Lie of My Life

7 The Doctor

The next day I found myself leaning against the trunk of my car, parked on the side of the road downtown, drinking my morning coffee and staring up at a billboard of myself with Shane and Emma. The logo we had decided on was emblazoned in giant lettering across the front and the image of me was right behind it. I had to admit that looking at it, even I felt inspired. Shane had done an excellent job in making me look like an absolute boss.

"Well?" he asked then after a minute of Emma and I staring up at the gigantic sign. "What do you think?"

"It's incredible," I told him with a smile, turning to face him. "Truly, Shane, you did an amazing job."

He smiled proudly up at it. Emma placed an encouraging hand on his arm. I eyed that gesture suspiciously. I hadn't yet had the chance to talk to her about last night but I had every intention to.

"Back to the office?" I asked then and they nodded in agreement. We all climbed into the car and headed back. Mindy met me at the door, wide eyed and frantic saying that the phones had been ringing off the hook all morning and my day was jam packed with meetings with clients. So the billboard was working. I thanked Mindy and told her to bring the first one to me in twenty minutes. Then I said a rushed goodbye to Emma and Shane and ran off to my desk to check my email before my day of meetings began.

Apparently, potential customers were not the only ones who'd seen the billboard. At the top of my email list was a journalist for a local women's magazine asking to interview me for an article about my "inspiring dream and success as a female CEO and business owner." Touched, I responded to the email that I would be honored to do such an interview. Then my meetings began and they lasted until six in the evening. Then I had designs to start on so I flipped the switch on my desk lamp and settled in for another long night.

An hour or so later, a box of Chinese takeout was dropped onto my desk and the mouthwatering aroma of sweet and sour chicken hit me as I looked up to see my brother standing before me, already eating out of a box of his own. He took the seat across from me as I reached for the food.

"Thought you might forget to eat," he told me and my stomach rumbled as if in response. "The advertisement seems to be working then."

I nodded as I took a bite.

"Listen," he said, face getting much more serious. "Carter told me about Brad."

I frowned.

"I'm worried about you, Ava. I know I can't make the decision for you but I really think you should consider no longer doing business with this guy."

I saw the concern in my brother's eyes and thought about what he was saying. I knew he was worried about me. I knew they all were. And I knew how much I hated the way that Bradley Cork treated me. But this business was everything to me. It was my whole life and I had been so afraid of chasing away such a profitable client. But now, with this billboard and the forthcoming magazine article, maybe we would get enough new clients for me to feel better about losing his business.

"I know," I told Aaron then with a sigh, rubbing my eyes with exhaustion. "I know. And I'll think about it. I promise."

The next morning, I awoke to a knocking at my door. Grabbing my robe and tying it around me to over the little silk and lace nightie I had slept in, I headed out to answer it. I opened it to see Carter standing there, cardboard box in hand. He gave it to me and pushed past into my apartment.

"The delivery guy threw this in front of my door instead again," he told me as he opened the refrigerator and took out the milk before reaching for the cereal. "Apparently, he wasn't trained on the difference between 202 and 402."