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Iris shoots her a look, and for a second I almost gasp. Sascha and Irismusthave a close relationship if our CEO feels comfortable enough to insult their company’s leadership.
“Well, he’s not all bad—he’s actually quite smart. But I agree with you. The boy needs to learn. I’ll have to bring this up to him for the third time—you know that, don’t you?” Iris shoots Sascha a look.
“I don’t mean to pressure you, but we have until tonight before we need to submit the orders to our factories. To secure the materials and the space for production,” Lena breaks into the conversation. “Unfortunately, we don’t have much time to go back and forth on final numbers.”
This I know for a fact, is not necessarily true. Because of situations just like this one, we often pad our due dates by a week or two, meaning Stevenson actually has until next Wednesday to give us final numbers. We make the client feel good by telling them we’re making “an exception,” but the truth is we always schedule them farther out than projected. It’s a white lie I’m not fully comfortable with.
“You know what? I think I have an idea for how to reduce production costs,” Jenna finally speaks up, taking a matching suede skirt from the rack, inspecting it closely. “It’s a bit out there because it will require a lot of coordination with our vendors and such, but I think if we work with our factories, we can figure out how to make our die cutting process more efficient so as to use every available bit of material possible, as well as buy up the same material other customers use at a discounted price for our own use. It would also help us in our mission of keeping our production as sustainable as possible.” Jenna pulls a folder that looks suspiciously like the one I gave to Lena last week and hands it over to Sascha.
My stomach drops, blood runs cold.
There is no way. Nofuckingway.
“That sounds interesting, Jenna.” Sascha smiles, pleasantly surprised. “And you’ve spoken to the factories about this? They’re willing to facilitate these sales and adjust their processes?”
Jenna’s smile is the picture of innocence.What? Me? Steal a junior employee’s idea? That’s crazy talk!“Yes, of course. In fact, I was hoping to present it to you after this meeting. I have a folder with the actual proposal in my suitcase, but I wanted to make sure we could work things out before. Would you like to quickly review it before we continue the meeting? See whether we can proceed and perhaps reduce the wholesale for Stevenson so we can all win? It will take some coordination with the factories, but I’ve estimated the new costs if we’re able to pull this new strategy off.”
I feel my jaw drop, rage-induced adrenaline coursing through my body, hands shaking so much I need to fist them at my sides for fear of losing control. I turn to look at Lena, begging her with my eyes for an explanation for her betrayal, but I find some relief in seeing she’s clearly just as horrified and surprised as I am.
Jenna Morris just fucking used my idea and took credit for it in front of our client and CEO.
“Well, that’s anamazingidea, Jenna. Lena,” Sascha addresses my boss now, “why didn’t you think of this sooner? You’re head of production, are you not? I mean, this proposal has amazing value.”
Lena presses her lips together, fire in her eyes as mine sting, tears threatening to run down my cheeks. “I suppose Jenna and I are sometimes misaligned on whatvaluesare,” Lena bites back, too low for our CEO to hear.
“Well, I’m so glad to hear we have Jenna on our team,” the client says.
Jenna smirks at Lena and then at me, daring us to challenge her in front of the client, to make a scene in front of the leader of our company. Helpless, I stand there, in the corner of the showroom, fighting back tears. Following Lena’s lead, I attempt to control my emotions—which, given her frequent outbursts, I would’ve never found her possible of doing.
This growing love for what I do has broken my heart.
WILL
The call comes in around five pm.
Will is neck deep in paperwork, fighting back the urge to pull his hair out of his scalp and curse himself for ending up in this position to begin with. He wants to curse the obligations tied to this job. He wants to yell at the universe for everything that led to this moment in time. But most of all, he wants to say no. He wants to go against his grandfather and do the right thing rather than be the scapegoat. He wants to figure out what it is he loves and pursue that rather than be strong-armed into doing things he feels aren’t right.
So when her name flashes on his phone screen, he more than welcomes it, her ever-positive outlook on life a gift she doesn’t even know is more valuable than anything he could ever buy.
“Bridget,” he breathes, hearing her name spoken aloud alone is a healing balm for the burns accrued throughout the day.
“Will?” She sobs. His stomach plummets, her cry a starting gun to his heart. “Will, I need you.”
And with just those four words, he’s up, all the work he needed to complete by the end of the day forgotten.
“Tell me where to meet you; I’m on my way.”
11
IF THIS WAS A LESSON I HAD TO LEARN, I THINK I’D LIKE TO TRANSFER TO ANOTHER SCHOOL, PLEASE
“I’m really sorry this happened to you,” Lena says. “Truly, I am speechless.”
I lift my head from where it rests on my crossed arms on the sticky pub’s tabletop to shoot her a desperate look.
“Is this real life?” I ask her. “Did the vice president of Sartoria seriously just steal my idea? What kind of people work at this company? Is there no one I can trust? Am I the idiot here?”
Lena shakes her head, taking another sip of her martini. “It’s not you, and it isn’t the company. Sure, you’re still green AF and the fashion industry is far from easy, but it isn’t any of that. You did beautifully. This is all her. It's who she is. Jenna is probably the most insecure person in all of fashion. She did the same thing to me five years ago when she was my direct supervisor, and it's why she's where she is today. And also whereIam today, for that matter.”
