Open Eyes (Open Skies) (8 page)

“OK,” she said. “I think that’s about it, right?”

“You think?” Julie said. “Even though you still have some money left in the budget?”

“Well, yeah.” Vicky looked at the bags again, mentally running through what was in them. “I mean, I have all I need. Right?”

“Nope,” Tammy said. “I deliberately kept a bit aside.”

“For what?” Vicky asked.

“Lingerie!” both women said together.

Vicky blushed. “Oh. Oh, no. I don’t need any lingerie.”

“Honey,” Tammy said. “We have been watching you dress and undress for hours now, and we
know
that you need an upgrade on the underclothes.”

Vicky blushed more deeply.

“Look, Vicky. We don’t want to embarrass you,” Julie said. “But the fact is, with some of these blouses and dresses, a strapless bra is needed. So let’s go and get you a couple, and while we’re there, we can look at what else they have. OK?”

“OK,” Vicky mumbled.

Entering the lingerie store was a terrifying experience for her. Everything was so – so aggressively
sexy
. Vicky stared around at the items on display and wanted to crawl in to a hole and disappear.

Julie steered her over to one of the far walls and pointed out the strapless bras. “OK, you need one in white and one in black. Do you know your size?”

Vicky nodded. “I’m a 32B.”

Julie turned and scanned the shelves of strapless bras. “OK. Here’s your size.” She grabbed one in white and one in black. “You want to try them?”

Vicky went in to the changing room and drew the curtain tight, making sure there were no gaps.
I don’t want them to see my back and ask questions.
She started to undress.

Tammy appeared from around the corner, carrying an outrageous purple piece of lacy nothingness.

“So, what do you think about this?” Tammy asked Julie, holding up the purple lingerie. “Too much?”

Julie examined it. “You may well kill Rob if you show up in his bed wearing this.”

“So – it’s not too much?”

“I think it’s just the right amount of too much,” Julie said. “Try it on.”

Vicky got in to the black bra and stood looking at herself in the mirror, astounded. Her breasts were pushed up and in, and it changed the whole look of her upper body. She looked – curved. Womanly. Beautiful. She pushed her shoulders back, saw how confident and self-assured she appeared now. She turned and looked at herself from the side.
Hmmm. Not bad
.

With regret, she put her old bra back on –
I am going to burn this thing in the fireplace the second I get home
– and got dressed again and emerged from the changing room.

“How were they?” Julie asked.

“Perfect,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Tammy opened the curtain on her dressing room and struck a dramatic pose. “Ta-da! What do you think, ladies?”

Vicky blinked in astonishment. Tammy was standing there in the sexiest scrap of nothing-much that Vicky had ever seen, but nothing about it was slutty or cheap. Instead, Tammy just looked… well, she looked delicious. The cut was high on the thighs, accentuating her slim legs and making them seem even longer. Her small breasts were pert and perky in a bodice, her nipples peeking through the delicate lace. The color perfectly picked up her dazzling eyes, and her black hair cascaded over her creamy shoulders. Any straight man would be walking on his knees to just touch her once in that thing.

“Oh, my God,” Vicky said before she could stop herself. “You look amazing!”

“Really?”

“Oh, God. Yes. Rob will go
crazy
if he sees you in that.”

“Well, that settles it,” Tammy grinned. “I think I can say that
this
is one time when I agree that less is definitely more!”

Laughing, Vicky nodded and then suddenly – for no reason at all – she felt teary. Tammy noticed her face.

“Hey, Vicky. What’s wrong, sweetie?”

She shook her head, feeling stupid. “I don’t know.”

Julie gently put her arm around Vicky. “A bit overwhelming? All of this?”

Vicky looked at them and saw the kindness in their eyes. “Yes. It’s just – this is the nicest and best thing to have happened to me in… well. In a very long time.”
Very long
.

“It’s our pleasure. Believe me.”

“Thank you.” She smiled at them now. “Thank you so, so much. I can’t tell you what this means to me – this whole day.”

“You’re welcome,” Julie said.

Tammy nodded and then she saw a man staring at her, his mouth half-way open, taking in her legs and arms and cleavage. She winked at him and he blushed and scurried away.

