Fire and Freedom - Book One of the Café Latte Trilogy

Chapter Six - Ross

Chapter Six – Ross

Work had been a nightmare. The coffee machine wasn't working, someone had parked in my parking spot, and now the WiFi wouldn't stop crashing. I had endured ten more minutes at the café with Edward, Harper, and my sister, but their comments had become too irritating for me to withstand. I had stomped into work, flung my briefcase down on the desk and sat there grumpily responding to emails for the better part of the morning.

"Knock, knock," Louise opened my door a little and poked her head around. "I bring coffee."

I perked up a little. "Thanks," I said gratefully, taking the steaming hot cup of coffee from her. "Is the machine working again?"

"No, but I used my wiles to get coffee from Terry's assistant," Louise smiled a little as I took a sip and sighed in relief at the taste of caffeine. "Listen, I've been attempting to steer clear of you while you worked through whatever's pissing you off today, but I need to talk to you."

I gestured to the seat on the other side of my desk. "Sure, what's up?"

Louise closed my door and sat down, looking a little smug. "Well," she started. "So last night, at the dinner, I got talking to this guy." When I frowned a little, she said, "No, not like that. You know when higher-ups get to like, sixty, and the company starts phasing them out? They stay on as figureheads and go to the social stuff, but they're phased out of the business on all practical matters."

"Sure," I said, having witnessed that depressing process a few times.

"Well, he was one of those," Louise continued. "I always talk to them because while they're not actually working, they still get all the gossip - plus they're always at the country clubs and you know what it's like, all the housewives get together and spill the tea."

"So what gossip did you hear?" I sipped my coffee.

"There's a dinner tonight, at the Hilton," she tried to hold back the smug smile, but failed. "It's going to be fairly small, and everyone invited has been very quiet about it, because a rep from Bolton is going to be there, and they're scouting for a new department store to sell their summer line. I got you in."

I was impressed. Bolton was a huge line, and they'd recently left the department store they had been selling in for ten years. Louise and I had been vying for the line ever since, but had had no luck. "How much is this going to cost?" I asked her.

"Oh, a five percent raise for sure," Louise replied smilingly. "But if you get a promotion, I'm not only taking the credit, I want a ten percent raise."

I considered it, and nodded. "Deal."

She wrote down all of the information for me, and said, "Oh, Lewis wanted you to drop by his office, he said he had something important to talk to you about."

Smiling a little, I said, "I wonder where I'd be without you."

"I imagine much less organised and drowning in paperwork," she replied, getting up. "Don't forget to go get a suit rushed through Adam, okay? Don't wear Bolton, though - that is just sucking up way too much."

I put my suit jacket on, and got up, putting the information she'd written down in my drawer. After Louise left I did a tiny, quick dance of glee. The thought of any business dinner made me feel pure dread, but I also knew that getting the Bolton line was the most important mission of my career so far. I was head of what Louise and I called 'contracts with the devil', but that basically meant that I met clients, flattered them, fawned over them, persuaded them to join the department, and then managed their accounts. I organised their shoots, overseeing every part of their marketing, and liaised with various departments to make sure each client was satisfied. It was sickening sometimes, but it paid exceptionally well.