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“How do I look?” – Bunny Watson
“Too good for him.” – Peg Costello
DESK SET
Leo
“It is what it is,” Izzy said. “I can only do the best job I know how to do and hopefully he’ll be impressed...eventually.”
My muscles tightened as I listened to how Izzy’s dad had reacted to her amazing news about the new very lucrative contract she’d garnered for Cocktail Kisses. The idiot underestimated her at every turn, and I hated that she simply accepted that treatment. She had so many amazing ideas. She could go out and start up her own company right now and bury both CGM and Cocktail Kisses in the ground.
Unlike every other executive that worked for his company who had to sign non-compete clauses, Bart Collins underestimated his only child. She’d never signed one and could leave tomorrow, taking all her knowledge and client base with her. Her father thought Izzy would never leave the company. If I did nothing else in this friendship, I hoped I convinced her to leave her toxic work environment.
She deserved so much better.
“But he did finally accept you were in charge of the job?” I asked to clarify her story.
She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Yeah. He called me again later in my office so he could berate me in private for not calling in someone more experienced from the firm to mentor me as I negotiated the contract. As if I haven’t been doing this ever since I was old enough to read the paperwork he brought home for clients. In the end I convinced him I could handle it.” She took another huge bite of the burger I’d brought her since I knew she’d be working late tonight and forget to eat...again.
“God, this is so good. I love you for always knowing when I need food.”
If only she could love me for other things, too.
But I instantly felt guilty over the thought. Izzy appreciated me as her BFF. It wasn’t her fault I wanted more.
“So, while I’m here, why don’t you show me some of these ad designs so I know what I’m working toward this weekend.”
She rolled her chair out of the way from her computer and waved me around to the backside of her desk so I could see the screen.
“These are just the mockups and they haven’t been formally approved by Mod yet, but I sent the preliminary sketches to Shane and he was very enthusiastic. The line has thirty complete outfits. Of course, we won’t be running print ads for every ensemble, but I want to create a high-glamour lookbook so the customer can look at it like we used to look at the toy wish books for Christmas. It’s all about creating a line that works for the customer in every aspect of their lives.”
She pressed a couple of keys and another site opened up that looked like a mobile site. “We want to focus the print campaign on the clients that have the money to buy entire outfits, but there are some phenomenal single pieces and accessories that are within the budget for the middle-income person. We plan to create a campaign for in-store signage that shows single pieces used in everyday looks, people in jeans, etc.”
“I notice you keep using gender neutral wordage. Does that mean you convinced Shane to use more gender fluid models in this campaign?”
That was one thing that Izzy really wanted to promote when she moved from CGM, something her father was adamantly against, but I knew she’d been working to get her clients to make the requests by making it part of her initial proposal. Bart hadn’t lost touch so much as to overlook when the client made a specific request like that. Every time Izzy got to feature a gender fluid model, she smiled a little wider.
She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, Shane wasn’t sure at first, but then I showed him some photos you’d taken of Remy and he’s willing to try it.” Remy was a really famous model—no last name famous—who could pull off both masculine and feminine looks with equal success. “Now, I just need to get hold of Remy and see if they could come do a shoot this weekend.”
She blew out a breath. “I need another three people working on this with me and if I’m making wishes, I wish I had another two weeks to organize the entire thing. Luckily, Katie is a godsend and Miller has been helpful.”
Miller was the only decent guy working at Cocktail Kisses, but he had his own accounts to handle.
“I would think the entire staff of Cocktail Kisses would scramble to help you with this campaign. Don’t they realize this is huge for the entire agency?”
“I don’t trust anyone else from the office to not sabotage me.”
That simple phrase that she said like it was perfectly normal killed me. “Iz, why are you still working here? Your talents could be used so much better elsewhere.”
Her nose grew red like it did when she was holding in tears. It wasn’t fair of me to push her when she was already so exhausted. “I know, but four generations of Collins...I can’t walk away from that. Do you get that?”
I wrapped her up in my arms. For a moment, we just stayed like that, me holding her, trying desperately not to focus on her curves and getting turned on.
All while she tried to control her emotions that she hated to show. Her father taught her they made her vulnerable. Unfortunately, my BFF was tough, but when she got tired, she also got teary-eyed and more emotional. Not a great combination for her in her antagonistic workplace.
“I understand the whys,” I told her, “but that doesn’t mean I have to like what working here is doing to you. You’re an incredible marketing and public relations exec.”
“You’re biased,” she said.
“No.” I shook my head at her. “I know. I’ve worked with a lot of them. You aren’t the only person in the industry I work with. You’re amazing and I just don’t think your father is ever going to appreciate that until you walk away.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose and pulled away, squaring her shoulders. “Maybe. Right now, though, I just need to do everything I can to make this campaign the best I can make it and pray my dad finally sees your truth.”
A maybe was better than I’d ever gotten from her before, so that gave me hope I might convince her... someday...