Just wanted you to know I think you’re awesome. Oh, and that I’ve missed you.
I turned it over. That was it except for my name on the front. He hadn’t tried to be funny or eloquent. He hadn’t given me any advice or asked me for anything. Before my mind could spin into more psychoanalysis that would ultimately end in me not getting any work done, I dropped the note back into the drawer with my purse and closed it with my foot.
“Hey.” Keegan from three cubicles over peeked his head around and then came in and leaned against the edge of my desk. “Can I give you a heads up about something I’ve been working on with Harris Manufacturing? I was going to email you about it but I thought it might be better to explain in person.” When I nodded, he turned his tablet around for me to see the presentation he’d created for me. “No hard feelings if you don’t like it. I know other people are already working on our romantic gifts collection, and some of them won’t like me edging into their territory.”
“Like Britta,” I added without thinking. I immediately wished I hadn’t said her name. As a team leader, I had to be above petty disputes, especially when I held my own grudge against her.
Keegan read the discomfort in my face and blanched. “Never mind. I’ve totally overstepped. I’m sure you already have the right people on it, and it’s going to be amazing and—”
“Keegan.” I held up my hand. “You don’t have to kiss up to me. I’ll look this over. Gladly.”
“Oh.” He turned red, realizing he’d automatically gone into the default groveling mode we’d all used on our old boss. “Okay. I’ll leave you to it.”
After he scurried away, I read slowly through the presentation. We had a whole year before Valentine’s Day came again, but it was a tricky holiday. Men bought flowers. End of story. Getting their attention was expensive, and we needed the products to back it up once they made it into one of our stores or on our website. We’d have to do better than this year’s signature gift basket, full of pre-printed acts-of-service coupons and a sugar cookie mix. Bland and safe. That’s how I’d personally felt about it, but at the time it was approved, my opinion had mattered very little. I hadn’t been in charge of anything.
It was humbling to realize my opinion now mattered a lot. Thankfully, Keegan didn’t disappoint. The toy maker he was working with had created a series of personalized jack-in-the-boxes, and the one Keegan wanted to acquire had a winking cupid inside who threw confetti and popped out a sweet or sexy love note, not just once, but every time it opened. You could even reload it with extra notes when they ran out. Keegan had included their email thread in his presentation, and his love note suggestions for them were hilarious.
“Keegan, you are my hero,” I whispered, realizing how much time he’d spent on this. Now all I needed to do was get him to believe in himself and trust me to back him up. I wasn’t anything like my old boss, but I think people sometimes found me prickly because I didn’t always have the right words at the right moment. Stand-offish. That was probably how they saw me.
It was kind of a bummer, because I loved my job and I wanted everyone I worked with to love theirs, too. I sat back and sighed in relief. I’dwantedit to be good for Keegan’s sake. More than anything, I wanted to reward hard work and risk-taking, not underhanded networking and butt-kissing.
I wished everyone on my team was as eager to please and hardworking. I wasn’t good at asserting my newfound authority, and they weren’t used to asking for my approval. Some downright didn’t want the oversight when they were used to cutting corners and getting away with it.
But I was in charge of approving all new gifts before they went to top management, and that meant telling people ‘no’ even when it was uncomfortable.
Without thinking, I opened the bottom drawer of my desk and pulled out Noah’s note, rereading it for absolutely no purpose. It wasn’t like I’d forgotten what it said. Noah thought I was awesome.
I tossed it back in the drawer and shut it with more force than necessary. This was ridiculous. I didn’t need Noah’s approval. I was doing just fine, wasn’t I? Twenty-six was too old for a crush anyway.
Chapter 7 – Noah
My new job was… not great. They didn’t trust new employees with active accounts, so I was tasked with making cold calls to warm up old customers who hadn’t booked a vacation with the agency in over three years.
There were a lot of reasons people stopped taking luxury vacations. None of them were fun reasons. Most peopledid notwant to talk about them. And when they did want to talk about them, I ended up listening to stories about bunion removal surgeries and cat urinary tract infections. If their goal was to make me wish I’d never called, mission accomplished.
By lunch time, I was considering working at the McDonalds down the street until I found my next career move. But I was also not a quitter, so my brain was already coming up with ways to succeed at it.
I started writing ideas in a notebook as I walked towards the exit with the rest of the herd. My supervisor clapped me on the back, startling me and making me lose hold of my pen. I rescued it before it slid off the page.
“Noah, right?”
“That’s me.”
He adjusted his skinny tie and leaned in, eliminating the last of our personal space. Thankfully, I had a high tolerance for Axe body spray, as Clark had practically bathed in the stuff in high school. “I noticed you didn’t take breaks between calls. We like that can-do attitude around here. So, let me give you the low-down on how this all works. Do you have a minute?”
I nodded, hoping he literally meant sixty seconds and not the time-bending minute everyone else used.
“Here’s the deal. If you last more than a week and you’re any good at this, once training is done, we give you the option of working from home. That’s ultimately what a lot of people want. No commute, flexible hours, hanging out in their underwear all day.” He winked. “Or, if you’re a real go-getter and want to move up in the company, we put your name on a list, and a promotion is not far off. The other departments pick from the cream of the crop down here. How does that sound so far?”
“That sounds great.”
“Good. Good. So come back after lunch. I can guarantee you half of these people won’t.”
I believed him. Most of the faces around us had ‘abandon ship’ written all over them.
He waved goodbye and wandered off to find someone else to coerce into staying.
The company had a large break room they touted during the tour this morning, but I headed out of the building, taking the stairs two at a time to get the most out of my hour.
