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“Oh, don’t I know it?” Molly said, rolling her eyes. “I deal with this all the time.”
“I’m sure you do,” Austin answered with a coy smile. “But yes, if you can push her along, that would be amazing.”
Jane sat silent, watching the two of them go back at it again, back and forth, without a care in the world. She barely felt present at her own meeting. She had a full agenda planned and ready to be discussed. She took a deep breath, hoping that Austin would pick up on it and sense that it was time to get on with the meeting. A moment later, their conversation died down, so she jumped right in, “Shall we start going through the agenda?” Jane asked politely, knowing that she needed to get Molly’s attention.
“Yes, Jane, good idea,” Molly responded with a smile. “Let’s get to it. You did an amazing job outlining everything for me. There’s nothing I love more than organization. I still can’t get over how impeccable your list is, along with all the details. You need to bottle this skill and sell it to other event venues,” she teased with a wink. “I have a feeling this is going to be a piece of cake working with the two of you on this wedding.”
Jane looked over at Austin who was flashing a million-dollar smile at Molly. He was doing a great job schmoozing her, but the meat and potatoes of this particular job came down to the details, which was her domain. Jane knew that nobody could top her in the organization and detail department. She was incredible at event planning. It came easily to her and she loved making sure everything was done to perfection. With this particular event, she knew she needed to stay in control of this meeting and not let Austin and his uber-annoying charm take away from this precious time with Molly. She had worked her ass off the last couple of days securing contracts and dates, moving things around, convincing Mr. Drew to shut down The Oxford for the day, and she’d be damned if Austin was going to float in and try to take over.
“I promise, I’ll make this as easy as possible for you,” Jane added, looking directly at her through the camera, completely ignoring Austin. “Let’s get started on Page one.”
* * *
“Well, that seemed to go pretty well,” Austin remarked with a grin as Jane logged off of their video chat with Molly an hour later. Jane’s head was spinning, thanks to the constant deviation from the agenda by Austin and Molly. Every few minutes they would share a joke or refer to someone they both knew. It was a wonder they got anything accomplished.
Jane couldn’t help it. She turned and looked at Austin with a disgusted look in her eyes while shaking her head. “Are you kidding me?”
“What?” Austin asked, confused by her look. “You didn’t think so?”
“Oh, I thought it went great after we got started,” she shot back quickly. “But, can you tell me why you were late arriving for the call? I know you received my text messages.”
“I was getting us coffee,” Austin interrupted.
Jane cocked her head in confusion, “But you showed up empty-handed.”
“It wasn’t my fault. I couldn't find a fresh pot anywhere in this place this afternoon. I thought it would be nice to have a little caffeine boost during our call.”
“I didn’t ask for coffee,” Jane shot back again, looking at him with an irritated face. “Do you know how unprofessional it is to be late for a meeting, whether it’s in-person, virtual, or over the phone?”
“I wasn’t late–” Austin was about to say, but was immediately cut off.
“Actually, you were!” Jane said, trying to stay calm. “And, just for the record, I asked you to come early so we could go over a few details. But I’m curious, when were you going to tell me that you knew Molly McKee? Her name was on all the information I sent to you. Did that little bit of information not seem important to share with me?”
“I didn’t know it was that Molly until I saw her face,” Austin said defensively, not understanding Jane’s outburst. “That I swear.”
“I feel as if I was at a disadvantage. I’m used to sharing information with my team and, more than anything, I know how important this wedding contract is to your dad. I do not want to disappoint him,” Jane said, feeling as if she was dealing with a two-year-old.
“Well, I’m sorry, I meant no disrespect. Regardless, if anything, knowing Molly made the meeting more relaxed and seamless,” he replied.
Jane let out a deep breath and sat back in her desk chair while she grabbed her long brown hair and put it up into a ponytail. She was sweating and she could feel the warmth down her back and could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She knew she had a ton of work ahead of her with this wedding, and this call didn’t exactly make her feel better. “I need this wedding to go off without a hitch, so we need to make sure we’re on the same page. That means being on time and making sure you know everything that’s going on.”
“Fine,” Austin replied, trying to understand why she seemed so annoyed. “And, for the record, I don’t think the meeting was messed up at all. Molly seems very happy and excited. You’ve just got to chill out a little.”
Jane looked up at him with daggers in her eyes. “Got to chill? We’ve got a lot of work to do in just four weeks, and I don’t want anything messed up,” Jane shot back, feeling her insides start to boil, but not wanting to show her hand and give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset. This job meant everything to her, but it didn’t mean the same thing to Austin. He could goof up and he would still have a job, but the same was not true for her.
“I wasn’t trying to mess anything up, if that’s what you’re implying,” Austin replied. It was clear she was passionate about her job and wanted to make sure she delivered the best event possible for Kat and Mike. He had been impressed at how she ran the meeting with Molly, getting decisions on as many things as she could. He just couldn’t wrap his head around her irritation. He knew he had completely made the meeting with Molly more chill and casual, but Jane didn’t seem to recognize that.
“I’m not implying that,” she said, looking directly at him. “We’re stuck together for this wedding, so I just want to try to make the best of it. This is such a big deal for The Oxford, and for our personal portfolios, so I need to make sure everything is perfect.” She was so frustrated at him arriving late that she hadn’t even realized until now that he was wearing jeans. Leave it to Austin to defy the dress code and come to work in casual attire.
“I get it,” he said, looking back at her. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll do my best. OK?” He didn't want to press too hard because he didn’t want her type-A personality to blow up in his face.
Jane nodded at him, then looked at the notes in front of her. “I’ll send you a recap of the meeting and create a timeline for us. Molly does seem to understand this tight turnaround, so she will hopefully be good getting back to us with decisions. I should have everything ready to be shared in a couple of days, and then we can regroup. Sound good? Give me two minutes, I just want to grab my planner and firm up a date for us.”
Austin watched her grab her planner and begin flipping through the pages. He couldn’t believe the number of papers and notes that surrounded her, all in neat, organized piles. She had everything color-coded on her desk, which he guessed was a way of keeping each event separate. As she kept flipping, he noticed her nameplate beneath the paper, and he gently brushed the papers aside. The nameplate read “Jane Jones,” the same name his brother had mentioned yesterday. Seeing her name spelled out like that he realized there was something about her name, but he couldn’t place it.
“What’s wrong?” Jane asked, looking up from her planner and seeing Austin staring at something on her desk.
“Your name,” he said, looking at her with curious eyes. “It just sounds familiar, that’s all.”
“My name?” she asked, feeling her body begin to freeze. “Oh, it’s pretty common,” she commented, trying to brush it off while praying he would not connect the dots.
