Sidelined

“So are you going to see him again? Maybe with condoms next time?” She giggled.

“We already went out again Saturday night.”

“Oh, now it gets steamy. How was he?”

“Kari!”

“Seriously? You wouldn’t be telling me all of this if you didn’t want me to know the details, but you better hurry because we have five minutes before the meeting.”

Skye looked at the clock over the door. The last thing she wanted to do was sit in a meeting with Greg and the bosses who yanked the account away from her, but she wasn’t about to quit. If she had to walk through these halls every day and stare them down until s

he landed the next big account she would. Greg couldn’t force her out. She’d worked too long and hard to turn around and run.

“Skye? Come on, tell me what happened.”

“How about at lunch? I don’t want to be the last one to walk in the meeting.”

“Ugh. I guess I can wait, but this is a serious cliffhanger.”

“Let’s just get this meeting over with.” Skye led the way down the hall and around the corner where a few of her co-workers were mingling.

She and Kari took seats across from each other.

“Good morning, everyone.” Stan Preston, CEO of Regency Advertising, greeted the assembly.

A low murmur circled the table.

He continued, “As you have probably already heard by now we landed the San Diego tourism account. This is a real coup for our company. I couldn’t be prouder of our research team. Skye, we owe you one.” Stan applauded in Skye’s direction, starting a chain reaction around the room.

Skye blushed and nodded. This wasn’t the accolade she wanted. It was almost humiliating. Everyone in the room knew she had pitched the campaign to the city. The fact that they wanted the contract, but her bosses at Regency didn’t see the same qualities in her was frustrating.

Kari shot her a sympathetic smile from the other side of the table. At least she had one friend in this shark tank.

They had started working at the company within three months of each other. Skye admitted she wasn’t the easiest person to be friends with. She might have been the only human who didn’t move to San Diego for the California beaches and the sunny winters. Instead she moved strictly for her career. If she had money, stability, and a way to pay for her own things, she wouldn’t have to worry and scrape by like her mother. She wouldn’t waste tears on endless amounts of credit card debt and loans she couldn’t repay. Her six-figure salary was the start to that security. She would stand on her own, no matter what.

Kari didn’t seem to mind Skye’s goals and ambition. They worked in different divisions and spent all their breaks rehashing meetings, office gossip, and of course whatever current guy situation one of them was dealing with.

Eventually the meeting proceedings shifted toward the client satisfaction survey results and Skye felt her shoulders relax. The eyes were finally off of her and for the most part she knew everyone had forgotten her embarrassing ten minutes in the spotlight. But she wouldn’t forget.

As Greg reached for another donut hole on the oblong platter, she vowed this would be the last meeting she’d spend watching him stuff his smug face.

“Thanks for the reports you sent over.” She tried not to laugh at the powdered sugar on his lips. “The one on the zoo was especially helpful.” He picked up another pastry.

Her stomach twisted in a knot. The zoo file had been her favorite. In the three years living in the city it had taken work to get her to visit the zoo. The minute she walked through the gates it had become her favorite spot. It wasn’t necessarily the animals, and it definitely wasn’t the herds of tourists, but the flowers and tropical plants that grew everywhere made her feel like she had accidentally slipped into a rain forest. It was gorgeous and exotic; everything her life wasn’t. Research at the zoo became an unexpected sanctuary in her life. For once, creating an advertising campaign for such an oasis was the easiest project she’d ever had.

“Glad I could contribute to the project.” She folded her planner across her chest. Greg wasn’t going to see how upset she was.

He smirked. “You always contribute, Skye.”

She brushed past him before she let a four-letter word drop and sought the quiet of her office. She closed the door behind her.

There would be other pitches. She would have other opportunities. She hated that once she actually fell in love with one she had to hand it over to Greg.

Kari shook her head at almost everything on the menu. Skye felt bad that food still wasn’t appetizing to her.

“I think I’ll just have a club soda with lemon and the bread basket.” She placed the menu on the table.

“You’re eating all carbs for lunch?” Skye was stunned. Kari was a stickler for her diet and had the figure to show for it.