Touch The Sky | ✓

Five

The next morning, just as I'm leaving the underground and walking the few minutes from the station to work, my phone pings with a message. I can't help the grin that spreads across my face.

You're not free one evening this week by any chance, are you? It's cool if you're busy, but it would be nice to see you again. I hope you had a good weekend and that you enjoy work today. I'm sure lots of books will look great thanks to you!

I'd be lying if I said that I hadn't thought about Seth a lot this weekend, or even looked online, looking for any glimpses of hockey action. However, the season is over, so there isn't much to report.

We've been texting a little over the weekend, just talking about this and that. It's been great to just talk about silly things and about what each other has been up to. Something interesting is definitely forming.

I quickly type out a reply, telling him that I would love that and I'm free tomorrow or Wednesday evening, before rushing to work with an extra spring in my step.

In the elevator, I get another message.

So, I'm busy Wednesday but I can meet you after work tomorrow? Garth Publishing, right? I can just come there if that's cool with you.

I quickly confirm, saying I finish at five o'clock, before leaving the elevator and heading to my office to prepare for my meeting with the board this morning. It's just a formality, really, for them to approve everything.

Karen waltzes into my office ten minutes before I'm supposed to be in the meeting. 'Just wanted to check it's all okay before the meeting.'

Because we basically have the same role, only one of us ever goes to the meetings with the board, to make it more time efficient. Any major changes that need to be made are always reviewed by both of us before we take it back to the board again.

Today, it's my turn to attend the meeting.

'Yeah, thank you. I'll make sure to let them know that you totally saved my ass,' I smile at her gratefully. 'I should probably get going, but thank you for checking in. I'll come and see you once I get back.'

She grins. 'Also, you have to tell me all about your date later, okay? I want to hear all the details.'

I laugh, gathering up my files into my arms and shrugging. 'There isn't that much to tell you, but okay. I'll let you know, all right? I hopefully won't be too long in this meeting, I'm assuming they'll approve things just like they normally do.'

Unfortunately, that's not quite how things go.

One of the ladies on the board looks at the design with a small frown on her face. 'I like it, I do, but what if we changed the colour of it slightly? Just to make it a bit brighter and for it to stand out a bit more. How about some red or something?'

She pushes the paper copy she has of the design towards me and indicates the lettering. 'I think if we changed the other colours to accommodate too, a bit, you know?'

'That's a good idea,' Mr Garth, the CEO, agrees and turns to me. 'Would you be able to get that done and email me it, as well as putting a paper copy on my desk by this afternoon, please?'

I nod. 'Sure.'

One of the many things I love about this company, apart from the hands-on nature of the management team, is the diversity. I mean, I'm a young, black woman in quite a high position. There are a lot of other important woman in the company and we aren't outdone by the men whatsoever.

The rest of the meeting goes well, as I present other new ideas we've been working on and different designs. These meetings usually happen to pull together lots of ideas and to look at lots of designs, not just one or two. It goes on for quite a while, but they're actually always very inspiring and good. It feels great to work with people like those on the board.