He threw his head back and laughed. “Apology accepted, and don’t worry. You’re not as difficult to manage as you think you are.”
The unsettling thought hit me later that he might not mean that entirely in a professional capacity.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
Brian left following a quiet dinner on Sunday night. While I appreciated the separation in order to mentally prepare for tomorrow’s meeting, I missed his company immediately. And that was the problem with spending so much time together lately. Maybe it would be good to get back into our two-week routine.
I puttered around my condo, getting my laundry done and prepping my approved outfit for the next day. The routine reminded me of high school. Setting out my clothes the night before and talking myself into why I needed to go the next day.
I suppose I should be grateful there hadn’t been social media back then; otherwise, I could’ve counted on a YouTube video or Facebook status to complete my humiliation on that terrible day my junior year in high school. It had been bad enough that the majority of my class had witnessed it in person.
My living nightmare, the one that had started my everyday battle with an anxiety disorder, started on a beautiful spring day, one like any other in April. Most of my class was eating lunch outside. A homeless-looking woman approached the table. My heart beat faster when I realized that beneath the filth, her eyes looked like mine. She knew my name. When I asked what she wanted, she demanded money. I whispered I didn’t have any, and she lost it. She began screaming at me that I was her daughter and that my adoptive parents hadn’t given her the money she deserved.
I completely shut down in the form of my first official panic attack. My father arrived with the paramedics to find me on the ground gasping for breath. When he’d taken me to the hospital, it was the first and only time I’d ever seen him cry.
At sixteen years old, I’d found out my entire life up until that point had been a lie. By not telling me the truth, my adopted parents had allowed a drug addicted stranger to destroy the world I’d always known. Betrayed by the people I’d trusted the most, my relationship with my adoptive parents had taken a while to repair. As I’d gotten older, I’d learned to forgive and finally accept that they’d believed they’d been protecting me. But the bitter lesson of what a lie of omission could do would never leave me. After that first panic attack, striving to remain unaffected while those around me whispered and worried had become a coping mechanism to get through each day. People mistook my introverted personality for snobbery, but finally, I’d gotten to an age where I cared less about that. Addison may have accused me of thinking I was too good for my small town, but the truth was that I’d always felt lacking.
Thinking of home reminded me I needed to call my sister. She’d left a voicemail on Friday regarding my parents’ upcoming anniversary party. Evidently my return email hadn’t been good enough for her because she kept calling. Rolling my neck to ease the tension, I figured now was as good a time as any.
The phone rang three times, and I started to get my hopes up for voicemail. Ironic to call someone and hope not to speak to them, but it was typically a relief for me to hear a recording rather than to reach a live person. Voicemails could be easily controlled, but conversations were dynamic and subject to go to shit in a second. Sighing when her chipper voice said hello, I bit my lip and prayed for patience.
“Hi, Addison. It’s Sasha.”
“About damn time. I’ve left you, like, five messages,” her response came.
It was all I could do not to point out it had only been two and that it was interesting how she had no problem leaving a message when it came to something she wanted, but had difficulty when it came to leaving an apology about Christmas. Yeah, maybe I still harbored a small grudge months later. “I was out of town. What did you need that an email wouldn’t have answered?”
“I wanted to talk to you in person. You know the party’s the weekend after next. I realize you paid your half, but it would be nice if you took an actual interest, too.”
Dammit, why did I feel guilty, and how the hell had the date snuck up on me? “It’s not that I’m not interested, it’s that I know you have all of the details covered.” Of course there was the fact that one could only deal with so much passive aggressiveness in one day.
“Something tells me you’re still angry with me about what happened over Christmas.” Her voice sounded vulnerable, which was out of character.
I breathed deeply, not wanting to get into that now. It still hurt too much, and frankly, it would go a long way if she could have started out that sentence with I’m sorry instead of implying I was angry for no reason. “Is there anything I can do to help on Friday or Saturday?” Emotionally, this was all I could offer at the moment.
“Could you to pick up the cake that Saturday morning? I’ll send you the woman’s address. I don’t know why Dad insists on getting it from her, but Mom says it’s the only cake he’ll eat. Anyways, it needs to be there one hour before the party starts.”
I wanted to ask why it had to be an hour exactly, but kept my mouth shut. “Okay, got it. See you in two weeks.”
“See you then. Remember, one hour before.”
I clicked off the phone and poured a large glass of wine. It was as close as I could get to relaxing.
***
Arriving at work early the next morning, I fully intended to make the most of the extra time before my meeting with Vanessa. On this occasion, she was coming to our office location. I’d recruited Logan and Charlie for the assist. Not only would she enjoy the male attention, but I could use the reinforcements. I was dressed in a crisp blank pantsuit with conservative heels and a white shirt. Conservative, professional, and boring, as instructed. I was about to head into the conference room to ensure everything was set up, when Nancy’s voice cut through on the intercom.
“Ms. Brooks, there’s an attorney on the line who says he needs to speak with you. His name is Michael Frank.”
“I don’t recognize that name, Nancy. Can you get his number and ask him what it’s regarding? I’ll call him back.” The last thing I needed was to be tied up before an important meeting with a solicitation call.
