AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What meeting this morning?”
“I wanted to see the designs you’ve come up with for the new community in Florida. You did say you were working on a logo in your last email to me.”
“Yeah. I have been working on stuff,” I say, suddenly feeling nervous. Now that we’re talking about work, the mood has changed.
“So, will you show me or ...”
“Fine,” I say, grabbing the iPad from my bag and opening it. I open the Procreate app and pull up the designs. Colton grabs the iPad from me and stares at them. I watch as he swipes and looks through the different designs. He’s silent for a few minutes and I have no idea what he’s thinking. Maybe he hates them. Maybe they’re not as good as I thought they were.
“So this is what you’ve been working on?” he says in a deadpan voice.
I look into his eyes and they’re serious now. I nod slowly. He hands me back the iPad and takes a seat.
“You can sit, Ella.”
This is it, I think to myself. He’s going to fire me. He thinks they suck. He thinks I suck. I’ve pushed my luck too far. I feel a sudden weight on my shoulders as I go and take a seat. I stare at him and brush my hair out of my face, feeling nervous. I look at his lips, not because I want to kiss them, though I do want to kiss them, but because I’m scared to look into his eyes. I’m scared to see the disappointment.
“I want to say that—” He pauses. “You can look at me, Ella.” His voice is gruff now and I look into his eyes. He leans forward and taps his fingers against the desk. “You’ve done a good job,” he says, nodding slowly. “I’m impressed.”
“You are?” I say, disbelief in my voice as I stare at him. “Like, with my logo designs?”
“Yeah,” he says, a small smile curling up on his face. “They’re really good. There are two of them I’d like you to develop a little bit more, but I think one of them could be a winner.” He nods. “You are talented. I’m thinking that perhaps ...”
“Yeah?” I ask him. Is he going to give me a compliment, like a real compliment?
“I’m thinking that perhaps we should have you change departments.”
“Oh?” I say.
“Yeah, I think you’d be good in our marketing department in the graphics section,” he says.
I stare at him in shock. “Really? You want to promote me?”
“Well, it wouldn’t actually be a promotion,” he says. “As my assistant, that’s one of the highest jobs you can get at the company.”
“Yeah. Okay.” I say, laughing.
“What? You don’t think so?” He’s teasing me now. “You don’t like being under me.”
I stare at him for a couple of seconds. “Actually, I prefer being over you.” I wink at him and he chuckles. The mood is much lighter now and I’m giddy and happy at his compliment. “I’d love to go into the marketing department though, in graphics. I’d love to work on these logos. In fact, I had a couple more ideas and I was thinking that you could actually have each house represent a different section. Like, we could make it like a community and have different ...” I pause as he starts chuckling. “What? What’s so funny?”
“You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. Why would you ask me that?”
“Because we both know you didn’t start this job because you had any interest in it, but I think you are really enjoying the work.”
“I am. I mean, if I’m honest, I never thought I would enjoy it either, but it’s been cool. It’s been fun and it’s been interesting doing the research and seeing what people are attracted to. And I thought we could do some market research when we go to Florida this Christmas and see which logos people liked and what community names.”
“That sounds like a really good idea,” he says, nodding. My phone starts beeping then and he pauses. “Do you need to take that?”
I look at the screen and see that it’s a message from one of the guys on the dating app and I shake my head. “No, it’s okay.”
“Is it your brother asking why we called?”
“No, it’s just a guy I’m talking to.”
His eyes narrow then and his arms cross. He leans back. “A guy you’re talking to?” There’s no humor in his voice right now. “Yeah, you know, like, for dating and stuff.”
