“Truthfully, I am interested in one more. But we’ll talk about that in a minute.” She opened the third folder and put it on the table in front of him. “This is a small boutique. I like that about them. They’ve been in business for five years, so they have a track record, and I like that.”
“Okay, so that’s the good news.”
“How do you know there’s bad news.” Katie shoved his chair. “I’m not some negative Nancy, you know.”
“I know that. But I also know how you roll. You like to prime the pump with the good news, then dash my hopes with the bad.” He lifted his hands and made that come-on-with-it motion with his fingers.
“It’s not my fault that we don’t need the kind of help this firm is offering,” Katie shot back.
“What does that mean, Katie, my lady.”
She smiled at the term of endearment. “Flattery won’t get you very far today. Because this firm submitted a proposal that brands you as a football superstar.”
It was now David’s turn to shrug. “What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing, if you’re auditioning for another wide receiver position or if you want to become an analyst on ESPN. But the PR campaign we need is one that will get the folks at the Foodie network to sit up and take notice.”
David was getting frustrated; he clasped his hands together. “Why are we even discussing these firms if you don’t like any of them?”
“Because you won’t let me accept the firm that I really like, so we’re left with all of these good for some, but bad for you options.”
“Are you back on Gina Melson again?”
Katie picked up the last folder she brought into the conference room and handed it to David. “Her firm is called, It’s About YOU. And the ‘you’ is in all caps for a reason, David. This woman has a small boutique, but she works with her clients based on their needs, not her own perceived formula for success.”
“She’s rude.”
Katie took the folder out of David’s hand and placed it on the table in front of him. She opened it. “Just look at some of the campaigns she’s done for her clients. Look at the testimonials. Even the proposal that she put together for your PR campaign shows that she gets you. She recognizes that you were once a superstar football hero with fans in Michigan and Texas, but she also understands that we need to expand our PR campaign and do things that will have a more national appeal.”
David pushed his chair back and stood. “I don’t care. Give the campaign to one of the other firms and just tell them to do the things Gina proposed.”
Appalled at his suggestion, she said, “I’m not going to give It's About YOU’s ideas to another firm. Do you know how fast you’d be hit with a lawsuit?”
David shook his head. Gina was too judgmental. And she was probably still mad that he didn’t remember some kiss. Nope, she was not the person for this job. “Then let that other firm dress me up like a football and have kids toss me around in their back yard. I’m out. Just pick one and let’s do something about our little problem.”
As David opened the door and walked out of the room, Katie yelled back at him, “It’s not just a ‘little problem’. This is a big deal that could sink your next big move. This is our last chance to get this right.”
4
GINA HAD PRAYED, SHE shouted, she praised God and cried out to Him all while wondering why nothing was breaking for her. She just didn’t understand why there was no response from the proposals she’d sent out. Because she hadn’t just sent the one to David, but within the last week she’d sent out five different proposals. It did bother her that she hadn’t received a response from David or his business manager, because Gina thought for sure that David would put in a word for her since they went to the same college. But she couldn’t even get his business manager to return her calls.
As she sat in her home office on New Year’s Eve staring at her computer, waiting for an email to pop up, she suddenly had a thought. What if she was in the wrong career? Or if this move back to Michigan was all wrong for her. Don’t they always say in church that if God gives the vision, He’ll provide the provision? So, maybe as the year 2020 rolls in, she needed to reflect on a new career that could pay the bills.
Gina had always been the type of person to want to fix a problem when she encountered one. This is why public relations had been a good fit for her for so many years. She could analyze her client’s problems and then come up with solutions that fit the need. She wished she could use that same skill to help herself. Because Gina wasn’t sure at this moment if it was the career or if it was the city that had caused her decline in revenue. She needed to figure something out soon, or she just might be filling out an application to scan groceries at Walmart.
The bell chimed on her computer, letting her know that she had a message in the inbox. Swiveling around in her chair, Gina quickly glanced at the computer screen, praying that one of the people she sent a proposal to was finally responding. But that was not the case. It was a Happening In Your Hood e-newsletter. Gina read this newsletter each month when she received it because it provided good leads for potential clients. However, they had sent out their monthly newsletter last week, so she was surprised to see another one so soon.
Gina opened the newsletter more out of ritual than any great expectation. Her hopes had been dashed so many times in the past that she almost feared hoping for the best. When Gina was in college, she volunteered as a mentor for underprivileged children. A girl she mentored told her that she feared getting her hopes up, only to have everything fall apart again. Gina hadn’t understood how anyone could so thoroughly lose hope like that. But that was when everything was coming up like roses for her.
Happening In Your Hood didn’t have any articles in this newsletter; actually, it wasn’t even a newsletter today, more like an advertisement or a flyer. But the flyer did surprise her. David Pittman was doing a New Year’s Eve event at his restaurant in Ann Arbor. However, his event wasn’t taking place tonight, but beginning at noon and ending at four pm. Ann Arbor was a little under an hour away. If she got dressed now, she might be able to get there and talk to him in person. “Please, God, let this flyer mean that something good is about to happen.” Was she allowing herself to hope again?
