by Keys, Hazel
“You guys are awesome,” she said suddenly. The Bella’s looked up at her in confusion, each with their mouth’s full. “I mean. I know I haven’t been easy to deal with lately. But you stuck by me. I really appreciate that.”
Isabella swallowed her last bite of chocolate croissant and smiled at Rachel, taking her hand. “Of course,” she replied. “You’d do the same for us.”
And she would too. Rachel decided then and there that she had to work on her attitude around the office. Not just for her friend’s sake, but for her own. They finished their lunch in a comfortable silence, and Rachel got another latte to go before they headed back to the office. There was lots to do after all, and a new attitude to do it in.
Chapter 7
Bradley
The clock on the wall read two-fifteen. What had started as a twenty- minute rundown of his new promotion had turned in a four conversation about work, life, and the fickleness of women. Bradley had been right, about Ryan not having anyone to talk to. Surely he had friends, but obviously none that he found trustworthy enough to let into struggles.
Through their conversation, Bradley had found out that around the time his daughter, Stella, was two, Ryan’s wife Kelli started acting strange. She’d take off for what she called ‘business trips’ and wouldn’t be heard from for up to a month at a time. Then when she did come home she would immerse herself in Stella’s life so that Ryan wouldn’t have any chance to ask her where she was or what she was doing. Last year he had decided to ask her for a divorce, but she took off again, this time with no promise of coming back. The papers were still unsigned, and Stella was starting to forget that she actually had a mother. It was a whole new life Ryan had to learn how to live and Bradley wasn’t sure at all how he was handling it so well.
“So you see, that’s why I need you to step up your game, Bradley. Cards on the table, I need your help. You’ll get a pay raise, of course, nearly double what you’re making now. But you’ll have more responsibility too. I’ll need you downstairs managing the office half the week and up here with me for the other half.”
It was a lot of work, but he was up for the challenge. He’d need help, and he asked Ryan what he could do to get it.
“Completely up to you,” Ryan replied. “Rachel is going to be swallowed by your department, leaving her open. You can make her an assistant manager if you want to. Or let her go and hire someone else. She seems a little mouthy to me, I’m not sure how well she’d take directions from you.”
“She’s not so bad,” Bradley replied. “Sure, she gets a little riled up every now and then, but she does great work.”
Ryan grunted, but didn’t quite agree. “So, do we have a deal? Shall I have Marcy draw up the paperwork?”
Bradley smiled and nodded his head. “Absolutely. Thank you so much for this opportunity, Sir. I promise I won’t let you down.”
“No you won’t,” Ryan replied, getting up to shake Bradley’s hand.
Bradley left Ryan’s office feeling so much lighter. After such a horrible day yesterday, this was not at all what he had expected out of his meeting with the owner. As he was instructed, he went out to Marcy’s desk and told her that he had accepted the position.
“Congratulations!” She said, smiling at Bradley and giving him a high five. She was a nice looking woman. Older, and in her early forties. Her creamy complexion still looked relatively fresh and wrinkle free, with the only sign of aging appearing in the silver streaks that decorated her otherwise chestnut hair. While Bradley waited, she pulled out the paperwork that Bradley needed to sign to accept his new position, chatting idly about Mr. Miller.
“He is such a nice man,” she gushed, getting the paperwork printed off. “He has had his eye on you for a while now.”
“He has?” Bradley asked, surprised.
“Oh yes. I’m the only other person up on this floor you see. He talks to me often about his ideas. He has a lot of faith in you, young man.” She put the contract in front of him in a neat pile. “Here. Take this down to your office and give it a good lookover, all right? When you’re ready to sign it bring it back up here and do so in front of me. I’ll notarize it and then presto! You’re the new Vice President of RushIt!”
~
As requested, Bradley took the contract back down to his office and looked over it. It was pretty straightforward, leaving no room for questions. His salary would be raised from fifty-four thousand a year to one hundred and twelve thousand a year. He would be allotted a company phone, keys to the company’s retreat house in the Hamptons, a travel stipend for company purposes, full medical coverage, and two free meals from the cafeteria downstairs a day. It was a pretty sweet deal, but the list of new responsibilities was as long as his arm. Towards the end of the day he took the contract back up to Marcy, signed it, and shook her hand. She told him that the office would have a celebration on Friday at noon, and Mr. Miller would be buying lunch for everyone.
By the time he got back downstairs he found that nearly everyone had left for the day and all the lights had been turned off. Except for one little desk lamp that was glowing from Rachel’s office. Curious, he walked into the office, and peered over her shoulder.
“Can I help you with something?” She asked, not turning around.
Brad smiled at her awareness. “I thought I was the only one left,” he replied. “What’s this you’re working on? It looks interesting.”
Rachel hit the save button and minimized the pages quickly. “It’s not ready yet,” she told him, turning around in her chair to face him. “It’s something I wanted to present to you on Friday.”
Brad pulled up one of the empty rolling chairs and took a seat beside her. “Did you draw that all yourself?” He asked.
A blush rose in Rachel’s cheeks and he found it adorable.
