Page 52 of Embracing Love

An image of Vincent and his lover taunted her. With one click, she closed the window, her hand shaking.

“Ooops,” she smiled, trying to gloss over her faux pas. “And that, ladies and gentleman is how we will end up with a trans-Atlantic advertising campaign that will be live in Europe by next month.” Her heart shuddered, and she knew she’d lost that last impact of her presentation, knew she’d cocked it up with that switch to her ex’s page.

It was so totally unprofessional. She’d botched the entire thing.

They clapped, and smiled at her, and a couple of people had some more questions for her. That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it?

She answered all the questions then thanked them for their time and hoped they would enjoy the rest of the presentations.

“That was excellent,” said Russell, beaming at her appreciatively. “Now I have a better handle of what you guys have been up to.”

“Great job, Tanya.” Michael nodded.

“Extremely enlightening.” Gabriel’s brown eyes lingered on hers.

She uttered ‘thank you’ and waited patiently for them all to file out as Melissa rushed around the now empty room tidying it up.

When it was just the three of them, Tanya collapsed into her chair and buried her face in her hands. “That was awful.”

“No, it wasn’t. You started off shaky, but you pulled it together.” Nadine would give her honest feedback but it didn’t make her feel any better.

Tanya shook her head. “I fell to pieces.”

Melissa walked over. “You didn’t. You did seem nervous at the start, but that’s because we know you well. I doubt the others even noticed.”

“Michael did. That’s why he had you jump in.”

“That was a bit unnecessary,” agreed Nadine, as Melissa hurried away to speak to the catering staff. “But apart from the people who know, like Melissa said, the rest of it was seamless.”

“And that social media page.” Tanya gasped, holding her face in her hands. “I could have died.”

“It was unexpected,” agreed Nadine, “but you clicked away from it so fast that it was forgotten as suddenly as it came up. Now, tell me what’s really going on with you?”

They walked out together because suddenly staying in that room a moment longer had her feeling claustrophobic.

“Damn,” said Nadine looking at her watch. “Do you mind if we catch up later? I have two presentations back to back before lunch. And then another one after lunch.”

Tanya didn’t envy Nadine her load. She knew the woman would ace it.

“Let’s meet for lunch, okay?” Nadine suggested. “You did well and you should stop beating yourself up about it.”

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