Chapter 10
My first order of business was moving into Ethan and Tangi’s condo, and they were kind enough to move what little I had. Even Jeremy helped, and to thank them all, I made pizzas from scratch. Ethan and Tangi didn’t stay long because they didn’t want to have the nanny work longer than she needed to, so Jeremy hung out for a bit. It felt awkward having him around, and I didn’t know what to do with him, but he suggested we do it to get to know each other better.
I packed up some pizza for Tangi and Ethan to take home, then sat down to eat with Jeremy. He’d brought along some beers, and I chose the pale ale.
“Figured,” he said as I twisted off the cap.
“What does that mean?”
“I guessed right. You would pick the pale ale. It’s barely beer.”
“Look, we know each other so well already,” I said with a crooked smile.
“Funny. And good pizza. Do you like to cook?”
I gulped some beer and shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t mind it, but it’s just me, so I don’t do a lot of it. I do try to eat healthy, so lots of meals for one.”
He looked at me thoughtfully, and I hated it. What was he seeing? Why did it seem like he was feeling sorry for me?
“You’re okay taking yourself off the market for the next six months?” he asked.
Was he serious? “Are you okay with taking yourself off the market for six months?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m sure it will help me focus better.”
“You still have to socialize with me, so it won’t be a huge break in your social calendar. We’ll have to make sure we are seen a lot. Tangi tells me some of the Kodiak wives and girlfriends get together a lot, but I’m going to keep that to a minimum because I’m an employee of the team. It’s too much of a conflict of interest. But any couple things we need to do together, I can join in. You okay with that?”
“Of course. How else will we convince people?”
“We should start doing stuff soon. Enough time has passed from that unfortunate video. I mentioned we could post those pics Tangi and Ethan took. Tangi said she’d do it on her account, and I’ll do it on mine.”
He grabbed another slice of pizza and nodded along. “Should I do the same?”
“I think it’s too obvious if we all post it, and since my social media footprint is pretty small, it will go unnoticed but likely come into play later once people catch on.”
He looked at the slice of pizza and grinned. “I have an idea,” he said, taking out his phone and snapping a pic of his pizza. He then took my phone and snapped a pic of the rest of the pizza, making sure that his slice was in the background. “I’m going to post my pizza slice. You are going to do the same. People are savvy, and they’ll match up the pictures.”
And here I thought he was a doofus.
We strategized a bit, and then he went home. I was actually kind of sad to see him go, and before he left, I gave him a few pieces of pizza. After I’d finished cleaning up, I put on a heavy wool sweater and sat out on my new balcony with a cup of peppermint tea and my phone. I resurrected my old social media profiles on Instagram and Facebook, ones I’d mothballed years ago. They were filled with pictures of me, Wolseley, and Tangi from all the way back to high school. I changed the settings on all those because those pictures were special to me. It took me awhile and another cup of tea, but I got it done. Then I posted the picture of the pizza. That seemed like the perfect place to start. And I sent Jeremy a friend request that he accepted within minutes. Less than an hour later, he posted his pizza pictures, and I couldn’t help but smile.
The Kodiaks PR team consisted of four people, six if you counted the two people we shared with the marketing department. My right hand, Whitney, was a fireplug who needed a bit of guidance and training, but was a quick learner. My assistant, Oliver, liked to overstep and gossip, so I planned to set him straight. Finally, we had Zane, our workhorse. He made sure the ship was on course when it came to the details. We were a core team that needed to remain united against the marketing team. While we worked hand in hand, the larger marketing team felt they were more important than us. Mark, the head of marketing, was a real pain in my ass. And I had a meeting scheduled with him and his team. I decided Oliver didn’t need to be in on this meeting. He often let important information slip, or worse, wasted time with his bad ideas.
Mark was the type of guy who thought he knew everything, and when he sat down in the boardroom, he huffed. Pushing forty, he’d been with the team about ten years, where he’d moved up to the top spot, and he clearly didn’t approve of my addition to the team. From what Whitney had told me, he’d been close to my predecessor and had a good relationship with him, mostly because he agreed with Mark on everything. In my first meeting with Mark, he’d told me he was a Cornell alum and asked me where I’d gone to school. He looked down his nose at me when I said University of Minnesota. He made a point of telling me how sorry he was that I’d failed at Richardson’s. Man, he had no idea who he was dealing with.
“We realize your team approved all the promotion material, but we have some issues.”
