“Wow, you need to go,” her sister said, her voice still coming out small and breathy. “I could hear him shouting over the line.”
“I can get another job.”
“Not in this economy!” Sydney shouted. To be fair, her sister was right. “Go in and I’ll be okay.”
“I’m calling my neighbor Mrs. Katz over just to sit with you. She might smell a bit like mothballs but at least she’s nice.”
“Sure, just do what you have to. I’ll just be mainlining the Advil and watching ABC Family,” her sister replied, leaning back on the sofa. “Really, I’m fine.”
Then why do you look so yellow?
***
Jennifer made it with only five minutes to spare. She had accidentally mismatched her skirt and top so one was navy and the other was black, but she’d at least made it. Hell, she was even panting as she rushed out of the elevator and made a beeline down the main corridor to the conference room. Sitting there already was Michael Huntington, the junior partner on the account, grinning at her as she entered like the damn Cheshire cat. Beside him was Rose, looking up at her already with wide, worried eyes. At the front of this small gaggle of people was Mr. Kahn, and his pacing wasn’t doing anything to keep his blood pressure down. His skin was so purple that he looked like an eggplant.
“Miss Wilde, how nice of you to join us this afternoon.”
“I…well it is Sunday,” she offered lamely before scurrying into the seat closest to Rose. I…what’s going on?”
“Nothing that big,” Michael said breezily. “Well, it’s not that big a deal unless you wanted Zedmore Electronics to be furious with us and threaten to take their account to another firm. If you thought that was a big deal, then someone who ran our campaign would be in trouble. Oh wait,” he said, turning that gameshow-host smile on her. “That would be you, wouldn’t it?”
She looked down at her hands and said nothing. Normally, she wouldn’t let an ass like Michael get away with talking to her like that, but with Mr. Kahn there, she could hardly make a fuss. At that moment, anywhere had to be better than here, this small meeting where nothing was going right. She assumed Rose, as her assistant, was here to be yelled at as well.
“But it was a preliminary pitch of a general direction. We weren’t necessarily going that way. I was working on a longer pitch and promotional campaign for them. I’ve been putting in fourteen-hour days for this for months.”
“Work smarter, not harder, babe,” Michael chimed.
Mr. Kahn shot him a death glare and Michael finally stopped his damn gloating. “But the general angle you pitched was something akin to appealing to the same young men who drink Mountain Dew and eat Cheetos by the bucket. They didn’t think you really appreciated the diverse spectrum of gamers and men—young and old—that they were trying to appeal to.”
“I can rework even what I’ve started for the longer promotional campaign. I can. Just give me a week or two, and I can send something with much more depth to Zedmore. I was partway there already.”
“I don’t think that’s wise. It’s only because Darren and I go way back and we’ve had them for clients so long that they’re staying at all,” Mr. Kahn said, even as he rubbed agitatedly at his bald head. “That’s why I think starting from now on that you and Rose both will be support staff only to Michael as he readies the account. I trust him to use these next two months to really wow everyone. If he needs, say, a stapler, he can ask you ladies for that.”
“I’m being demoted?”
“I’d say so. You’re lucky I’m not firing you, Miss Wilde. You have talent and great instincts on so many things, but be grateful I’ve kept you as still on creative staff. I was tempted to let you go or let you be a coffee getter like Rose here.”
Her friend flinched and Jennifer reached out under the table to squeeze Rose’s hand. That wasn’t exactly how she thought of her friend and assistant, and it hadn’t been for a long time. Rose had g
reat ideas and pizazz of her own. Things she brought to late-night brainstorming sessions all the time.
“Well, meeting adjourned. I hope you’ll all be working as a ready and able team tomorrow,” he said, eying all three of them closely.
She stood, feeling her head spin and her legs go weak beneath her. It felt like the most impossible task on Earth to even walk to the elevator. Rose was supporting her covertly under one arm. Kahn was already out the door, probably off to play golf with the other masters of the universe, or, at least, Wall Street. Michael followed them out, and pressed the elevator for the three of them.
“So, I look forward to you both working under me,” he said, his voice dripping with innuendo.
Rose snorted. “Dream on, Huntington. I have standards.”
“Yes, I’m sure the finest Jersey can offer,” he snapped back. “Besides,” he said, pinching Jennifer’s ass, “I wasn’t talking about you.”
She stiffened but tried not to acknowledge or react at all to the clumsy pass he’d tried with her. “Not if you were the last man on Earth. I’d start finding out about the wonders of lemurs and gorillas, just saying.”
“Well, on Monday, just remember I’m the boss.”
“Oh, how could I forget,” she said, sighing when her phone rang. It was probably Sydney wanting her to bring more DVDs or some other treat. “Hey, sis,” she said. “Meeting’s over so what’s what?”
It was Mrs. Katz instead. “It’s Sydney. She’s collapsed.”