One Little Mix Up_A Second Chance, Office Romance

by Robin Edwards

  NSK 101 was a sports management and marketing firm that my Uncle Vince started when he retired from the NFL. He had played for thirteen years for Chicago and then finished his career with Green Bay. During his time he was one of the most successful and in-demand players by corporate sponsors. It was probably where he got his experience and confidence from to open a company he had virtually little expertise in.

  I remember being told once that when he played, he didn’t like the way companies tried to brand him for advertisements or the type of corporate sponsors they suggested he sign with. The one thing Vince was good at was identifying the right sponsors for athletes. He believed there was a company for everyone and an athlete for every company instead of just pushing your brand on everyone and hoping it stuck. He knew it was more cost effective at defining who your audience was.

  I followed Vince down as close as possible while he power walked down the hall vocalizing various pieces of wisdom that I knew I wasn’t going to take. Every so often I would nod in agreement, but my focus was on the gorgeous women we passed by. I made a note of who I wanted to approach later and gave those who looked up in my direction a wink of approval. It was my way of saying: Yes, I notice you too.

  “I thought long and hard about where I was going to place you, but then I remember how much of a fan you were of Los Angeles teams, and I figured that would help you become more motivated so I’m going to place you in the department that handles all of the southwest region.”

  “That sounds great.”

  “My office is also close by so if you have any questions, feel free and ask me.”

  We stopped in front of a random office, and at first, I thought it was Vince’s until he opened the door to what was no more than the size of my walk-in closet. Despite its incredible view overlooking the city with the recognizable Capital Records building towering in the distance, it still felt a little cramped. I figured he would have given me a corner office with my own secretary at least.

  “Well, here we are. Normally, staff-in-training are assigned cubicles, but we’ve been on a hiring momentum lately. Fortunately, this office close to mine became available at a time when one of our agents retired. While it’s unfortunate that he is no longer with us, but it came at an opportune time seeing as we’re kind of running out of space in this department.” Vince chuckled.

  “Don’t worry about it, I appreciate any space you could provide. This office will work just fine.”

  “Splendid. I have a meeting soon, but there are instructions on the desk that’ll help you get situated. When you get into your email account, just go through the emails and get yourself up to date with what’s going on. There will be a department meeting this afternoon covering some of those action items. Clara will check in on you to see how you’re doing in the meantime.”

  “Clara?” I asked.

  “She’s our semi-new HR Generalist. You will be shadowing her and some of the staff here in the Marketing Department for the South West Region for the time being. Clara is prepared to answer any questions that you may have, so why don’t you get started and I’ll see you at the meeting.”

  “Thank you, Uncle Vince. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”

  “Anytime, Trevor. I believe that you will do great things here.” he smiled as he half shut the door.

  Great. I just hope he isn’t too disappointed when I take off after my month is up and the money is in my bank account. He’ll forgive me eventually, he always did.

  Chapter Two

  BETH

  The one thing I’m sure about is that things don’t happen because they are fated. Things happen to some people by effort or luck but not because we each are destined to have our own love story. I know that I’m probably the only woman on earth who felt that way and I’m sure I’ve shocked everyone at some point with the perception I have of life, but it’s how I felt.

  You’d think that as my friends started to pair up and run off and get married or into stable relationships that it would change my mind, but it hadn’t for a long time, but it was starting to. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with me or that anything in my childhood affected the way I viewed relationships. My life wasn’t something pop psychology would answer nor was my life screwed up. It was perfectly fine. Why couldn’t someone have a life that Hollywood didn’t influence?

  There wasn’t anything wrong with falling in love and living happily ever after, but I just didn’t think there was someone predestined for me. If I end up with a man for the rest of my life, he was going to be someone that I made an effort to find or vice versa. If I didn’t make an effort to date, then I wouldn’t find someone to date. It’s was simple as that.

  Besides, I wasn’t too anxious to settle down because I loved my life the way it was. I was living in my cousin’s big house while he’s off traveling, I received a promotion through weeks of my hard work and I’ve had a great time hanging out with friends and dating on occasion. What more can I ask for? Everything was perfect.

  My day typically started at 5:00 a.m. when I got up and hit the treadmill with friends at the local gym and then I came home and got ready for the workday. Barring traffic, I typically loved the mornings. You wouldn’t think so because I was always out and about like a night owl, but I loved the sun shining.

  I loved what I did as a Marketing Coordinator and I couldn’t wait to get working on the projects I was assigned and when I got to the point where I would be able to interact with the athletes we represented. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up dating one of the hot ones?

  So much has happened here over the past few months with the responsibility that came with the promotion and with the departure of my best work friend, Bridgette. She resigned because she got screwed out of the Marketing Director position we all believed she deserved. She moved to Chicago because she got a job offer working for one of the biggest hotel chains in the country along with my former Director who left along with her. You’d think that would have scared me off too, but it didn’t. The one thing Bridgette lacked at the time was assertiveness. She never quite stood up for herself and tolerated everyone taking advantage of her genius.

