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“I bet you each are thinking, who the fuck is this guy and why did he bring us here, instead of meeting us at the office? Well, first I wanted us to be offsite and on common ground. I had hoped for a little more of a relaxed environment than the staleness of a conference room. And secondly, my name is Quinlan Montgomery and as you may have guessed, I’ve replaced Mr. Williams as of this morning. Now, I realize that him vacating his position may have seemed to some as sudden, but it’s actually been in the works for roughly six months. I can’t speak to the reasons for him vacating his seat, but I do want to assure you that there will be zero layoffs, and that any of my ideas will not be implemented without each department’s insight. A little of my background is that I come from one of the large publishers in New York. I’ve had my sights set on working for a magazine since my youth, but my options were led to print in another facet. I’m born and bred here in Los Angeles and went to Columbia for college. I worked my way up from the mail room while still in school to the COO in about ten years until now, where I will sit as Editor in Chief here at World Tripping.
Now, I didn’t bring you all here, just to listen to me talk and to bore you all. Outside these doors to your right is a dining hall, which will have a buffet of breakfast and early lunch options. Think of this as our first of many company brunches. I plan to move from table to table and meet each of you, spend a few minutes with you guys. After I’ve joined each of the tables, I’ll have one final word and then you guys are free to go for the day. So now, without further ado.” He motions to the side doors and they open as if on queue.
Everyone stands up and we take our time walking into the hall. To the side, there are tables with delicious food on each. My mouth waters with each passing buffet, until I see the salad stand. Everyone else is standing in lines at the other stations, but my plate is stocked to the rim with greens and I couldn’t be happier.
There’s a lot of round tables and I take my seat smack dab in the center as others mill around the tables loading up their plates with as much as they can. Soon enough, people begin to sit down. Shane and Olivia on each side of me, with a few others from other departments. We have a good mix and purposely on each table there is a reserved spot which everyone obeys.
“He’s handsome,” Olivia says as two of the other women at our table nod.
“Oh come on, don’t begin to objectify the new guy.” Shane laughs.
“I’m serious, isn’t he, Sid?” Olivia turns to me.
I have just taken a large forkful of salad into my mouth and thankfully only have to nod.
“Is that why you said, ‘holy hell’ when he came out?” Shane smirks.
“That was you?” Beverly sitting across from me asks.
I feel my face redden, swallow my bite, and then shrug.
“I’ll be right back.” I say standing.
I find a restroom on the outskirts of the room and down a short hallway. I take care of business, wash my hands. and check my make-up then rush out of the room. Instantly, I run into someone coming out of the other restroom.
“Ooof.” I say as I push off of him.
“Oh sorry,” a deep voice says. “Sorry about that.”
Shock resonates throughout my body at the sound of his voice. I knew that I was going to have to face the music, but I wasn’t quite expecting it to be so soon. I slowly lift my gaze up to his perfect face and once our eyes meet, I can feel the static between us as he recognizes me.
I look up and there’s Prince Charming.
