Dear Heart, You Screwed Me(18)

Stepping out, my high heels clicked along the marble floor. I wasn’t really a heel wearer, wedges yes, heels, no. I had to keep repeating what Connie had told me, heel to toe. Heel to toe. I thought the heel was going to give out and I would slip and fall on the high gloss tile. That’s all I needed on my first day.

I stilled for a moment as I walked through a large open planned office, my eyes scanning and scoping the space in front of me. Heads popped up from their desk dividers at the new girl standing out like a sore thumb.

Some were dressed smartly like me, others were more casual.

Now I knew, I would go for the latter. I was a tomboy, not a girly girl at all. I didn’t mind the odd dress, but I was mostly a baggy shirt and jeans kind of girl.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I headed towards the receptionist that sat behind a small desk in the corner. Smiling as I stood in front of her, her doe eyes pinged up from the computer.

“Can I help?” she asked sweetly.

“I hope so,” I laughed as nerves got the best of me. “My name is Reese, I am starting here today.” My smile growing now.

“Ah, yes. The British girl.” She smiled back at me. She pushed off her desk and walked round to stand next to me, holding her hand out for me to take. “I’m Taylor, I’ll take you through to Adele.” I shook her hand before following her down to the back of the office where panels of glass faced me.

I sort of felt like I was thrown in at the deep end, but I’ll get there. As I walked behind Taylor, I kept my head high and my eyes forward when I heard Julianne call out, “Reese,” her tone warm as she wrapped her hand round my shoulders, walking beside me.

“Hey,” my voice was quiet as we approached the office.

“Go in, Adele is expecting you.” Taylor smiled, knocking on the glass door then turning on her heel and walking away.

“You seem nervous.” Julianne whispered as we waited to be called in.

“I am,” a nervous laugh escaped me.

“Don’t be, you’ve got this,” she nudged into me as she stepped forward to open the door and greet Adele.

“Julianne, Reese,” the woman smiled as she welcomed us into her office. She had shoulder length blonde, wavy hair. Her green eyes glistening under the bright office lights. She sat behind her desk, elbows on top with her chin resting on her hands.

“First off, Welcome to Lordes and to New York. How is the jetlag?” Adele asked, her eyes pinned to mine.

“Thank you,” I said loudly, “I am pleased and excited to be here.” Rubbing my sweaty palms on my trousers, I could feel Julianne looking at me which made me even more anxious. “The jetlag is good, a lot better than it was. I am settling in nicely here.”

“That’s good, I am glad to hear that.” She dropped her hands and pulled out some paperwork, shuffling it round her desk. “So, as you know, we are Lordes Public Relations, we work closely with influencers, singers, low key actors and many more. We have been running for nearly twenty years and continue to grow every month. I loved your work ethic and commitment when Julianne showed me your résumé, have you always worked in PR?” her eyes were back on mine. I felt the sweat trickle down my back from my hair line.

I nodded.

“Part time as an assistant for Rocke PR.” I nodded again, “I worked for my mum and dad’s bistro as well, so could only really do part time,” I nibbled on the inside of my bottom lip.

“But, in that short time you landed one of the biggest influencers, Coby Swift. I mean, that is huge!” she dropped the paper, leaning back in her chair and crossing her legs.

“I mean, it was a joint effort,” I blushed feeling incredibly uncomfortable with her praise.

“Well, your manager seemed to blow the smoke up your ass, so that’s all on you baby.” She winked, “but honestly, when Julianne here found your name and what you had achieved in such a short time, we knew that we needed you working with us. I mean if you can land Coby Swift, I’m sure you can land us some big named guys over here!” the excitement in her voice was bursting out of her.

“Let’s hope so,” I scoffed a laugh, widening my eyes in horror at my comment.

“No doubt here. We wanted you, we got you. I am ready for us to take Lordes PR to the next level, and I am so excited to have you here doing it with us.” Adele sat back in her office chair and clapped her hands together quickly.

“I want you as my assistant for the time being, I have to have a lot of meetings with investors and the board, so it’ll be nice to be able to pass a few of my jobs over to you if that’s okay?” she asked, but I knew she wasn’t actually asking me. She was just being polite.

“Of course.” I nodded and smiled sweetly. Something about her made me uneasy, a familiarity coursing through my blood but I couldn’t for the life of me place her, but then again, maybe she just had one of those faces.

“Brilliant. I will get you a small desk set up outside my office, it’ll all be ready for tomorrow morning, so in the meantime, Julianne,” Adele’s eyes now moved from mine to my little HR friend, “why don’t you show our new colleague around the offices and then take her for some lunch. I have one of the investors in this afternoon so will be otherwise occupied.” I felt the tension in the air for a moment, my eyes moving from Adele to Julianne before they fell back to Adele.