“We can re-do them.”
“I’m going back to the winery this afternoon. I don’t want to come back before then.”
“That’s fine. Raven will work on them now.”
Clive Morgan sighed unhappily. “I’m not sure if she’s the right person for the job.”
“I’ll have my team work on the designs then, starting now.”
That seemed to appease Clive.
“Okay, but they had better be a lot better than these. I’ll come by at four this afternoon.”
“We will be ready for you.” She stepped forward to go with Clive from the meeting room leaving Raven sitting there alone and somewhat stunned.
There’s nothing wrong with the designs.She looked up at the screen. Sure, they might not be complicated, they were simple, and that was the point. Though, now, she could see a few things she’d do differently. But they weren’t things that would be a deal breaker.Why can’t I do this?Not for the first time did she question if graphic design was going to be her thing. Being good at art was one thing, designing art for a client was another. She took a very long, deep breath.I have to get used to it if I want to run my own business.It was that thought that got her up from the chair, her determination sparking back into action.
“This is a warning.” Sarina stormed back into the meeting room. Somewhere between showing Clive out, to coming back, she’d boiled over with anger. “You’ve been late too many times now. This can’t continue.”
Raven’s mouth dried and any retort she had with it. There were very good excuses for why she was late. Well, okay, so the excuses were flimsy at best she’d realized, but she learned her lesson. Sort of. Being late because of last night was different. At least in her mind.This wasn’t fair.She’d even worked harder to catch up from being late. So, today she didn’t have an excuse. Well, not one she was willing to share with her boss.
“This isn’t good enough. I need designs where you’ve listened to the client and not done what you think they would like.”
“I didn’t,” Raven answered, the words sounding odd in her dry mouth.
She held up her hand. “I’m getting Jax to work on this, and you need to take direction from him with the designs.”
Wine labels just aren’t my thing. That’s what she wanted to say, but then this was the business she was in. There were going to be other projects that might challenge her. Her gut twisted. There was more. She was tired now from last night, and yesterday she was so distracted.That’s it. That’s why I haven’t been doing my best work.Hey, people are allowed off days.
“… and coming in late. That’s the real reason why Clive doesn’t like the labels.”
“That’s not a good enough reason to reject my hard work.” Raven hated how she sounded sulky.
“Really, Raven, have you been working hard on this?” Sarina stood with her hands on her hips, her face dark and grumpy.
“Yes.” It was the only response Raven could give.
“You know damn well you haven’t. I was here last night, where were you?”
Raven tried not to blush as she remembered where she was last night and what she was doing with Ben.
“I worked over the weekend to get it done.” She did a little but nowhere long enough to please Sarina. Her boss had a reputation of being a tough person to work with, but her business had a status that she was looking to be part of. Right now, she was wondering if she was ever going to make it out of the hole she was in.
“Now, I’m going to end up pushing deadlines out for other clients. This is a mess because you can’t get yourself here on time. Last warning.” Sarina pointed her finger at Raven. “You come in late again, and you’re out of here.”
Raven met her boss’s stare. “I won’t be.”
“Well, time will tell if you can stick to your promise.” She turned on her heels and left the room. Through the glass door, she saw Sarina walk straight up to Jax. He looked guiltily over the top of his computer to her.Fucking great.
With a deep breath, Raven walked out into the open office space. She kept her shoulders back and her chin up even though on the inside she felt like crying and giving up. She wasn’t about to give up. This was part of her dream.Let’s do this.
Ben hung up the fifth first prize ribbon, and then the grand champion ribbon. It was almost a clean sweep of the major prizes at the show today. A shimmer of emotion ran through his body. This wasn’t just his own work but his dad’s. He’d be stoked. Ben wished his dad could be here. A lump formed in his throat. Hell, he wished his mom and his sister, Anne, could’ve come too.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, he answered it as he took it out. “Hey, Mom.”
“So, how did you do today? I haven’t heard, so I thought I’d ring and just say no matter what, you’ve done such a good job.”
Ben smiled, the lump in his throat got a little bigger. He was getting used to the mixed emotions when grief was involved. Feeling sad and able to smile all at once was somewhat weird but was now his normal.
