A Soul Ensnared

Seven

June 27, 2013

Plans for the biannual newsletter kept meeting with disastrous events. Summer was the busiest time of the year for the club, but it was also worst time of the year to secure vendors, freelance writers, and temporary employees for events throughout the year. Even though she had begun making requests in January, like she did every year, some of the vendors held off finalizing their plans, preferring to wait until the last minute to place a bid, renew a contract, or make a payment. The temporary employees were a much easier bunch to lock down; most of them had been on waiting lists for years, ready to jump at the chance to make a name for themselves at the Club.

Sonya needed these extra employees, writers, and vendors that could cover the annual tournament, three summer mixers, various pool parties, weekly couple's cooking lessons, and a children's golf summer camp. She'd worked hard to secure popular culinary chefs outside of the Club's own renowned chefs, summer life guards, articles for the newsletter, alcohol to keep the patrons happy, decorators, and qualified camp counselor's and volunteers. However, her needs didn't end in September, and part of her job required her to map out everything through the end of the year. After summer came the Halloween Ball, the outdoor Thanksgiving celebration, and, of course, the arrangements for the Club throughout the entire month of December, which would lead into the annual Christmas party.

They all knew her deadline. They knew when the biannual newsletter came out. It came out at the same time every year. Every year. At the first of July, Sonya publicized the schedule of the Events' Calendar through articles, advertisements, and catchy slogans for upcoming events. She did the same on January 1st.

Her frustration in this moment was because they knew that, on top of everything else, she still had to tour and approve new clients. As of this moment, with only two days left to finalize the calendar and polish the newsletter, there were still three vendors who had not confirmed their proposed dates.

She needed those confirmations before the end of the day. Today was the last day she was going to deal with them. If they didn't confirm, she would drop them and find another company. There were always other companies, new vendors waiting in the wings, begging for their chance to find a way into the prestige of the Club. It was a fact her long-term vendors forgot when taking her patience for granted.

At this very moment, Sonya's patience was in short supply.

Reading over her final mock-up of the newsletter, she checked off things in which she approved. The final approval, of course, came from Nancy. She sat back, wondering what Nancy's sharp eye would catch that hers hadn't. The ads looked good. Good lettering, good image quality, good cropping. She reached over to pull out the invoices and payments for the advertisements, double-checking each invoice against the ad size, writing tiny notations concerning the payment amount in the bottom corner of each ad. It wasn't until she reached the final ad, a half-page spread, that a discrepancy occurred. Sonya groaned.

Damnit, Timothy, she thought. She was tired of hounding Timothy, the sales rep from a popular, local brewing company, to finalize this particular ad payment. Everything needed to be completed today. With that in mind, she pulled up her email, and jotted off another note.

Timothy,

Still haven't heard from you. Half-page ad placement to be paid in full by end of day. Please don't make me fill the void.

Sincerely,

Sonya Lancaster
Member Relations Coordinator
Public Events Coordinator
Bloomfield Country Club

She knew why she was stressed and irritated. It wasn't because of the three vendors. It wasn't because of Timothy. It wasn't because of the impending deadline looming like an ominous beacon over her head. Her frayed nerves were a direct result of the upcoming meet and greet Brent had invited her to attend, as well as her lingering doubt over moving in with him. She had willingly accepted to attend Brent's party, but now more doubts weighed on her mind. She didn't know if she wanted to stand in a school and pretend to be his everything, when he wasn't willing to see everything in her. The lingering doubt of his true intent, fueled by the instances with Noelle and Bernice, had caused her to reconsider the depth of their relationship. There was doubt; doubt created by the feeling like she was a placeholder in his life. Doubt caused by the vacant look in his eyes when she poured out her heart, and the way he'd gestured to Bernice, like there were secrets between them.