Page 82 of Hooked
In my nightmares.Tayla walked out just as their cook, Gloria, was walking in.
“What can I get for you, Mr. McKinnon?”
“Tayla,” her mother said, “don’t leave. We can have more coffee here.”
“It’s fine.” She walked to the kitchen and set her cup on the counter before she started up the stairs.
Why did she bother? Why did she even try?
Tayla was sittingwith Kabisa and Azim in the garden of the SOKA office. It was a lush green space that spread along the side of the building, cut off from the alley by a fence covered in greenery. There was a grill and an outdoor dining table, but Tayla was in the sunny sitting area with a gas firepit in the center.
She’d created an idea board for her second interview, detailing some of the outdoor-living ideas she’d collected from her own research, along with a few of the social influencers she thought they could target.
“…so a lot of whom we’d be going for are not the big-name interior design people, but the garden niche, environmental, and travel crowd. Look at this chair, for example. The wood is reclaimed from Vietnamese fishing boats. And the company that makes them is a collective of former boat builders who are making furniture now instead. It’s a fair trade company using recycled materials that are, honestly, stunning.”
“I love all the colors,” Kabisa said. “The variety. We’d have to check their references, but they sound like exactly the kind of company we’d like to work with. And their prices are within our target area.”
“It’s not cheap, but these are boat builders. The quality is going to be very good, and it’s wood furniture that will be able to stand up to the elements.”
Azim looked around. “A few of those pieces would look great right here actually.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” Tayla said. “And look at these influencer ideas.” She handed them printouts of screenshots she’d taken of the profiles and a sample post. “They’re nicely photographed. Not the highest follower counts, so sponsoring posts for them would be cost-effective.”
“And look at the comments.” Kabisa’s eyes lit up. “Great interaction.”
“That’s what we’re looking for. Accounts with lower followers but high interaction. Real dynamic. Word of mouth. A lot of these influencers are also really active on other social networks where we could include direct links to SOKA’s site. And we can target the travel accounts depending on where the products are sourced. People who have stayed at a cool local hotel in Ha Long Bay, for example, might be drawn to remembering that amazing trip with a chair or a table made from wood that reminds them of the boats they saw. Play on ideas like that.”
“This is very good, Tayla.” Kabisa paged through the proposal Tayla had put together. She exchanged a look with Azim. “And we’ve tossed around the idea of including more housewares on the site, but I think the outdoor-living aspect presents some intriguing tie-ins and possibilities we hadn’t considered. Thank you.”
“I hope that gives you an idea of where I think we can go with this. And obviously a lot of these ideas translate to fashion, accessories, all the other products you guys are currently offering.”
Azim was nodding silently, still paging through the papers. Tayla had debated going with electronic presentations, but Jeremy had encouraged her to give Kabisa and Azim something to hold, to engage more than a single sense to make herself more memorable.
“I think that’s all we need from you for the interview,” Kabisa said. “But Azim and I are cooking lunch tomorrow for all the staff. Would you be interested in joining us? We’d love for you to meet everyone.”
Tayla’s heart sank. “And I’d love to meet them, but I have to head home in the morning. Tomorrow is the monthly art walk in Metlin, and we’re doing a book club party for the high school book club I’ve been leading. I promised the kids I’d be there for the party.”
Kabisa’s face lit up. “That sounds so cool! What a great thing to be involved in. Of course you can’t miss that. You can meet the staff another time.”
“How did you get involved in that?” Azim said. “It’s lovely you have a bookshop in your town. You work there part time right now, correct?”
“I do. It’s my best friend’s bookshop. She reopened it after her grandmother passed, and I moved down to help her out because I was looking for a new challenge. She’s started a bunch of reading groups and clubs that meet in the store, and she hosts events there. We even had a baby shower a couple of weeks ago! Her partner is a tattoo artist, and he has a shop within the shop, if that makes sense. It’s been really successful.”
“That is so intriguing,” Kabisa said. “We may have to come visit Metlin someday to see it.”
“If you’re interested in seeing the Sierra Nevadas, it’s the perfect place to stay.”
Azim smiled. “It sounds like it could be hard to say goodbye.”
Tayla quickly schooled her expression. “It would be. But it’s not far to visit, and I’m always looking for a new challenge. A company like SOKA presents me with an ongoing challenge, so it’s very much what I’m in the market for.”
“Excellent.” Kabisa clapped her hands. “Tayla, it was so lovely to see you again. Shall we grab another coffee before you have to leave?”
“I’d love that.”
Tayla was battlinga headache on the train. She’d left as early as she could after another tense evening at her parents’ house. Her father was gone, of course. Her mother was drunk. Tayla had spent the evening in the sitting room with Bianca as she belligerently watched international real estate shows.
Tayla’s phone buzzed. Jeremy was calling.
