A Whole New World

4. The New Client

    Monday was a bit of a frantic day at work.  Luckily, I was in the Barrie office today.  I worked between the office in Barrie and our head office in Toronto, but I normally only had to go to Toronto 2 days a week.  I preferred the Barrie office because it is a smaller, quieter office with only 10 employees which allowed me to get a lot more done.  I was the lead Project Manager at this office and everyone's sole focus today was the pitch and presentation for a new potential client tomorrow.  This could be the largest project that we have taken on and they asked me to head up the proposal.    Emails were flying back and forth with last minute tweaks and updating information from suppliers that we were waiting on.  By the end of the day, we were all mentally exhausted, but I felt confident that we were ready.  I thanked everyone for their efforts while we were packing up and promised everyone that we would have a complimentary lunch on Wednesday when I returned to thank them for all their efforts and dedication.  Not everyone would do something little like this but because I was the type of person that appreciated my coworkers and realized that I would never have completed this without them.  Before leaving the office, I sent the final files to my boss at the head office and noted that I would see him first thing in the morning but was available all night for any questions.  I knew he would go over it one last time and call me tonight if there were any issues.  This could either be an easy night or an exceptionally long one but either way, it was going to be an anxious one.

    I shot out of bed Tuesday morning to the sound of my alarm pumped, only a little panicked and ready to greet the day.  I was ready for this!  The coffee maker was on and I was going about my morning routine.  The Toronto office was not as casual as the Barrie office and with the big meeting today, I decided to go all out.  Most of the time, I wore black slacks and a dressy top with flats type.  I found it so much more comfortable but knowing how important this meeting was I had chosen a medium grey dress that hugged my curves right.  The top part was basic and bland, but the bottom half ended just below the knee in a pencil shirt.  I could get away with that alone, but I added a black elbow length blazer, a wide black belt around my waist and black pumps with light brown stockings.  I decided to go with a natural look for my makeup and pulled the top portion of my hair back to hold it out of my face.  I was dressed for success!  Everything just felt right, perfect even.  I finished and packed lunches while Cody was having breakfast.  He kept telling me that today was the day, and everything would go perfect.  It made me so proud of him to be such a caring child considering everything we went through.

When I arrived at the Toronto office, I was immediately paged to Mr. Lewis's office.  I had a bad feeling instantly because I hadn't even gotten to my office yet.  I hurried along and very quickly dumped my stuff on my desk, hung my coat up and headed down the hall to greet Mr. Lewis.  When I arrived, the door was closed.  I stopped in front of it and took a small moment to ground myself with a deep breath before I knocked.  With each passing second, I felt a mini wave of nausea like a roller coaster.  My palms were sweating, heart racing and I was flushed....  I had enough time to take a few deep breaths before he reached and opened the door calming myself down just a bit.

"Miss Richards, please come in." He motioned his hand towards the middle of his office before he turned around headed back to his desk while continuing over his shoulder holding my attention to him.  "I know that our plan was to have Mrs. Andrews...." motioned his arm towards the back of the room to a figure I never even saw when I first entered because the angle of the door when it was open was like a blind spot.  I didn't even know she was in here!!!  "...start with the opening statements and then I would make the presentation, but after we went over everything last night, we both feel like you are the best person to present today.  Either of us can jump in and assist as needed, but you are the most familiar with all aspects and we feel like you are ready." 

"I-uh-I-pardon?  Are you sure Mr. Lewis??  panic was more than settling in.  That was very apparent at this moment.  I was standing in between my boss and the owner of the company.  My head and eyes kept moving from one to the other.  I stood there in shock for a few minutes and all I could think was 'just breath'

"Mrs. Richards" I heard from behind me and as I started to turn towards the woman who basically held my livelihood in her hands calmly continued "yes, I am sure that I want you doing the presentation.  I will take care of the pitch and closing as well.  I was extremely impressed when I was looking over the final draft last night.  You have come a long way in a noticeably short amount of time Mrs. Richards.  I always knew you had potential, but it was up to you if or when you wanted to step up." When Mrs. Edwards spoke matter-of-factly all the time, void of emotion.  But this time, I could see her softer side poking through just a little.  As a woman in business, you still had to be more ruthless than anyone else.  You could not show any weakness and god forbid you raise your voice or shed a tear out of frustration.  The entire world says equality, but in reality-it's not true at all and anyone who thinks that is delusional.  There was no place for women to be emotional at work.

"Thank you!  Thank you so much.  Yes, I would be honored, I won't let you down!  Either of you!"  Okay-I really needed to get my s**t together.  I was acting like a peasant thanking her master for food...I took a deep breath to center and then excused myself to now prepare to give the presentation to these new clients after lunch.  I had 5 hours- no pressure at all!!!

    I cleared my morning schedule and spent the whole time in the boardroom practicing.  I finally came out of the boardroom about half an hour before our new clients were to arrive.  I wanted to freshen up in the bathroom and grab a quick snack.  I was still too nervous to eat, but I managed to get down an apple and half a sandwich.  The time seemed to fly by and before I knew it, I had been paged to the board office.  Mrs. Edwards liked to have our guests taken to the board office first and then have us enter about 2-3 minutes after they had settled-any longer would not be professional.  The three of us entered the room together and of course, led by Mrs. Edwards and I of course was at the rear of the line but as I entered, I noticed 6 very well-dressed men and women looking back at all of us.  I was trying my best to set my nerves aside and just focus on the task at hand.

