“You look like someone just told you your water heater burst in mid-winter,” a friendly voice came from her doorway.
Selena looked up, recognizing Gianna from Brant’s office last week. “Hi there! How are you doing?” she asked, knowing that Gianna was also new to the company and struggling to fit in. She felt a kindred spirit with the gloriously beautiful woman with the lilting accent.
Gianna laughed brightly, dark curls dancing around her shoulders as she leaned against the doorframe. “I heard you’d just endured your first kerfuffle with the lovely Ruth.”
Selena leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “I’m sure it will blow over.” Gianna might be new and friendly, but Selena didn’t want to start gossiping.
Gianna nodded and moved into the office, sitting down in the chair in front of Selena’s desk. “Yeah, from what I’ve heard from others in the marketing department, Ruth never lets anything blow over. She’s a bit of a despot around here.”
Selena smiled, thinking that Gianna was right. “How have you dealt with her?”
Gianna, with her normal Italian gesture of dismissal, waved her hands in the air. “She’s a boil on the heel of this world,” the woman declared. “I ignore her.”
Selena laughed, shocked and impressed with Gianna’s description. “I’m not sure that’s going to be the most effective answer since she’s my boss.”
Gianna’s cell phone buzzed, indicating a message. She looked down at it and rolled her eyes. “The King has bellowed,” she announced, hefting the phone as if she wanted to hurl it against the wall. “I don’t understand American men,” she muttered as she stood up. “They work all day, never taking a jiffy to simply enjoy life.”
A secret smile formed on Selena’s features as she thought back to her weekend with Reid. “Some of them are very good at enjoying life to the fullest,” she replied, ignoring the woman’s miss of the word “moment” versus “jiffy”. It definitely added to Gianna’s charm.
With a sound of disbelief, Gianna swept out of the office. But a moment later, she poked her head back in. “Don’t give up! Your ideas are perfect! Keep fighting!”
Then she was gone and even the air needed a moment to settle.
Selena gathered the stack of files into her arms, determined to get the filing done. She couldn’t ignore the pile, even if it interfered with her job.
But as she stepped out of her office, Dave stopped her. “Don’t worry about that stuff,” he announced, a satisfied grin on his handsome features.
“But Ruth left a note?”
Dave chuckled. “Ruth was let go a few minutes ago. She hasn’t cleaned out her office, but she stormed out of Reid’s office and was heard yelling at him.”
Selena wasn’t sure how to take that. Was it because of her? Had she…?
“The whole staff owes you a huge thank you. She has been terrorizing us for three years.”
“Oh, well….” Selena had no idea what to say to that.
“Don’t worry,” Dave assured her cheerfully. He was certainly in a good mood! “We’ll figure things out tomorrow once the dust has settled. But this means more responsibility for you. Since Ruth is gone, I’ll have to step up. I’m not abandoning you, but you’re going to have to take more of a lead on your idea.” He touched her forearm. “I’ll still be here to advise and steer the campaign. And the team is great. Just do what you think is right. We’ll have regular meetings to discuss your progress.”
Dave took the files and dumped them on an empty desk. “Come to my office. We’ll brainstorm on the best way to move forward.”
And that, apparently, was the end of Ruth’s rule in the Rembrandt Cosmetics marketing department. As she stepped into Dave’s office, her cell phone pinged. Looking down, every one of the meetings that had been canceled an hour ago was back on her schedule. People interrupted her conversation with Dave repeatedly, stopping by to say how excited they were about her ideas and offering suggestions.
Selena had no idea what happened, but when she was nibbling at her salad over lunch that afternoon, she overheard someone talking about Reid and how he’d pulled everyone into the conference room, telling them that he wanted them to come up with ideas, talk about them, brainstorm. There was no more dictatorship in this department and he was going to work hard to bring back the innovative culture.