Page 48 of Love.V2
Still, I wanted to shrink under her stare. Ever since that meeting a few weeks ago when I’d regained some control of this presentation and its strategic direction, she’d doubled-down on her negativity. I’d had tolet some things slide in the interest of getting the work done. Like her whole rivets-and-metal concept that had somehow crept its way to the beginning of the slides. I’d told myself I needed to pick my battles.
Now, though, with the Botto presentation just a few days away, I didn’t have time to coddle her. No matter how much my stomach hollowed at the thought, I had to put my foot down. I could feel Dylan’s attention on me, and I took a breath, remembering his words.I don’t like the way she talks to you. Well, I didn’t like it either.
“Dylan and I are the ones flying out to New York tomorrow to present. We can go over the changes ourselves. It’ll give us an opportunity to practice the presentation again.” I took a deep breath, hoping she didn’t hear the shaking in my voice.Weak.
“Well, you’ll need me for the overview. I just finalized the last few slides this morning, and the most recent version is saved on my computer—”
“I’ll need you to send me those files so I can review them myself.” What I really wanted to say was,“Why the hell are you making changes on your personal computer and not in the shared drive? Why are you making changes before I see them in the first place?”
I tried to avoid moments like this. It was a harsh reminder of why I often felt like I wasn’t cut out for the tedious politics of corporate leadership. All I wanted to do was design. Make something impactful. Recently, I’d thought it would be cool to lead a team to helpthemdesign. But instead, I had to tip-toe around this woman and her increasingly obvious hatred of me.
She gave me a sickly sweet smile, with an edge to it. “Obviously, I’ll send you the files. As soon as my updates are finished. The last two concepts are, frankly, still all over the place…”
I let my eyes drift closed for a few seconds while she droned on, critiquing every aspect of the ideas the team had come up with—thatIhad come up with. I opened them in time to see her shove some folders on my desk aside to make room for her laptop.
Dylan’s eyebrow arched. To the untrained eye, he was relaxed, leaning back in his chair, sipping from the neon peacock mug. I knew better, though. He glanced at me, an obvious question on his face.
Do you want me to handle this?
Truthfully, I didn’t want to doanythingabout it. Victoria was annoying, and there was no love lost between us, but I’d have preferred to just duck my head and wait out the storm.
Except that hadn’t been working for me lately, had it? Not for the last few months with this job. Not for the last few years, with mylife.
Memories of the last month flashed before my eyes. Firing my mug, laughing with Meery, Dylan’s face so content lying next to me on the pillow. I felt alive for the first time in a long time.
Old Tess would have thanked Victoria for her diligence, accepted her changes, and presented them to the client. But I was trying my hardest to evacuate Old Tess from the building.
“Victoria.” I was still shaky, my hands sweating, but the sharpness of my voice at least halted her sneering monologue. “Iam the one who directed the concepts on those slides. I will be the one to review and finalize them. In the future, do not tell the team to cut me out of the reviewing process.”
Her eyes widened in exaggerated disbelief. “I was just trying to make your life easier. Save you some steps.”
“I appreciate the gesture, but this is my job. I’ll take it from here.” I nearly asked her to send me the files from Noel, but thought better of it. The look she was giving me made me think she’d either flat-out refuse, or just send me the wrong documents on purpose. Instead, I stood. “Please get back to work. We have the social media meeting later today, and the new ad campaign for the healthcare app. I need you focused on that. Dylan and I will handle Botto.”
I swung my door open, feeling her cold, venomous stare on my back the whole seven steps it took me. “Noel,” I called, catching her attention at her cubicle. “Please send me the latest Botto files you sent Victoria last night. From now on, I’ll be focusing on this account. We need Victoria’s attention on other projects.”
A hush fell over the bullpen. Henry and Chassie exchanged a glance as Victoria shoved past me, stomping down the hall.
“Of course! Sorry…Sorry, I should have sent those to you, too…” Noel had an apology written all over her face, eyes darting between me and Victoria, who continued clomping until she turned a corner. On her way to call Eric and complain? Maybe. Probably.
Oh, God.My stomach flipped.
I gave Noel a tight smile. “All good. I just want to make sure I’m as close to this one as possible. Cool?”
“Yes,” Noel breathed. Henry and the others looked sideways at each other as I shut the door. The second it was closed, I nearly crumpled against it, the overheated skin of my forehead resting against the cool, smooth wood.
“I’m reconsidering my no sex at work policy. That was fucking hot.”
Even my laugh sounded strained. My body was tense, trapped in the fight-or-flight response of confronting someone. I shuddered. There was a reason I never did this. It sucked. I felt horrible and scared and off-kilter.
“Well, you know.” My shoulder shrugged, jerky. “Just trying to impress my new boss.” When I peeked behind me, Dylan was still relaxed in his chair, a small smile playing across his lips even as his eyes dissected every aspect of my face. He must have known my anxiety was going through the roof right now.
“Oh, don’t worry. I think you’ve made a very lasting impression.” He grinned, playing along with my nonchalance. Bless him. My computer chimed, and I used the walk across my office to take a few breaths.In for four…When I sat, I gulped my coffee.
Spending your formative years with a lot of instability and a decent amount of shady characters hanging around, you learned early not to rock the boat. I had been around enough fights, drunken arguments, and uncertain times to understand the repercussions of speaking out of turn. It was easier to stay quiet. Survive.
But this wasn’t a life-or-death situation. I wasn’t a six-year-old girl hiding beneath the grungy tables at my dad’s bar, or hunkering under the covers trying to block out the yelling and smashing outside my bedroom door. I was a grown woman, in a leadership role, in a controlled corporate environment.
My body hadn’t gotten that message. Anxiety spiked again as I skimmed over Noel’s email. Way more “sorry” and exclamation marks than I was used to. I winced. I’d have to check in with her later andreiterate that I wasn’t mad she’d sent the files without including me…but that she shouldn’t do it again.
