Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Zoe
I get to work early to prepare everything so it is in line for our presentation today and I don’t have any mishaps, like I did the last time I presented to a client.
I have everything set up on our conference table when David walks in to work. I glance at my watch, realizing he’s barely making it with only ten minutes to spare before Samantha should be here.
He walks straight to me. “Sorry I’m late. We need to talk.”
Christina exits her office, and all I hear is, “Samantha, so glad you could make it.”
I look up and see them give a polite embrace, then turn our way.
“No time. You’d better have your shit together,” I say out of the corner of my mouth, then smile as they head toward us.
“Samantha, it’s great to finally meet you. I’m Zoe.” I hold out my hand to her, and we shake.
“And I’m David. We spoke on the phone.”
She shakes his hand, and then we all move to sit around the table.
“David, did you get my email on Saturday?” Samantha asks.
He nods. “I did. Thank you for getting back to me.”
She gets comfortable in her seat, radiating wealth and accomplishment as she crosses her legs and sits up straight. “I apologize I did not respond you sooner. It’s been quite the week.”
“Yes.” Christina speaks up. “Samantha’s ranch had a fire break out on their property, and it seems like it was all hands on deck to make sure everything was okay. Nothing was lost, correct?”
“No, thank God. It was hit or miss for a few days, but we were able to move all of the livestock and save the buildings we have on our land,” Samantha replies.
She turns to David. “Saturday was the first time I even opened my laptop since the fire broke out. I do hope my late response didn’t cause any issues.”
I look his way, not sure what they’re even talking about.
He gives a curt nod. “No problem at all.”
I open my eyes wide at him, trying to figure out what is going on, but he just goes into his spiel like the well-rehearsed kiss-ass that he is.
I sit and listen to him go on and on about numbers, analytics, and trends. I tune him out as I go over my own presentation in my head one more time. Once he stops talking, everyone turns to me, so I stand to take off the covers from the presentation boards I already have set up around the room.
“I’ve worked up these drawings to represent you growing up on the ranch,” I begin as I show her the drawing of the little girl hugging the cow.
I go over the concept, discussing why the colors were chosen and how each display will be designed to reflect the values of the company and what we want customers to feel when they see it for the first time.
Once I’m finished, I take in a deep breath and smile in her direction, proud of what I just presented, only to have the wind swiftly stolen from my sails and instantly feel like I’m sinking to the ground.
Samantha sits, speechless, as she looks to David in question. “Um,” she says.
Christina is quick to interrupt in an effort to fix what is obviously a problem, though I have no idea why. “It’s okay if this isn’t what you had in mind. We can—”
“I got this,” David cuts her off as he opens his briefcase and takes out presentation folders, handing one to Samantha and then Christina.
I stay still, completely dumbfounded, looking like an absolute dumbass, while he stands to hang something over my presentation posters.
“Zoe and I worked together on this project. I’m the one who directed her with the logo, but once I got your email on Saturday night, I knew we were not on the right path, so I took the liberty of coming up with a different concept to show you today.”
I turn to see what he put up, and nothing but rage races through my entire body as I see one of my first concepts that he took from me that first day, only the colors are bolder, more sophisticated with black and gold instead of the pastels I was thinking.
To make things worse, it has obviously been done in Photoshop taking away the aspect of my hand-drawn work.
I don’t know if I should scream or punch him in the face, but the amount of anger burning through me gets to be too much. Before I do anything stupid, I turn and leave the area, walking straight out of the office door, needing to be alone for the moment.
I step outside and do what any sane person would do—I scream at the top of my lungs.
After I let it all out, the anger still races through me, so I head down the street, needing to call Macy to vent.
Then I realize I left my phone sitting on the table, causing me to let out another grunt of frustration as I pace down the street, trying to breathe myself to calmness since I can’t phone a friend.
I have no idea how long I was gone, but let’s just say, I’ve turned down every street and every alley around my work, and all I know is that I need to get back to work to go apologize profusely to Christina and try my hardest not to wring David’s neck.
As I open the door to the office, Jana races toward me, pushing me back out into the hallway, probably wanting to know exactly what is going on.
“What the hell happened?” she asks once we’re around the corner from anyone who could open the door and hear us talking.
“Not only did David completely throw me under the bus, but he also stole my idea and presented it as his own,” I say a little too loudly, and she tries to quiet me down.
She opens her eyes wide, like she’s still trying to understand why I left the way I did. “So, you just walked out?”