“OK, I’ll just get changed, shall I?” she said.

Vicky and Julie laughed.

“We’ll just wait over by the check-out, OK, Tammy?” Julie said.

“Sure. I’ll be there in a sec.”

As they were standing waiting for Tammy, Vicky dared to look around at some of the display models. Her eye was caught by a gorgeous mocha bra on one and a sheer green teddy on another. “Oooooh.”

Julie followed her gaze. “You want to try them on?”

Vicky nodded; she didn’t blush this time.

Chapter Five

On Monday morning at eight o’clock, Vicky stood in her bathroom and examined her reflection.

Her hair was sleek and shiny and her face was carefully made-up. She had worked on her eyes this morning and they were dusted with a gold shadow so they glowed warm and lovely out from her face. Her lips were softly pink, her cheeks too.

She had on the rose suit today, and she had put a crisp white tank top on underneath. Her breasts were raised and curved in the strapless white bra, and her legs looked impossibly long and slim in her new chestnut high heels. A spritz of light perfume, a delicate gold bangle, a pair of simple gold drop earrings, and she was ready to go pitch for the marketing campaign.

She
shouldn’t
look this fresh and bright this morning, she knew: she had been up most of the night, changing the whole concept of her pitch. Her original idea had been good, she knew, but yesterday at brunch, she had been inspired by something else. As soon as she and Tammy and Julie had returned to Open Skies, she had rushed back to her apartment and sat in her favorite chair with the mountain view and scribbled out four pages of notes. She ate in her own kitchen and unpacked her beautiful new clothes, and then opened her laptop and started all over again on her presentation for the summer campaign.

The idea had come to her at brunch. Their water had arrived with ice cubes in the glasses; the ice cubes had delicate mint leaves frozen inside them. They had all exclaimed how cute the idea was, and they watched eagerly as the ice melted. It was a kind of game, waiting for the mint to emerge from the ice. And as she stared at her own ice cubes, using a straw to break the ice a bit, ignoring Tammy’s teasing that that was cheating, she had a burst of inspiration.

Vicky gave her hair a final swipe with the brush and then double-checked that everything was in her bag. Laptop, printed notes, a few visuals. It wasn’t as polished as she’d like it to be, but she was out of time. The pitch meeting was scheduled for 9:00, and she wanted to eat first.

She chose her breakfast and sat down to look over her notes again. She was half-done eating when a shadow fell over her papers. She squinted up and saw Phil standing there, his eyes very wide.

As always, her heart sped up just a tad when she saw him. Her hand automatically went to her hair to check that her bun was still in place but then she remembered: the bun was gone. She raised her chin.

Phil was gaping at Vicky.
Oh, my God! Look at her
.

Her gorgeous hair was cut to just below her jawline and he noticed for the first time that her face was actually a perfect heart. Her lovely eyes sparkled and shone, and her mouth was curved and generous. Her legs were hugged by a snug little skirt and the jacket accentuated her slim shoulders and pert breasts. She looked radiant.

“Vicky,” he started, then he cleared his throat. “Vicky, you look – you look wonderful.”

She blushed. “Thank you.”

He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes from her. “Is this what you and the ladies were up to when you headed in to town on Saturday?”

“How did you know about that?”

“Because Tammy bought lingerie, and so we all know about the shopping trip.”

She laughed. “Did she model it for you?”

“Damn close thing, I think.”

They grinned.

“Anyway, yes,” Vicky said. “Julie and Tammy gave me some help.”

“Just in time, too. Your big pitch meeting is this morning, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

He studied her body language. “Nervous?”

“Yeah. I am.”

“You ready?”

“As I’m ever gonna be.”

“Well, you look ready. You look beautiful.”

She looked up at him, suddenly confused.

He saw her face. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Tell me. What is it?”

“It’s just – since Saturday everyone has been telling me how good I look.” She stopped.

“Yeah…”

“And, well… it just makes me feel like… like before Saturday, I was… I don’t know. Ugly?”

“No, Vicky.” His eyes were just so warm. “I
always
thought you were beautiful. But now? Now, you look like
you
think you’re beautiful. And that’s far, far more important than anything that I may think. What
anybody
thinks, actually.”

