“What’s that?” She pointed to something on the floor amongst the shards.
“What’s what?”
“That tiny black thing.” Crouching, Ellie picked up one of the larger pieces of the broken vase. The outside of the vase had a floral design etched into the clay. She extracted something small, round, and black that was nestled inside the shard, at the center of one of the flower buds. “This.”
I took the tiny object out of her hand—and my heart instantly started pounding. “Oh my God.” My other hand flew up to cover my mouth. “Ellie, I think this is a nanny cam.”
“What? Are you sure?”
I held it up to the light. “Look—it’s a tiny lens.” Perfectly positioned to watch me in my own damn apartment.
“Holy shit.”
I turned it over and over in my hand.That psycho.I felt dazed and lightheaded. “This is how she’s always one step ahead of me.” My voice was flat and monotonous as I stared at my hands numbly. “This is how she knew everything I was eating in the beginning—remember that? And how she knew about the first meeting with Pedro Torres’s team … and my twenty-week ultrasound … and that I was having dinner with your family and your cousin Robert, the lawyer.” Blood was rushing to my head as the implications sunk in. “Ellie, that woman has had a camera in my apartment this whole time!”
I paled as I realized that meant she could have been watching the day Max came over and watched the ultrasound DVD, and the other night when he came to ask me about the lawyer—the nights we almost kissed.
“Savvy … this is …” Ellie seemed just as stunned as I was.
Then another thought slammed into me. “What if this isn’t the only one? What if there are other cameras?” I started pacing around the room in a panic, my frantic eyes searching high and low.
“That’s it,” Ellie said. “I’m taking you to my place.”
I stopped pacing. “What?”
“I said, you’re coming home with me. You’re not staying here.” She put her hand on my back and gently pushed me toward my bedroom. “Come on, pack some stuff and let’s get out of here.”
I obeyed. She was right—I had to get out of there.
“This will be fun—it will be like we’re roommates again!” she said.
I smiled weakly.
The next morning, I was working at my desk when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to see Sam and Meredith. Sam had a friendly smile on his face; Meredith’s was a little pinched, but at least it wasn’t the icy glare I’d gotten used to.
“Hello, Savannah. How are you doing?” said Meredith.
“Good morning! I’m doing well.” I kept my own smile firmly in place, trying to channel capability and confidence.
“Savannah, we’d like to pull you off the Sampson account, and have you focus solely on the Torres campaign for now,” Meredith said. “I’d like you to put together a schedule of promotion ideas leading up to the restaurant opening. If you can get that to me within the next forty-eight hours, we will review it together and make adjustments before the meeting with the chef’s team on Monday.”
Yes!My smile widened. “I would love to. I’ve actually already been working on some ideas. I’ll have an excellent outline ready for you by Thursday.”
Sam smiled. Meredith nodded. “Great,” she said. “Let’s get together Thursday afternoon to look at it, and then I’m going to schedule a meeting with you and the rest of the new team at nineAMFriday, to finalize the presentation.”
“Sounds great, boss.” I was beaming.
This was exactly the boost I needed.
For the next forty-eight hours, I focused entirely on work. It felt good, staying with Ellie; she was supportive and served as a great sounding board for all my ideas as I worked long hours on the launch materials. Since she was in the restaurant business, having worked for the 21stStreet Bistro’s owner since before it opened, she had great insight into what drew diners in. She made sure I was fed. She made sure I had clean towels and cleared out a drawer for my clothes. She was the best roommate a thirty-six-weeks pregnant girl could ask for.
Friday, I made it into the office extra early. Sam and Meredith were already in the conference room, heads bent together. He looked up briefly when he saw me step off the elevator, through the clear glass walls of the conference room. He nodded appreciatively. I grinned back.You said to be at the top of my game—well, here I am.
Later that morning, I met with Sam and Meredith and a handful of other account associates. We all presented our ideas in a roundtable discussion for Meredith to critique. Then she gave us all some action items and told us to plan on meeting again that afternoon to put together the final product.
“Before you all head out …” she said. “Since this account is a big deal for the Blackwell Agency, I am going to oversee it personally. However, I have decided to name Savannah as my deputy account manager. Savannah, you will work directly with the team to offer feedback and guidance and to ensure all deadlines are met. You’ll lead any team meetings that I am unable to be at, and check in with me regularly. Good?”
“Great,” I responded enthusiastically, then cleared my throat and tried not to look too overeager. “I mean, thanks for the opportunity. I look forward to it.”
