Thankfully Shiori didn’t expect the fake kiss-kiss and half-hug reception. She simply smiled and slid into the booth. “Amery. It’s good to see you. Thank you for agreeing to meet me today.”
“My pleasure. And without it seeming like I’m fawning, can I just say that outfit is outstanding? You look amazing.”
Shiori grinned. “Thank you. I’ve been filling my free time shopping.”
“Shopping here in Denver?”
“Some. New York City is too far to fly to justify a couple of hours to shop, so I’ve found the most darling boutiques in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Dallas.”
“You hop on a plane just to go shopping for a few hours?”
“Oh no. I charter a plane and attend to business while I’m in the air. I’m all about multitasking.”
Amery couldn’t hide her shock. Ronin and his sister really did live in two different worlds; she couldn’t imagine Ronin doing something so frivolous.
Don’t judge. Her money, her life, her choices.
Shiori leaned over and peered at Amery’s drink. “What is that?”
“A Moscow mule. Lime, vodka, and ginger beer.”
“I don’t usually drink cocktails at lunch, but I’ll try one.”
Amery gestured to Gigi to bring Shiori a drink.
“Have you decided on what you’re having?” Shiori asked.
“The lunch special. But everything here is very good.”
Gigi dropped off Shiori’s drink. “Are you ladies ready to order?”
“Yes, I’ll have the special,” Amery said. “And I’ll need another order to go.”
“And you, ma’am?”
“The cheesesteak, extra cheese, onions, and mushrooms with steak fries. And an order of Rocky Mountain oysters with a side of wasabi.” Shiori handed over the menu. “Save me a slice of the piña colada cheesecake too.”
After Gigi left, Amery asked, “Where exactly are you going to put all that food?”
Shiori shrugged. “I have a high metabolism. And yes, I know my brother would be having a fit right now. He lectures me on my bad eating habits.” She sipped her drink. “That is good. Speaking of my brother, he wasn’t happy when I told him I planned to ask you to lunch.”
“Does he have a reason to be concerned this time?”
“Depends on if you can move on from the way I mishandled our initial meeting.”
“At least you can admit you screwed up. What happened between Ronin and me . . . while I hated that you were the messenger, it didn’t change that he should’ve told me himself.”
“Agreed. I’m happy that you two are trying to work things out. I only wish he hadn’t taken that path again to find his way back to you.”
Given Shiori’s comments and her own observations, Amery suspected whenever things went wrong in Ronin’s life, he turned to fighting. She’d accidentally overheard a conversation between him and Knox, where Ronin admitted he’d been fighting in the underground club scene. That he’d hidden how deep he’d sunk his roots into that world of violence, even from those closest to him, had broken her heart. It also scared her to think that no matter how physically and emotionally she’d open herself up to him, he’d always withhold parts of himself from her.
“How do you feel his recovery is coming along?”
“More slowly than he’d like. But he’s been more patient than I expected.” With the exception of resuming their sex life.
“He’s less patient in the dojo. He’s filling his time practicing katas.”
Amery frowned. “What’s a kata?”
“A series of flowing defensive movements that puts the art in martial arts. Since traditional jujitsu doesn’t have specific kata forms, Ronin memorized forms from judo, karate, and aikido. Crazy man. Who does stuff like that?”
A master. A man who wouldn’t ever be satisfied with mediocrity. A man who needed art and beauty in his life.
Gigi dropped off a plate of golden fried Rocky Mountain oysters.
Shiori said, “Please. Help yourself.”
“I’ll pass. You do know what those are, don’t you?”
“Yep.” She popped one in her mouth and chewed. “Calf nuts. Now I can truly scare my associates in Japan with the statement that I eat balls for lunch.”
Amery laughed.
She polished off the appetizer in no time and shoved the plate aside. “Now that we’ve cleared the air, let’s get down to business.”
“Business?”
“Yes. I tend to be brutally honest, so bear with me. I’ll get to the point, after I’ve made a few pre-points.”
Sounded like Amery might need another drink. “Okay.”
“Your company working on the packaging for the new line of Okada frozen foods wasn’t just a toss off to give you busywork at Ronin’s request. Maggie Arnold hadn’t been happy with our usual graphics team, and she needed an excuse to cut professional ties with them before they got wind of this new product line.”
“So I became the scapegoat?”
“To some extent. So in addition to sending you all the information, she chose five other companies she’d heard positive feedback on and sent them the specs too.”
“Where are these companies located?”
“Los Angeles. Chicago. Houston. San Francisco. Minneapolis.”
All major players with unlimited resources. How much would it suck if their proposals made her mock-ups look like grade school art projects. “And?”
Shiori stirred her drink. “And when I became aware of the situation and Ronin’s request of your company to submit ideas, I felt a little smug. Surely your state school college education and small company in a smaller ad and PR market would produce inferior results.”
Amery waited, expecting the most insulting portion of this conversation was yet to come.
“I expected to show my brother proof of your inability to design products for major international markets by having a comparison to the other companies’ samples. But the strangest thing has happened in the past few weeks after you left your designs with me.”
“What? You spilled tea on them and improved them or something?”
She smiled. “So defensive and paranoid. Not that I blame you. I forwarded your designs to Maggie. Once we had all of them, I flew to Seattle. Maggie and I pored over every single concept. And every single one was unoriginal, boring, or just plain lazy. None of the companies had followed the parameters; they’d given us what they envisioned instead of working with our vision.” Shiori locked her gaze to Amery’s. “The graphic artists with MFAs and MBAs and art school degrees can’t compete with a company that doesn’t have anything to lose and puts everything on the line. Your designs did that. They were far, far superior to anything we’d seen and surpassed our expectations.”
When Amery drained her drink, Shiori laughed.
“I’m not dragging this out to make you uneasy, but you deserve to know what you were up against and how the selection process works for a global conglomerate. We showed all six designs to Maggie’s team without any indication of what company had done which product. They unanimously chose your vision. We then forwarded the proposals to the team in charge of branding, concepts, and marketing, and once again, your designs were picked. So then we put it to the ultimate test.”
“Your grandfather.”
“Yes, the big, bad CEO, the man who hasn’t met an idea he can’t crush.”
Amery found herself holding her breath.
“He approved the proposal.”
“Omigod.” She swallowed hard. “Does Ronin know?”
Shiori leaned forward. “No. I wanted to make it very clear to you that this is all you. Your concept, your designs. Ronin put you on our radar, but that’s it. I don’t want you to believe that Ronin has any part in Okada offering you a contract.”