he made a suggestion.
“Why don’t I call Dr. Martinson’s office and arrange an appointment that fits with the ambassador’s schedule?”
“That won’t work. We need to work around my schedule, too.”
“I’m sure you can squeeze something in between parties for twelve-year-olds.”
The barely disguised put-down dropped Gina’s jaw. What was with this character? Sheer obstinacy had her oozing even more saccharine.
“I’m sure I can. After all, the tab for our last twelve-year-old’s party only ran to sixty-five thousand dollars and change. Just have Jack call me. We’ll work something out.”
“Really, Ms. St. Sebastian, we don’t have to trouble the ambassador with such a trivial matter.”
Heat shot to every one of Gina’s extremities. Given her normally sunny and fun-loving disposition, she’d never believed that old cliché about seeing red. She did now.