Gina shook her head. She had no time to think about the inconsistencies of her brain. She had to get dressed and get herself to that restaurant. But before leaving out of the house, Gina sent the flyer about David’s event along with his bio to her old boss from her first PR job. Lisa Harris was no longer a public relations executive at their old firm. She was now a producer on a hit chef competition show that had gone nationwide. She prayed that Lisa was in the office this morning and that somehow, someway, she would be able to help her.
When Gina arrived at the End Zone, she was amused at the sight of David dressed as a football player, throwing the football to customers like he was on a football field. On the other side of the room, some guy was snapping pictures with his cell phone and giving play calls. The people in the restaurant were trying to eat their lunch while this spectacle was going on.
Then the man yelled out from behind his cell phone/camera, “Tell us about the big game.”
No die-hard Michigan fan ever had to be told about ‘The Game’. Ohio State was Michigan’s biggest rival; whenever they played, excitement was in the air. Ohio State had just stomped Michigan at the end of November, and many fans were still licking their wounds from that game. But in 2003, Michigan beat Ohio State with a score of thirty-five to twenty-one. And David ran almost a hundred yards in that game, so he was a big factor in the win.
Shaking his head, David said, “Carl, these people don’t want to hear about a game that happened sixteen years ago.”
A man seated in the front of the restaurant stood up and yelled out, “After the game we just watched last month, we need something to cheer us up.”
People started pounding on the tables and chanting. “Tell the story... tell the story.”
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br /> The hostess made her way back to the waiting area. She apologized for the delay, but Gina hadn’t noticed how long she’d been standing, because she’d been too busy watching the show. The hostess sat Gina at a table close to the kitchen. She looked at the menu and saw things like Big Mama’s Shrimp and Grits, Bird Dog’s Famous Cheesesteak, Jarrod’s Crabby Cakes. As she looked further down the menu, she noticed that Big Mama also had a sweet potato cheesecake. For some reason, David had named his menu items after people he knew personally.
There was also a Joe’s Akin Bacon, which was a BLT sandwich named after one of his teammates at Michigan. She ordered the BLT and then turned her attention back to David as he entertained his audience by recounting his former glory at the University of Michigan. As she watched, Gina had to admit, the man was quite charming. He certainly could work a room, that gorgeous smile of his didn’t hurt either.
He finished his story and was about to move away from the crowd when Carl approached him again. Gina saw the irritation in David’s face as he was instructed to do something that he obviously didn’t agree with. But Gina didn’t understand how he could have agreed with anything he had been asked to do since she arrived. He was a true spectacle, Gina wasn’t sure David wasn’t getting the effect that he wanted when beginning his PR campaign.
Storming away from Carl, David headed toward the kitchen. He passed her, but then his head jerked back as he turned and walked back to her table. “Spying on me?”
“Now, why would I ever want to watch you re-live your glory days, acting like you’re on a football field rather than in a restaurant?”
The waitress brought Gina’s sandwich to the table as David sat down across from her. If she wasn’t here to beg for a job, she would ask why he thought he could just sit at her table without asking if that seat was available. But she had already scoffed at this whole football event he was having in his restaurant, so she wasn’t going to push her luck.
“Why are you so rude to me, Gina? What have I done that was so bad?”
“Well, at least you remembered my name today,” she laughed. Then she took a bite of her sandwich. “Oh my God, this is good.” She talked while chewing her sandwich.
“I’m glad you like it.” He smiled at her enjoyment.
She took another bite and then licked some of the sauce off her lips. “What’s in this sauce?”
“It’s a little heat and a little sweet.”
“I’d eat this every day of the week. But why’d you name it after Joe?”
“Did you know Joe?” David asked.
“We just spoke in passing. I tried not to hang around too many jocks on campus.”
Nodding, as if he understood, David said, “If you’d hung around my old college buddy, you’d know that he absolutely loved bacon. So, in memory of my friend, I added a BLT to the menu.”
“You didn’t just add a BLT to the menu. You perfected it. I know someone who loves bacon too.” She took a picture of what was left of her sandwich and then used her phone to text something about the sandwich.
“I’m glad I managed to do something you approve of. On your way out, you might want to check out my wall of trust. Those people actually think well of me, as I do of them.” He waved an arm around the room where framed pictures hung on the wall, in different sizes from eight by tens to life-size photos. He then pushed his chair back, getting ready to stand.
Wiping her hands with the napkin, Gina realized why she wasn’t getting a response to her proposal. David didn’t like her. Like it was her fault that he was so obnoxious in college. “Look, I get it. We got off on the wrong foot the other day. But we will be celebrating a new year tomorrow, so can’t we just forgive and forget. Hey, at least I didn’t make you put on a football jersey and run around here like one of those pathetic guys who can’t get over themselves and has to relive his glory days to make himself feel better about his life.”
