AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The message sat insendmode for a moment before being marked as undeliverable. Bastard had turned his phone off.
Deep breaths. I had a few options here, but all of them sucked. I tried to channel Patrick’s calm before doing something rash. I couldn’t work for Melvin anymore, that was clear. Once he won the account, and I created and finalized the interface, he’d fire me. At least I would if I were him. Then no one could counter any of his claims. Or he’d try to make it himself and fail miserably, and all the work would have been for nothing. There was no way I was getting out of this with my job intact. Melvin would be lucky if I didn’t drown him in waffle batter or worse. But this website and app interface was a career-making proposal. I couldn’t just let Melvin take it.
I sat in front of the fish tank in my living room and watched Hopper thrash up to the surface of the tank, begging for food. Sometimes he acted like a dog. I stared at him for a few minutes, thinking. What would Hopper do? My gut said he would eat Melvin, or at least try. According to Google, he’d even eat his own children like an apathetic Medea, if given the opportunity. That wasn’t an option for me. I usually hated the idea of the circle of life, but for a split second, Hopper’s approach seemed so much easier: eat everything.
I knew one thing. I wasn’t going to end up in another dead-end job doing responsibilities over my pay grade without any benefit. Fuck that. And if I was able to pull off getting the S.J. account and making an incredible product, then I could write my ticket as far as jobs went. As long as Melvin didn’t get the credit.
There was one surefire way to find out. I grabbed my cell and dialedthe number before pulling out my girliest voice. “Hi, I’m looking for the office of S.J. Sporting,” I said brightly.
The woman at the other end of the line cleared her throat. “This is S.J. Sporting. How can I help you?”
“Well, my boss, Melvin Hammer, has a meeting with S.J. Sharpe scheduled for next Wednesday? I just wanted to confirm that time and date?” Nothing saidincompetentlike making a question out of a statement.
“Certainly. Just give me a moment to check the calendar.” There was a pause of about thirty seconds while my heart was in my throat. Then she came back on the line. “It’s a good thing you called. That meeting has been moved up a week. It’s now on the schedule for ten a.m. this Wednesday instead.”
Of course it was. That freaking bastard. “That’s what I was afraid of,” I said sweetly and forced a laugh. “His schedule has been all over the place. Would it be possible to bump that up to tomorrow morning? He has this conflict that, you know, he’s just not going to be able to change, so he’s asked Indiana Aaron to go in his place? I’m sure you’ve heard of Indiana.” I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Let me see what I can do…” I heard her tapping keys. “Looks like I can squeeze him in tomorrow, Tuesday, at eleven. Will that work for Mr. Aaron?”
“That’s perfect.”
“Certainly. I’ve adjusted the schedule. Is there anything else I can help you with?”
“Just to clarify, this meeting is going to take place at the Family Sports Center, where the Avs practice?”
“That’s right, we’re in Centennial. Anything else?”
“Nope, that should take care of it,” I said in my best receptionist voice. “Thanks so much.”
I hung up and tried to let calm replace the anger and panic. That little twit. He’d bumped the meeting up without telling me because he’d always planned to present my idea to S.J. Sporting and leave me out of the loop entirely. There was absolutely no way I was going to let that happen. I wasnotlosing that addition to my résumé.
I thought briefly of my dad, and of Margaret, and of how much easier the promotion would have made supporting him. But again, fuck it. There was no way my dad would want me to let this go by. I’d get a job somewhere else and start all over, maybe even better than before, if I could pull this off, which made me no worse off than I was right now. Except that Iwasworse off. Melvin Hammer had not only messed with my career, he’d quite possibly ruined my personal life as well. I doubted I’d ever have an opportunity for a romantic dinner under the sharks again.
As soon as my heart rate had returned to normal, I texted Heidi and asked her to come over. It was almost the end of the workday, so she cut out a bit early and headed over.
I opened the door when she arrived, ready to unload all over her, when I noticed she had a dopey, sweet smile that transformed her face. She was glowing. It looked like love. Or a virus.
“You okay?” I asked.
She looked down at her phone screen and back up at me. “I’m great,” she said happily. She turned the screen in my direction. It was a series of text messages, to and from someone labeled Jason.I’ll come and pick you up for a date tonight. Can’t wait. I’m really glad you texted me.
“That’s wonderful, Heidi, really,” I said. Under other circumstances I would have jumped up and down and hugged her, then demanded details. Not this time.Vengeance, thy name is Ana Aaron. Melon Hamster, prepare to feel my wrath,I thought to myself.Stay focused.
“Heidi,” I said and cupped her face with my hands, “I need you back on earth. Melvin is trying to screw over Indiana. Indi-ana, both of us. He’s taking my pitch to SJ, and he’s cutting me out.”
Her eyes narrowed as they focused intently on me. “Are you freaking kidding me? After all the stressing we did about how you were going to tell him you’re not an archaeologist and how this was your big shot to prove it to him? That bastard!”
“Right? So much worry about how to have the meeting with him not knowing what I look like, and turns out he was planning to have the meeting without me all along.”
“I always thought he was a jerk,” she murmured, but she’d turned back to her phone.
“Heidi, I need you,” I pleaded. Heidi was amazing at presenting herself. Everything was always on point, from her clothing to her apartment to her color-coded notes. Her concentration, not so much.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be distracted.” She chewed on her lip. “What’s the plan?”
“I’m going to scoop him. He’s flying into Denver, but I moved the meeting at S.J. up a day. I’m going to do it alone. I mean, if I’m going to lose my job, I might as well go out with a bang.”
She nodded. “You just go and make a kick-ass pitch. It really makes things easier if he’s not going to be there. But he’s totally going to fire you for doing this.”
