The Billionaire’s Over 40 Love

*****

Cal knew they had a long road ahead of them. An interracial romance in the middle of two growing companies was already making its way through the media outlets. Not all of it was bad, but some of it was. Lucky for the two of them, they’d figured out a lot of their problems early on.

Cal knew how she felt about money, he knew to pamper her periodically but not to spoil her. That in itself was empowering to him, to be with a woman that was so secure in herself and her job that she didn’t need to be spoiled by him or even be with him every minute. It was exactly what he wanted and he knew she felt the same.

“I think it’s time,” Calvin said. They both turned to the clock, which read 6:59am. “Ready?”

“Let’s do it,” she said after a while. She let him follow her to the front door where she pushed it open and walked out onto the sidewalk. She didn’t have a megaphone so instead cleared her throat and began to speak as loudly as she could without sounding strained.

“Good morning everyone! I am so happy to welcome everyone to our new store here in South Atlanta. This turn out is amazing, it’s more than I could’ve asked for and all the credit goes to Queens Media Group, of course. I want to thank you all for coming. I know it’s early, but there’s no time like the present to go shopping. We’re going to try to go in in groups so that you have space and the time to check out the store, of course first come first serve but in the event that we run out of merchandise we have coupons for the rest of you. Let’s get started!”

Candace and the other employees had come to the new store to help with the craziness. Calvin watched the influx of bodies pouring into the store as they propped the doors open.

Faydra was busy frantically running around the store helping the customers so Cal kissed her and excused himself to the back room to call over to Queens and check the online side of things. He settled in front of the computer he’d set up himself and logged into his primary user account for the Elite Boutique Online site.

From his account, he could see the list of IP addresses and their locations. Not surprisingly, there were people accessing Faydra’s online site from everywhere in the country and even a few places internationally. The small black and green map in the corner was lit up. He also could see the inventory list update every ten seconds, showing how much merchandise was being purchased and how much was left.

Based on the amount of attention Elite Boutique was getting on social media, Cal had suggested Candace approve a 200% increase in the amount of material they were prepared to stock. Hesitantly she had agreed, and Cal was glad he’d asked her for that as he watched the numbers of available merchandise fall immediately.

For a second he was proud of himself and his team, but then he realized that it was Faydra who’d done the most work. Because of her he was able to do what needed to be done. She’d been the one to land him the Above Ground account, which had launched his vision into a legitimate and accepted idea within the community. It was because of her that he even felt motivated to do his job. The month that they were able to spend together working on the project was the best month he’d experienced in years.

Every child’s shirt or sparkly headband that sold in front of his eyes was a reminder of what the two were capable of together. He was proud of her comeback, not only after her ex had cheated on her and broken her down, but her ability to accept someone else into her life after that. He was lucky, a lot of women would have needed more than the time it took her to get over someone they’d been with for so long.

He was amazed at his own luck, that he’d taken Ruby into the store that day. He hadn’t wanted to, he was stressed and overworked and when his sister had called to tell him she was on his side of town he’d almost ignored the call. But something told him to answer it. Something told him to pack up earlier than he typically would have and go spend time with the two of them. He hadn’t planned to spend a grand on the little one but he didn’t mind at all.

And when he’d seen Faydra that day he figured he could spend every day writing checks to Elite Boutique if that meant getting to watch her laugh at his jokes. Instead, he didn’t have to write anymore checks and technically Elite Boutique was writing him checks—thought the two of them never talked about that. He was amazed at what they’d done together and his heart flipped at thoughts of the future.

*****

Around 8:30am, Faydra joined him in the back room. He turned his chair to face her and held a huge grin on his face.

She started speaking before she saw him. “Geez, its crazy out there. We’re selling out of everything. So I don’t know, maybe an hour left at most. But we’re getting through the line outside so I’m feeling a little better about that.” After a moment she looked over at him and stopped short. “What? What are you smiling about?” she asked.

“It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?” came the horrified look. She leaned behind him to take a look at the screen.

It was their website, and the large red words read “Sold Out—To restock by the end of the week”. Faydra’s eyes widened and she grabbed the mouse, clearly not registering what had happened. She, too, had expressed concern that maybe they’d planned for too many sales and they wouldn’t reach their goal. But Calvin and Queens Media group had guaranteed that it was for the best.

“Wait—it’s gone. All of it. Cal, that was a week’s worth of merchandise, how is it gone?” she asked, dumbfounded, still looking at the screen and not at him.

He pulled her towards him. “It’s gone because you have a great product, and we worked really hard to draw people in and make a relatable campaign.”

“You did this.”

“No, babe. We did this, together. And this is just this start of the amazing things we’re going to do together.” She shivered at his words, goosebumps crawling up her arms.

“Promise?” she asked.

“I promise.”