The Other Side of the Bridge by Camron Wright

Author:Camron Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing
Published: 2018-01-17T05:00:00+00:00

chapter twenty-five

Dave arrived at the office early. It was becoming a habit. He couldn’t sleep at home, and at least this way he would get a parking space. He moved behind the receptionist’s counter and flipped a few switches. Lights flickered on with a buzz, interrupting the morning’s silence.

He tossed his jacket over a chair and headed to the conference room. It was immaculate, every chair in place. Gloria was worth every dime Ellen paid her. He picked up the bound packet from the table. The art department had come through again—color embossed cover with a gleaming BikeHouse logo, perfect-bound—and the information the book contained was the finest Dave had ever assembled. The data had been analyzed, quantified, charted, and copied. Graphs and pictures had been prepared. It was all there, brightly bundled and easy to follow.

A PowerPoint presentation was already loaded on the laptop for projection onto a screen that would roll down from the ceiling at just the right moment. The slides were concise, colorful, and enlightening. It would be the showcase of his career. The showcase—it was odd, really, that he’d wanted the account so badly. Now that it was here, now that the work was done and the presentation would soon begin, he found himself wishing it was over.

Brock entered the room at seven. Dave had moved to a conference-room chair and was resting his head on the table.

“Are you dead or just practicing yoga?” Brock quipped.

“Good morning,” Dave said, sitting up straight.

“You want some coffee?” Brock asked.

“Not yet. I don’t want the caffeine kicking in too early.”

“Did you bring your jacket?”

“It’s in my office.”

“Ellen asked about it yesterday. I told her you’d have it. She thinks it’s mystical.”

“Maybe it is.”

“Sure, or maybe you don’t give yourself enough credit. I’m telling you—you’re going to kill it today. I can feel it. Just make sure you throw in plenty of soul.”

The first hint of a smile crossed Dave’s face.

Brock took a seat beside his friend, then turned quizzical. “Look, I know that you wanted this account pretty badly. Has it been everything you expected?”

It was casual conversation, words to kill time until the meeting started. It was also the very question Dave had been pondering for the last twenty minutes. He hesitated in his answer. “I don’t know, really—I’m . . . I’m not sure.”

Brock shrugged. “If not, it will be. Hey, I’m going to grab coffee,” he said, standing up. “Then I’ll be in my office until it’s time to start. Are there any changes in my introduction?”

“No. Do it just like we discussed—just like old times.”

Brock nodded and pulled the door closed with a click, leaving the room’s solitude to surround and envelop Dave as if it were still waiting to hear his answer.

Has it been everything you expected?

• • •

At nine sharp the elevator doors pinged opened and Mr. Shaun Safford, Vice President of Marketing for BikeHouse Customized Motorcycles, stepped out. Five protégés followed, one more than Dave had expected. Ellen waited with her hand extended.

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