Chapter 14
I thought that going back to work on Monday would suck, but West seemed to be accomplishing his goal of making all of the bad memories good again. I smiled to myself as I headed into the conference room for the team meeting. Charlie winked at me as she slid a Boston Creme donut across the table towards me.
“Sucking up?” I asked, tilting my head at her. “Is there something I should know about that happened while I was on vacation?”
Charlie’s face turned a little red. I already knew they’d missed deadlines, but what they didn’t realize was that I always set their dates to before the real drop dead was. Some of them where efficient, my eyes tipped towards Mark, and others, like Charlie, were great at their jobs as long as you babysat them.
I bit into the donut, and then took a sip of my coffee. The room had been buzzing before I walked in and now it was silent.
“Am I that much of a tyrant?”
Charlie burst into a fit of nervous giggles. “No, but you’re the epitome of efficient, so we figured you’d get right to it. You know, handing some of us our asses.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like a tyrant.”
Charlie went red again. I put my hands up.
“We all get behind on things sometimes. Right now.” I glanced down at my to-do list. “I’m behind on approving your designs.”
“But you were on vacation,” Mark said.
“And some of you had a mini-one while I was out,” I replied, and I felt Charlie’s foot begin to tap beneath the table. “It’s fine. We’ll all get back on track now. We’re a relatively new team, and this is the first time we’ve worked together that I’ve taken a vacation.”
The tensed bodies around the table relaxed, and I smiled before clapping my hands together. I was becoming like Jesse, who just happened to be smirking on the teleconference screen up in front of me. I narrowed my eyes at him quickly before turning back to the team.
“How many of you have heard of the MITX Awards?” I asked, and a few hands went up. “Charlie?”
“It’s the largest competition in the country for digital marketing and technology innovation.”
“Exactly, and we’ve aimed to be disruptors in this field. We make people follow us instead of us following someone else. I’d like to enter one of our portfolios in the Integrated Media Campaign category.” I pressed my palms together as I stared at the project leaders at the conference table. “We’re going to have a little internal competition. Each team will select their best portfolio for this year and present it to Jesse and me by the end of the week. We’ll then select one of them to be entered into the competition based on the criteria of creativity, integration of elements, unique brand proposal, and unique marketing approach. Whether or not we win, we’d like to give our internal winner a special treat on us. Your team’s choice, within reason. You’ll need to meet with your team and choose the portfolio. I’m sure that we’ll make it to the finalist circle with the teams we have here. Questions?”
“Do we get extra points if your photography was used for the campaign?” Charlie asked and a blonde eyebrow arched.
I blinked at her, my lips in a stern line as I contained a smirk. “Good try. I’m completely impartial to my photography, despite what you might think. It’s probably a better idea not to.”
Her red lips tipped up at the edges, and for a moment my mind drifted to Tara. She loved red lips, and she rocked them better than Charlie. I shook the thought from my head.
“Any other questions?” I asked.
“What’s considered within reason?” Joe asked, leaning forward and scratching his finger over his mustache as his eyes drifted to the window.
Such a hipster. Another thought I probably shouldn’t have.
“First, it has to be something that wouldn’t make anyone else in the office feel awkward. As far as from a monetary perspective, think a few hundred dollars total. About sixty dollars per team member.” I looked around the table. “Anything else? Great, so meet with your respective teams and have your best proposal prepared for next Monday’s team meeting. You’ll pitch it to Jesse and me like you would a client.”
I watched as the team dispersed, talking amongst their teams about potential projects to pitch. Of course, I’d seen all of them already, but I was interested in what they felt they did the best. My eyes moved to Jesse still on the screen, and I took another bite of my donut.
“Yes?” I said after swallowing.
Jesse made a steeple of his fingers, closing his eyes. “And the student becomes the teacher.”
I shook my head. “I knew you would say something like that.”
“I don’t get why you’re still having me remote in for these meetings. You have this, Riv. I trust you.” He leaned back. “Now, you just have to trust yourself.”
I exhaled through my nose. “I’ll get there.”
“It’s still my job to teach you. So after this contest we’re having, I’m off these meetings unless there’s something company-wide we need addressed. Okay?”
I forced a smile, wiping my already sweating palms against my slacks. “You got it, Boss.”
Jesse rolled his eyes. “Now, how was your vacation? Did you eat a ton of turkey? Meet the parents?”
“Yes, and yes.”
“And I’m taking it went well?”
“His parents seemed to love me.” At the mention of love, my face burned red, and Jesse’s eyebrow hitched up.
“You’re definitely good for each other,” Jessie said, and he didn’t push on the subject. “So how are you doing? I know this is a rough time of year. I was surprised you wanted to take a vacation. I was even more surprised when West started posting pictures of you two all over Boston. I have to say I’m glad you took an actual vacation.”
“West is making sure the bad memories become good ones.” My gaze drifted to the window across the way, knowing that just down the road there’s was an orange Audit TT. I looked back up at Jesse. “I’ll be making sure to take all my vacation time from here on out.”
Jesse tipped his head back and laughed. “Exactly what I wanted to hear. I can’t wait to see the results.”
My brow furrowed. “The results?”
Jesse tapped his desk. “You’re impressive running on empty. I doubt I’ve ever seen you fully-charged. Vacations are like outlets to plug your battery into, especially when you have someone to spend them with. So where to next?”
I looked at the ceiling, leaning back in the chair as my body tingled. “My dad mentioned that Las Vegas might be a good place to hit next.”
Jesse choked on his water. “I didn’t think you were much of a gambler.”
“Yeah.” I smirked up at him. “But I’m starting to see there are certain things worth doing — even if there’s risk involved.”
“Very true. Sometimes the greatest risks have the best rewards.”
We smiled at each other, and I knew, in true Jesse fashion, neither of us was talking about losing money.