Page 71
“Okay. Do you have a few minutes to talk? If not, can I send a video for you to look at later for fashion feedback?”
“Please. I just saw a tumbleweed roll by my desk. IN MIAMI. That tells you everything you need to know. So go ahead,” she quips.
“Okay. I’m over at Catherine Collings’s house.” She moves next to me and puts us both in the frame. “Hadleigh, this is Caleb’s sister, Catherine. Catherine, this is my best friend, Hadleigh.”
“Oh hi! I’ve heard so much about you, Catherine! All good, though. Isla hasn’t spilled any tea about you,” she teases. “It makes her so dull and annoying.”
I can’t help but smile. I can see why Caleb said he liked her after he met her in Miami for the first time.
“I’ve heard a lot about you, too. All good things from my brother,” I say.
“Well, if it’s good, then Caleb is definitely keeping the tea to himself!”
I chuckle at that, and Isla smiles at her. “Come on. The only tea you really want is on Xavier Williams,” Isla declares.
Hadleigh puts her phone onto a stand on her desk and stares back at the camera. “Um, YES. Listen. I know you’re blinded by Caleb, but Xavier is freaking hot. And you still haven’t told me what cologne he wears. I mean, you’re a reporter, do your job!”
I take her in for a moment, studying the face familiar to me from Isla’s social media posts and videos. Hadleigh is stunning, with long blondish-brown hair and big blue eyes. She’s wearing a silky white button-up shirt with three layered gold necklaces, and her hair is held back by a tortoiseshell hairband. I can’t help but notice how drab her surroundings are in comparison to her bright, animated face. Hadleigh looks like she’s trapped in a world of grey cubicles and cabinets, with harsh fluorescent lighting overhead. One lone, sad-looking office plant with drooping leaves is on a metal cabinet behind her.
I immediately realise two things. The first? I’m so privileged and lucky to work in the world of Formula 1. I’m travelling around the globe, living in the paddock and on the track, and I’m so blessed to have access to this world and to be able to carve out some kind of career in it.
The second thing: The fact that Hadleigh still looks gorgeous in those sad, drab surroundings and horrible lighting tells me she must be incredibly beautiful in person.
“I’ll ask Xavier what he’s wearing in Baku if you help me out this morning,” I promise her.
Hadleigh laughs. “Isla, you can hand the phone over to Catherine. I’m done with you because I have a new best friend now.”
“Oh, because I won’t help you become a stalker?” she teases.
“What? NO. I am information gathering to get a complete picture of a driver I follow,” Hadleigh quips. “Catherine, she’s a liar. Ignore that whole stalker accusation.”
“I will,” I promise.
“Right. Although I’m excited to know what Xavier smells like, what can I help you with from my cubicle in Miami? I’m curious.”
“Okay. I’m concepting a very small capsule collection for Collings Motors aimed at women our age, and I need your honest opinion on the pieces and prices.”
“Oh, how fun!” Hadleigh says enthusiastically. “I’d love to see it!”
“You’re kind of another litmus check behind Isla,” I explain. “I’m going to ask a few more people, too. But this is just to see if I’m thinking in the right direction.”
“Hey, if you need some more feedback, send me a video of the pieces, and I can share with my girls here in Miami. I have some friends who date pro athletes; they all wear custom team stuff, so they’d have some interesting feedback for sure. And I promise they’re trustworthy. They would keep it between us if I show them things. They’re in their young twenties, too.”
“That would be brilliant!” I say excitedly. “They sound like the type of people I want to reach with this collection.”
“Great! Now show me the goods! I’m excited to see them!”
I pick up each item and explain it, then lay it back on the bed and go through the features, why I’ve placed the logo where it is, how I see it worn, etc. Hadleigh carefully studies each piece, but her eyes really light up when I show her the vest.
“The jacket is cute. I just don’t think for me, personally, I’d want to spend that much for a team jacket,” she says. “The yoga pants would look cute with the top. I’d probably splurge on those if I was in the mood. But the tank? I’d one hundred percent get that!”
I’m mentally taking in everything she says.
“Do you have cute Collings Motors shoes?” Hadleigh asks. “Like fun sneakers?”
“We do have a partnership with one shoe company,” I say.
“Show the collection with the shoes. I’m a sucker for shoes,” she says.
