In the Cards by Kimberly Cooper Griffin

Author:Kimberly Cooper Griffin [Griffin, Kimberly Cooper]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Published: 2020-07-19T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

Phaedra

Barb leaned against the door frame, crossing her arms. She looked almost as done with this day as me, and we still had half of it to go. I’d come to work tired and cranky, and things only went downhill from there, even though I tried my hardest for the opposite. I hadn’t gotten much sleep last night because of my cowardice with Daria, and like always, little annoyances kept cropping up, making it hard to keep a positive attitude.

I lifted my hands above my head and stretched, whacking my head against the 3D sign I’d put on the credenza behind my desk after what had surely been a failed pitch during the last meeting. The pitch had been to one of our most difficult clients, and the meeting had stretched from the scheduled ninety minutes to almost three hours, forcing me to reschedule two other meetings. And she’d made us agree to an unscheduled second session after lunch to discuss where we had gone wrong. I had an hour and a half to decompress.

“Fucking hell,” I hissed, rubbing my head and restraining myself from pushing the stupid sign to the floor. I scowled at Barb. “Is there a thing where you can fire your client? Because I think I want to.”

“Believe me, I’m this close.” She held her manicured thumb and forefinger barely apart.

“You won’t.”

“I might.”

“You won’t.”

She slumped. “I know.”

“Do you want me to?” I stood, waiting for her to give me the go-ahead, and I almost thought she’d let me. But she just rested her head against the door.

“As much as it would amuse me no end to kick that vapid snatch to the curb, I can’t. Astrid Mercer is a decision maker on the Performing Arts Center contract we’re about to close, and she refers a lot of people to us. It’s too big to risk.”

Despite my onerous mood, I stifled a giggle. It always amused me when Barb used such vulgar language. I was no prude by any means. But hearing a woman who usually held herself with grace and composure say such a thing, well, it was funny to me. She’d be back in less than an hour to apologize not only for using such a lurid word, but for saying it about a client.

“Let me know if you change your mind,” I said.

“I won’t, but if she snaps her fingers at Lou or Cherie one more time and demands a Brown Palace macaron she doesn’t even eat, or something just as ludicrous, I don’t know if I can contain myself. Privilege is so unattractive sometimes. The worst thing is, she doesn’t even recognize it. Her upbringing made her exactly who she is.”

“You’re not like that,” I said.

She blanched. I wished I hadn’t said it. She never liked to be reminded of her wealth. Astrid’s riches were nothing compared to hers. Barb gave away more money to charity in a single year than Astrid’s net worth. I only knew because it was public knowledge, and I’d looked it up out of curiosity when she’d asked me to come work with her.

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