Club Endless Fantasy

“Elly, please—have a seat.” Mr. Thornton was typing away on his computer when I walked through the door and immediately motioned to me.

“Yes sir.” I tried to quell the nausea and swallow the lump that was rising in my throat as I sat down across from him.

“I want to talk to you about the Dillinger’s Department Store ad-copy.” Mr. Thornton stopped typing and turned towards me.

“Is there a problem?” I squeaked my words out and felt a tremble go through my body.

“A problem? No.” He shook his head quickly. “I just wanted to tell you that it’s some of the best work I’ve seen in years. In fact, it’s so good that I want you to handle the presentation when we meet with them.”

Wait, I’m not in trouble?

“What?” I blinked in surprise

. “You want me to present it too?”

“What you’ve created here goes beyond an advertising campaign. It’s a vision—and I’ve always believed there is a certain artistic approach to good advertising. The artist can always explain it better than anyone else.” He nodded and smiled. “Do you think you could be ready for a meeting with them next week?”

“Wow, yes sir!” I nodded quickly and felt the uneasiness leave me.

“Good, I’m going to move a few of the other assignments you’ve been working on to someone else. I want you to stay focused on this meeting. This is now your top priority—if you convince the marketing folks at Dillinger’s Department Store to move forward with your vision, then I have a feeling they’re going to want you working on their account exclusively from now on.” Mr. Thornton leaned back in his chair. “That goes beyond just doing their online campaign—I’m talking about magazines, billboards—the works.”

“The entire account?” A mixture of nervousness and excitement shot through me.

“You did good work here, Elly. I’ll remember this when it’s time to hand out raises next year.” He nodded quickly.

“Thank you.” A huge smile spread across my face. “I won’t let you down, Mr. Thornton. Like you said—this is now my top priority!”

I had a little pep in my step when I walked back to my desk after my meeting with Mr. Thornton. If I was put in charge of the Dillinger’s Department Store account, then I might be looking at more than a raise—there was a chance I could get a promotion. An exclusive account was a really big deal. I spent the rest of the day with my excitement growing, and every time I thought about my meeting with Mr. Thornton, it put a big smile on my face. I knew that I was going to have some long days ahead of me, but they would be worth it. Things were finally looking up for me—not just at work—but in my personal life as well.

I have big news, and for the first time, I have someone to share it with.

Chapter Sixteen

Ian

I spent my morning going over the mock-ups for the Benton Enterprises app. The team had made a lot of progress, and I gave the green light for them to create a working prototype. It would be a simple design without any of the flash that we would add when we moved into development, but a prototype would show Bryant Benson what we could do for him. My afternoon was spent reviewing the updated results for the Secret Santa Romance app. While I was enjoying my weekend with Elly, a lot of other people were connecting with someone new, thanks to the app. We had over a hundred new reviews and several testimonials with happy couples that were still in the discovery stage of a new relationship.

Just like I am with Elly…

“Mr. Alexander, I’m afraid I have some bad news.” Samantha stood up as I walked back towards my office.

“Bad news?” I turned to her immediately. “What’s going on?”

“I got a call from Mr. Jamison’s secretary right after you went into your meeting. He’s under the weather, so he’s not going to be able to join you for dinner.” She grimaced.

“Hmm.” I tilted my head slightly. “Yeah, that’s not good at all. Okay, see if you can reschedule.”

“Will do.” She nodded.

Mr. Jamison was a new client that needed an app to streamline online sales for his distribution company. He was old-school and believed that business should be discussed over dinner and drinks instead of sitting down during business hours. I acquiesced because I knew he owned several more companies, and there was a lot of potential business on the table if we did a good job for him. I hoped that he was really sick, and the cancellation wasn’t because someone else had beat us to the pitch before I even got a chance to deliver it.

Since I didn’t have to meet with Mr. Jamison, my afternoon was free. I planned to spend it going over my notes and getting ready for the meeting. Instead, I spent it reviewing some other reports and making some notes for some of the meetings that I was going to have the following day. I didn’t mind having the evening to myself, but I couldn’t help worrying that a competitor had sweet talked Mr. Jamison into giving them a chance.

I can’t really dwell on it. If he’s already decided to go with someone else, then we’ll just have to move on to the next project.

I stayed at the office a little later than normal, and most of the people who worked for me were gone by the time I walked to my car. It was getting colder, so I made a mental note to get my heavier coat before I left home the next day. The forecast was calling for more snow, and if the temperature was any indication, none of the snow on the ground was going to melt before a fresh layer was laid on top of it. Thankfully, there was enough salt on the road that my drive home was rather peaceful. I barely got through the door when my phone lit up with a message from Elly.

I was just about to message her. Perfect timing.