David put his elbow on the table with chin in hand. “That swift tongue of yours moves quickly from flattery to insult, doesn’t it?”
She lifted a hand. “I’m not trying to insult you. I just don’t understand why you didn’t at least look at my proposal, because I wouldn’t have done this to you.” She pointed at his uniform. “To build your brand, you need to leverage the fact that you were once,” she emphasized the word ‘once’ “a superstar football player in order to open doors that can get you national attention. But you don’t want to try to reenact your glory days. That’s taking you backward. Because Michigan and Texas already love you.”
“And I suppose you can do better.”
Her phone dinged, Gina picked the phone up and smiled as she read the text. “Of course, I can do better. I already have and you haven’t even hired me yet.”
“Yet?”
Gina handed him her phone and let him read the text. “The person I know who loves bacon has a spot available for you on The Grind.” The Grind was a show like Chopped. Accept the cooking contest wasn’t the only factor in picking the winner. The first show was all about cooking. But the winner of that show was given a ticket to compete in the grand finale. This grand finale provided free marketing to restaurant owners and executive chefs because the grand finale highlighted the chef’s restaurant, hence the name. The Grind was meant to represent the work that chefs put in to make a success out of their big idea. The Grind also let the chef highlight the charity they would give half of their fifty thousand dollar winnings too.
Sputtering, David asked, “H-how did you get them to agree to this? I tried to get on The Grind last year so I could highlight the restaurant I had just opened in Dallas, but it never worked out.”
Gina could hardly believe that she pulled this off. If she hadn’t known someone on that show and hadn’t ordered that BLT, she might not have received a response to her query. But she wasn’t about to say that to him. “Give me a chance, David. Let me show you what I can do to get you the national attention you deserve.”
“What if I lose on The Grind? Won’t that be bad for my brand?”
“It’s a chance you have to take. You’ve been competing all your life. Don’t tell me you’re suddenly afraid of a little competition?”
“Mr. Pittman, we’re ready for pictures in the photo booth area,” Carl told him.
David looked as if he wanted to fire the man right then and there. But instead, he told him, “I’ll be right there.” He then waved a waitress over to their table. When the waitress arrived, he said, “Give Ms. Melson another BLT to go and anything else she wants, it’s on me.”
“I’ll take that sandwich, thank you very much.” She pulled her business card out of her purse. “And when you’re ready to do a national campaign, give me a call. But I’m not sure how long The Grind will wait for an answer.”
Nodding, his eyes brightened with admiration. “I see you’ve got skills.”
Before he walked away, Gina asked, “What charity would you like to bring awareness to on the show? It should be something that could also mix in with...”
“Alzheimer,” he said before Gina could finish her pitch for the perfect charity.
“Allll-right, Alzheimer's, it is.” She jotted that info in the notes tab on her phone. Thanked the waitress as she handed her the BLT. But before leaving the restaurant, she did as David suggested. She checked out his wall of trust.
Gina was sure it was just a braggadocios wall, that would show him taking pictures with high profile celebrities so that he could let all of the little people know how much of a celebrity he, himself was. But as she approached the wall, she was pleasantly surprised to see that the photos were of friends and family. The same friends and family he had named sandwiches and entrees after. And there was not one picture of David on the wall. It was as if he truly wanted to celebrate the people in his life who must have made some type of impression on him.
As she drove home, Gina wondered if she could fill a wall full of people she liked and who liked her. She had kept to herself for so long after
escaping the abuse of a man she definitely didn’t like or trust. She could put her mom and dad on that wall... Toya and Jarrod. But after that, she’d have to think a while to come up with anyone else. Life just hadn’t been as kind to her as it had been to David.
But then she thought about Jesus and smiled. David may have his wall and a bunch of friends and family who loved him, but she had Jesus and that was good enough for her.
5
“NO! NO! GET AWAY FROM me!” Gina tossed and turned as she fought off her attacker. “You can’t do this to me. I don’t belong to you anymore. I belong to God.”
Gina’s eyes flashed open as she jolted upright in bed. Panting and gasping for breath, she made note of her surroundings. She wasn’t being kicked and choked by Marvel. She was in her own bed having a nightmare. “When will it end, Lord. When will the memory of that man be wiped away? I don’t want to remember the pain of those days and all the bad decisions I made back then.”
It was just six in the morning, but Gina got out of bed and drove to the gym. She needed to do something to cleanse her mind. When she was on the treadmill walking, then jogging, then taking on a full runner's pace her mind went blank. She didn’t think about her bills, her bad decisions, her abusive ex, nothing but the run.
When she arrived back home, she made herself a cup of Macha green tea, and then went into her study, picked up her Bible and sat in her comfy chair. She propped her feet up on the ottoman in front of her chair and began reading from Ephesians chapter 1. Gina loved reading this chapter because it reminded her that no matter how bad she tried to screw up her life, God still chose her, He redeemed her and forgave her. Getting cozy and sipping her tea, Gina began reading at verse three.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us.
Got to Be Love Page 3
