AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So how many people did you survey in the sample?”
“Around three hundred fifty. Small numbers, I know, and regional for the most part, but all within the target demo. There was a clear favorite on CleanTok who does these weirdly satisfying cleaning videos and the lifestyle one. I just picked the person who was available to create the content from my list. There was no frontrunner in that group because apparently your aesthetic determines which lifestyle influencers you follow…it’s a whole thing,” she shrugged.
“It seems like your method paid off. Good work,” I said, and carefully turned my attention to Rob. “How are you going to redirect your energy and budget for the full launch now that you know from preliminary data that signage wasn’t effective for this demo?”
I tried to listen to him and hide how damn impressed I was with Hailey’s resourcefulness and dedication. She’d created an action research project on the fly and executed it well, giving her the data to select the best representative for the project. If she worked for me full time, I would’ve been thinking about a promotion for her, because she was innovative and clever. Instead, I was counting down the days till the project ended so she could stop coming to this office and I could take a breath and relax. As it was, I spent so much energy avoiding her gaze, making sure I wasn’t too attentive to her or appeared to show any personal interest.
“With the full launch next week, we have everything ready unless you have notes on the roll out,” Martin concluded.
“Definitely put Rob’s plan into play rerouting signage budget to increase Facebook and Insta ads in the coming days, and push the hashtag visibility on Twitter,” I said. “You’ve done excellent work and I think even Meredith can’t complain about it.”
They thanked me and I returned to my office to get some more work done. They would finish up and leave soon, and I’d have the floor to myself. It made me feel restless, distracted having her there, knowing that Hailey was right there, that she’d be stepping onto the elevator and riding down to the lobby, that she’d walk to her car and drive away, and I had all those opportunities to speak to her, to explain myself to her yet again, to take her in my arms. I couldn’t let myself do that.
I returned a couple of calls that had gone to voicemail and sent Meredith an email letting her know the final date for the full launch. Martin would send her a document with her carefully curated script for the live video that she’d do on the day. I used her own buzzwords in my email--of-the-moment, current, responsive—and mentioned the splash our influencer integration had made.
Satisfied with my work for the day, I shut everything down and made my way down the hall. The light from the conference room was on, which surprised me because everyone had gone home at least an hour ago. Janitorial staff wouldn’t arrive for another ninety minutes, so there was no reason for the lights to be on in the room. I pushed the door open the rest of the way to reach the light switches and saw Hailey sitting at the conference table with a laptop open.
“What’s up?” I asked, surprised.
“I’m just trying to polish the last bit of the ad copy. Martin said it was fine the way it is, but I’m not happy with it. I keep staring at it, and I can’t figure out how to fix it,” she said.
“Maybe I can help. It’s been a minute since I wrote copy, but I think I remember how,” I said.
She flashed me a grin that felt like a blow to my chest, and quickly looked away. I rounded the table and braced a hand on the back of her chair and leaned over the screen to read. I could smell the lotion or shampoo she used that had such a sweet, delicious fragrance that made me want to taste and lick and bite. The warmth of her, and the fact that she didn’t lean away from me when I bent down to read over her shoulder felt so intimate, like we were used to being this close to one another, that it was natural for her to let me in her personal space and welcome me there.
“Is it this part?” I said, reaching around her to point the cursor at a sentence.
“Yeah,” she sighed, exasperated, “it doesn’t click for me. I worked on it with Crystal and Rob, and they like it well enough. I just wish it was better.”
“It’s ‘movement’. The word…it doesn’t sound good.”
“Rob said it was about a counterculture image, like everyone taking to the streets with signs and bringing about change,” she said with a grimace, “which is how he answered me when I said, ‘movement as in bowel’?”
“Exactly. We’re not getting millions of dollars to make this product a shit meme. What was your idea to use instead of this?” I asked. She hesitated like she didn’t want to oppose the team members or be a tattletale. “Come on. I asked, you didn’t suggest it to me.”
“Hack your cleaning, enhance your life.”
“I love that. It’s simplicity and the suggestion that you’re getting back free time to be your best self. We’re using it.”
“We can’t, Rick,” she protested. “I don’t want to go over their heads and make you pick my slogan. It’s not right, and it makes me seem like a teacher’s pet.”
“Can I help it that you’re the teacher’s pet?” I asked, my voice low and suggestive. I cleared my throat, “Sorry, that slipped out.”
She laughed, a lovely, throaty laugh. “I can’t believe you saw the word that was bothering me instantly, and you had the same reaction to it that I did,” she said.
“Great minds,” I told her.
“And so modest,” she teased.
“What was their objection to your idea?” I asked. “Because it’s brilliant.”
“I didn’t want to push, especially since I’m the intern and not staff. Rob said it sounds like hacking up a hairball.”
“This from the bowel movement guy?” I said. “Okay, so what can we say instead of hack?”
“It’s a clever solution, a tricky way to take a shortcut and get a good result. You can use mod, but it’s not as common,” she said. “If I had known how to replace that word and make it work, I would’ve done it.”
“Well, you’ve got me on the case now. What if we hyphenate—Life-hack alert,”
