Page 9 of Strictly Business

I read back through the file again once Ruth has gone and there is nothing in there to even suggest that the food is vegetarian. I shake my head. Is that another of Ruth’s sabotages of me? Was she supposed to have told me this from the beginning but decided to slow me down? If that was her plan, she has failed miserably because she’s still told me before I write the pitch and all I really need to do is add a small box with the words one hundred percent meat free in it on the packaging. It will only take me a few seconds to correct it.

I open my designs and add the bubble about the food being one hundred percent meat free and then I go off to the internet to do some research. I need to find out which experts are now recommending a vegetarian diet for dogs, and I need to find out who is endorsing it. I struggle to find anything. I do find a few articles that explain that giving dogs vegetables and some fruits can make their coats shinier and help their general health, it still doesn’t say anything about replacing their meat with vegetables though. It just talks about adding the vegetables in alongside the meat. Great. Just great. We’re not even going to be able to appeal to those people who will do anything if they think an expert has recommended it.

There’s really not much I can do with this except to do what I can with the information I have and by the end of the day, I know mostly where I am going with the campaign and how I am going to incorporate the vegetarian stuff.

The day has flown by, and I am shocked when I see that it’s already past going home time. I don’t mind working late when it’s necessary, but I genuinely think I’ve done a good day’s work today and besides, I’m meeting Brook, my best friend, for dinner tonight. My plan was to go home and shower and change before meeting Brook, but I don’t have enough time for that now. If I hurry up, I have enough time to get to the restaurant on time.

I shut my computer down and collect my handbag and jacket from the coat hooks and then I leave my office, closing the door behind me. I hurry to the elevators and go down in them. I’m halfway across the lobby when it hits me that I am perhaps meant to ask Ruth’s permission to leave, or at least let her know that I’m going. I don’t have time to go back and tell her now, so I’ll find out for tomorrow. It’s not like I’ve snuck out early so I don’t feel guilty or anything.

I leave the building and go and get into my car and drive across town to the restaurant I’m meeting Brook at. I manage to step inside with just one minute to spare before I’m classified as late.

Brook spots me straight away as I make my way towards the dining area of the restaurant, and she stands up and waves to me and I make my way over to the table and we both sit down. I put my purse down on the carpet between my feet and then I fight my way out of my jacket and hang it over the back of my chair. Brook smiles at me.

“You look flustered,” she says.

“I am flustered,” I say, talking too quickly because my nerves are all over the place. I take a deep breath and I go on. I am still talking too fast, but I feel a bit calmer now that I’m here and sitting down. “I was all organized and I knew what time I needed to leave the office to be on time to meet you and then the day just ran away with me.”

“Well, you’re not technically late yet so I forgive you,” Brook says with a smile which I return. “And I guess on your first day you can’t bolt out as soon as the clock strikes five, right? You did ok girl. You showed that you were willing to work over when it was needed, and you still managed to be on time to meet me. Give yourself a break, ok?

“Right. Ok. I will. Thank you for understanding,” I say, meaning it. It’s good that she’s not making a big deal out of this. In fact, if anything, she seems to think I am overreacting because I’m not properly late yet anyway.

Brook waves away my thank you with a flick of one wrist and a muttered “behave” and then she grins at me excitedly.

“Well? How did your first day go? Tell me everything,” Brook says. Her smile widens. “Tell me all about Hot Wyatt. Is he still hot?”

“Oh Brook, he’s every bit as gorgeous as I remember him to be only like a thousand times hotter if that is even possible. I am in serious trouble with him,” I say dreamily.

“Yeah, but you’re not a kid anymore,” Brook says. “You can actually act on it now.”

“Not a chance,” I say, shaking my head in horror at the very thought of it.

“Why not?” Brook asks.

She looks genuinely surprised to hear that I won’t be pursuing Wyatt, but I get why she’s surprised. If I looked like her, I probably would pursue him. Brook is tall, thin, and blonde. She has pretty blue eyes and a cute little nose and just right lips. In short, she is hot, and she would never have to worry about being rejected by a guy she liked because it just wouldn’t happen.

“Because the only thing I can think of that’s worse than embarrassing myself in front of a family friend, is embarrassing myself in front of a family friend who I also work for,” I say, going back to her question. “God, imagine how bad it would be if I like threw myself at him and then I had to see him every day after he had turned me down.”

We stop talking for a moment as a waiter approaches our table. He is wearing black trousers and a crisp white shirt with a long black tie. His dark hair is short and spiky, and he doesn’t look very old, perhaps in his late teens or very early twenties. He’s cute in that shy sort of way that I would have liked when I was young enough to have dated him.

“The usual?” Brook asks me and I nod. She smiles up at the waiter. “Can we please have two gin and tonics, one with lemon and one with lime, both with ice please. And then a portion of the potato skins with sour cream and a portion of garlic mushrooms for starters, followed by lasagna and chips and fish and chips for mains and finally, two sticky toffee puddings for dessert please, one with ice cream, one with custard.”

“Wow,” the waiter smiles after he finishes scribbling down everything Brook said. “I wish everyone was this organized. You don’t even have a menu.”

“What can I say. We’re regulars,” Brook says with a grin and a shrug.

The waiter laughs and starts away from the table.

“Your drinks will be along in a second and your food won’t be too long after that,” he says.

Brook turns her attention back to me when the waiter is gone and carries on the conversation like there hasn’t been a pause.

“I wasn’t suggesting you throw yourself at him,” Brook says, rolling her eyes. “Honestly Serena. Since when have I ever suggested you should go around throwing yourself at people. I like to think we have a little bit more class than that. I was simply suggesting you subtly let him know that you are open to dating him and then let him do the leg work.”

“Oh Brook, you know I’m not good at that kind of stuff,” I say, shaking my head. “I’m awful at subtle. I would literally end up throwing myself at him and not even realize I hadn’t been subtle until he laughed at me.”

“He wouldn’t laugh at you. But that’s not the point. The point is that you could be good at it though. You don’t actually know you’re not good at it because you won’t try it,” she says. “How many times have I shown you how to do it?”

“Yeah, but you’re you. This Goddess. And I’m me. Just little pudgy Serena. Of course, it works for you,” I say. “You could just stand there and say and do nothing and guys would try it on with you.”

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