"I think I'm going to need to see a demonstration," I said. "You know, to compare and contrast."
"For science?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.
"For science."
29
Josie
The blatant and heavy flirting with Mace had left me feeling like a Twizzler left in the sun. My jellybean was jumping, and I wanted Mace to suck it and make it better. I wanted to march back up to the house and tell him to put his face in my candy jar. But I didn't have the best track record with making decisions based off of the YOLO philosophy. Maybe it was better to put the brakes on and really think about what I was doing.
But thinking made me think about Mace doing naughty things to me. I squirmed. My candy jar was feeling very gooey and melty.
Josie:I want Mace's face in my candy jar
Willow:And I want Tara to take a long walk off of a pier made of my broken dreams and murdered ambitions
Josie:Marketing not going well?
Willow:No
Josie:I'm working on something. I've been sketching out ideas all day. Going to hard line everything tonight and tomorrow
Willow:I hope it's amazing, because this is like the blind leading the narcissistic bitch over here
Josie:You guys still at the office?
Willow:Yes. Not just the office but trapped in one horrible, smelly conference room. I'm going to have tinnitus after all this is over from Tara's screeching
I ate the last of the candy from my stash to distract me from the fact that Mace clearly also wanted a taste of my candy. It didn't work, so I turned my attention to the marketing project.
Between talking to Mace and the hundreds of documents in the folder Willow had sent me, I had a pretty good idea of the marketing direction for the gene therapy product. Actually it wasn't a product. I decided that was what Tara was missing. This was a procedure—an idea, a vision for the future of purely customized healthcare.
I spent Monday polishing everything, only taking a break to take Henry out for his midday energy burn-off. I spent that night working, finalizing everything and tweaking the words and graphics. Willow was up all night too. I periodically got text updates from her about how Tara was making them change all the colors on the slides from, in her words, puke green to puke yellow.
* * *
The next morning,we all met in a large conference room. I was there only to hand out coffee, but then I was supposed to leave. I had my presentation on a flash drive. I was planning on showing Mace privately after the meeting so as to give him something to compare and contrast.
The room was packed with what looked like mainly Svensson brothers and one guy who looked a lot like Chloe's boyfriend, Jack Frost. I sighed, thinking about Chloe and her perfect life. I religiously followed her on Instagram and Pinterest. Everything she made was beautiful. Lately she'd been posting pictures of the renovation of her and Jack's penthouse. I had to wipe the drool off my face when I saw the plans for the craft room.
"Thank you for coming this morning," Tara said while I slowly handed out coffee and tea. "This is the marketing material thus far for the gene therapy product."
"It's a procedure," I muttered under my breath.
"What was that?" she asked sharply.
"Just asking if he wants any water," I said with a fake smile.
"So, everyone knows my background. I was originally at a marketing firm that specializes in pharmaceuticals." A basic big-pharma bitch. Figures. Pharmaceutical sales were known for their mediocre commercials and marketing. They were all geared to sell unnecessary medicines to the anxious elderly. I had worked on those types of campaigns; it always felt like a scam. If that was Tara's mentality toward the gene therapy procedure, then it was no wonder it fell flat.
"Could you move this along?" one of the Svensson brothers asked. He was wearing a white lab coat and looked unhappy and annoyed to be there.
"You don't have anywhere to be, Parker," Mace said to his brother.
Tara launched into the presentation. It was worse than Willow had said. My friend was sitting in the room, staring unhappily into her water glass.
Parker interrupted Tara as she was explaining the contents of a slide with a logo that looked like two beavers going at it like rabbits.
