“This is amazing, Em.”
She shrugs off my compliment. “It’s great in theory, but Gabe has to buy in to make it work.”
He grumbles and slumps deeper into his chair. Scott’s face turns red, but he doesn’t call his client to heel.
“I want it to feel more organic, more natural, and we really want to hit that eighteen to twenty-five demographic. If we let the two of you—who are representative of our target market—direct the content, then I think we may stand a better chance of achieving our goals.” She pats Scott on the arm reassuringly. “Nothing will post without my or William’s approval, but we’ll let you two handle some of the development.”
I don’t mention that I’m not technically in the age bracket—I won’t be eighteen until November—because there’s a little bubble of excitement sitting at the back of my throat. Katie said that interns have to jump on opportunities to prove themselves, and I don’t think I’m going to get anything better than this.
Em gives me a little smile. “I think you could be a good team. Maddie’s trying to get into a prestigious sports marketing program, so I know she’ll only bring her best work to the table. And Gabe doesn’t want to stay in MLS, so they both have reasons to deliver.”
I can see Scott turning all of this over in his head, giant arms folded across his chest, chin stuck out. He doesn’t like it, but for some reason he’s considering it. Is it because he trusts Emma’s judgment or because he’s willing to try anything to get Gabe under control?
“We’ve got about two weeks left in MLS’s break for the Gold Cup. We’ll use the first week to create content with a launch scheduled for next Monday,” Emma continues. “When the season starts back up, we’ll reevaluate or change direction as needed.”
Two weeks doesn’t give me time to either make an impression or screw anything up too badly. Scott must be thinking the same thing because he relaxes his shoulders and his suit jacket sighs in relief.
Gabe rests his elbows on the table, cup settled between his palms. The ring finger on his right hand taps against its side as he mulls it over. “All right.”
His agreement obliterates my excitement, and the remnants sink to the bottom of my stomach. My brain runs through a hundred ways this could go wrong, but before I can voice any of my fears, Scott speaks.
“This better work, Emma. If it doesn’t, I’m out and I’m taking all my clients with me.” He pushes back from the chair and stands. “You’re not getting any more chances, Gabe. Don’t screw this up.”
And with that ultimatum he leaves.
Em reacts as if Scott’s departure is no big deal. “Tomorrow we’ll get some footage of Gabe training with his team to start off our social media blast, then the two of you can get together later this week to hash out some ideas.” She passes a blank notepad across the table to Gabe. “Gabriel, we’ll need you to change your social media passwords to something we can access, and then I’ll walk you out.”
He takes the pad and scribbles two quick lines before standing up to follow Emma to the lobby. “See you tomorrow, I guess.”
Gabe gives me this sort of shy half-smile, and I’m reminded that he’s the kind of gorgeous that makes it hard to breathe.
As they walk out, I pull the paper toward me. The first line is his phone number, and the second says, “All passwords will be changed to WEDNESDAY7.”
Just kidding. Gabriel Fortunato is hideous.
CHAPTER
SIX
MARA’S STILL AT THE FRONT DESK WHEN I LEAVE THE CONFERence room, but now Katie has joined her. I can practically see questions brimming on their lips.
“How come you guys are at the front desk?” I ask, hoping to change directions before they can drag me down the trail of what just happened. “Is Patty out sick or something?”
“She’s on vacation for the week, so all of us interns will take turns filling in,” Katie says, handing me a calendar handwritten in bright pink. “Sorry, I probably should have mentioned that on Friday. We’ve got a schedule worked out, so that no one is stuck here all day.”
Two things stand out to me immediately: Katie and I are slotted for twice as many hours as the other three interns, which I guess makes sense, since we’re considered “general office interns” instead of being assigned to one of the senior executives. But I’m also scheduled to be on the desk for most of Tuesday.
“Is there any way I can switch with someone? Something has come up for tomorrow.”
Mara leans forward, eyes narrow. “Does that something have to do with Gabriel Fortunato?”
“Girl, I’m so glad you asked.” Katie grabs Mara’s upper arm. “I have no idea who he is, but I’ve been dying—dying!—since he walked in. The accent. The cheekbones. Full swoon.”
Besides a quick hello on Friday, I haven’t had any interaction with Mara. Everything I know about her came from one of Katie’s rumor-filled monologues. Apparently, Mara just finished her junior year at USC, really does have ridiculously shiny hair, spends her free time doing Brazilian jiujitsu, and she and William sort of had a thing last year. It fizzled out when he stayed at Velocity to start his career and she went back to school. Katie thinks there’s still some friction there and is waiting for something juicy to happen.
Both girls watch me like vultures, expecting a delicious bit of gossip to be dropped in front of them.
“I don’t really know him. I just … ran into him this one time on the beach.” Nicely understated, Mads. “We talked for a few minutes, but I had no idea who he was—still don’t, really—but we know of each other.”
“And that was enough to prompt him to find your cubicle?” Mara asks, face disbelieving. “Because he seemed a little …”
“Flirty,” Katie so helpfully supplies.
“Oh no. Definitely not. He’s a client and it looks like I’ll be helping my aunt on his account a little bit just because we’ve already met and know of each other.” I literally could not sound more ridiculous. Just. Stop. Talking.
Mara’s posture straightens, her hands dropping to the desktop. “You’re going to be working on the Fortunato account?”
There is ice in her tone, and from the worried, wide-eyed expression on Katie’s face, she hears it too.
“Yeah. Just helping with some social media stuff. It’s totally no big deal.” I smile and wave it off.
“Isn’t this your second day?”
I look to Katie for help, but she’s shaking her head subtly.
“Ummm … yes?”
“This is so typical.” Mara stands up with a huff. “Since you’re going to be so busy with the Fortunato account tomorrow, you can take my shift now.”
She bolts for the secret door, leaving me and Katie staring at each other across the receptionist desk.
“For some reason,” Katie says, as she turns to watch the door shut, “I get the sense that Mara’s a little unhappy.”
It’s such an understatement that I laugh. “What am I supposed to do? Tell her that I’m sorry? Offer to trade with her?”