Jack (Secret Revenge #1) Read online

  Emily swung her rolling chair around and looked up at a stunning woman, her hair flowing over her shoulders and an earpiece in her ear with a cord leading to the phone she held tightly in her hand. She smiled, and I realized it was Bridgette, the VP of Marketing. Emily pushed back my chair and stood up quickly, reaching her hand out to shake Bridgette’s but realizing she was still on a phone call. Emily pulled her hand back and looked out over the office in an attempt to not eavesdrop on her conversation. When she heard her say goodbye, she looked back smiling.

  “Ugh, I am sorry. These people with Trotting Dog Toys are really starting to drive me nuts,” she said rolling her eyes and absent-mindedly shaking Emily’s hand. “I need a vacation, hell, I need a whole new life.” Bridgette laughed to herself as if she had some personal inside joke playing in her mind and looked back at Emily. She glanced at the desk, and the folders laying on top and smiled.

  “I see you got the files I sent over,” she said nodding toward the desk. Emily looked back and nodded.

  “Yes,” Emily said. “I have been reviewing them all weekend, and I took some notes on some things I thought might add to the campaign. I hope that is not too presumptuous of me.”

  “Not at all, I like a girl that can jump right in and not even fear drowning,” Bridgette said as she winked at Emily. “Working your entire first weekend in New York? You sound like me.” Bridgette smiled and motioned for Emily to walk with her.

  “Eric still isn’t in so I am going to take you with me to the meeting with Tilberts. Here is the file,” she said as she handed me a file about three inches thick. “You don’t have to talk; I am just taking you so you can see how these initial meetings go.”

  Emily started to flip through the file until they reached the meeting room down the hall. Inside were four members of the department store’s Board of Directors and two attorneys. Bridgette smiled sweetly as they entered and introduced Emily as the newest member of their team. Emily took a seat to the left of Bridgette and started to review the file.

  The meeting was a tough conversation that was discussing how the Tilbert’s could market to a larger base of clients and their goals included expanding their chain to the East Coast. Ideas flew back and forth between Bridgette and the men from the board until Emily saw something in the file that sparked an idea in her head. She looked at Bridgette and cleared her throat loud enough for them to look over at her.

  “If I may,” Emily said as she stood from her chair and pulled a piece of paper out of the folder. “ These info sheets show that your base clientele is women. However, it’s not just your base it is your majority. Let me ask you, do you have a sporting goods section in your department store?”

  The men looked at each other and nodded at Emily. Bridgette tilted her head and stared at her with a look that either was irritation or curiosity, Emily couldn’t tell. She looked away from Bridgette and continued her thought process.

  “I am from Nebraska where Tilbert’s first department store was built. I grew up buying my school and church clothes from there. In all the years that I frequented Tilberts I never once noticed a sporting goods section, nor did my father, for that matter. If you want to grow your clientele you need to have a more diverse group of customers that come to the locations, not just this coast, but everywhere there is a Tilberts. If you do a little renovation, broadening you sporting goods collection dependent upon demographics of the different areas and then put half of your marketing efforts into bringing men into the store while the women buy dresses you are going to, in theory, bring 50% more people into your business on a daily basis. The women shops for clothes, the men buy golf clubs.”

  Emily set the folder down and held her breath as the board members looked at each other. Butterflies flew through her stomach as the stern looks turned to smiles and they looked up at Bridgette. A smirk had crossed Bridgette’s face, and she was still staring directly at Emily, something Emily was trying to ignore.

  “Well, Bridgette,” one of the board members said. “It looks like your company made a good hiring choice in her. I love this idea. I am going to get with the project team to broaden the sports good section, and I want to expand my contract with High Point to cover the entire country. I want two ads, one for existing locations and one for new locations. The new site needs to include the store as a whole but make sure people know Tilbert’s is for everyone.” He shook Bridgette’s hand, and she nodded agreeing.

  Emily followed Bridgette out into the hall and toward her office at the back. The walk was silent, and Emily feared repercussions from speaking out of turn on her first day. They entered the room, and Bridgette shut the door and turned to Emily.

  “Wow,” she said, a smile cracking her stern look. “That was brilliant Emily. I don’t think you know how much money you just made High Point. That contract already sat at over a million dollars, and we are going to have now to double it. Eric is going to freak! Remember, though, as awesome as that was, next time you might want not to jump out with ideas like that. If you had spoken wrong, it could have cost us their trust, which is essential in this business.” Bridgette clapped her hands smiling and walked over to her desk as the phone rang.

  “Hello,” she said. “Oh great. We will be right over.” She hung up the phone and walked towards the door. “Come on. Eric is back; this is the perfect moment to tell him how your first day is going.”

  Emily felt a surge of accomplishment and excitement roll through her as she entered the office at the side of Bridgette. Emily stood quietly in the back as Bridgette enthusiastically recalled the events from just ten minutes before. Eric looked up and flashed me one of his lady-killer smiles.

