Chapter 9
STEPHANIE
“Why is it always on the most important days everything goes wrong?” My voice wobbled when Tiana answered her phone. I wasn’t a crier. Crying fixed nothing, but I couldn’t help the few tears that leaked from my eyes when I plucked my broken heel out of the crack in the sidewalk.
“What happened?” she asked. “You left less than an hour ago and everything was fine.”
I limped to the wall closest to me, resting my back against it as I stood in my one remaining high heel. “Let’s see, I was rushing to get to the interview early. I got downtown with time to spare so I thought I would grab a small coffee and go over my notes. Some guy on a bike crashed into me, and I spilled coffee all over my shirt. While I was trying to salvage it, my hose got stuck on the trash can I was dropping the dirty napkins into and tore. To top it all off, I just stepped in a crack and my heel broke off.”
My words came out in one long rush. When I was done, I was feeling less frazzled but was still out of breath, and the stark reality of missing my interview was setting in. So much for that plan.
Tiana didn’t interrupt me, letting me get it all out. Calmly, she said, “Okay. This is what we’re going to do. Stay right where you are, send me your location. I’ll come get you. We’ll go get you new everything you need, and then you’ll go over to Williams Inc. and explain the situation. I’m sure they can reschedule your interview time.”
I wasn’t so sure, but it couldn’t hurt to try. “I’m not sure what I did to get a friend like you, but I’m beyond grateful.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ve seen me through much worse. I’m getting in the elevator now, send me that location. Let’s take it one step at a time.”
Tiana picked me up, arriving in record time. One step at a time, exactly as she’d said, we fixed my outfit first. When I was presentable again, she dropped me off right outside of Williams Tower.
“Here.” She dug around in her purse, pulling out a tube of bright red gloss and handing it to me. “A woman can get a lot of strength from having a powerful color on her lips.”
I smiled, taking the lip gloss she offered. “Thank you. You’re the best.”
“And don’t you forget it,” she told me, placing both her hands on my shoulders. “Right, pep talk time. I know the morning has been crappy and challenging, but you’re here now. You’re not the first person in the history of the world who’s late for an interview, and you won’t be the last. Don’t let the time get in your way. You’re a brilliant, hard-working graduate, and they will be lucky to have you. Got it?”
“Got it,” I repeated.
She gave me an encouraging smile and squeezed my shoulders before letting go. “Good. Go get ’em, tiger.”
“Grrr.” I formed a claw with my hand and pretended to swipe at the air before getting out of the car, feeling a hundred times better than I had when Tiana found me moping on that sidewalk. I can do this.
Tiana laughed when I got out of her car and shot me a last thumbs up before being forced to move by the horns blaring behind her. I hurried to the revolving door leading into the intimidating office building and joined the horde of people making their way inside.
Showtime, I thought when I made it through security and up to the forty-second floor. Risking a quick glance at my watch despite Tiana’s warning not to let the time get me down, I noticed I was now officially an hour late.
Swallowing past a lump that knowledge formed in my throat, I forced my most confident smile onto my face and approached a woman standing near glass walls that must lead to the inner sanctum of the company. She was older, wore her graying hair in a severe bun, and held a clipboard in her hands.
I joined a few people milling around her, listening as she assigned them numbers and told them to take a seat while I waited my turn. When her strict, pale blue eyes slid to mine, I took a deep breath and prayed to the interview gods that I wasn’t too late.
“Stephanie Donavan. I had an appointment a little earlier, but you won’t believe the morning I had. Is there any chance I could please move into a later slot? I don’t mind waiting, even if it takes all day.”
Her eyes snapped to her clipboard and then to her watch. “Your appointment was a full hour ago, Ms. Donavan. I’m afraid we can’t tolerate lateness in our employees. Not even in the potential ones. I’m sorry, but our day is fully booked. Do apply again next time, perhaps once you’ve invested in a functioning watch.”
What a bitch. I pushed the snide thought aside and tried again, despite having been quite obviously dismissed. “I promise you I’m a very punctual person. I was in the area half an hour early. All I wanted was a quick coffee to go over my notes so I could ensure I was properly prepared and wouldn’t waste anyone’s time.”
“Like you’re doing now?” She looked at me down the bridge of her nose, even though she was shorter than me.
“I don’t mean to waste your time, ma’am,” I said politely. Her shoulders relaxed somewhat and the tight line her lips were pressed into eased up a smidge. Politeness and professionalism would slay this beast. “I truly apologize for the inconvenience I’ve caused by arriving late. I assure you I’m ordinarily extremely punctual. However, I thought it best not to arrive with a stained shirt, a torn hose and a broken heel. I looked positively dreadful.”
“That does sound like quite the run of bad luck.”
“It really was.” I nodded. “I just knew that if I showed up looking like that, I would have even less of a chance at landing such a coveted position than if I arrived late.”
“How do I know you’re not lying about all this? You look perfectly put together now?”
I paused. All my ruined gear was in the trash at the shop Tiana and I raided. Then I remembered the selfies she made me take to commemorate how an awful day could turn into an awesome one. Rummaging through my purse, I pulled out my phone and clicked into my gallery, turning the screen to her.
“My best friend had to come save me,” I admitted honestly. What was the harm at this point? “We took the pictures because this is such a big day for me. She thought we needed something to look back on when the time comes we can laugh about it.”