Bailey sighed. “Email them to me. God, I’m too nice.”
“You’re the best. I was just tellin’ my man here how we got us the best proofreader this side of the Mississippi.”
“Yeah yeah.” Bailey rolled her eyes and left.
Christopher turned to Reece and grinned from ear to ear.
“You steal my name, and then you don’t even bother to introduce me?” Reece said. “I’ve only been here two weeks. You know I don’t know anyone.”
“I know exactly what you’re thinkin’, and it’s so not happenin’ in a trillion years.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know you wanna bebop with Bailey, and that shit’s against company policy.”
Reece stared at his friend in mock disbelief.
“Oh, wipe that look off your face. I wasn’t born yesterday. You wanna get in Little Miss Red Pants’s pants, and I can’t let you go there. I am responsible for you landin’ this job, after all.”
“I just wanted an introduction. I’m not looking to score,” Reece said. “She caught my eye is all. She’s—” He thought for a moment, staring at the empty doorway, mesmerized. “—the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
He could still see her standing there, the doorway framing her like a picture. She had a heart-shaped face. God, he was a sucker for those heart-shaped faces. He thought girls with faces like that just felt more, gave more, loved harder and deeper. They had to. They were shaped for it.
She had perfectly arched brown brows—the same color as her hair. Her eyes were dark, like bittersweet chocolate, and she lined her lids with a black eye pencil, heightening the mysteriousness of her irises.
A tiny, perfect ski slope nose, followed by a set of plump lips. Not Restylane-infused lips. No, he convinced himself they were naturally plump—a wicked little gift from God meant for the sole purpose of driving Reece Powell insane.
“Dude, pay attention!” Christopher admonished. “Do you have all your notes?”
“Yes, and relax,” Reece replied, ripping his thoughts from Beboppin’ Bailey.
“I can’t. If you screw this up, I’m gonna look like a total doofus for pushing Dan to hire you. And speaking of Dan, he’s in a shit mood today. So you better set off some real creative fireworks. You feel me?”
“Yeah, I feel you,” Reece replied, opening his laptop.
Just then, the creative team filed in, one by one, taking their usual seats around the conference table. Dan was last to shuffle in, sporting a tie and a scowl.
Reece leaned over to Christopher. “Should I be wearing a tie?”
“No. Why?”
“‘Cause Dan is wearing a tie,” Reece whispered. “Did I miss something? Are we presenting this campaign to the client today?”
Christopher looked up. “That’s strange. He never wears a tie. And no. We don’t have that meeting scheduled yet.”
The longer Reece stared at Dan’s tie, the more his confidence waned.
“He’s all business today,” Christopher went on. “You better be on your game.”
The room quieted when Dan took his seat at the head of the table.
“All right everyone. As I’m sure you’ve heard, we lost that big account with Akers Pond.”
Reece noticed Patricia and Darrell avert their eyes. So they must have had that one. Wonder what happened, he thought.
“Kind of a big blow to us. Not the team’s fault.” Dan glanced at Patricia and Darrell. “Anyway, now more than ever, we need to knock this one out of the park. Haute Digital is taking a chance on us because they know that while we’re small, we have the creative vision for their product. They know we know how to brand and market it, right Reece?”
Reece cleared his throat and stood up. He immediately went into “sell it” mode.
“That’s right, Dan. Haute Digital is a groundbreaking company focused on the latest technological advances in cellular phones. They design revolutionary products that are ahead of their competitors in the way they look and the way they function. They’ve just developed a phone and tablet hybrid—”
“Lots of phone companies have those,” Macon interjected. “They’re calling them ‘phablets.’”
A few people chuckled.
“What a dumb name,” Brent mumbled.
“Stupid,” agreed Mitch.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a dumb name,” Patricia said. “That’s what all the companies are calling them.”
“Exactly,” Reece said. “These ‘phablets’ are the phones of the future for businessmen and women. They function as a phone and mini computer. What would have required multiple devices in the past for your day-to-day business can now be done on one. What does that mean? It means efficient business. Mobile business. Convenient business.”
“That’s how all these advertising companies are pitching the product,” Dan said.
“True. Which is why I developed a campaign that will focus on both the functionality and glamour of the phablet,” Reece explained.
“It’s glamorous?” Christopher asked.
“Coming from Haute Digital it is. They don’t hide the fact that their products are more expensive. They justify their prices by creating good, sound, advanced devices. They’ve never catered to the everyday phone user who’s more concerned with game apps and texting. They cater to the elite businesswoman who’s all work and play.”
Dan’s mouth quirked up. Reece was encouraged.
“She works hard. She’s glamorous. She’s playful. She carries a phone that does it all—whether she’s in work mode, date mode, mommy mode—”
“We’re marketing this device to women?” Patricia asked.
“Both men and women, but the visual will be a woman—a drop-dead gorgeous woman. And that’s how you market to men,” Reece said.
The men laughed. The women groaned.