“Yep. It was either that or tackle him to the ground. I should be applauded for not making a scene.”
She takes a large inhale, gathering her thoughts, but we’re interrupted by David heading toward us before she can reply.
I point in his direction. “No. Don’t you dare come over here.”
“I can explain,” he pleads.
“No. You don’t get to talk. You stole my idea and made me look like a complete idiot today,” I yell, then step to the side to walk around him. “I don’t need a ticket to your shit show. Not today, not ever.”
“Oh great. So, you’re just going to steal song lyrics to throw in my face as you accuse me of stealing your idea? Real nice.”
“One, that’s exactly what you did. And, two, seriously? Song lyrics?” I think about what I just said, then remember exactly where I heard it.
“Yes. That’s a song lyric. I think I know country music. Don’t act like you didn’t know that. And, two, I tried to talk to you before we started, remember?”
I stand on my tiptoes to get in his face.
I may be tiny, but he needs to know exactly how much rage he caused today.
“What were you going to say? Oh, sorry. I’m taking over the entire project, and, yeah, I’m using your original idea that I said I didn’t like, but, hmm, turns out, I do, and I’m going to present it as my own? ”
He doesn’t back down one bit. “No. I was going to tell you I got an email on Saturday that made me really think we were on the wrong track. I was taking responsibility for leading us the wrong way. Oh, and I took your design to make a new presentation all day yesterday as our oh shit, just in case. I used your design because I did like it, and I wanted to make sure you still got some kind of credit even though I was doing all of the work.”
I open my eyes wide and officially lose my shit. “You did not do all of the work! I worked my ass off on this presentation.”
I turn on my heel to leave, done with anything he has to say.
“That’s not what I meant.”
I hold up my hand and flip him off as I walk away with Jana quickly by my side.
Thankfully, he doesn’t follow me, so I walk to my desk, trying to calm my breathing as I pull out my chair. Someone put all of my stuff on my desk, so I pick up my phone to see if I missed anything while I was gone.
Before I can click on my text messages, my Mystery Match app dings with a message from David.
Turns out, I was right, so I’m glad I worked up something different yesterday. My coworker officially hates me though. I tried to talk to her beforehand, but we didn’t have time, so now I feel like shit. Hope your day is going better.
I stare at his message in shock as our conversation outside hits me. He knew the song lyric. I remember him texting me yesterday morning about getting an email from the client. He’s telling me what just happened outside of our office, yet he has no clue that I was there too.
Oh. My. God. He’s my Online David.
I stare at my phone, not sure what to say when a notification pops up.
Congratulations on hitting the seventh day of your relationship!
If you respond to this message, you are giving us your approval to send your match your phone number to take the relationship off the app.
If you want to let your match down easy or you would like more time to continue to talk, click the button below.
You’ll still be able to communicate, but your match will not get your contact information.
Before I can do anything, Christina yells from her office, “Zoe, I’d like to speak with you. Now!”
I put my phone down, not able to deal with that bombshell, and stand to go deal with one crisis before I even think about the other. With every step, I breathe in and out, trying to calm my body from combusting due to shock, embarrassment, and disbelief.
I open Christina’s office door, ready to plead my case and beg for her not to fire me. “Christina—”
“Sit,” she says sternly.
I do as I’m told, reading the room and knowing I should keep quiet, so I stare at my feet, waiting for the worst.
“David told us what happened. And, yes, he told us that what he presented was originally your idea.”
My head pops up so fast that I think I give myself whiplash. “He did?”
“Yes. After you stormed out the way you did, he stopped the presentation to explain your actions.”
I rub my lips together, feeling like an absolute fool and not sure what to say.
“I get it. I don’t know what the deal is with you two, but you need to get your shit together. He was reprimanded, too, so don’t think I’m just coming down on you. I can’t have my employees making a scene in front of our clients.”
I nod. “Yes, ma’am.”
She leans back in her chair and lets out a breath. “You’re lucky Samantha is an old friend and she liked your idea.” She closes her eyes and shakes her head. “She even liked your little tantrum. Said you were a little spitfire. So, you’re still on the account, and David is too.”
I take a sharp inhale, surprised to hear everything she’s saying.
“Get with David to hear what the next steps are.”
I stand. “I will. Thank you, Christina. And I’m sorry I walked out the way I did.”
She lifts her hand and shoos me away, so I turn, but before I open her door, she says, “You two had better get along, or there will be more severe consequences next time there is any kind of incident. You understand me?”
“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”