Chapter 53
CHAPTER 53
SIMON
U nsurprisingly, Karen and I didn’t win. While my ego would’ve preferred to think it had only been because of my little run-in with the boss, I knew better. Abigail and Jeffrey had put on an awesome event and I was proud of her for winning.
Karen and I should’ve thought of ways in which to represent Fit Gal more actively at our event, but we’d gotten so caught up in making sure the kids had a good time that I hadn’t even thought much about branding. We’d had a couple flags and banners, but the more I thought about it, I hadn’t seen a single bottle of Fit Gal anywhere.
My bad.
Secretly, I didn’t think kids needed to be drinking Fit Gal. It was fine for grownups who made their own life choices, but our youth didn’t need that stuff forced on them. Our Hydration Stations had provided plenty of water, though.
Losing sucked, of course. The competitive side of me had wanted to come out on top, but when I thought about Abi getting to be the winner, my loss didn’t bother me as much. I wanted her to be happy and to achieve everything she wanted in life. Right now, she was happy.
That meant everything to me. Maybe even a little more than getting the client for myself—or my father.
She wasn’t even speaking to me, pulling the friendly but absent card this morning, and yet, I realized that I cared more about her than I did winning. I even grinned as I watched her smack her palm against Jeffrey’s. He was not a natural high-fiver but he smiled for the first time I’d ever seen. Abi had that effect on people.
Blake and Ashley watched on with amused expressions while Karen didn’t say a word. She and I were about to learn our fate, but I wasn’t nervous. Frankly, I had a hunch about who would be out of the competition first, and miraculously, I didn’t think it was going to be me.
“Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to a competitor today.” Blake glanced at me and I nodded slowly, wondering if maybe I was a little overconfident about this. “We hate this part, but it is time to bid one of you farewell.”
I dragged in a deep breath and held it. Ashley had a cold smile on her lips, and while she hadn’t looked at me once since we’d walked in, I knew how she felt about me right now. Yeah, my hunch might just be wrong.
My heart thudded unevenly in my chest as I waited for the result. Ashley leaned forward. “At the events, we had brief conversations with everyone who worked with you. We spoke to vendors and Fit Gal team members, we spoke to staff at the venues, and we also kept an eye on each of you while we were there.”
“Karen, that’s why your time with Fit Gal has come to an end.” Blake flashed her a tight smile. “We’re sorry to see you go, but I’m afraid that’s the nature of this beast.”
I tried to keep the relief off my face as I stood and turned toward her, extending my hand for her to shake. “Goodbye, Karen. Thank you for working with me this week.”
“What?” She reared to her feet, smacking her palms against the table with a loud bang. Her head shook repeatedly back and forth and murder flashed in her eyes as she narrowed them. “I was there an hour before he was that morning.” She pointed her index finger at my chest while still glowering at Blake and Ashley. “During the planning process, all he did was spew out ideas and I had to make them happen.”
In total Karen fashion, it seemed she was intent on going out the loud way. I finally lowered my arm back to my side, quickly realizing she wasn’t just going to shake my hand and wish me luck.
“It’s his fault we lost,” she seethed. “ You two made me work with him. I’m not going home just because he doesn’t understand branding.”
“That’s not why you’re the one going home,” Ashley said coolly. “He participated in the activities that day, Karen. You sat in the shade at the Refuel Area all day long.”
She scoffed. “It was hot!”
“Yes, well, that happens sometimes during the spring and summer,” Blake said with a straight face, but there was an amused look in his eyes, like he couldn’t believe he had to explain this. “It’s no excuse to not get moving when you’re hosting an event to inspire kids to do just that.”
“So what? I’m not fit enough for you?” She let out a snort of derisive laughter. “If you had told me from the beginning that only gym bunnies could represent your company, I would never have wasted my time.”
“We did tell you from the beginning that we were looking for someone who understood our brand,” Ashley said pointedly. “Sitting on your ass in the shade all day just because it’s hot is not something we expect to see from someone who understands that our company culture requires you to lead by example. If kids see you sitting in the shade at an event to get them moving, why should they be out there in the sun?”
