"And these are some new ideas that Ms. Nichols came up with that we think are pretty good and you should consider."
I looked at Gavin and considered making a comment to him about the fact that Natalie was his boss, and it wasn't up to him to decide whether I should see something or not. At the same time, I’d been pretty negative about Natalie's work, and she was brand-new here, so maybe he was just trying to be supportive of her.
"You’ll see that it has some of the same classic vibe that the original idea had, but it shifts more away from the Audrey Hepburn classic to the Princess Grace of Monaco class and sophistication. At the same time there's a melding of a California 60s beach vibe.”
It sounded atrocious, but I looked over the sketches. They were similar to what Natalie had shown me yesterday, but it appeared that she had redone them as there were a few more details and she’d colored it in.
I looked around the table and could see all members of the team except one holding their breath as they waited for my reply. The one holdout, Natalie, stared at me, her expression daring me to say that the work wasn't good. Course the problem with that was that the work was good. Still, I didn't like that my team had essentially gone against me.
"Where's the copy for this?" I asked.
Gavin handed over some papers with copy on it, but then he began to go through each of the sketches, indicating which parts of the copy would be where. I studied the sketches and the copy and then set them down taking a deep breath. I suppose it was sadistic of me to enjoy the tension and fear in the room. Power was a heady experience. But I tried not to be a total jerk with my staff so I sat back and asked, "So of these two options, which do the rest of you think is best?"
Members of the team looked at each other and it appeared that they all were too afraid to speak out. I decided I would call them out one-on-one starting with Gavin
"What about you, Gavin?"
He looked at me and then at Nat and then back at me again. "Well sir, I like Nat’s. It has all that we wanted in the original campaign, but infuses more of Strong Incorporated and its roots."
"The rest of you agree?”
Several heads around the room nodded.
I looked over the sketches and the copy again, and there was nothing I could do but admit that Natalie had been right. Of course, I didn't want to tell her that. Still, it was a job well done and I had to at least acknowledge that.
"We'll go with these new ones." I looked over at her and I saw surprise in her pretty gray eyes. And, if I wasn't mistaken, a blush of pink on her cheeks that made me wish we were in this room alone and I could kiss those delectable lips. A reward for acquiescing to her ideas.
But since I couldn't do that, I stood and buttoned my coat, giving everyone a cue that it was time for them to go back to work.
Around the table, people stood and hurried out of the room giving me the impression they wanted to leave before I changed my mind. Natalie and Gavin rose from their chairs next to me. Natalie reached out and put her hand on Gavin's upper arm, sending a crazy desire to throttle Gavin through my entire body.
"Thank you for your support on this, Gavin," she said to him.
Gavin glanced over at me. He shivered and then stepped away from Natalie making me wonder if the murderous intent in my heart was visible on my face.
"No problem. They’re great ideas Nat. I've got to get back to work now." Gavin gathered up all the papers and rushed out of the room.
Finally, I was alone with Natalie, and I figured now was a good time to try and talk about the details of our friends with benefits arrangement that we’d entered in since we hadn't last night. But before I could open my mouth to speak to her, my brother Ryan came rushing into the room.
"Dad’s been in a car accident, we’ve
got to go."
My brain was slow to process what he was saying.
"Oh my God, is he okay?" Natalie asked.
Yes that was what I wanted to ask. Was he okay? What actually came out of my mouth was, "What happened?"
"I don’t know. There was a car accident. We need to go to the hospital now."
"I'm right behind you," I said as I followed him out the door. As an afterthought, I looked behind me. "You’re okay to be in charge?" I asked.
She waved her hands at me, shooing me off. "Yes, yes, go be with your dad. We'll be alright here."
Ryan and I rode down to the hospital together. Carter had been out doing something else, and would meet us there. I didn't know where Noah had been, but I was told he'd been contacted and was on his way.
When we entered the hospital, my grandmother was already there. We were escorted to a private area where my father looked like he'd been beaten up by a rowdy bunch of bikers.