“We want this campaign to be perfect,” Serena said calmly, “so it doesn’t make sense for us to rush to put out something substandard.”
Martha sucked in her breath but said nothing. She began packing up her storyboards and papers and sat back down beside Herman.
“I guess this is a good time for me to take over,” the man said, pulling out two folders and sliding one to Roman and the other to Serena. “I had put together a budget for the campaign but seeing that we’re going to make changes, some of these figures will change as well. Still, I wanted to give you an idea of what the budget will look like.”
“No problem,” Roman said, nodding. “Let’s see what you have.”
Roman and Herman began to discuss the budget line by line. Serena tried to listen but felt totally distracted. There was something about that print ad campaign that was bothering her. She just couldn’t put her finger on it. She was itching to ask Martha to let her see it again but felt she’d be rubbing salt in the wound. The woman already probably hated her for making all those comments and changes to her campaign.
She became so distracted that she began to fiddle with her pen and more than once Roman glanced over at her. Finally he said, “Is something wrong, Serena?”
“Aah, yes,” Serena said, deciding to take the opening he’d given her. “I just want to see that print ad again.”
He raised his eyebrows but said nothing and turned to Martha. The woman shrugged and pulled out the ad then slid it over to Serena who studied it for a few seconds. “There’s just something about this tag line…I don’t know. I just love your baby face…can we change it?”
“Why would we want to do that?” Martha’s voice was sharp but she hurried to change her tone. “I mean, it’s just perfect for the print campaign. The little girl is stroking her mother’s face and telling her she loves her baby face.”
Serena shook her head slowly. “It sounds a bit corny to me. What about, caress your face with love?” She looked across at the woman as she spoke and saw to her surprise that Martha’s eyes lit up and a smile spread across her face.
“That’s perfect. I can build a whole campaign around that tagline.”
Serena looked at Roman and he, too, was smiling. He gave her a nod and an enigmatic smile. For some reason it made her think of his touch and a shiver ran down her spine.
For the rest of the meeting Serena remained silent but a warm glow suffused her body. She knew she was being silly but Roman was pleased with her and she was happy.
The meeting wrapped up shortly thereafter and Theresa came in to escort the visitors out. Serena picked up her notepad and pen and was heading out of the conference room when Roman spoke.
“Just a moment, Serena.”
She stopped in her tracks, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. She turned and saw that he was smiling at her. Goodness, he was so handsome when he smiled. She remained standing, her notepad clutched tightly in front of her, and waited.
“You did well today.” His voice was soft and as he took the four steps that brought him within inches of her she shuddered in reaction to his nearness. She struggled to keep her face calm, not wanting him to know the effect he was having on her.
“You’ve got an inborn talent that came out in the meeting today. You have an eye for beauty.” He smiled down at her then took her elbow and turned her toward the door. “You may go now but rest assured you’ll be in many more of these meetings from here on.”
Serena simply nodded, held her back straight and walked out. For the second time in a week he was showing her the door. She was glad for the praise but she would have preferred it if he’d swept her into his arms again and kissed her passionately like he’d done at their last meeting. Was she the only one who’d gotten drunk on that kiss? She bit her lip and kept on walking, her face as placid as Lake Ontario. She would never let him know how much she craved his touch.
******
That night Serena could not sleep. She’d climbed into bed at ten thirty then tossed and turned for hours with no sleep in sight. She’d had a wonderful day. No, a terrible day. She sighed in frustration. It had been a totally confusing day. First, she’d been defiant, preparing to challenge Roman next time she saw him. Then she’d tingled with the anticipation of seeing him again after their kiss. When he made the declaration that he’d never touch her again she felt deflated. When he praised her after the meeting she felt all gooey. Then he’d shown her the door. Back to depression.
What made it worse, despite her resolve to hate her job and do everything in her power to get fired she’d actually enjoyed the meeting with the ad agency. She’d learned so much in the space of just a couple of hours and, she had to admit, she was looking forward to learning even more. She groaned. That was going totally against her plan. What was she going to do now?
She looked at the clock. One thirty-five, which meant it would only be six thirty-five in the morning in Paris. She was sure that neither Jan nor Tammy would be up at this hour but she didn’t care. Right now she needed someone to talk to. She picked up the phone and dialed Jan’s cell number, praying that the roaming feature would work. It did. Jan answered the phone on the fifth ring.
“Hello.” Her voice sounded groggy and far away.
“Wake up, sleepy head,” Serena said, trying to sound cheerful. “What are you doing in bed at this hour? Do you know what time it is?”
There was a pause then Jan said dryly, “Of course I know what time it is. It’s an ungodly hour of the morning . You know I never get up this early. I’m on vacation, for heaven’s sake.” There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.
Serena sighed. “I know I shouldn’t have called you so early but I just need to talk. I’m all alone over here and I’m going crazy.”
“What’s going on, Serena? Are you alright?” Jan sounded fully awake now. Her voice was sharp with concern.
“I’m fine,” Serena said with another heavy sigh. “It’s just that you guys are over there having all the fun and I’m here working so hard. And to make things worse I have a devil of a boss who’s driving me mad.”