  “It sounds like I made the right decision then,” he said handing Emily a folder. “You are going to work alongside Bridgette with the Tilbert case. Take the rest of today getting comfortable with the office and coming up with your passwords for the system. Bridgette and I have business across town so take this file home with you and be ready to hit the ground running tomorrow.”

  “Thank you so much, Eric,” Emily said as she took the file and started to back out of the office. “I will be ready to go.” Emily looked up at Bridgette as she left and caught the wink and smile she threw her way. Butterflies erupted, and Emily couldn’t tell if they were from the wink or from the fact that she just hit a home run on her first day at the office. Either way, Emily wasn’t going to let herself be distracted, her night was going to be done researching Tilbert’s beyond some handwritten file. She wanted a week of home runs, not just one lucky hit.

  Chapter Three: An Innocent Drink

  Emily spent the whole night painting and; she history and demographics of all of the different locations knew has. She put everything into a binder and labeled each location. At the front of each tab was a printed sheet that listed the primary interests and financial demographic of each area so that they could better brainstorm the slight differences between commercials for each sector. Tilbert didn’t want to run one general ad across the whole country. They wanted to focus each commercial on the twelve different areas plus one commercial for the East Coast to get them interested and aware of the brand before they began building.

  Emily had already prepared for the next morning’s wake up before starting on work and fell asleep well after three in the morning. Being up and working on assignments wasn't unusual for her, though, after spending four years at Princeton where studying went way later into the dawn then three am. The lack of sleep was masked with excitement for her new job and all of the work she had put into this project. When she thought about Bridgette’s reaction to the binder, she began to get even more excited and then stopped herself, realizing that feeling may not all be coming from possible praise. She didn't understand why she was getting giddy about some older woman in her office that was obviously out of bounds. Besides, Emily had decided before she even got to New York that relationships were on the back burner until she got further along her path to success.

  Emily sh
ook the entire thought from her mind and spent the subway ride studying the file and binder on Tilberts. She didn’t even remember walking into the building, but she smiled when she looked up to see the same security guard checking people in. Emily jumped in the elevator, this time not having to force her way in and headed up to her floor. By the time the elevator hit floor twelve she was the only one left but the next ding came from floor sixteen where the coffee shop and deli were located.

  Emily barely looked up as someone entered the elevator but the sweet smell of lilacs and vanilla caught her attention, and she glanced up to see who was wearing it. Bridgette looked back at her smiling and then looked down at Emily’s binder. She reached out and took it from Emily and smiled saying,

  “Wow over achiever. This is awesome! Excellent work, you probably saved us an entire two days by putting this together. I am impressed.” Bridgette handed the folder back, and their hands slid against each other. There was an awkward silence as Emily’s stomach grew warm and her cheeks became flushed. She looked forward so Bridgette wouldn’t notice but she was looking right at Emily with a coy smile on her face.

  The elevator doors opened, and Bridgette got off first, heading back to her office. Emily stopped at her desk and began unloading her briefcase and checking her email’s. Nothing crucial was there except an email from her mother scolding her for not calling to let her know how the first day at High Point went.

  “Hey,” Bridgette yelled out from her office door. “The meeting starts in an hour. You are going to want coffee; it is going to be a long day. Grab some now and I'll meet you at your desk before we head over to the conference room.” Bridgette shut her door before Emily could respond.

  Emily picked up her cell phone as she made her way back to the elevator but realized there wasn’t any service in the tower so she slipped it back into her pocket. She never was much of a coffee drinker but as she thought about it the fact that she had only 4 hours of sleep sent a wave of sleepiness over her, and she quickly changed her mind. As the elevator doors opened to the twelfth floor, Emily stepped out and rounded the corner. She almost ran straight into a tall think woman carrying two coffees and a bag with some Danish in it.

  “God watch out,” she said bitterly. Emily looked up but before she could apologize the lady had turned the corner and entered the elevator. Emily rolled her eyes and chalked it up to the typical New York attitude.

  The line was short so Emily grabbed a coffee and hurried back to her desk, she wanted to make sure she had ample time to finish her notes before the meetings started. Bridgette’s door flew open, and the same woman from the coffee stand burst through the door, an angry look on her face as she passed. Bridgette sauntered out after her, rolling her eyes and sighing. She looked over at Emily and threw her hands in the air and walked back into the office. Emily wondered what that was all about but decided; this drama was not on her list for the day.

  Bridgette tapped on the desk when it was time to go, and Emily shoved her stuff into her bag, grabbed her cold coffee and followed Bridgette into the elevator. Apparently, there were more conference rooms one floor up, and they were going to need space so that is where they headed. When the elevator doors shut Bridgette let out a sigh and turned to Emily saying:

  “I am sorry about that,” she said with exhaustion in her voice. “That is my now ex-girlfriend who let me know missing lunch plans for again made me a heinous individual and that she was leaving me.”

  “Oh,” Emily said uncomfortably. “Well if it is any consolation I almost knocked her down when I went to get coffee. If I had known, I would have thrown an elbow in.” Emily smirked, and Bridgette studied her face for a moment before bursting into laughter.

