Page 38 of Brazen
I sat in the mesh chair, and a younger woman with perfectly straight shiny hair bounced as she walked out. “Ms. Williams, nice to meet you. I’m Brianna.”
First name, got it. I held out my hand to shake. “Nice to meet you, Brianna. Call me Hope.”
She shook my hand then sat next to me, reading my resume. She tapped the paper. “So I saw you worked at Horner and Wallace Advertising. What did you do there?”
Time to sell myself to pay the condo monthly fees and keep electricity on. Charlie flew into my mind, but I shook it off. “They mostly kept me on ad copy, to be completely honest, but I pitched tons of ideas, and some were picked.”
Her eyebrow rose. “Some?”
I nodded. “Many more of my pitches were credited to my boss, but that’s how the game is played. I’d love to talk about recruiting people for the magazine.”
And I hadn’t even tried to sell myself. My heart whispered that this wasn’t for me.
Brianna sat back and put the paper down. “Honestly, you’re qualified, but I don’t know if client pitching is exactly the same thing.”
“I understand entirely.” I turned my chair. It was better to go home, figure out numbers, and show Charlie the airline might be a profitable idea. “I really don’t know anything about magazines and how y’all work or talk about fashion and stuff.”
“You clearly dress well.”
“I’m a label girl, if I’m honest, and I just like to feel… pretty.”
“We want our readers to feel wonderful on the inside so that shines out.”
“Right. Maybe I should go.” Charlie was paying me to fix him, and I should handle him first.
“Wait… I’d like to offer you a trial run for thirty days to see what you can deliver.”
My eyes widened. I’d failed this interview entirely. But I smiled. “That’s amazing. Can I have a few days to think about it?”
She beamed like she'd won the lottery. “Of course.”
My stomach twisted. I worried that all the job offers were because of Charlie or his family. There was no way I would have been offered a job after I continued to screw up like that.
I sighed the second I was back on the street. Charlie had offered the limo in the morning, but I’d wanted to walk and get my head on. Now I needed to think.
Sex with Charlie was thrilling. I would never have enough of him. And if I pushed him toward a career he would be good at, he wouldn’t need a fake date, but I needed to know if the job thing was real and lasting for him. And I still had to pay for my life because my bank account was close to zero.
My entire body was tense as I walked. When I was almost home, Britney rang me out of my reverie. After I answered, "Hello," she asked, “So how did it go?”
I rocked on my feet then continued to the building. “They offered me a trial run.”
“Decisions, decisions. At least it’s not entirely over.”
I gazed up and decided I was here to help Charlie. I would figure out my mess of a life later. The doorman opened the door for me, and I said, “You’re right. Look, I have to go.”
I stepped into the elevator as she asked, “Drinks tonight?”
The doors closed as I said, “Let me ask Charlie, but probably.”
“Sounds good. Talk to you soon.”
I walked in, and Mr. Fuller directed me to an office. Now it was time to prove my worth.
In the office, Fuller set up coffee, snacks, water, and anything I might need. I curled into the leather chair and opened the laptop.
Starting an airline was work. So I decided to check out profitability as a way to talk to Charlie. And there was lots of information online. I found one link then another and opened a spreadsheet to keep track. "So, these are the fastest-growing airports. These are the unserved routes. These are the GDP data of the regions.”
He would understand numbers. I wrote down abandoned routes, available routes, metropolitan area information, and everything else. As I read my notes, I realized this was a plausible plan of action if we decided to really start an airline.