  Although, Bridgette was gone we still kept in touch at least a couple of times a week and I had plans to visit her in Chicago when the weather was warmer. I’m definitely not a below zero, freezing cold kind of girl. Parkas and snow boots are too bulky and aren’t exactly flattering. I’m not going to the gym and going through a low carb diet for no reason.

  I missed having her around at work because things are so serious around here now but at the same time it motivated me to work harder because the distractions were not there as much anymore but if I ever wanted to break the dullness in the environment, I always gave her a call for some gossip and chit-chat.

  “Hey Bridge, how’s it going there?” I asked over the cell phone speaker as I drove down Wilshire Blvd.

  “Freezing. I’m starting to wear more than three layers of clothes just to feel a smidge of warmth. I miss how even the temperature was in California and how it was never too cold or too hot and even when it was, it was tolerable.”

  “I can’t say I know what it’s like to wear multiple layers of winter coats but I’m glad I’m waiting until it warms up. How are Sean and Kyle doing?” I ask.

  Sean and I used to date until I told him the woman he had fallen in love over email with wasn’t me, that it was Bridgette. Don’t ask. The situation was confusing as it was and to get someone who wasn’t there to understand was another thing altogether. I was glad they ended up together and hope things work out for them long term because they were perfect for one another.

  “They are bonding. Kyle took to him right away before we moved, he’s wanted a father figure in his life for so long. As much as I tried to be there for him with everything, there are just some things that he needed from a father figure that he would never get from me.” she explained.

  “Well, I’m glad Sean and Kyle get along so well. Sean was in love w
ith the idea of love and I knew he was at the stage where he wanted to fall in love, find someone to settle down with and have kids one day. Unfortunately, that person would have never been me.”

  “You’ll find your forever guy someday Beth, it’ll happen to you soon.”

  “You do realize that I don’t believe in stuff like that. I know I’ll get married one day and have kids but to say that we’ll just find each other is just so out of this world because it takes luck for that to happen.”

  “I know you don’t believe in destiny but I’m still praying for you.”

  “Thanks Bridge. I’ve got to go, I’m pulling into the parking lot at work right now.”

  “Okay, I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Tootles. I’ll give you a call this weekend.” I said.

  “Looking forward to it.”

  “Bye.” I said as I hung up the cell phone as I turned into the closest parking lot to the front door as possible. Fortunately, I found a spot near the elevator right away and I pulled into the place before someone tried to steal it from me. The one thing I had going was the fact that things always worked out for me. Call that luck or coincidence, it happened more often than I could count.

  Even though it wasn’t below zero in Los Angeles, it was pretty dark and colder than it usually was. As I walked around the corner towards the front of the building, it seemed to take longer than it often did because of the cold weather and I couldn’t wait to get saved from the warmth inside the building. Before I could reach the front door, the suavest and sophisticated man I’ve never seen rushed over to open it for me.

  “After you.” he gestured inside.

  “Thank you.” I said as I glanced at him before I walked into the building. He had the most beautiful set of blue eyes and his cologne reminded me of cinnamon spice, coffee and vanilla. A scent I’ve rarely come across on a man but it was a welcome surprise, but I didn’t have time to dwell on the thought as I was anxious to get my day started but I had to look at him one more time. Damn he’s hot.

  I had too many things on my plate adding onto having to prepare project summaries of all the clients I was working with for the meeting this afternoon, preparing for the upcoming conference and welcoming Vince’s nephew. Vince said to be ready for his nephew to sit down with each of us in the department to get grasp a little understanding of what we did and how it connected with everything else in the department and the company. I really had no time to babysit whatever his name was but there was nothing I could do about it. Whatever Vince said, it had to be done.

  Chapter Three

  TREVOR

  So this was it. This was the big time. I was officially a working man. This felt weird, the feeling of sitting in an office with a terrific view that was better than my penthouse. I had responsibilities here that I had to take care of and there was no one here who would solve things for me unless I tried hitting on one of the interns. Did they have interns?

  Vince said I had emails I needed to check and a list to review before today’s meeting. I’m surprised I remembered he said that, I usually don’t care for being told what to do. I was always the one who did the telling.

  “Where’s this list he referred to?” I said to myself until I spotted a thin stack of papers sitting on the corner of my wooden desk. “Ah, this must be it.”

  The stacks of paper were guides of various things that they gave to every, single employee. There was a guide for acronyms and terminology used, how to properly store files on the company servers, different departments and their service lines, list of current clients, their corresponding client managers and the current projects we were working on for them. There was also an official NSK 101 branding guide and a training manual for everything. Great. I guess I’ll be stuck reading in here all day.