She sat, stunned. “Thank you – thank you, Phil.”

“You’re welcome.” He glanced down at his watch. “Now don’t you have a pitch meeting to go and kick some ass at?”

She laughed and stood up. “I do, indeed. Wish me luck.”

“Oh, Vicky. Look at you – all confident and glorious. You don’t need luck. You’re going to be just fine. You’re the real deal.”

And as she looked up at his lined face, so bright and positive, she actually believed him.

**

Unfortunately, ninety minutes later, all of her confidence and bravado had just wilted up and blown away and Vicky was fidgeting.
Argh! Why do I have to go last?

She had sat through Rob’s ideas (awesome), Allison’s ideas (also awesome) and now Peter was wrapping up his ideas (awesome, also). All of their presentations were slick and polished and perfect; the handout materials were good enough to run as advertisements just as they were. She thought of her basic presentation and simple visuals – the best she could come up with at two o’clock in the morning – and felt sick with nerves and fear and anxiety. She was totally convinced that she was going to puke all over the conference room table, smack in front of Julie.

God, why did I decide to change my idea at the last minute? Why why why?

Well, it was too late now. Julie was thanking Peter and everybody was clapping and now everyone was looking at her.

She walked to the front of the room and took her time setting up her laptop as the others chatted. She caught a glimpse of her reflection in the computer screen and was surprised to see herself. She appeared amazingly cool and calm and collected. She looked again, to make sure that her eyes weren’t deceiving her and to confirm that she wasn’t in the grip of some panic-induced hallucination.

Yes, actually. She
did
look great. Her hair was shiny and sassy, her eyes were bright, her suit was totally non-creased and elegant. Vicky felt something burst across her chest at that moment, and she realized that it was honest, true confidence. ‘The real deal’, Phil called it.

OK, Vicky. You can do this. Your idea is great. So –
tell
them how great it is. And hey! You know what? I know it was donkey years ago, but there was a time when you were damn good at presentations, when you even enjoyed them. Remember that? Back when you worked with Alina and you kicked ass every single day? Yeah. Come on, now. You got this.

She smiled at Julie.

“Alright everyone, time to start. Vicky, whenever you’re ready?”

“Thank you, Julie.” Her voice came out as soft as ever, but it had a tone of authority beneath it that the others had rarely heard before. Surprised, intrigued, curious, they all sat up a bit straighter to look at her.

Julie smiled: there was more going on with Vicky Thompson today than a new suit and a flattering haircut and a push-up strapless bra. The woman had found something inside of herself, that much was for damn sure. She was emerging from her cocoon at roughly the speed of light.

“Julie and Rob, you asked for an idea that will make people think of summer heat and also summer cool. You want the concept to be laid-back and friendly and approachable – just like Open Skies is. You want the marketing idea to bring all kinds of people together in some way, just like Open Skies does. This place is perfect for couples and kids and corporate guests. I think that my proposal is fun and unusual, and I also think that it will gather people together – and I mean that quite literally.”

Julie was interested, and Rob was leaning forward. What did Vicky have in mind?

Vicky clicked on her laptop and opened her presentation.
Don’t apologize for its simplicity. It’s a simple idea, and it’s OK that the presentation reflects that. Chin up.

“I propose that we commission three gigantic ice sculptures – each one at least twelve feet in height. The shapes should all be different, and should reflect who we are here at Open Skies. I found a few ideas.” She clicked again. “A horse, a mountain, a campfire. But there are many others, of course, and a talented ice sculpture artist would be able to create anything we may request.”

Vicky paused and looked around. Everyone was riveted.

“I want to put one sculpture in Denver, one in Colorado Springs, and the final one in Boulder. They should be placed somewhere with lots of foot traffic, and where many different demographic groups appear: we want everyone from stay-at-home Moms to college students on a coffee run to CEO’s to see them and physically walk past them.”

She clicked to the next slide. “Inside each ice sculpture will be dozens of laminated vouchers for a variety of things: weekend stays at Open Skies, discounts on cabin rates, free meals, free services, and so on. The idea is that the ice sculptures will – eventually, of course – melt and people will be able to reach the vouchers. If we do this in mid-spring, the weather will be cool enough that the sculptures will take at least two days to melt completely.”

