Page 136 of Ask Me Something

He exhaled. “NASCAR is big, but this is bigger. Will you do it?”

Clearly, he wasn’t going to tell me the reason.

“Yes, of course. I, uh, need the pitch deck and any notes. I’m at the airport now. Raleigh is a three-hour drive, but I’d prefer to fly, so I can use the time to prepare.”

“I can have my plane there within the hour. I’m forwarding all of the information as we speak. The two other members presenting with you have been advised of the change. I’ll send you their details and you can plan to meet with them in the morning. I owe you.”

It might be inappropriate on a professional level to ask, but I had to. “Tell me the conflict isn’t a meeting with Tryon Pharmaceuticals on my behalf.”

“Not directly, no. Good luck tomorrow, Sasha.”

After hanging up the phone, I texted Brian.

“What’s going on tomorrow that you’re not able to do the NASCAR pitch?”

By the time the company’s private plane flew me to Raleigh, North Carolina, and I arrived at my hotel, it was around midnight. In that time I’d studied everything I could about the NASCAR pitch. The good news is that, having grown up in the South, I’d had the damn sport—or in my opinion, non-sport because unless I could see an ass in tight pants and there was a ball, it didn’t qualify—shoved down my throat. My father was a fan, with racing a close second to football. It didn’t take long for me to brush up on the key drivers, standings, and races. It was going to be an all-nighter, but I would absolutely be ready. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight anyhow, knowing Brian still hadn’t responded to my text message.

I met my team of two others before the pitch at the local diner first thing in the morning, and we went over our cues. At least I knew both of them, and they were grateful I was stepping in last minute.

Ninety minutes later, we were in the corporate offices, and I was tossing up my pancake breakfast right on cue in the ladies’ room. I put my lack of sleep, Brian’s non-response, and all anxiety out of my head. It was game time, or was it start-your-engine time? Maybe it was a good omen I was thinking in NASCAR terms.

* * *

I leftfor New York directly after the presentation and arrived in the early afternoon. I was tempted to call Josh but knew if he’d wanted to answer the question as to why Brian had missed the pitch, he would’ve told me already. Or Brian himself would have. Unfortunately, he still hadn’t responded.

My eyes were heavy, but I managed to go into the office and work a couple of hours before Nancy buzzed in. “Ms. Brooks, I have Mr. Singer here to see you.”

“Uh, of course, send him in.” Josh had never once come to my office unannounced.

Nancy gave me a look that reflected her surprise as well while she showed him in.

I stood up to greet him. “I could’ve saved you the trouble and come to your office.”

“You’re operating on no sleep after giving a killer pitch. The least I could do was to come over here.”

“How do you know it was killer?”

“The client called. They were very pleased and we got the account. Plus Brian received an email today from one of the managers you presented with, saying how you slayed it. Do you know that there isn’t one other vice president who could’ve pulled that off this morning like you did? Especially operating on no sleep with only ten hours of lead time.”

“Thank you.” It was high praise indeed coming from Josh.

“No, it’s you I should be thanking.”

“You’re welcome. Are you going to tell me why Brian missed it?”

He sighed. “I promised him I wouldn’t speak to you about it.” He handed me a paper over my desk. “But I didn’t say anything about showing you.”

I scanned it briefly, and my heart sank. It was Brian’s resignation. “Because of me?”

Josh looked like he wanted to say something. “The only thing I can tell you is there was a meeting with Michael Dobson, the Chairman for Tryon, this morning. He was appalled that Vanessa had removed you. As of now, you’re back on the account, and all decisions going forward need to be approved by him. Vanessa is no longer an employee of Tryon Pharmaceuticals.”

“Holy crap. She was fired?”

“Yes, she was.”

“But how did Brian’s resignation come into play?”

“Michael said to convey his apology to you because, unfortunately, he’s leaving on a two-week vacation to Australia this afternoon and can’t do so in person. We were lucky enough to get the meeting with him this morning.”

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