Chapter 2
1181 Words
2
Since they’d been at the conference before a few years running, they were old pros at this system. Lunch started in fifteen minutes and right now was the time to mingle. Chuck went to work on some new clients while Stephanie took the old ones she felt comfortable not killing. They made the rounds and together covered most of the group of about one hundred prospective clients. There was a lot of competition there, and some of it Stephanie absolutely hated.
“Glad to see you here again, Mrs. Yager.” She clenched her teeth, put on a sweet smile and turned around to face a man of about middle aged with a portly build. He was Mr. William Chism, and he was competition. Annoying competition. “Is your partner here, too?”
“Mr. Taylor is over there speaking with a few old clients,” she informed as she nodded her head toward the buffet table. Food covered the tablecloth and she couldn’t help but admire her partner’s ingenuity in getting their ahead of most everyone else. “Did your business do well last year?” Thankfully they only meant one or twice a year. This was time number one for this year.
“Not as well as I’d hoped, but perhaps things will change for the better this year.” She knew what he was hinting at. He’d been trying to get into her good graces for a few years now to try to merge their two companies. He also wanted to get into her skirt, but she’d light herself on fire before that happened. “And how did your company’s profits do?”
“Pretty well.” She didn’t care to tell him how well, even if she knew the numbers. That was for Chuck to keep track of. She just knew they’d made a tidy profit, enough for her to bring home a cool few thousand more than last year.
“That’s good to hear.” He sidled up to her, and she tried not to stick out her tongue and run. “You still considering my offer?”
“What offer?” Stephanie knew what he was talking about. It was that stupid offer to merge. She was just hoping playing dumb would tell him she wasn’t interested. He didn’t get the hint.
“You know, about our companies getting together to do business.” He smiled and gave her a wink. “It’d be pretty fun spending more time together.”
That was the end of her patience.
“If you’ll excuse me, I think I see my partner calling me.”
“I don’t see anything,” Chism argued as he looked around for the signal. By the time he looked back she was making a frantic beeline for the buffet table. He scowled and slunk off. He could take a hint when it was given with blunt-force trauma.
Thankfully Chuck had just finished speaking with a prospective client when his partner sidled up to him.
“You just saved me from a fate worse than death,” Stephanie whispered to Chuck. She slid past him and hurriedly grabbed a plate.
“Hunh? What?” He glanced around and didn’t see any sort of danger until he noticed Chism walking away. “Oh, him.”
“That’s what I just said,” she agreed through a mouthful of food. “A fate worse than death.”
“He’s not that bad, Stephanie. He’s just a little, well, persistent.”
“Try being on the receiving end of that persistence,” she grumpily argued.
“Well, stay cool, we’ve got some new ones incoming,” he whispered. Chuck smiled as a couple, a young man and an older woman, came up to them. “Mr. Gregory and Miss Seville, I assume?”
“And you must be Mr. Taylor,” the woman politely returned as she shook his hand.
“At your service,” he offered.
Stephanie noticed that when he and the gentleman shook hands, the corners of his usually smiling mouth turned down. It was only for a moment, so maybe he smelled something bad. She certainly did, and she had to hold herself back from plugging her nose. Miss Seville had on way too much perfume.
“We’ve heard a lot of good things from your previous clients,” Mr. Gregory complimented. He looked passed Chuck to Stephanie. “And is this lovely young woman your partner?”
“Oh, yes, this is Mrs. Stephanie Yager,” Chuck added as he took her arm and brought her forward to meet their prospective clients. There was a purposeful emphasis on the marriage title. “Stephanie, this is Mr. George Gregory and Miss Cary Seville. They work in the advertising arm of a large firm specializing in art products.” She got the hint. They would be big time clients if they could nab them from the competition.
“Pleasure to meet you both,” she greeted as she shook both their hands. For her turn, she found Mr. Gregory charming and Miss Seville a little severe with her attire as those beady eyes looked her up and down. She probably thought it wasn’t formal enough since she was wearing a long, slim, red dress with thin straps. Her high heels looked tall enough to push her as tall as the Statue of Liberty, and she looked as severe. “So what sort of art products do you sell?”
“Just the generic kind. You know, pencils and paper,” Miss Seville brushed off. Apparently she didn’t get the job for her love of art. Probably not even for her people skills. She must have had a sharp eye for profit, because she was eying Chuck and Stephanie like they were prospective food to be tossed aside. “Anything to keep the throngs of artists coming back,” she pointedly remarked. Stephanie kept her smile on her face, but she wanted to deck the woman.
“What she means to say is we sell a variety of high-quality products,” Gregory chimed in. He smiled pleasantly at Stephanie. “I’m sure as the artistic wing of the business you can appreciate what we do for the art community.”
“Certainly.” She had no idea what he was talking about, but he was cute when he tried to explain. “And were you in need of some outside representation on a current project?”
“We were looking for some fresh ideas. Our teams has been a little stale lately in thinking up new slogans and designs.” Looking at Miss Seville, Stephanie could understand that part. “Did you perhaps have an example of your work?”
“Actually, we have some cards available,” Chuck interrupted. He felt a little awkward in this conversation. Usually he was the one doing all the talking. He pulled out a few of the cards, and Gregory politely took two and glanced over them. “Very nice,” he complimented as he glanced over to Stephanie. “But I was wondering if you had something bigger I could see.”
“I’m afraid not with us, sir,” Stephanie disappointed him.
“Then could I perhaps visit your studio one of these days?” he suggested. He looked at the card. “It’s not too far off from my usual traveling.”
“I’m afraid not without an appointment, sir,” Chuck abruptly explained. Stephanie was a little surprised by his clipped tone. He was usually so cool and collected.
“How about we make it next week, say Monday at two o’clock?” Gregory was anything if not persistent.
“That’d be fine,” Stephanie interrupted. She grabbed Chuck’s hand and led him away. “See you then.”
“Until then,” their prospective client returned.
- Writer