“It’s not finished,” she defended. “There’s a lot more work I have to put into it, and it’s not fair that you just thought you could walk into my office and”-
“Calm down,” Brad said gently, reaching out to put his hand gently on her arm. “It looked good. I was impressed.”
Rachel’s eyebrows went up in surprise. “Oh,” was all she could say.
Brad, getting the hint, nodded his head and stood up. “I’m assuming you were made aware of the changes of your department then, judging by how protective you are of this project?”
Rachel opened her mouth for what he was sure to be a sarcastic comment, but she shut it instead, and nodded her head. Brad was thankful. He didn’t want to argue right now, especially over something that looked to be very promising.
“I’m excited for our meeting on Friday,” he said at last. He wanted to say more, to assure that he wasn’t going to fire her. But the words wouldn’t come out. Instead, he told her goodnight, and left. In his office he picked up his carafe and found that it was once again nearly empty. Odd, since he’d only been able to drink through one cup that day. Yep, he was certain that someone was stealing his coffee.
Chapter 8
Rachel
The next few days Rachel poured herself into her work. She barely talked to anyone in the office, except for the Bella’s, and focused all of her energy into making her project the very best it could be. By the time Friday had finally come around, she felt very good about it, and came in that morning all smiles. She had woken up extra early to pick out her outfit, a fitted navy blue pantsuit with a black button up and a long silver thick chained necklace to make it pop. She kept telling herself that it was because she wanted to look good for the owner, Mr. Miller, but in the back of her mind she kept thinking about Bradley, and she had caught him staring at her backside on Tuesday.
It should have angered her because, well, everything about him angered her. But lately she was feeling something new, different. It wasn’t quite like her. No, it was more of a curiosity about him. After all he was the only one in the office that she hadn’t tried to get to know. In her defense, it was because she and him had gotten into an argume
nt in their very first meeting, and she had said to hell with him and who he was as a person. The Bella’s liked him though, and so did everyone else in the office. Perhaps, she thought, it was time to give him a second chance.
“Wow! You look awesome!” Bella said when Rachel came out of her room. Bella was still in her pajamas and bunny slippers, with her shoulder length bob pulled up in an array of messy clips. At the stove she was cooking eggs with a wok and a pair of chopsticks, something Rachel couldn’t quite master.
“Thank you,” she smiled, taking a seat at the kitchen table. “Would you mind making me one of those?” She wasn’t sure if it was the method or the spices, but Bella’s fried eggs always turned out so much better than her own. They were buttery soft, creamy, and just salty enough.
Bella smiled and nodded, turning over the current egg with her chopsticks. “You’re going to nail your presentation today,” she said positively. “Bradley won’t know what hit him.”
Isabella came out a couple minutes later, and the girls ate breakfast and talked about the upcoming weekend. They had planned on going to Central Park, but the forecast was calling for rain all weekend. To make up for the cancelled plans, they were trying to find something else to do.
“Movies?” Bella suggested.
“What about a pottery painting class?” Isabella followed up with.
Rachel wrinkled her nose, and shook her head no to both. The pottery classes were too juvenile in her opinion, and every movie nowadays seemed to have the exact same plot. By the end of breakfast they were still undecided, and Rachel returned her focus back to her presentation. While she waited for the girls to finish getting ready, she pulled her presentation up on her iPad and practiced her speech and her timing of the slides. This was going to make or break her employment at RushIt, and she didn’t want to mess it up.
At the office, she went straight to the conference room to set up her computer and ready the room for her presentation. By the time Bradley and Ryan walked into the room, everything was set up and ready to go.
“Good morning gentlemen,” she said jovially. “Please, grab a refreshment and take a seat won’t you? When you’re ready I’ll get started.”
To her surprise, Bradley gave her wink as he picked up a donut. It reassured her somehow, and she took in a long, settling breath. She went through her presentation smoothly, highlighting everything in her advertisement that she had practiced, and to her happiness, there were no glitches to apologize for. Everything glided into another perfectly, and by her last slide, she was genuinely smiling.
Bradley and Ryan both clapped as she finished her presentation.
“This looks great,” Ryan said, congratulating her. “However, the real man you had to please was Bradley. I’m announcing it officially at lunch, that I’ve named him Vice President of the company. He’ll be working directly under me for part of the week and working as your boss for the other.”
The news surprised Rachel, more than she would have liked. She was hoping to go into the department as more of a partner. Ryan congratulated her again and walked out of the boardroom, leaving Bradley and Rachel to talk. They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before Rachel finally said, “Well, congrats on the promotion. That sounds great for you.”
Bradley laughed awkwardly. Clearly he was just unsure as she was on how to handle the next part of the meeting. “Thanks. It was kind of a surprise to me as well.” He waved a hand towards the chair closest to him. “Why don’t you have a seat? We’ll discuss your presentation.”
Rachel was trembling as she sat down in front of him, but was determined to not show how nervous she was. In her head, she was regretting every single moment she ever yelled at him. She was sure that he was going to walk her right out of the door.
“I found your presentation really good,” he said at last.
Rachel let out a breath, thanked him for the compliment. “Thank you, I wasn’t sure.”