“Certainly.”
She came in a short time later with the note while I was gathering all of my presentation materials.
My eyes glanced at her face, and I was immediately on guard. Nancy never looked nervous. Two years away from retiring, she was a battle-ax from the days of smoking and perforated printer paper in the office place. She’d softened toward me some after the throwing-up incident in the office but always held herself cool and reserved.
Looking at the message, my face drained of color. In her perfect handwriting was:
“Michael Frank, attorney for your mother. Need to talk ASAP about rehab center.”
“Sasha, I hope you know I keep everything in confidence.”
I swallowed hard. “Thank you, Nancy.” And because I didn’t want to appear a horrible human being when Michael Frank rang back, since I had no intention of returning his call, I decided to be blunt with my assistant. “She’s my birth mother. I’ve only seen her once in my life, and it didn’t go well. They’re looking for money again, I’m sure.”
She nodded. “Then I’ll be certain to screen all of your calls carefully and won’t pass on any more messages from Mr. Frank.”
“I appreciate that, Nancy.” After she left, I crumpled up the note and threw it away. Maybe I’d jinxed this invitation back into my life when I’d been thinking about her yesterday. Or perhaps the timing served as a reminder that the only reason my biological mother ever looked me up was when she needed money. I’d already made that mistake once. I wouldn’t repeat it. With Vanessa coming into my office any moment, I couldn’t afford the distraction.
***
I needed a moment before heading into the conference room to put the call out of my head and prep. Time to slip in my earbuds. Thankfully, meetings didn’t make me throw up, but
I still needed the calm of a motivating song to get me into the right frame of mind. Today’s choice was Kelly Clarkson’s Invincible. I closed my eyes, let the song end, and breathed deeply. I could do this.
After walking into the conference room, I ensured everything was ready, including the projector and handouts. Logan and Charlie came in ready for the meeting.
Brian strolled in a couple minutes later, greeting both men. He then turned toward me. “Sasha, nice to see you. Do you have a minute before Vanessa arrives?”
“Uh, okay,” I murmured, wondering what he had on his mind.
We turned the corner toward my office, and I could feel his eyes on me.
“Everything okay?” Brian asked.
I bit my lip. Now wasn’t the time to tell him about the phone call. “I’ll, um, tell you later.”
He nodded, and we went inside my office, only to have Nancy buzz right away announcing Vanessa’s early arrival.
Turning toward Brian, I asked, “Do you mind bringing her back to the conference room? I know she feels most comfortable with you.”
He looked surprised. “No. I don’t mind. We can talk afterwards.”
Look at me, a poster child for a fucking work in progress, trying to defer to what the client would want instead of attempting to mark my territory. I was determined to make today successful and not above asking for help to ensure it happened. Whatever he’d wanted to talk about could wait.
I returned to the conference room in time to greet Vanessa warmly when Brian showed her in.
She was dressed in a red-colored top that stretched across her chest, putting impressive implants on display. I had to keep myself from looking further down to her skirt or shoes. The client could dress in hooker boots and a thong, and I needed to pretend like it was normal. Her smile didn’t touch her eyes, but I wouldn’t let it faze me.
“You remember Logan and Charlie from the initial presentation?” I said.
“Yes, nice to see you gentlemen. Sasha, whatever do you do with yourself, surrounded by such nice-looking men?”
It was tempting to say something outrageously snarky and inappropriate, but instead I merely smiled. “The world of advertising does have its perks.”
“I’m definitely in the wrong business, then.” She took a seat, and Nancy graciously offered her a beverage.
She glanced toward my assistant. “Tea with milk. Skim, if you have it, with two sugars—but only if it’s real sugar. I don’t want the fake stuff. If you don’t have skim, then don’t bother. You can get me water instead, but only if it’s purified.”
Nancy smiled tightly. I was relieved that I wasn’t the only one rubbed the wrong way by Vanessa. Evidently, she had a talent for pissing off any female within a ten-foot radius. “Now, then, I think you’ll be very pleased with our phase one approach,” I started out.
She raised her brow. “I think that remains to be seen.”
Taking a page from Catherine, I ignored the poisonous dart and flipped on the projector. Logan got the lights while giving me a she’s a piece of work look.
Thirty minutes later, Vanessa had oohed and aahed over everything Brian, Logan, and Charlie had presented but gave me the third degree over my ideas regarding radio advertising. It was ironic as almost all of the ideas introduced had been mine; only those presented by me had set her off.
“I’m not convinced that radio would be the wisest use of our money,” she contemplated, tapping her pencil and then sipping her tea.
I bit my cheek, praying for patience. “Certainly, it’s your decision, and you can think it over. But our research shows that a Sunday countdown show would do great with your targeted demographic. The cost is exceptionally low compared to the television spots.”
Brian backed me all the way. “I think it’s worth a couple of them, Vanessa, but like Sasha said, it’s your call.”
“Who am I to argue with your logic, Brian?” Vanessa stood up, looking at her watch. “I’ve got a flight to catch. But thanks again for the drink last night and safe travels this week. I’ve never been to Dubai. Hopefully, you’ll get some time to explore.”
