tightens and I jump at the sound coming from my desk.
My office phone is ringing. I jerk my head back and lift the handle off the receiver.
“Lauren Hauser, how may I help you?”
“Lauren, darling! My you sound so professional.”
“Grandmother, hi—how did you get this number?” I don’t even know my new office number yet.
“Oh darling, you know if I want something, I get it.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“Speaking of, there is something I want you to do.”
My insides clutch tight.
“What’s that?”
“Darling, you know every year at the Fourth of July festival there is an apple pie baking contest?”
“Yes.” I swallow but the lump in the back of my throat doesn’t clear.
“I want you to enter it. It’s time Lauren. You are ready to be the next pie baking award winner of the family.”
My eyes practically fall from my head. I am by far the least culinary-savvy person in our family. I do not understand why my grandmother keeps putting me up to these baking challenges. Over Thanksgiving she insisted that I make our family pecan pie, which actually went well…because I was with Jack. Jack. My shoulders slump.
“I don’t know, Grandmother, I’m pretty busy what with my new promotion and everything…perhaps it would be better to ask Megan?” My sister Megan is a foodnetworkaholic. She could probably win the competition blindfolded.
“Darling, if I had wanted to ask Megan, then I would be speaking with her right now, wouldn’t I?”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“Now listen, darling, I’m going to mail you my special apple pie recipe. I’ve made notes about which ingredients you can alter to make it your own. It would be a good idea to start practicing right away.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“The Fourth of July is only six months away, dear!”
“Yes, Grandmother, I’ll start practicing ASAP, but right now I’ve got to get back to work.”
“Sure, darling, talk to you later.” I hang up the phone.
Knock. Knock. Someone is at my office door. Part of the promotion includes an office. A real office. Not a cubicle, like the one I had pre-promotion. I have four actual walls—well one of the walls is made of glass, but it has blinds. Of course the rule is the blinds must remain open at all times, unless you are a nursing mother, then your blinds can be closed temporarily.
I scoot out my leather chair and tap the cherrywood desk with my nails. I bite my lip as I make my way to the door. I pull open the door to see Javier, my boss, standing outside it. He is wearing his dress-for-success grey suit accompanied by a navy pinstriped tie. I bet he is happy to be back in his conservative ties. He won’t have to wear one of his holiday ties from his kids until Valentine’s Day.
“How’s it going, Lauren? Do you have everything all set up?” Javier’s smile is grandiose. He is obviously happy to see me in my new office. The gossip was that he had to pull quite a few strings to get me an office next to his. There were some not nice things said apparently, but one of my co-workers, Leena, told me she quelled the rumors—whether or not this is true, is still up for debate.
“It’s going great… This office is perfect.” I open the laminate door wider so he can come in and check it out. On my desk is my flat-screen monitor and company-issued laptop, which I am allowed to take home. The idea of being able to take my computer home with me is cool, except it also means I am required to work from home occasionally. Which I’m not as excited about.
Next to my monitor is my New Year’s Resolutions coffee cup. It came with a dry-erase marker and every year my mom asks me to tell her what I’ve written on the cup. As if I would actually write my resolutions on a coffee cup for all of my office to see! Next to the cup is a photo of Jack. I snagged it from his house. It’s one of him on a mountain he hiked. I know it’s an important photo and not nice to steal, but I don’t really see this as true thievery because I intend on giving it back to him or sharing it with him at some point. I assume we will be living together soon or at least I hope we will. Maybe I will even have a copy of it made. What if I have to have a copy made because we never end up together? that annoying voice inside my head whispers. Argh! My shoulders slump.
I wanted to have a picture of him to take back with me, but he wouldn’t stand still long enough for me to snap one with my phone. I have the slowest phone on the planet. I do not want to get the upgrade because I do not see why my phone of less than three years needs to be upgraded. I know plenty of other people who have never upgraded their iPhones and yet my newer one is living in a prehistoric era. It’s almost as if I can hear the krrrrr beep of a modem dialing up to the internet every single time I use it.
“Lauren?” Javier is staring at me. Shiat. Here I have been out in Lauren-land and my boss is talking to me. This is not the type of impression I want to make on my first day of being a mid-level consultant manager. Though, I don’t have anyone to manage, yet.
I raise my eyebrows at him. I hope he will take this cue and just repeat what he has said or asked instead of me having to ask for him to do so.
“Have you picked out your team?” Javier raises his eyebrows in return at me.
I smile. “I was just going over the candidate list…so many great people to choose from.” I nod.
Javier nods in agreement with me. “Exactly, but you’ve got to choose five and get started. We expect to see high-resolution numbers and sales rankings before the end of Q1 from you and your team. Time is money.” Javier pulls out his phone from his pocket and taps on the screen. “It’s ten after ten. I’ll give you until noon to have your five.” Javier slides his phone back in his pocket and taps his knuckles on my desk. I blink twice and focus on what he has just said.
“Thank you, Javier, I’ll see you at noon then.” I smile my most professional grin. Which is covering my fear of not being able to decide on the best candidates from this pile of at least thirty people. Being decisive is not one of my strong points—at least not when it comes to choosing people. Choosing stocks, bonds, any types of investments, that on the other hand is my thing. I gulp.
Javier nods and closes the door to my office. I slink into my leather bulleted chair and let out a huge sigh, eyeing the papers full of promising candidates across my desk. A vibrating noise comes from within my desk drawer. I’m confused and then realize it’s a phone call. I pull out the bottom drawer and dig through my purse in search of my phone. It’s got to be the biggest item in my purse, yet is always so hard to find.
I slide the green button across the front of the screen.
“Hello.”
“Hi, this is KPRC Local News calling. Am I speaking with the new badass client consulting manager at Calstone Corp?”
“Hey Bri! I can’t really talk; I have to make a big decision by noon.”
“Dafuq,