  “I guess I’ll just get started on my emails.” an easier task to handle. I opened up my email account and reviewed the emails one by one:

  HelpDeskRe: Setting Up Your EmailDate: December 21

  BethRe: Extra Tickets - Join me?Date: December 21

  VinceRe: Welcome our new employee!Date: December 20

  LukeRe: Intramural Softball Sign ups!Date: December 18

  LukeRe: NFL Draft -- Updates Date: December 18

  LukeRe: Fantasy Baseball Sign-UpsDate: December 17

  MaryRe: Potluck Sign-UpsDate: December 17

  What do I have here...potluck sign ups, delete. Fantasy baseball sign-ups, eliminate. Softball, delete. A new employee, probably me. Delete. NFL Draft, I’ll check this out later. Extra tickets to what? I was curious. I hope it was to something exciting and not some lame event. I double clicked on the dated email to open it up in a new browser window:

  Hey Everyone,

  Just scored some baseball tickets to the LA vs. Arizona game on Thursday, December 21st from Scott in Accounting and wanted to see if anyone wanted to join me last minute? I’m sorry it's short notice but my bestie bailed last minute. Women, right? Anyhow, if you’re interested, stop by my desk and we can make arrangements.

  Xoxo,

  Beth Johnsen

  Marketing Coordinator

  South West Region

  Interesting. I wonder if this Beth chick was hot and if anyone scored that date with her already. I should figure out who she was because if she’s hot, it would be the easiest date I’ve scored ever, bar none. I needed to find her.

  I’ve been here an hour already, might as well take a break. What is it they say? For every hour worked, take a ten-minute break to stay productive. Best advice ever. I need to ask someone where her office was located.

  “I’m not sure where it’s being held this year but I’m hoping it’s going to be at some sort of resort. They tend to have the most amazing spas compared to the ones I’ve been to. Somewhere warm, I’ll be damned if I have to spend my time at another conference in rainy or snowy weather.” a woman suddenly said within earshot.

  “You are so right, girl.” a second woman responded.

  My ears perked up. They sounded hot. Who were they? I stood up and walked over to my doorway and peered out and at first glance I couldn’t pinpoint where the conversation originated, there were too many people walking around.

  It took me a few minutes but I zeroed in on the culprits. It was the beautiful blonde woman I opened the door for this morning. She must work for my Uncle’s company. Praise to the Gods, they probably felt bad that I was forced to work here.

  I strained a little to hear the rest of their conversation, “I wonder when Vince is going to make the announcement about this year’s national conference.” the blonde spoke again.

  “I’m not sure but I bet he’ll let us know as soon as he finds out.”

  “Aren’t you thrilled that you and I get to go this year?” the blonde said excitedly with a half jump. She was cute in a silly, carefree sort of way. I wonder if that’s how she normally was even when no one was looking. “I do hope it’s somewhere fun.”

  “Me too! If he doesn't bring it up today, maybe we can mention it at the meeting today.”

  “I don’t think we can. The meeting this afternoon has nothing to do with the conference. You know how Vince likes to structure his meetings.” the blonde sighed.

  “You’re right. I guess we’ll have to wait.”

  Where most people would call this being nosy and eavesdropping, I called this a sign and an opportunity to get to know this beautiful specimen from heaven better.

  I have this tattoo of the words Carpe Diem tattooed across my rib cage on the right side because I fully believed in that motto. It wasn’t just a bullshit tattoo that some people got because having a tattoo looked cool.

  I lived and breathed it. I lived in the now with no regard for the future. Some people, namely my parents, thought it was foolish to not think about the future but it was ever-changing and the one thing that changed it was what you did now.

  If you gave yourself a few moments of courage, anything was possible. The future wasn’t destined or defined, it was lik
e a modifiable canvas or a rewritable story. Choices and rules could be changed. I was the definition of a modifiable canvas.

  “I think I could help you out with your dilemma.” I approached the women with my signature Trevor grin.

  “Uh, hello.” The blonde stared at me with confusion while her companion eyed me up and down like she wanted to have me for lunch. It didn’t shock me because I was used to getting looks like that. To women, I was Grade “A” beef and I knew it. It’s wait made this whole process easy, if I got that look then I knew I hooked her.

  “Hi, I’m Trevor.” I held out my hand to shake theirs. “I couldn’t help but overhear your dilemma and I thought I could be of assistance.’’

  “Our dilemma?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yes, you were wondering when this year’s national conference was? If you want, I could get the answer for you.”

  “Wait, who you are again?” she asked refusing to shake my hand.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t explain, I’m Trevor, Trevor Whitfield. I just started working here today.”

  “Oh, you must Vince’s nephew.” the look of recognition hit her face.

  “Yes, I am. I just arrived and I was in my office catching up on email and preparing for the meeting this afternoon and I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation you two were having about the upcoming conference. I could find out the details for the both of you, all I’d have to do is ask my Uncle. If he knows, he’d tell me. I’m sure of it.”

  “Oh, thanks. That’s not necessary though.” she flipped her hair. A faint aroma of strawberry wafted in the air between us.

  “It’s not a problem, trust me.” I held my hands up.