Thankfully, my face was hidden from view as I’d gotten up to get the lights. I took several shallow breaths, wishing I could give the band a snap without anyone noticing. So he’d left my place to have a drink with Vanessa, and this is how I found out he was traveling to Dubai this week. I’d asked him not to hide shit like this from me, and yet he’d chosen to ignore that request.
Tamping down my temper, I turned toward Vanessa. I didn’t catch his reply to her but needed to get my niceties out of the way.
“Safe travels. I’ll be in touch later this week to give you details on the photo shoots.” I smiled, hoping it was convincing. I didn’t dare glance toward Brian.
“Sounds good. Logan, Charlie, thanks for your time on this. Good work,” she complimented.
Oh, sure, the boys got the credit.
Brian walked her out, and I let out the breath I’d been holding, careful not to vent or show any of my emotions in front of my staff.
“Did it dawn on anyone else that she has an issue with women?” Logan said the minute the door closed.
Charlie nodded and then looked toward me. “Definitely.”
I didn’t have the luxury of commiserating with my staff. “It would appear so, but it doesn’t matter. The client is always right even when she’s not. Thanks for your work today, gentlemen. Charlie, I trust you can book the studio and get the photographer lined up. Logan, I’d like for you to bring me competitive samples over the last year. We need to ensure we aren’t doing something that’s already been done.”
They both nodded and got back to their tasks while Nancy came in. She started cleaning up the conference room and asked, “How did it go?”
“Okay, all things considered. Thanks for getting Vanessa her tea and setting this up, Nancy.” I needed to retreat to my office to regroup after hearing Brian had met her for drinks and also regarding the earlier call.
“Sasha, you know I have your back, right?” the older woman said, surprising me.
I looked at her a moment and saw loyalty. Something that I’d never thought I’d rate in her book. “That means a lot, Nancy. Thank you.” It was nice to hear that someone did.
She nodded curtly and proceeded to go on with her chore.
***
After returning to my office, I sank into my chair and wasn’t surprised when Brian came through my door a couple minutes later.
“What did you think about the presentation and her reaction?” I preempted anything else he might have wanted to say with a business-only tactic. It was the safe zone and one I intended to stay in until I could calm my heart rate.
He took a seat and regarded me cautiously, obviously not expecting that I’d start off with this question. “I think it went better than expected. Good call bringing Logan and Charlie in.”
“Yes, well, it appears she is much more open to my ideas when presented by them as opposed to by me.”
“It’s nothing to take personally. Maybe she truly didn’t like the radio idea.”
“Maybe next time you two have drinks you can pick her brain about why.”
He muttered a curse. “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you before the meeting. Look, she called about eight o’clock last night, saying she had something to discuss. She asked that I meet her for a drink.”
“Let me guess. It was geographically convenient to meet her at her hotel.”
“Are you pissed off professionally or personally?”
“It’s nice that you can draw the lines when it’s convenient for you. Let’s go with the professional line first, shall we? How do you think any one of your vice presidents would feel to know that you got a call from the client on their account and had a drink with said client without them being in attendance or being informed of such a meeting? Do you think that they might be the slightest bit peeved and feel like, oh, I don’t know, you left them out?”
&nb
sp; A muscle in his cheek throbbed, clearly showing he was getting annoyed. “I would think that most of the other VP’s would understand that I’m here to make the client happy, and that we’re on the same team. I’m good at my job for a reason, which includes holding the client’s hand or helping you out when it comes to customer relations. And I’d hope none of them would make it personal.”
“You mean the way you might take it personally if I were to have dinner with Logan?”
“You’re the one that pointed out we couldn’t have rules when it came to clients or co-workers and I agreed it was an unreasonable expectation. If you needed to have dinner with Logan for a professional reason, I may not like it, but I’d trust you.”
I didn’t like that he had a point. “But I would at least tell you about it.”
He ran a hand over his face. “I’m telling you now. And it was only drinks to discuss the client budget and the fact that they may be looking at raising it.”
“Vanessa doesn’t have that kind of authorization, which only proves it was an excuse to see you. Bottom line is that you left my place last night to go have drinks with another woman who’d like to sleep with you. Who also happens to be my very difficult client who’d like nothing more than to cut me out completely from being her contact.”
“Ask yourself this question: if she’d called Josh and he’d met her for drinks in order to put the client first, would you be as upset?”
I hated the fact that my answer was no. Shit, maybe my personal feelings were clouding my professional judgement. “You didn’t mention you were traveling to Dubai next week.”
He sighed. “I had a meeting with Josh this morning, which is where the travel got brought up. That’s why I was too late to tell you this morning.”
“I warned you after the Jamie thing that I don’t like having things kept from me.” Under my desk, my fingernails bit into the palms of my hands, trying to keep me calm. The fact that I’d received the call about my birth mother this morning wasn’t helping my mental state regarding this conversation. I’d been so convinced I was in the right, that his reasonable explanations were throwing me.
Ask Me Something (The Something Series Book 2) Page 26