  They all looked very calm, pleasant, and eager to be here, that is much better than stone-faced clients so that was a total bonus.  As Mrs. Edwards greeted them and introduced us with such grace that only a seasoned business person could do.  I was in awe of the way she took control of the room.  Then their owner introduced each one of his staff that he brought with him.  When he moved down the line to the last person, my jaw nearly hit the floor.  Again, I had been so close to her and never noticed.  I really needed to try to take in a whole scene around me.  Being so far down the line meant that she was his lowest ranking lawyer like my entering of the room last.  It was all a power play, and I was taking mental notes for sure, but when my eyes fell on her face, I was in complete shock for the woman sitting in that last chair was none other than Alexa Brown.  WOW, she really did it!  I thought to myself with a tiny smile on my face and remembering how hard she studied in college never allowing herself the many freedoms that most young adults do, and I tried to give her a tiny nod without anyone else noticing.  She sat there, poised, and seemed ready to go.  She had a notepad and pen out ready to take notes, but her eyes never left me.  Her gaze was so intense like she was just as pleasantly shocked to see me (and excited I might add) that I was to see her.

    Mrs. Edwards started the pitch and then handed the presentation over to me.  From the moment I stood, I was in the zone!  I held the room and gave the best I could.  For the next 30 minutes I went over everything from beginning to end.  I answered questions and showed them what we could do for them was such a rush!  Alexa never took her eyes off me the entire time.  It felt like she was watching my every move.  Normally that would make me feel uncomfortable, but it did the exact opposite.  I felt confident, in charge and surer of myself than I ever had.  I felt like I was born to do this!  When it was all over, Mrs. Edwards gave the closing statements, pleasantries, handshakes, and a fake smile.  I headed back to my office, closed the door before starting a silent happy dance with a HUGE smile on my face.  I did it-me, this small town abused girl.  I nailed it!  It was like a natural high and I wanted to keep this if I could.  

Within 15 minutes my phone rang.  I was so excited I skipped over to my desk when I picked up the receiver and happily spoke into the phone "Good afternoon, Amanda Daniels speaking..."

"That was a very pleasant surprise today.  Since I didn't hear from you on Sunday or yesterday, I figured I would reach out...now that I at least know your work number that is..." 

"Alexa?  oh-my-gosh!  What are the chances that we would run into each other twice in a week?  That was a shocker for sure!  How are you?  When did you graduate?  How long have you worked there?  What have you been doing these past few years?" I started spewing verbal diarrhea so excited to hear from her and of course, still on that high, but I suppose I should let her answer at least one of them before firing off more.

"Hey Amanda, or should I say 'Mrs. Richards?'...you were great today!  We were all mesmerized.  I never knew that you could exude that much confidence!  You must have had a lot of practice at giving presentations because you handled that like a real pro!"

"Thanks, but you are too kind"

"Now, there she is.  The over-modest girl I remember…" she paused for a second almost like she was trying to figure out what to say next.  "I am sure that there are many things in both our lives that will take much longer then a 10-minute phone conversation.  What do you say we meet after work one night this week to catch up?  I am normally finished at 6 or 7."

"I'd love that!  I think I could make Friday work....  I am meeting Mike for a coffee only 2 blocks from here around 4, but that will only be like an hour or so.  After that, I am free"

"Friday sounds perfect.  I know a cute little pub close by there called Bar Hop on York Street just down from that new place called The Social Club.  We can grab dinner if you want since it is so late." I could hear the nervousness in her voice, but why?  I wondered.

"That sounds good to me!  I look forward to catching up.  It's been so long and running into you twice in a week- well that can't be a fluke." I happily replied.

"I will be looking forward to it!  This number that I called you on is my work cell, but it's the one I always have on me.  You can text me anytime on it if you want..."  she implied

"Sounds good to me.  I am genuinely happy we have crossed paths again.  Listen, I should get back to work, so I am going to have to let you go but look forward to Friday.  Oh, and I just sent you a text." I said a little sadder than what I had intended as I was saving her number on my cell phone and texting her.  I always like to do a test text just in case I typed a number wrong.

  "No worries, - it's all good.  I am looking forward to it as well.  I just got back to my office as well- oh, your text just came through.  Perfect!  Okay then, see you Friday'' If I didn't know better, she sounded like a teenager ready to ask someone out on a date!  I always like that about her.  She had such a high, positive energy about her once she let you in.  She really reminded me of Tina but from what I remember, there were not many people that saw that side of her.  People just thought she was a bookworm and I remembered her telling me once that she liked it that way.  When you choose a profession like a lawyer, you really had to have a passion and a certain focus to pull through the grueling hours and tests.  I hung up the headset to the phone on my desk just as a ping cam across my cell saying 'Test Text Approved' with a smiley face emoji.  I replied with a quick thumbs up emoji before placing my phone back in my desk to finish out the day at work.