“That’s not all, though,” Blake added. “We also try very hard to avoid a toxic, corporate kind of culture around here, but our team members who were working with you that day said that you were snappy and rude toward them. They also told us that instead of pitching in and helping with whatever was needed, you waited until Simon got there and then told him to do it. We’re a community of like-minded people, and when we see someone needs help, we roll up our sleeves and we get to work.”
“This is such bull crap,” she snarled at them before turning on me. “ You did this! You stink as much as the bat turds in the drink, you stinker. You cost me my spot. You ?—”
For the first time since the charity event, I saw Abigail fighting a smile. Karen had been tightly wound since day one, and Abi saw the humor in seeing her finally snap. I ducked my head and let a smile of my own break free, only looking up again when Blake started ushering Karen toward the door.
“Thank you for everything but it’s time to go,” he told her.
“You will regret this,” she yelled just before he shut the door behind her.
Turning back to face us, he pretended to wipe sweat from his brow and smiled as he shook his head. “Where was that energy at the kids’ day event, am I right? I’d like to assure you all that if there was a way we could keep everyone, we would, but we can’t. We’re looking for one firm to represent us, and ultimately, once again, it will be the firm that we feel is the best fit for our company.”
“Karen’s wasn’t.” Ashley finally glanced at me, but she didn’t let her gaze linger for so much as a moment. Her jaw was tight, her nostrils flaring slightly, and the look in her eyes was flat, but then she sighed and moved on. “We have a team-building event planned for Thursday. Please come dressed in athletic apparel.”
“Great,” Jeffrey muttered under his breath, sounding so bummed that I almost felt sorry for him.
“Next order of business,” Blake said, looking at each of us in turn as he took his seat once more. “We’re very excited to let you know that you’re all officially on notice. You have three weeks to prepare a presentation for Fit Guy, the next iteration of our product.”
I grinned. Come to papa. I knew it!
“We want each company to come up with a complete branding, marketing, and social media game plan,” Ashley said, her features coming alive again as she spoke about it. “We want you to pretend you’re already the company representing Fit Guy. Bring us everything you’ve got. This is huge for us and it’s been a long time in the making.”
Blake nodded his agreement with his sister’s statement and linked his fingers together on the tabletop. “Everything you’ve done for us so far has been important. It’s all going to be important, but this is a chance for us to see how your firms approach an entirely new product and client.”
“We want the firm who will ultimately represent us to be involved with this from the ground up.” Ashley gave us all an excited grin. “Like my brother has said, this is something we’ve been working toward for a long time and it’s a big reason why we’ve decided to bring on an outside marketing firm at this point. We’ve been managing all that stuff in-house until now, but we realize we’ll need help going forward.”
“It’s insanely important to us to get this right,” Blake said firmly. “We’ll want a complete marketing plan, which includes folding this product in with our existing strategies and company values. A lot of people view us as a company who is a champion for women. For women’s health. We would like that point of view to remain, but expand. To let the guys out there know that we haven’t forgotten about them and that we care just as much about their health.”
“This isn’t a place for the battle of the sexes,” Ashley continued for him, her arms crossing over her chest. “We’ve worked really hard to get to where we are right now, and we want to bring a company onboard who won’t seek to break down what we’ve built to make way for something new. We’re looking for someone who can help us improve on what we’ve got while simultaneously helping us create the foundation for yet another successful product.”
It was a bit of an ask, but I was ready for it. My gut instinct had been right and the guys and I had made good headway on this yesterday.
“One last thing before we let you get to work,” Blake said, expression stoic as he looked around the table. “Each of you represents a big firm in this city and we like all of you, but we want your CEOs to be present at these presentations. Your entire firms will presumably be involved with us if you win and we’d like to know more about each of your companies as well.”
A sense of dread sank to my stomach when I realized what this meant. I tried to suppress it, but it was not going to be good. I was virtually running Astor and Co, but on paper, my dad was still our CEO. If there was one thing I knew for a fact, it was that dear old dad did not embody the Fit Gal company values, and if they realized that, we were done for.
No matter how awesome our presentation was going to be.