“Of course you do,” I said with a smile. “Care to be specific?”
I was sorry I asked. Twenty-five minutes later, he’d finished detailing his grievances. Whitney had been taking copious notes, and I knew Zane was trying to figure a way out of this and how he could fix it all.
“I guess we have a huge problem here because your team dropped the ball. The PR team is simply meant to look over the promotional material and look for any glaring problems. We didn’t find any. But if you think it’s a good idea to reshoot all the promotional videos with the players, I suppose you could ask Dave and Coach Anthony if he can spare the guys in the middle of training camp.” I turned to Whitney. “Do you mind composing an email for Dave and Coach Anthony and explain that marketing didn’t like any of the work they did and initially approved and want it all redone? I’m sure we can find that in some other department’s budget somewhere. Maybe mention that marketing doesn’t like the work we did that Dave approved, and that they want us all to redo that as well.”
“Got it,” Whitney said with a knowing smile.
“Wait a minute,” Mark said, his voice edging up. “I didn’t say we needed to do all that.”
“Really?” I said with faux confusion. “We just sat through nearly a half hour of your issues with the materials. I could only infer that you wanted all those things changed, right? Otherwise, why would you mention it?”
His jaw clenched. “I was simply pointing out deficiencies.”
“I wonder if it would have been a better idea to have done that with your team first? I’m not sure why we are doing this here. Help me understand that?”
He smiled a toothy grin. “You are new around here. You should know the ropes and what we do when things go wrong. I would like to think that all departments act as a team to make the product we produce as good as possible.”
He really wanted to go head-to-head? He had no idea how much shit I’d dealt with at Richardson’s. He was a blip on the radar compared to anyone there. “And that’s why I suggested bringing in Dave and Coach Anthony, but you seem opposed to that.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to waste their valuable time with something like this. I’m simply trying to point out to you where your team went wrong.”
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “I see what we’re doing here. You have issues with the final product and want my team to take the fall for it. Let’s get a few things straight: first, my team isn’t taking the fall for it. Second, your people were there for all promotional work. They saw the raw footage. If they didn’t like it then, it’s the failure of the marketing team. If you think me or anyone on my team is going to take the blame because I’m new around here? No, that’s not happening. Ever.”
I was pretty sure I heard Whitney gasp. I guessed no one had ever stood up to Mark before? Whatever the case, Mark’s mouth hung open, but he quickly closed it. After recovering quickly, he cleared his throat.
“I wasn’t suggesting your team take the fall,” he said, his voice having lost some of its fight.
“No, but you seemed to be hinting it. I suggest in future meetings you be more direct with your grievances. The PR team is pretty amazing, but we aren’t mind readers. Anything else? We have a lot to do.”
“We’re good,” he said, standing up with his team following suit. They filed out, and I looked over at Whitney and Zane. Both of them seemed a little stunned by what had transpired. Whitney’s wide eyes screamed awe more than anything, while Zane looked more impressed.
“I’m not going to let Mark push us around and let us take the fall for his team’s mistakes. I will always have our backs. Unless you do something reckless or unprofessional. Then you’re on your own,” I said, gathering up my notes.
“I’m a little shocked. John, our old boss, let Mark walk all over him. I guess Mark thought you’d let him do the same.”
Zane stepped closer and nodded. “I often felt like we were working for Mark.”
“Nope. You all work for the Kodiaks, and I’m your supervisor. We should be a team. I’ve known a lot of Marks in my time, and he’s not pushing any of us around.”
“Thank you, Jill,” Zane said, offering his hand to me. “I have a good feeling about you, especially after the way you took care of the Vaughn mess. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“And I’m looking forward to giving you less work to do.”
Whitney was about to follow him out, but I asked her to stay behind. I’d been thinking of ways to ease the news about me and Jeremy out, and she seemed like a better place to start than Oliver, the gossiper. I motioned for her to sit down, and she stared at me with trepidation. I had to put her at ease. Why was everyone so scared?
“I’m not advertising this anywhere, but I wanted to let you know that Jeremy Vaughn and I have become friends. Nothing more,” I added quickly. “I’ve been helping him out of this mess, so if you hear anything or any gossip, it’s just that. But if you hear anything more than that, please let me know.”
“Oh, okay.”
Telling her was more of a test of loyalty as well. If this got out, I’d know where it had come from. And if a few days passed and she kept it to herself, then I had an even bigger job for her, and I would make sure Clay gave her a nice bonus for.