Brooklyn
“Mornin’, Brooklyn. Got a minute?” I look up from my desk to see Drake Slade leaning against my door.
“Good morning, sir. Absolutely. Please,” I say, gesturing toward the chair in front of my desk.
He tips his cowboy hat at me and takes a seat, casually crossing one of his long legs over the other. His black cowboy boots have seen better days, but if I had to guess, I’d say they’re the same boots he wears every single day—just like Tyler.
“Things going okay with the social media stuff?”
I’ve learned pretty quickly that Drake Slade is a man of few words—similar to Tyler. They look exactly alike. Drake may be pushing 70, but he’s still an imposing man who likes to keep his finger on the pulse of everything that’s going on in his company.
“Yeah, things are going great. We have a second shoot with Tyler this Saturday at the ranch.” I reach for my iPad and pull up the dashboard so he can see the metrics on the recent campaign. “You can see here,” I say, pointing to specific numbers, “just how many new profile views and how much traffic we’ve had in the last seven days. You can also see here that the engagement is up by almost 600%, meaning people are really resonating with what we’re doing.”
He pulls a pair of glasses out of his denim shirt pocket and perches them on his nose. “Mm-hmm,” he says, squinting at what I’m pointing to.
“And it’s not just traffic and engagement; we’re seeing a massive spike in sales.” I pinch the iPad screen and switch to our revenue report for the last week. “As you can see here from the report I got from Chuck this morning, our sales are up 38% in the last week alone. I will be presenting all of this information at our next all-hands meeting.”
I can see the genuine shock on his face as his eyebrows shoot upward. “That’s impressive, Brooklyn.” He leans back in his seat and folds his glasses, putting them back in his pocket. “You liking it here at Slade?”
I nod. “Yes, very much. Everyone is extremely welcoming and helpful, and if I’m honest, they’re super on board with having a young millennial woman run a massive social media campaign. Thought I might have to prove myself a little more out here. Honestly, sir, I can’t thank you and Trent enough for bringing me on board.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear it. Colton has been really impressed with you and so has Wyatt. Not that the others aren’t—they’ve just been the most vocal about it.”
He’s about to continue when we hear some noise in the hallway.
“. . . I also want you to meet one of our newest employees—oh, there you are, sweetheart,” Celeste interrupts us as she waltzes into my office with another young woman next to her.
Drake’s eyes light up the moment he sees her, and it’s adorable. “Here I am,” he says, standing up and walking over to his wife, who stands on her tiptoes to kiss him.
Celeste is impeccably dressed in a black dress with matching pumps and a simple pearl necklace. Her hair is swept up in a low bun at the nape of her neck.
“Adrienne and I need to run some contracts by you, so I’ll meet you in your office shortly,” Celeste says to Drake.
“Miss Dyer.” He tips his hat at me before ducking out of my office.
“Brooklyn, I was hoping you’d be in. I wanted to introduce you to my niece, Adrienne. Her father is Hudson, Drake’s younger brother. Anyway, she’s currently interning with me at my firm and plans to take over being the Slades’ in-house counsel someday.”
“Hi!” I reach my hand out as I walk toward Adrienne, who has at least four inches on me. If she decided not to pursue law, she could certainly be a model. “Nice to meet you. I’m Brooklyn.”
“Just thought it might be nice for you two to meet as two of the youngest ladies here at Slade.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Adrienne smiles at me. “I talked to my cousin Milly the other day and she’s already singing your praises, so I’m glad I can finally put a face to a name. She also mentioned the three of us hanging out sometime soon?”
“Yeah, absolutely. She’s wonderful and offered to show me around Grand Lake and take me out. Here, let me get your number.” I reach for my phone and see I have a missed call from my sister. I slide open the screen and there’s a text from her as well.
Mallory:Hey, stop ignoring me and call me! Got a slow day and want to know what’s going on in Colorado. Miss you!
I type Adrienne’s number into my phone then shoot her a quick text so she has mine. The ladies say goodbye and head over to their meeting with Drake. I have a few minutes before my next meeting, so I pull up Mallory’s name and hit call.
“Hey, big sis, thought you fell off the face of the earth.”
“Hey, I know, I’m so sorry.” I rub my forehead, embarrassed at how long it’s been since I’ve spoken to my little sister. It’s very unlike us not to text daily and speak at least every other day. “Things have been crazy busy here, but in a good way. How’s the residency going?”
“Oh, same . . . good, busy. I got to assist in some pretty serious surgical procedures and even took the lead on one.”
I can hear the excitement in her voice. “That’s amazing, sis! Seriously, I can’t tell you how proud of you I am. Just the thought of all that science and blood makes me squeamish.”
She laughs. “You’re the brave one, just picking up and moving across the country at the drop of a hat.”