Free Atlantis by Jessica Rosberg Page B

her. "This is really important. You have to get up."
                  "Fine," Sloane grumbled as she sat up. "I'm awake. Now, get me coffee or I still won't remember anything you say."
                  Candice hit her sister with a pillow. "Okay, I'll be right back with coffee. Don't fall back to sleep." Less than five minutes later, Candice returned with two steaming mugs of coffee. She handed one to Sloane, who took it and sipped greedily.
                  "So, what's so important you had to wake me up before noon?"
                  "Last night, I was talking with Becky Woods; she's a professional business manager who specializes in working with models and actors. Anyway, we were talking and she offered to help us out."
                  Sloane's eyes widened. "Are you serious?" Then she added, "Can we afford her?"
                  "No, but that got me thinking…what if we start our own modeling agency? We can call it Parker, Inc., and we can represent a few up and coming models while using it to manage ourselves. If we hire Becky, she can draw a salary from the business and we won't have to pay her out of our own pockets." Candice was so excited about the idea she could barely sit still. Hot coffee splashed out of her cup and onto her hand. She barely noticed it. "Well, what do you think?"
                  "You want to start our own agency? We can barely manage ourselves. How the heck are we going to manage others?"
                  "That's where Becky comes in. That would be her job. We would be her clients even though we own the company. Now that I've graduated, I have the ability to do this. We can get a loan from the bank. Our credit is good…" Candice hoped her excitement and enthusiasm was contagious because she knew she'd never do this without her sister by her side.
                  "You really think we can do this?" Sloane asked, sipping her coffee.
                  "I know we can."
                  Sloane smiled. "Then let's do it."
                  "Really?" Candice bounced up and down on the bed and squealed with delight. "Oh my God, Sloane, this is going to be so great. Once we get things up and running, we can hire an agent, too."
                  With a laugh, Sloane said, "What do you need me to do to help?"
                  "Well, I'll have to write a business plan for the bank. I can finish that this weekend and we can go to the bank Monday morning. In the meantime, I suggest we invite Becky over for dinner and offer her a job."
                  "Shouldn't we wait to find out if the bank will give us money, first?" Sloane asked.
                  "Probably, but I'm afraid if we wait, we'll lose her. She's in between jobs right now."
                  Sloane nodded. "Okay, I'll cook and you can pitch this idea to her."
                  Candice clapped her hands. "Yay! Okay, we also need to start looking for office space."
                  "Shopping?" Sloane grinned. "I'm up for that."
    *****
                  "Well, what do you think?" Candice folded her hands on the table and looked expectantly at Becky.
                  Becky dabbed her mouth with a napkin and took another drink of her wine before she responded. "For starters, this lasagna is fantastic."
                  Sloane laughed. "Thanks. It's really the only thing I know how to cook."
                  "Honestly, this sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. I'm tired of taking jobs with well-established firms that require me to follow their rules. Getting in on the ground floor, being able to find and develop new talent…I'm in." Becky smiled.
                  Both Candice and Sloane let out excited squeals and laughter. "Thank you so much, Becky, you have no idea how much this means to