“You should have been,” Bradley told her, opening up the pamphlet he’d given her before she had started the presentation. “I like this idea, it’s like a clickable Ikea catalogue, only better. Instead of giving one sample of a lamp or throw, you give all of them. That’s good. Our customers love choices.”
“Exactly!” Rachel agreed, starting to feel a little more at ease. “On top of that, nothing like this has ever been created before. Everything else is just on list. This would be the first ever digitally interactive catalogue.”
Bradley nodded his head, knowing it to be true. “And you can handle this all by yourself? The drawing, the programming, all of it?”
“For now,” Rachel answered honestly. “If it did well I project that I’d need an assistant or a co-worker in about a year or two. Someone who knows how to program, and I would take over the illustrations.”
Bradley nodded his head again. “How much?”
Rachel deadpanned. “I beg your pardon?”
“How much would your salary be if I brought you on?” He stood up, and walked over to the large panel of windows overlooking a view of the city. “I have a number I’ve been authorized to offer to a new employee if you and I decide we can work together. I just want to know how much you’d want in order to work on this job.”
Rachel wasn’t expecting such a question. “Um, I was hoping that my salary could stay the same.”
“And you’d be okay working underneath me? Even though you don’t like me very much?” The question was direct and to the point, and it made Rachel wince.
“It’s not that I don’t like you,” she said after thinking about her words carefully. “I may disagree with the way you do things, but”-
“No, no,” Brad chuckled, leaning his hip on the conference table. “Don’t lie. You don’t like me.”
“That’s not true!” Rachel shot back, her old temper flaring up. “Okay, it is, but you are so annoying sometimes! You do things that make no sense!”
“To you maybe,” Brad replied. “But then again who got the promotion and who’s begging for a job?”
Rachel’s cheeks flooded with a bright red blush. A string of curses a mile long slammed against the back of her teeth, wanting to be let loose. Who does he think he is anyway, talking to her like that? She…she…she…didn’t have a leg to stand on, she slowly realized. Brad was right. Every time she harped on him about doing things ‘the wrong way’, he usually ended up with the glory of a winning project.
“You’re right,” she said at last, with a sigh.
“I’m sorry, what was that?” Brad asked, putting his hand to his ear and leaning towards her.
She rolled her eyes and adjusted her blazer. “I said you’re right. And I’m sorry. We have a difference of opinion, yes. There’s no getting around that. But you’re absolutely right. By doing things your own way you ended up as VP, and with me doing things my way I, well, ended up in this situation.”
Brad’s snicker slowly slid off of his face. No more games. He looked at her as if he could see her struggle, and Rachel suddenly felt like she needed to fight back tears.
“It was luck,” he said softly. “The company is expanding in some ways and shrinking in others. It doesn’t quite make sense, I know, but that’s what is happening. One of the departments had to go, and yours just happened to be it. I’m sorry.”
Silence stretched around them, and Rachel was sure that that certain ‘sorry’ was telling her to pack her things and go.
“But listen, if you think you can work with me, and I promise to try and work with you, I think that you and I could actually make a pretty good team.”
Rachel couldn’t believe her ears. “Really?”
Brad nodded his head. “I do. But we’re going to be spending a lot more time together and you’re going have to learn to talk a little nicer to me.”
“I will I promise,” Rachel assured him, growing excited. “I’ll take anger management courses if I have to!”
Brad was chuckling again, and she realized that she actually
liked his laugh. “I don’t think you’ll have to go that far,” he told her. “But a little more patience will be nice. So, do we have a deal?”
Rachel nodded her head excitedly, pure happiness of still having a job flowing through her. “Yes! Yes we do!”
~
Later that day Mr. Miller came to the sales floor again, this time with a delivery guy to set up the Italian themed lunch that the owner of the company bought. Everyone celebrated happily with Brad for his promotion. To Rachel’s surprise, Bradley picked up his glass of punch again and toasted to Rachel for accepting her new position. Work was postponed for an hour and everyone enjoyed the delicious food and laid back atmosphere.
“We told you, you were going to nail it!” Bella said, nudging Rachel with her elbow. You’re too good to be let go.”
“Thanks ladies,” Rachel replied with a smile. Her eyes looked from her plate up to Bradley for hundredth time that day, and her smile grew wider.
“What was that?” Isabella asked, catching Rachel’s grin.
“What was what?” Rachel asked, immediately picking up her fork and scooping a bite of eggplant parm into her mouth. “Mmm, this is really good. You two should try some.”
Isabella narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “I know what you were doing,” she said, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You were checking out Brad!”
Bella gasped, huddling in for a dose of gossip. “Really? He does look extra cute today, doesn’t he?”
“No. I mean yes. I mean,” Rachel sighed, not quite sure what to say. He was definitely looking handsome. The new promotion looked good on him, and the kindness he had shown her earlier that day was making him even more appealing.
“So what’s going to happen with you two?” Bella asked.
“Hmm? What do you mean? Like going out? I don’t think he’-
Bella laughed quietly and shook her head no. “Not what I meant, but now I know where your head is! I was talking about what are you going to do work wise? Are you still going to bunk with us in our office.”
