Zero Forks - Cat Johnson

ONE

Sarah

I felt the overly cool breeze from the air conditioning brush my bottom, right about the same time I reached the front of the conference room and turned to see the smirk on my co-worker Jerry’s face.

Next to him, Kelly, the office assistant, made frantic but subtle hand motions to communicate to me exactly what I already feared I knew—that I’d just arrived at a presentation for the head of my department and the big boss of the company with the hem of my skirt accidentally tucked into the waistband of my Spanx.

I got a glimpse of my direct supervisor’s widened eyes. Kim could commiserate. Any woman would understand that sometimes these things happened.

Then I got a look at the big boss’s face and saw his single raised graying eyebrow.

Nope. No understanding there.

Mr. Rockland, in his pristine navy three-piece suit and conservative plain red tie, had no clue what it was like to have to rush to the ladies’ room on the way to a meeting that was about to start.

He’d never performed the juggling act of trying to text to say he’d be right there while sitting on the bowl, and then try to wrestle up a pair of skin-tight shape-wear while not dropping the cell into the toilet.

As far as I could see, I had two choices here. I could crawl under the conference table and hope to die, or I could own the less than ideal situation I was in and move on with the presentation.

Since I hadn’t worked fewer than twelve hours a day for the past week getting ready for this meeting, there was no question in my mind. I wasn’t crawling away to hide anywhere.

But my determination to forge ahead didn’t change the fact the room was dead silent and my ass was still hanging out—though at least now it was facing the wall and not the man who signed my very sizable paychecks. The checks I’d like to keep getting, thank you very much.

And of course, there was Jerry, still looking amused at my expense as he sat next to Mr. Rockland.

Bastard.

Jerry was enjoying my embarrassment far too much. Not a surprise. I already knew he was an asshole. Too bad I hadn’t found that out before I made the mistake of sleeping with him.

My hate and anger toward Jerry fueled me.

So did my resolve to land the big account that the management brain trust at this company had decided we would have to compete for.

Never mind that I’d been with the company ten years and Jerry had been here all of what? Six months, maybe? I’d tried to block the week of his arrival out of my mind.

I lifted my chin higher, set down an armful of notebooks and files and my phone on the table . . . and saw the display light up with a call on the cell that I had, thank God, remembered to put on silent.

Ignoring the call, I reached back and tugged the hem of my skirt free, letting it fall back over my exposed behind as I said, “So, now that I’ve got your attention . . . Let’s get right to the presentation. Shall we?”

An hour later I wasn’t sure if I’d redeemed myself after my fashion faux pas or not, but I’d done my best, in spite of having to face Jerry’s smart ass expression through the whole thing.

Demographics. Target markets. Budget breakdowns. Timelines and goals. I covered it all to the best of my ability.

My part was over. The rest—the choice of who would get the account—was out of my hands. I’d either win it or Jerry would. That was up to Mr. Rockland now.

I went back to my office where I could hide and try to soothe my wounded pride over the indecent exposure, while awaiting the boss’s decision.

Hopefully neither of those things—the healing of my pride or the decision from above—would take very long.

I stared down at my idea notebook where I had started brainstorming some initial ideas for the creative aspect, should I land this account. I was just wondering if I should take the time to think of more approaches for the campaign, just in case, when a knock on the frame of my open door brought my head up.

Kim took a step inside. “Hey, I just wanted to say you did great.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, me and my Spanx.”

She laughed. “Actually, I think it lightened the mood nicely.”

“Great. Let’s hope Mr. Rockland agrees.”

She glanced behind her, closed