Quadruple Duty: All or Nothing

Dakota unfolded his arms. Ryan, off to my right, seemed to relax a little.

?

??Understand?”

I beamed back at him appreciatively. “Yes doctor. Totally.”

“Good.”

He stood up, gathered my file, and handed me back the folder.

“Jennifer at the front desk will help you with what comes next,” he said holding out his hand. I shook it eagerly. So did Kyle, then Dakota, then Ryan.

“We’ll do our part,” Doctor Hill winked one final time. “Now don’t forget to do yours.”

Six

SAMMARA

“What about the Sperry job?”

Cindy got up from her desk and handed me a folder. “Already back.”

“And?”

“And they loved it,” she smiled prettily. “The client was very happy. They had three offers right there at the open house. Two of them were over asking.”

All the tension went out of my shoulders. It was huge relief. It was a huge job! One of our biggest non-commercial accounts so far.

“I stayed late last night to receive everything,” said Cindy. “It’s all good. Every last piece.”

It was astounding, really. That the very first person I hired three years ago had turned out to be smart, driven and competent. And yet that was Cindy. If not for her, our staging and design company wouldn’t be anywhere near where it was now.

“Don’t forget we have lunch with Merrick Studios on Monday,” she said eagerly.

I laughed. “How could I? You’ve only told me every day for the last two weeks.”

“I know, I know,” she said quickly. “I just wanted to be sure you remembered.”

I could tell she was more than just excited about it. This had been her lead, her call. Everything that came out of it was because she’d gone the extra mile, all while I was out trying to secure enough financing to move on with phase three.

Phase three…

Kyle’s idea had been such a good one, I’d quickly become obsessed over it. Truth be told, it had taken up a monstrous amount of real estate in my head.

“This could lead to a lot more work for us,” said Cindy. “Way more than we can handle.”

I sat silent for a moment before letting the corner of my mouth turn up into a smirk. “You angling for an assistant?”

“No, no,” she countered. “I mean, yes, we could use another hire. But they wouldn’t necessarily need to be my assistant. They could be my equal, or—”

“Of course they’d be your assistant,” I cut in. “And deservingly so. You’ve been the lone manager here for three years. Without anyone to manage…”

She laughed, but there was truth to the statement. We both knew it.

“We have three interviews scheduled for Tuesday,” I said. “Or rather, you do.”

“Interviews?” Her eyebrows crossed. “Me?”