New Beginnings: A Hessa Story (2)

Chapter 90: Hardin

"... I will definitely take a look at it and let you know." The third man in a row informs Stacy and me. Each person we've talked to has said that they will 'let us know', but I think that's just a nice way to say that they're not fucking interested.

"Next we should find Henry Benson, keep an eye out for-" Stacy stops mid-sentence, grabs my arm and drags me through the crowd with haste. "I found him! What are the chances of that!" She exclaims in excitement. We've been at this for nearly forty five minutes now, and I feel that I should check on Tessa. She's probably bored out of her fucking mind right now.

"Mr. Benson. Hi." Stacy introduces us to this man and begins to tell the same spiel that she's told every person since we started this thing. I can't focus on what she's even saying because all I can think about is Tessa. She's somewhere in this football stadium sized venue eating food and watching the damn paint dry. The way she told me to 'go' when I dismissed her from coming in with me hurts the most. I never, ever want to hurt her, yet I'm pretty sure that's exactly what I did. I know she's still here since I saw her come in and grab a large plate of appetizers.

"Don't you agree, Hardin?" Stacy nudges my shoulder. Fuck. I wasn't listening at all to what she was saying.

"Yes. Of course." I respond, even though I have no fucking clue what I just agreed with.

"We believe that it would be in your best interest to sponsor his upcoming book. Hardin is known for writing best sellers. His most critically acclaimed book, After, got him on the New York Times Best Sellers list. I have a spreadsheet with all of the numbers here if you would like to take a look."

She shows this poor man with obvious eye problems a spreadsheet filled with words and numbers in 10 point font. You need a literal magnifying glass to read that shit.

"I will definitely think about it." He says after struggling to make out anything on that sheet of paper.

"Great, well when you come up with your answer, please shoot me a call." She hands him her business card, and he walks off without a second glance.

"This isn't fucking working, Stacy. We should do more than show them a few statistics on a piece of paper." I smack the paper out of her hand. "We are just wasting our time. None of these people are going to get back to us."

"Hardin, stop!" She quickly scrambles to pick it up. "No one is going to say yes right on the spot! All of them need to think it through, so the fact that they are even choosing to do that is a promising sign."

"Whatever." I roll my eyes and glance at my watch again. "Look, I need a break. I'm going to try and find Tessa."

"Wait, we are on a roll. Come on." She stops me from walking away. "Ms. Young can wait until we check off a few more of these names."

"It's been nearly an hour. I have to see how she's doing. I won't be long." I yank my arm out of her forceful grip.

"Meet back at the ice sculpture in fifteen minutes! Got it?" She yells after me.

She needs to calm the fuck down. She acts like what she's doing is one hundred percent right, but I can see the look on these sponsor's faces and it's not as promising as she says it is.

As I continue to walk around the venue, I come to the conclusion that I have no idea where the fuck I am going. I somehow made it to a separate room where people are sitting and eating, but I see no sign of Tessa. I don't feel my phone in my pocket to call Tessa, and of course, I remember I left it with Stacy in her weird purse thing. I think Tessa has called it a clutch in the past. Great. How the fuck am I going to find her?