Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
“Tobias?” She pulled back from the embrace. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m the new VP of Creative for Star Studios. I left Century Films and started here a week ago. I didn’t see your name on the agenda for today until this morning or I would have reached out earlier.”
“Wow,” she said. “Well, it’s great to see a familiar face. How have you been?”
“Good. Keeping myself busy at work. Still perfecting making wine on the side. First full crop came in last week at the little farm I picked up last year. I may have to call your parents for some tips.”
“That’s great. They’d be happy to help. You’ll have to share a taste when your first bottles are ready.”
I stood right next to Annalise, watching the entire exchange. While the sommelier, or whatever the fuck you call a winemaker, didn’t divert his eyes from the woman in front of him to notice me, Annalise suddenly remembered I was here.
“Oh. Tobias, this is Bennett Fox. Bennett and I work together at Foster, Burnett and Wren.”
I shook his hand and sized him up. Tall, not bad looking, shoes shined, a good firm shake.
“Nice to meet you, Ben.”
Normally I corrected people if they shortened my name to Ben, although never a client. Clients could call me dickhead for all I cared, as long as they gave me their business. But something about an immediate name-shortener always irked me. You aren’t my friend. I’m not calling you Toby and asking you to go out for a beer. We just met. It’s Ben-nett…the extra syllable doesn’t cost you more.
“Why don’t we have a seat? I think everyone is here,” he said.
I waited for all the ladies in the room to take a seat, but apparently that was a little too long. Because before I could sit in the chair next to Annalise—you know, to show a united corporate front—Tobias put his hand on the back of the chair in front of me and pulled it out for himself.
Not wanting to cause a scene, I moved to the next available seat, which happened to be on the other side of the table.
The VP of Production kicked off the meeting, giving a thorough overview of the company’s business goals and target audience. I took notes as he spoke and, for the most part, tried to pay attention. But every once in a while, I’d look over at Annalise. Twice now Tobias had been whispering to her while she took notes. The conference table was probably about four feet wide. It made me want to find out if I could reach him with my foot under it.
After the formal presentation ended, each of the Star staff went around and added something. When the floor went to Tobias, he should have kept quiet because he didn’t have anything of substance to add. Apparently, the guy just liked the sound of his own voice saying meaningless buzzwords. And to have an excuse to touch Annalise.
“So I’m the new guy here at Star, obviously. And the team has done a superb job today of laying out not only who we are, but the brand we foresee ourselves to become in the future. One thing I can add is that synergy is important. Our logo, our marketing message, our team, our strategic alignments—they’re just the ingredients to bake a big batch of cookies. Leave out the pinch of salt or the chocolate chips and what do you get? Probably still a cookie—but it won’t be as delicious as it could have been. Cohesiveness is the name of the game, and the campaign that wins our hearts will be the one that mixes well with everything else to bake the best cookie.”
Womp womp womp. Cookies. Womp womp womp. More cookies. That’s what I heard.
He droned on and on, saying nothing really, until he finally concluded with a nod to Annalise. “I’ve worked with Wren before, and so I’m confident they have the ability to think big and think outside the box to come up with something great.” He touched her arm. “We just need to give Annalise and her team the right baking list, and she’ll come back with the tastiest batch of chocolate chip cookies we’ve ever eaten.”
Annalise and her team. Great. What a dick.
After the meeting was over, Tobias volunteered to give us a tour of the production lots. He offered his hand for Annalise to get into the front seat of the golf cart before walking around to the driver’s side. I was relegated to the rear-facing bench seat and had to strain to hear him point shit out as we drove.
After four hours of meetings and being shown around by the president of Annalise’s fan club, the three of us went back to his office to talk. By then, his familiar touches had amped up in frequency, and I felt my face burning.