  “You’re cute,” she said as they exited the elevator. Emily’s cheeks turned red as she entered the office and realized there were more than twenty people crowded around a huge table.

  Though long, the day went by fast in a flurry of excitement, just how Emily had imagined it for the last four years. There were storyboards and ideas flying every which way, and Emily was right in the middle of it, giving ideas and learning from the people around her. Bridgette was brilliant as usual and ended up taking everyone’s ideas and streaming them together to come up with the first of twelve videos. That was a record setting pace for the marketing team, and as the sun began to sink outside of the windows, Emily and Bridgette were cleaning up the conference room as the other’s drug themselves down to the elevator exhausted but high with progress.

  Emily walked to the trashcan with an arm full of empty plates and half eaten bagels. Bridgette was washing the coffee mugs in the sink when she turned to Emily, her hands dripping onto the floor.

  “Emily,” she said curiously. “Have you been out in the city at all yet?”

  “No,” Emily replied. “By the time I got here I just wanted to relax. Besides, I don’t know the city very well and felt weird going to a bar and sitting by myself.”

  “Ha!” Bridgette laughed. “It’s New York! Trust me you wouldn’t be the only person sitting by themselves at a bar. That’s how people in this city meet, besides you are young and beautiful, you could snag one of these handsome trillionaires in a second.”

  Emily blushed and sprayed the table with cleaner, her hand was shaking a little bit, and her cheeks were red again.

  “What?” Bridgette stopped and turned to her. “Oh, you have some sweet Nebraska boy waiting for you don’t you? Well, he better be tough because this city eats little Nebraska kids as snacks.”

  “Do you always talk like you are a walking marketing machine,” Emily said laughing. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m gay. And no I don’t have any little Nebraska girl waiting at home either. My girlfriend in college went off to medical school so we broke up, no use in pining over each other and not being able to have a life.”

  Emily could feel Bridgette staring at her but was too nervous to turn around. She heard Bridgette set the last coffee mug in the cupboard and pick up the towel. Emily walked over and grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder and turned to Bridgette. Bridgette smiled and stuck her hand out towards Emily.

  “Come on,” she said excitedly. “Let’s go celebrate this awesome day. I’ll take you to my favorite bar in the city, and we can have a drink. Promise I won’t keep you out too late.”

  Emily thought about it for a moment; she was excited and boisterous around Bridgette, and she easily got embarrassed when Bridgette flirted with her. Emily knew forming a personal relationship, even a friendship, with the VP of Marketing was a huge no, but the look on Bridgette’s face and the sparkle in her eye collapsed Emily’s judgment. Emily reached out and took Bridgette’s hand. As their skin moved over each other’s Emily could almost feel sparks and her knees began to tremble. Bridgette pulled her out of the room, making her wait only a moment as she grabbed her stuff from the office, and then made their way to the elevators.

  Bridgette’s car was waiting outside the front of the building, and they jumped in the back and buckled up. Bridgette gave the driver the name of some bar called Tuttle’s On 3rd and Emily could only imagine how rich this place must be. The Assistant Vice President of Marketing for High Point probably drank martinis with names to French to pronounce from gold glassware that was made by small elves in the enchanted forest. Emily smiled to herself as she looked out the window with humor. Bridgette had pulled her phone out and was answering work emails she hadn’t had a chance to get to since we were in the conference room all day.

  “Ugh, I need a secretary for real!” Bridgette said rolling her eyes as she typed feverishly.

  Emily smiled but didn’t respond; she wasn’t sure she knew what it felt like to be so busy that you don’t have time to answer your emails. The car came to a stop, and Bridgette smiled at Emily. They left their briefcases in the car and climbed out into the busy sidewalk. New York never slowed down, and Emily was shocked every time she noticed the streets crazy busy late at night, by now everyone in Nebraska was dreami
ng in their beds. Emily looked up at the front of Tuttle’s and stopped for a moment, slightly confused. The front of the building was plain and kind of dirty, Bridgette's Emily realized, Tuttle’s was a dive bar.

  “Not what you expected?” Bridgette said chuckling. “I don’t like swanky restaurants. I like down home know your name bars and that is exactly what Tuttle’s is. It was the first bar I ever came to in New York and I’ve been coming here for almost fourteen years. Oy, I just showed my age.”

  “No,” Emily protested. “I am relieved, this looks more like home than anything New York has offered so far. I like nice things, but swanky isn’t me.”

  They went inside and grabbed a table in the back corner and ordered a pitcher of beer from the cocktail waitress. They spent several hours talking and laughing, both of them spilling more and more personal information as the pitchers flowed. Bridgette talked about her life and how she had worked so hard for her promotion and now ex-girlfriend, which Emily was slightly pleased to hear of, and how she yearned for something more. Something exciting and new, a change in her mundane routine, is what Bridgette wanted because she felt like with all of her accomplishments she was missing something.