Chapter 3
SLOANE
“Sloane, can you come to my office?” my boss, Audra, asks over the speakerphone at my desk.
My hand shakes as I reach out to pick up the handset. “Sure thing, boss,” I say, trying to project confidence I don’t feel.
My internship at Black, Manning, and Webb is the biggest opportunity I’ve ever had.
I’m not usually a lucky person, so while some people would react to this kind of summons with glee, I’m shaking with terror.
My mind doesn’t jump to the possibility of getting a promotion, but rather a one-way trip to the unemployment line.
I can’t lose this job. Reaching for my dream of working in public relations is what has kept me hanging on for the last few years.
My dad tells me I’m reaching above my station, like we’re in some Victorian era hellscape.
He wants me to quit my “daydreaming” and “get a real job.” I’m not sure why I am supposed to do what he refuses to do.
My dad is sporadically employed as a truck driver.
Thanks to having his CDL, he is able to get a job when he actually feels like working.
The longest stretch he’s ever made it is eight months.
Then he gets some kind of ailment and quits.
For the next several months he stays at home, drinking and watching sports highlights.
Too bad our responsibilities don’t end every time he feels too overwhelmed to keep working. People pitied him when this pattern first started. I heard the whispers. “Too much time on the road gives him too much time to think. That poor man,” they’d say.
All their sympathy was designated for him.
I get it, he lost the love of his life when my mother lost her fight against cancer.
It was all so unfair. She was only thirty-six, and an undiagnosed case of cervical cancer spread throughout her entire body.
Too bad they didn’t have enough concern to wonder who was taking care of my brother and I when my dad was struggling to take care of himself.
Our community, which mostly consists of the church my parents grew up in, rallied around us for a while.
I was fourteen when my mom passed, and their help kept my head above water for a long time.
Even they’ve grown tired of his apathy at moving on with his life eventually.
Thankfully, their concern lasted at least until I turned seventeen.
Ever since then it’s fallen on my shoulders to make sure the lights stay on and there’s food in the fridge during the times that my father retreats into his grief.
Life has been nothing but struggles for me since then.
Yet, somehow I have managed to graduate high school in the top of my class, get a full scholarship to a private university, and land an internship at my dream job.
I’m so close to making the kind of money that can help me get custody of my brother and insist that my dad get help.
It’s the only way we can get out of this and have some kind of life.
Sure, I’m not really ready to take on that kind of responsibility right now. I’d love to go out and be a normal twenty-one-year-old woman, free of the weight my father has laid on my shoulders. That’s not in the cards for me though, and I am not about to play ostrich like my father.
Every step I take down the hallway to my boss’s office takes effort.
If I lose this job I will have to go back to waitressing.
I’m not sure how I’ll finish my degree, not because of the cut in my earnings, but because this internship is a requirement to complete my program.
I could eventually find another, but not one that will set me up for my future like this one will.
I’m prepared to beg Audra. I’ll work the mailroom, take a pay cut, anything. Sure, I’d have to still get a second job, and the added hours on top of taking care of my now ten-year-old brother will be exhausting, but what choice do I have?
None, is the answer. I’ve long passed given up the idea that my father will somehow snap out of this fugue he has been living in. That only leaves me. We don’t have any other family that will step up, and I refuse to abandon Joey too.
I knock on Audra’s door, and she calls for me to come in.
“Have a seat, Sloane.”
My heart jumps into my throat while I silently sit down. My hands start to shake again, so I clutch them tightly in my lap. “Audra, before you start, I just want to tell you how much I love this job. If there’s anything you need from me, I’m happy to do it. I appreciate this opportunity.”
She smiles, and my heart slows a little. Maybe I’m not getting fired?
“I’m so happy to hear you say that, because I have a rather difficult assignment for you.”
I nod my head. “Anything,” I breathe.
A look of concern crosses her face, but she quickly schools her features. “We have a new client. I’ve tried pairing him with several of our top specialists, but they all quit within a day.”
