TWO
KELLY
As I sit staring at my cooling coffee, I'm having trouble processing just how close I'd come to being hit by that cabinet. It was my fault. I shouldn't have slammed the door as hard as I had.
But I was furious after reading Jason's latest email. The one telling me Deb, my copywriting partner, had resigned. It had to have been sudden, as we'd only caught up late yesterday. I need to ring her and find out what happened, but I can't, not when I'm still dealing with the other bad news in the email.
As an art director on their own, I have little value in the agency and it's for this reason I'm being demoted to general agency design work. Bye-bye big-ticket creative campaigns for me. Without a copywriter, I'm adrift, without purpose.
That, that … As my mom often said, ladies don't cuss, but boy Jason deserved a few choice words. That … that… jerk.
With Deb gone, I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out, because in tandem with my demotion, came yet another pay cut. Even knowing what Jason is up to doesn't make it easier to swallow.
It's only a matter of time before I'm forced to search for another position. That's if I can, with no agency interested in half a creative team. The sooner I catch up with Deb, the better.
If we can apply for a job as a team, then we stand a chance of securing something. Without that, I'm trapped.
After pushing my coffee to one side, I slump forward, my forehead pressed against the cool tabletop. Life shouldn't be this hard, should it? I'd graduated at the top of my class, and had the awards to prove I was competent at my job.
So why was I being forced out by that glorified crocodile hunter?
There's nothing I can do to stop a snort of amusement at thoughts of Jason wrestling with one of those scaly beasts. The only way he'd win would be by boring the reptile to death with one of his cruddy campaigns.
I'm still hunched over when something is placed on the table next to me. On tipping my head to the side, I see it's a plate with two chocolate chip cookies. This is weird. I know there aren't any in the house. If there were, I'd have used them to self-medicate by now.
"You eat those while I make a fresh coffee." Zac pushes the plate even closer, before saying, "You need sugar after a shock like that."
It's enough to have me straightening, to stare at him. I soon enough regret it when I'm the target of yet another of those cocky grins. Honestly, do women fall for that crap?
He's like so many men I've worked with in advertising that I can't stop myself from rolling my eyes. It's enough to have his smile faltering before he tips his head toward the plate.
"Eat."
Following this order, he grabs my still full cup of coffee and the French press and takes them over to the sink. Only now do I notice the surrounding chaos. Instead of there being one upper cabinet on the kitchen floor, all of them are.
Piled up like Stonehenge, with the microwave perched atop, their contents stacked high on every available surface.
"What the heck!?"
How on earth did I miss him dismantling the kitchen?
"Tyler said you wouldn't start with the kitchen for a week or two."
"That was before I saw the cabinets were held in place with glue and good wishes."
After a lot of bustling about, during which I admit he's got a body to die for, or even under, he puts a fresh coffee in front of me. He follows this up by yet again, instructing me to eat. Then, without another word, he leaves.
My first mouthful of cookie and I'm not concentrating, although this soon changes. There isn't a chance I'd miss cookies as delicious as these in the cupboards. I can smell chocolate at twenty paces.
The other thing that stops me from taking another bite is that if I didn't know better, I'd think they were homemade.
Now I'm even angrier about Zac giving me all those smiles. He's gotta be married or living with someone. With my nerves still on edge, I'm not sure which option upset me more.
Thankfully, I've got one-and-a-half cookies to help with the shock.
Now I'm torn. Do I stay in the kitchen and try to make sense of everything? Or, do I start work on the Burt's Pet Food web tile Jason wants me to complete in my new role as agency lackey?
Then I decide I won't give him the satisfaction of my missing the deadline, even though it's tight because he wants it so.
