Page 1 of Strictly Business

CHAPTER1

Wyatt

Ilook at my watch and I’m surprised to note it’s almost nine pm. The surprise is not because I’m still in the office – that’s normal for me and it would be more of a surprise if I was home at this time. I am surprised because I thought it was much earlier than it is. Apparently, time flies when you’re swamped with work, not just when you are having fun, although the two are often interchangeable for me as I genuinely love my job.

Ignoring the thought of dinner, I get back into work mode and I open the next email to be dealt with. It’s simple enough. One of my graphic designers has sent a campaign to be finalized. I look over the designs. Overall, they are good, and I like them a lot, but I do have a few small tweaks that need completing. I note these down and send the new file back to the designer. The tweaks are small enough that some people would say that I was nit-picking, but I’m a perfectionist and my team knows that. I think they would be more concerned if I signed off on a campaign immediately than when I take the time to look over it and help them to strengthen it.

I’m about to open the next email in my inbox when my cell phone rings. The ring pierces the soft silence that has settled around me. I look around my desk, searching for my ringing cell phone, but it isn’t there. It must be close because I can hear it trilling, the sound seeming to get angrier the longer I ignore it. I realize the sound is coming from the top drawer of my desk. I pull it open and take my cell phone out.

“Wyatt McAvoy,” I mutter, as I swipe the screen.

“Craig West,” an amused voice say. He laughs, then starts taking the piss out of me. “Wyatt McAvoy. What the hell, man? What happened to, yeah what’s up?”

I grin at the sound of his warm gruff voice. “I couldn’t find my cell phone and by the time I did, I figured it was almost ready to stop ringing so I just swiped quickly without looking at the screen,” I say. “Now what could I have possibly done to deserve this pleasure?”

Craig is my best friend and has been since we started high school. We went through high school and then college together and even now, in our early forties, we are still close, so I find it a bit strange when Craig sounds awkward when he next speaks.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you for a favor,” he says.

We regularly roped each other into doing things like helping each other move apartments or decorate rooms before we were making enough money to pay other people to do stuff like that. And even now, if either of us needs anything, we go to each other first. Which is why I find it odd that Craig sounds so awkward all of a sudden. It’s not like this is unprecedented territory for us.

I wonder if he needs to borrow some money.

Of course, I’d be happy to lend him whatever he needs, but that’s one scenario I never thought I’d see Craig in...ever.

“Go on,” I say when it seems like Craig isn’t going to say anything without me prompting him to speak up.

He sighs and I picture him getting his courage up. I’m starting to feel a bit nervous now. What can he possibly want from me that he’s this reluctant to ask for? I sense it’s about something more than just money.

“Could you possibly give Serena a job?” Craig finally says.

Serena is Craig’s niece. I remember her well enough from before she went off to college. She was a plump little thing with a mass of mousey brown curls that were always in disarray, and she wore horrible wire framed glasses that were too big for her face, making her eyes look strangely bug like. But she was a sweet girl and she had always been polite to me. Considering she’d gotten into an ivy league college she must be intelligent too.

None of that mattered though. I had to say no, and Craig knew it. I felt bad to say no to him, especially after how awkward he had been about asking, but he too understood the score. He was awkward about asking because he knew I was going to have to say no.

“I’m sorry man. You know I love you, but you also know my number one rule of business – never mix business and pleasure, or in this case, friendship.”

“I get that,” Craig said, suddenly more confident. “But this isn’t you taking on a dud as a favor to me. It would be you taking on a great asset as a favor to yourself. I’ve seen some of her work Wyatt and she’s good. Real good. And don’t forget she’s got a degree in business management and marketing from Harvard. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think I am actually doing you a favor asking you to have Serena go and work for you.”

I knew she had gone ivy league, but I had no idea where and I certainly hadn’t known that her degree was actually relevant to what she would be doing here if I was to give her a job. My company, Smart Marketing Solutions, is, as the name suggests, a marketing firm. We take care of a company’s branding and message, and we design ads for various social media platforms, ads for old school media like newspapers and magazines, and TV ads. We also have a team working on viral content for platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

And I do need a new associate.

Since I just promoted my last associate to marketing executive which means she’s off in the company on her own now working on her own portfolio. I need an associate to help with my workload because I have to run the company as well as take care of my personal clients. Could I take a chance on Serena? If there was anyone I would be willing to break my rule for it would be Craig, or his brother, Martin, Serena’s father.

“If I did agree to employ her, and I’m not yet, I’m just talking hypothetically, she wouldn’t get any special treatment. She would be treated like any other associate which is the bottom rung of the ladder,” I say.

“Of course, I get that, and she does too,” Craig says immediately. “She’s not looking for any special treatment, she just wants someone to give her a fair chance. You remember what it was like leaving college with your degree and realizing it was next to impossible to get a foot in the door anywhere decent.”

I do remember it. I remember it well. It was that struggle to find anything worth doing, which eventually led me to start my own firm. It seemed that was the only way in without knowing someone in the industry because the positions I saw advertised where always for someone with years of experience, something I couldn’t get because no one would give me a chance.

“I know you’re a bit reluctant to give her a chance because you know her,” Craig adds into the silence. “But I guarantee, if she turned up for an associate position interview with that degree and her portfolio and you had no idea who she was, you’d be begging her to take the position.”

I know he’s probably right, and I can feel myself relenting. I suppose Craig is right in a way. It’s as wrong to overlook someone just because you know them as it is to employ them purely because you know them.

“If I did take her on, you’d have to promise not to interfere and you would need to understand that if it’s not working out, I won’t hesitate to get rid of her, just like I would anyone else,” I say. “And you would need to make sure Martin understands the same thing.”

“I know,” Craig replies. “But she won’t let you down. I know she won’t.”

---