My brow furrows. “You want me to work with him? How am I supposed to do something that skilled professionals couldn’t?”
The sympathy on her face sets me on edge again. “This is a very important client. Losing him would be disastrous for the firm.”
“Which means, I will be fired if I don’t come through?” Still stressful, but more of a chance than I thought I had when I first walked in here.
She nods her head slowly. “But, if you succeed, then you are looking at a permanent job offer upon graduation with a very nice starting salary.”
“High risk, high reward is what you’re saying?”
“If you can’t handle it, let me know. My ass is on the line too. And, if you can’t, you might want to consider a different line of work, because the stakes are often this high,” Audra says.
Another tip of my head. I know she’s not trying to be mean, but sometimes the truth isn’t kind.
“I’m going to take your silence for agreement.” She stands up from her desk, and goes around it. Her spike heels clap across the hardwood floors. I stand up and follow her, as I know she expects.
“They’re waiting for us in the conference room.”
I look down at myself. I think I look the part, although sometimes I feel like I’m still a little girl playing dress-up in my mom’s clothes.
The conference room is in the middle of the room enclosed by frosted glass walls.
I can make out shapes as we approach, but not who is in there.
Somehow, even not knowing who they are, they’re still imposing.
Maybe because the guy sitting with his back to us is the size of a mountain.
No wonder the other two publicists quit this job.
Audra pulls open the door, and I hear angry voices spill out from the room.
“I don’t want a publicist, Gerry,” the big man practically shouts.
“I don’t give a shit, Knox. I’ve let you handle this on your own, and you ended up with cracked ribs during a game. We’re doing this my way now,” the other man snaps back.
A dark chuckle comes from the man-mountain. “I’ll just run him off like I did the last two.”
Him. That means that Audra sent in James and Peter. Makes sense, because they’re the best publicists here at Black, Manning, and Webb. A wariness washes over me. What can I do that they couldn’t?
Audra takes a step forward and looks over her shoulder at me. The look on her face lets me know I’m not getting out of this assignment. I swallow my trepidation and follow after her.
The big man turns at the sound of us entering the room. I freeze in place.
Knox “Hard Knox” Rennick. I recognize him immediately. My father has followed his career as a die-hard Titans fan.
At least now I know why he’s here. My dad has been going on and on about the scandal and how it was going to ruin the season. I watched the video of him shoving a woman into a cab then beating up a journalist.
I’m even more convinced now that I won’t be able to help him. Still, I’m going to have to try, because I need this job.
The corner of his mouth turns up in a cruel smirk. “What did you bring me this time, Audra?”
She exhales. “The only person I can motivate to work with you. Don’t be a dick, Knox.”
“You used to want my dick,” he fires back.
“In college, but I was twenty and stupid. I’ve grown up since then. You came to me for help, and I’m trying to do that. I gave you my best, but you sent them running. Now I’m giving you my hungriest publicist. She’s the last one I’ve got for you.”
“She’s the last because if this fails we’re going with another firm,” the man who must be Gerry speaks up.
That’s the confirmation I feared. If I lose this client my job is over. That means I’ll have to take any job I can find if I hope to keep food on our table. I roll my shoulders back and force a smile.
Gerry looks me over and starts shaking his head. “Is she even old enough to do this job?”
Audra puts her hand on my shoulder, offering me her support. “This is Sloane Cordero. She’s completing her internship here and will graduate at the end of the semester. Her classwork is over, so she’ll be able to dedicate all of her time to Mr. Rennick.”
Knox leans forward, a calculating look on his face. “So you’re saying she’ll be at my beck and call?”
Audra’s face tightens. “She’s going to be your publicist. That means she’ll be there to keep you from fucking up and destroying what is left of your career.”
That cocky smirk returns. “I’ve been fucking up a lot. I’m afraid you’re going to need to spend a lot of time babysitting me. You at least look old enough to babysit.”
I swallow. “Whatever you need, I’m your girl.”
The smile spreads. “I’m going to hold you to that.”