There was no point in trying to hide how overwhelmed she was anymore, and for the second time that day, tears fell down Lexi’s cheeks. “You make me feel like I can do anything, Elizabeth. And it’s been such a long time since I thought about chasing my dreams.”
“I want that for you, dear. I want to see you blossom and grow. You’ve waited so long.” Unable to stand it a minute longer, Elizabeth pulled the crying girl into her arms and offered her whatever motherly comfort she could.
A few minutes passed, during which Lexi desperately tried to let what Elizabeth said sink in. Her praise, her confidence meant the world to Lexi.
After the emotional rollercoaster she had been on for the last forty-eight hours, Lexi wasn’t sure how much more she could take.
“So where do we go from here? I heard Vincent say he didn’t want me to get the promotion.” She took the tissue Elizabeth offered and dabbed it under each of her eyes.
Out of the blue, Elizabeth chuckled. “That might be how it sounded dear, but I assure you, Vincent knows you’re destined for more than being his assistant forever. He wasn’t opposed to your promotion. He was however, vehemently opposed to where I wanted to send you.”
Now Lexi’s curiosity was piqued. “And where exactly were you going to send me?”
She sat back and sighed. “Productions.”
“Why does Vincent care if I go work in productions?”
“I think who you would have been working with upset him more than where you would have been working,” Elizabeth admitted.
“Tony.”
“Yes, he was adamant that you were not ready to have Tony as your supervisor.”
Suddenly, Lexi was annoyed by Vincent’s meddling. “I can handle Tony, I assure you.”
The fiery response made Elizabeth laugh out loud. “Oh, I know you can. My nephew can be quite difficult, but I’ve heard that on more than one occasion, you put him in his place.”
“I was just doing what Vincent told me to do.”
“And therein lies the problem. My nephew and my son don’t get along. My brother and I inherited the company when my father died, however, when he married his fourth wife, Billy decided it was too much of a bother to be tied down to one place, so he sold it to me with the condition that his son have a job. Tony and Vincent were the same age, both out of college and looking to start careers. I accepted the terms and became president of the company. Vincent and Tony never got along because Tony made everything a competition between them. On paper, Tony was a better student, with perfect grades, but Vincent was more well-rounded and creative.”
Lexi curled up in the chair and held her mug tightly in her hands as Elizabeth continued.
“It was obvious from the beginning that Tony was great when given an idea, at executing the plan and creating spectacular presentations. But Vincent excelled at creating the big ideas. When he isn’t being crabby, he can be quite charming, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.” The knowing smile Elizabeth threw in her direction made Lexi’s cheeks turn pink.
“A real Jekyll and Hyde that one,” Lexi giggled.
“He gets the charm from his father and the temper from me,” Elizabeth laughed. “When two of the original chief executives retired from Hunter, I had to make replacements. Vincent and Sean were attached at the hip after they graduated. Truly, I think that boy ate at our house every Sunday for a year. Sean’s degree was in business management, and he was a natural with the staff. No one blinked when I promoted him to business manager and eventually VP to run that side of the office. It wasn’t until I had to make a promotion on the creative side that everything went to hell.”
It was easy to see this all had been difficult for Elizabeth to talk about. Her family was very important to her, and she hated seeing anyone hurt.
“I was damned if I did and damned if I didn’t on this one. Someone needed to move up the ladder. I had Vincent who was creative with an impeccable work ethic, the one who could come up with the ideas and charm the clients, or Tony, who had a brilliant mind and an eye for the art and details of it, but his ideas were poor. Give him an idea, and he could execute it with precision. But ask him to come up with the concept himself and it was a disaster. There was no choice. Vincent got the VP position, and Tony was made head of productions. He became this nasty, vengeful man who to this day has a giant chip on his shoulder where Vincent is concerned.”
All the pieces fell into place for Lexi. “And Vincent was afraid if I was moved to productions that Tony would go after me because of the fact that i worked for him.”
“His concern was that Tony would take out his anger at him on you, that he would either give you a hard time or not give you a chance to show what you could do and stifle you.” Elizabeth grinned. “My son feels very protective of you, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
“I can take care of myself.” Lexi raised her chin confidently into the air, not wanting anything from Vincent at that moment.
“Yes, you can. But sometimes it’s nice to have someone looking out for you as well.” Elizabeth patted her hand.
“Do you still think I should go to productions? I think it’d be an amazing opportunity, and I’d take the job in a heartbeat without complaint. Tony and i could come to an understanding.” The promotion was not something she was willing to let Vincent or anyone take away from her just because he thought she couldn’t handle herself.
“Believe it or not, after some reflection, I agree with Vincent. Productions isn’t the place for you.” Lexi opened her mouth to protest, but Elizabeth stopped her. ”You’re an idea person Lexi, a big picture kinda girl, like me.” Elizabeth beamed. “I don’t want to groom you to make boards and presentation materials. I want to groom you to be a creative director like Vincent was before he became a VP. Here’s the problem—you have the most potential, but the least amount of experience or credentials of anyone on staff. I can’t just promote you on a gut feeling.”
Lexi’s dream of coming up with her own campaign ideas faded into the distance.
“What we need is for you to get some experience under your belt, covertly. Get you involved in different campaigns so you can give your input and make a name for yourself all on your own. Everyone around you will naturally see the same things I do. I want you to absorb everything that is going on around you from someone who has been through it before and quickly worked their way up through the ranks. Besides, who better to learn from than the best?” She cocked an eyebrow at Lexi, awaiting her reaction.