Page 1 of The Re-Proposal

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A BAD OMEN

CLARISSA

“No one is smiling.”The warning floats to my ear when I wrap my fingers around the door to the boardroom.

I pause and look at the intern who’s been shadowing me for the past three weeks. Her intelligent brown eyes are hooded in worry.

“They’ll smile when they see the pictures,” I say.

“What if they don’t?”

“It’ll be fine, Laura.”

“We’ve had five rejections this week. This is the last stop. If we lose this one—”

“We won’t.”

“Look.” She points to the glass window. “Look at their faces. You said—”

I squeeze her shoulder. “I said the first rule of a pitch is to read the room. Thefirstrule. Not the only one. It’s our job to turn those frowns into teary eyes and open wallets.”

Even as I assure her, I feel unbalanced on my feet. It could be the shoes though. I can’t remember when I bought these stilettos, but I know they were the cheapest on the rack. Even back then, they were nothing special. Now, they’re scuffed, slightly faded, and belong in the trash.

Please just hold out for this one meeting.

Squaring my shoulders, I saunter confidently into the conference room. There are seven suits around the table. All frowning. Hands clasped like a jury with a guilty verdict.

Laura was right. There’s a chill in this room that has nothing to do with the air conditioner humming against the wall.

I throw on my brightest grin, hoping it’s not as shaky as it feels. After two years of giving these pitches, you’d think I’d rid myself of the nervous jitters.

No such luck.

“Good morning, Mr. Winifred.” I nod at the company liaison.

He gives me a blank stare, as if we haven’t met intermittently for the past two years to discuss projects for the foundation.

I walk past the side table and notice it’s free of pastries. Winifred has a weakness for sugar. He’d take every opportunity to swipe the company card at a donut shop, so why is there no powdered treats in sight?

“Everyone doing well?” I glance around the table, hoping to soften at leastoneperson. The best way to win at these company pitches is to get someone on my side.

Unfortunately, I’m met with stony silence.

Laura sighs loudly.

I ignore her and remain upbeat. “It’s a pleasure to work with you again this year.” I set my laptop on the table. “For those who don’t know, your company is one of the biggest contributors to the Do More Project. Together, we’ve helped hundreds of families and touched thousands of…”

From the corner of my eye, I see Laura gesturing to me.

“… lives. Our mission at the Do More Project is to empower women and we’ve recently purchased a building to host entrepreneurs from the women’s shelter…”

“Clarissa,” Laura whispers in my ear, “there’s no wire for the laptop.”

“What?” My eyebrows cinch tightly.

“I can’t hook the laptop up to the projector.”

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