Second Chances

thirty-eight

a l e x

"If you call now, I think you might still be able to squeeze the shoot into her schedule. She's leaving this weekend, so she's probably going to be busy when she gets back, but just give it a try," I ordered Janet as I went through the paperwork on my desk.

She wasn't able to ask Lexi's assistant about her schedule, and we were kind of hoping we could have her in our photoshoot with everyone else, so we wouldn't have to pay extra for the photographer to have a shoot with just her.

I know we were cutting it close, calling her less than a week before we needed her, but I was hoping luck was on my side.

"I'll give her a call right now and update you," Janet nodded and left my office.

It was three in the afternoon, and Lexi was probably on set to film something, but it couldn't hurt to try; plus, her assistant always answered my calls.

After sorting all that out, I decided to check my emails.

I frequently let Janet handle my work emails, which was why she was always typing stuff on her computer, but my mom decided to have a spontaneous one-day Valentine's day sale online to get more traffic on our website, so I figured I was probably going to get some emails regarding that from investors who only found out about it when it launched.

Speaking of Valentine's day, Luke told me we were going to the park to have a picnic. I didn't understand how we were going to have a picnic there, given that the park provided minimal lighting at night, and I was going to have to leave work a little later than I would've liked.

But when Luke sets his mind to something, he won't back down until he gets it. So, I guess I was going to have a dark picnic with my boyfriend at the park that closed at ten. There's a first time for everything, right?

Before I could even think of enjoying anything though, my mom obviously had to come in and ruin the mood. It was odd seeing her around so frequently because she was usually in New York, but I guess I should be happy she hadn't completely disappeared.

"Have you been monitoring sales today?"

Right into business. That's Grace Evans for you.

"I've been checking every hour when the system updates. More sales than usual on the website for sure, and the physical stores have been doing pretty good since the last time Janet checked in," I reported.

"I thought I told you to handle it yourself. Why is Janet doing the work I told you to do?"

Keep your mouth shut, Alex. She's just thinking about the company. It was your responsibility in the first place.

My embarrassed nod, accompanied by silence, only seemed to disappoint her more.

"I expected more from you, Alexandra. I give you responsibilities, and I want you to take care of them. Don't make me regret giving you that position."

Was she threatening me?

"Understood. I promise it won't happen again," it's better to just suck it up. Fighting back will only make it worse.

"Good. I want a report on my desk first thing in the morning, complete with an analysis of the data. I want your interpretation of today's sales and what you can do to improve it," she declared. "Am I being clear?"

I nodded. "Crystal."

Great, how was I going to do that and go on my date? I would've asked Luke if I could cancel if it was any other day, and I'm sure he'd be fine with it, but it was Valentine's day, our first one back together, our second one ever, and he was so excited for it.