She smiled. “The way I’m imagining it is this: people will gather around the sculptures waiting for the ice to melt. I want it to be a festive atmosphere – like a picnic or an outdoor café garden. I want them to chat and joke and exchange ideas. I want them to be excited to be there together.”

Vicky went on to the next slide. “We’ll have to be set up at each location, to confirm the winners and to keep an eye on things. But we also need an information booth where we can accept reservations and answer questions. Maybe we can do some giveaways separate from the sculpture vouchers. Finally, I think that we should encourage people to be creative in getting to the vouchers.”

“What, you think people should be able to actively try to chip them out or something?” Rob asked.

“Yes. We’d have to put restrictions on it – no vehicles, and no blowtorches or cigarette lighters, for example. But if a kid wants to go at it with a plastic beach shovel or an ice cream scoop or chopsticks or whatever, I say we let them.” She took a deep breath. “This idea highlights cool and hot; it also brings people together in public places in big cities. Finally, it’s fun and quirky, and will appeal to kids, families, professionals, and young couples. The ice sculptures themselves are hugely visual – I mean, they’re gorgeous. But also, they can represent aspects of Open Skies that we want people to really
see
.”

Julie nodded.

“I think my proposal hits all the markers that you laid out, and I think it will be different enough to attract attention and loads of word-of-mouth.” She handed around some papers. “Here is my projected budget. As you can see, the biggest expense is, naturally, the ice sculptures and shipping them. I spoke to four different artists and their quotes are on page three. I am confident all these figures are negotiable.”

“They would be, for sure,” Allison said. “For an artist to be involved in something like this, to have their name attached? They’d
love
it.”

“Yes, I think so, too,” Vicky said. “So, that’s it. Did you have any questions for me?”

She looked around the room. And then the questions and comments and ideas came at her like a wave.

Vicky was listening to Allison talk about how much she liked the idea when she looked over at Julie. She met those amazing mint-green eyes and smiled.

Julie smiled back and winked.
That was a freaking home run, Vicky Thompson. Good for you.

**

Vicky hummed a Christmas carol as she hung up Sonia’s latest picture inside her wardrobe door. She took a step back and admired her daughter’s artwork: so any bright colors, so many joyous things. Vicky was sure Sonia was happy.

She wished that she could hang the paintings out in the open – on her fridge or next to her bed. But she didn’t want any questions from the cleaning staff who came in once a week. Vicky was an only child and so couldn’t claim any artsy nieces or nephews, and besides, as she knew from her years of lying about bruises and breaks, the best lies stuck close enough to the truth to be plausible. That’s why she openly told everyone that she sent money to her mother every month – she just neglected to mention that it was for her daughter.

Something caught her eye and she turned to the bedroom window. More snow… just beautiful. She went to the big window in the living room and looked up at the sky. Oh, boy. Dark clouds – really dark. This was no small snowfall, then; this was a howler. Even as she watched, the snow got thicker and heavier and swirled. The wind gusted and made that low moaning sound as it roared down her fireplace.

There was a knock at the door and she called, “Come on in!”

Mattie stuck her head in and smiled at her. “Hi, hon. You seen the storm?”

“Yeah, I just noticed the clouds.”

“Well, Phil and Rosie and Mike won’t be able to go home tonight. They need to stay with us in one of the extra rooms and the common area, OK?”

“Sure. I’m glad they won’t be trying to drive in this mess.”

“I know. Manny’s sending over some food now so how’s about we all have a party?”

“Hey, yeah. Sounds good. I just need to make a quick call, and then I’ll be right out to help set things up, OK?”

“Take your time, hon. I got it under control.”

Vicky found her cell phone and called Diana.

“Hi, darling. Are you OK?”

“Yep. Just checking in with you guys.”

“Oh, we’re fine.”

“I got Sonia’s newest picture.”

“The smiling cat sliding down a rainbow?”

“Yeah. It’s freaking adorable.”

“So. What are you up to tonight?”

“Well, the weather here has taken a really sudden turn for the worse, so a bunch of people are staying with us here in the staff apartments. We’re going to have dinner and light a fire and hang out, wait out the storm.”