Chapter 7 #2
He issues me a wide smile, his blue eyes friendly as he stares at me. He is dressed to impress in a dark suit and red tie. His hair is a light blond and trendy. He’s a handsome man, and immediately, I know we will be good friends.
“Thank you.”
“And last but not least, that is Marina. She’s also new to the team, having started six months ago.”
“She wants to be on Broadway.” Xander speaks up again. “So, who knows how long she’ll last?”
“This is not the time.” Joanne frowns as her eyes narrow. “I will leave you all to introduce yourselves to Katherine, and then I’d like you to take her down to your office area, show her to her desk, and acquaint her with the conference project you’re working on. I will check in again after lunch.”
Before I can even blink, Joanne has left the conference room and closed the door behind her.
“Bye, Cruella.” Xander makes a shooing noise as he motions me to sit down. “Now, Katherine, tell us all about yourself and not just the boring stuff. Dish on all the gossip in your life.”
“Oh, um …”
“Don’t be shy. We’re the reject marketing department, so we all bonded quickly.
I have two boyfriends. One rich and one hot.
” He laughs. “Cora’s just here so she can get out of the house.
Her husband, Frank—God bless him—recently retired and drives her crazy.
Marina here wants to be on Broadway. She gives it her best but her singing and acting are atrocious.
I swear she’ll have to sleep her way to the top. ”
“Xander”—Marina glares at him—“that’s not nice.”
“It’s true though, darling. We went to karaoke, and I thought I’d have to shoot my eardrums out when you sang that Taylor Swift song. Sounded like a raccoon you did.”
“Really, Xander?” Marina looks over at me, and I can tell from her expression that she’s only half upset by Xander’s comments.
She offers me a winning smile, and I take in her appearance. Her hair is blonde with pink chunks, her eyes are large and blue with thick black eyeliner, and she’s wearing a short tartan skirt and black shirt.
“Is there a dress code?” I ask because none of these people seem to fit the expectations I had in my mind of a marketing team.
“We get the grunt projects, so really, we wear what we want.” Marina shrugs.
“I thought you guys made up the marketing team for the hotel division?” I ask in confusion. Wasn’t that what Jack said? Isn’t that why I’m here?
“They just told us we will be working on some hotel projects last week.” Cora grimaces. “Normally, we create the PowerPoint presentations for the different conferences and meetings that the executives have.”
“As part of the marketing division?” I frown in confusion. What marketing is used in PowerPoint presentations?
“Like we said, we’re the bottom rung of marketing teams.” Xander makes a face. “The A division works on all the retail projects, like TV ads and stuff.”
“B team works on magazine and online presence,” Marina adds.
“C team works on radio and podcast stuff.” Cora sniffs. “I used to be on the C team, but I was demoted.”
“Oh.” I press my lips together. What on earth is going on here? I want to contact Jack and ask what he was thinking, but I don’t want him to think I care. “I didn’t realize that when I, um, got the job. Does Jack Heathcliff know that—”
“Jack Heathcliff, the CEO?” Xander bursts out laughing.
“Like he gives a flying fuck about us.” He shakes his head and leans forward.
“Doll, I hate to tell you this, but we are the forgotten department. The CEO doesn’t even know we exist. And why would he?
He’s gallivanting around the world in a private jet with models while we do all the work. He’s a typical hotshot billionaire.”
“He is hot though.” Marina sighs. “Like, dreamy. He’d be the perfect Romeo to my Juliet.”
“This isn’t Broadway, darling.” Cora stares at her nails. “The likes of him don’t look at the likes of us. If they did, I wouldn’t be married to my Frank. He’s lovely, but the man hasn’t seen a lasagna he didn’t like. And he’s never heard of the gym.”
“You’ll meet him.” Xander looks at me knowingly. “You’ll see what she means.”
“Oh?”
“You’re one of us now.” Cora looks me up and down and then smiles. “Don’t get me wrong; the job’s not bad. It’s not good, but it’s not bad.”
“Well, uh, I guess I’m glad to be here. And glad to be meeting you all.”
“So, tell us about you, Katherine Jenkins.” Xander almost cackles in glee. “I want to know all about how you wound up here at Heathcliff Enterprises.”
As they all stare at me, I know without a doubt that there is no way in hell I’m telling them the truth. These three would not be impressed if I told them that Jack himself had gotten me the job. They’d think I was some sort of mole and be standoffish to me—I can already sense it.
Even though they are all odd, there is something good in all of them.
Some inner essence that makes me think we’ll get along.
We are definitely an odd group of people, but I want to help make these forgotten nobodies somebodies.
I want them to feel seen because I know what it is like to be invisible.