PLAYING PRETEND

Callista Aubrey Everett lived the perfect life.

She owned an upscale apartment right in the business center of the city, where she also happened to work. Her job was something that she was passionate about and not just something she did to pay the bills. Callie also wasn’t terrible-looking - with her dark, blonde hair and blue eyes, she easily stood out, especially when she wasn’t dressed in pantsuits.

Yes, she had the life.

Unfortunately, at the moment, that involved listening to someone droning on and on about a business proposal in a meeting that should’ve ended half an hour ago. She didn’t understand how people thought that longer meetings meant better results - she could’ve been doing something more productive with her time.

“In the interest of time,” Callie cut in when the presenter asked if anyone had questions. All heads snapped towards her. “Why don’t we include the rest of the presentation in Friday’s ‘Week in Review’? Then everyone can read up on it, and we can discuss the next steps at the All Hands meeting?”

She saw everyone nodding their heads enthusiastically, probably just as bored out of their minds as she was. Even the presenter was nodding his head - excited at the idea of including his presentation in the weekly report. Satisfied that everyone was satisfied with her suggestion, Callie nodded her head and smiled a genuine smile. “Awesome. The food is ready in the other conference room. Jacobson, if you could lead everyone there? I’ll be joining you shortly,” Callie instructed her second-in-command, the Vice President of Marketing. Jacobson looked more than happy to be getting out of his seat, and he shepherded the rest of the marketing team toward the delicious lunch that waited for them.

When the last of the people left, Callie slumped in her seat, shutting her eyes tight. She loved her job. She did. But even then, there were bad days. Come on, Callie. Nothing’s going to happen if you don’t think of a solution to this particular problem.

“Ruth?” Callie called without opening her eyes. She knew her assistant was still in the room somewhere, tidying things up or finishing her notes on the meeting.

True enough, she heard a soft voice reply from the front of the room. “Yes, Ms. Everett?”

“Ruth, can you please send me a copy of the presentation this evening? I wanna go over it and see if I can summarize it for the ‘Week in Review’ report on Friday. Then, can you please make a note for our training materials to include making presentations that are only twenty minutes or less?”

When she peeked one eye open, she could see Ruth writing everything down on the iPad. Once she was done, she glanced up at Callie with a triumphant smile. “I’ll be sure to take care of everything, Ms. Everett. Is there anything else?”

“No, Ruth. That’s all for now. You should also go get lunch,” Callie said with a soft smile of her own. Ruth reminded her of a younger Callie - one that was more soft-spoken but equally as hardworking. She hoped that by working with her, Ruth could grow into a better role. Callie knew she had way more potential than some of the people she worked with.

“Thank you, Ms. Everett,” Ruth replied, tucking the device away. She was about to walk off when she remembered something. “Oh, and Ms. Everett?” This time, her voice was a bit more hesitant. Callie knew that she wouldn’t like whatever it was that Ruth was about to say.

She sat up straighter and directed her full attention to her assistant. The expectant look on her face made Ruth continue what she was about to say. “You also have a family event this evening - your cousin’s birthday, I believe?”

Callie tried and failed to keep the smile on her face. Well, shit. Sighing, she nodded her head, more in resignation rather than understanding. “Thank you for reminding me, Ruth. I’ll take care of it. You go have lunch.”

Ruth nodded and scurried off, hoping that Callie didn’t come into work the following day in a gloomy mood. It seemed to Ruth that whenever her boss attended a family gathering or reunion of any kind, she always showed up the next day as though she’d gone to a funeral instead.

Meanwhile, Callie sat in the conference room, wondering if she would still be able to get any work done. Now that she remembered the dinner she would have to subject herself to, a part of Callie did feel dead, or dying.

She knew she would not be in the mood to socialize during the team lunch, so she headed back to her office instead. No matter how she was feeling, she would do her best to get through some menial paperwork or minor edits that didn’t require much brain power.

When she swung the door to her office open, it didn’t quite feel like her. She could see framed posters on one side of the room - blown-up photos from articles that had been written about her or interviews that she had done under the encouragement of the company’s PR team. Analytics, Inc. was proud to have a woman as their Chief of Marketing, and they wanted the world to know that.

The only thing Callie loved about her office was the giant desk that sat in front of the huge wall-to-ceiling windows. Instead of facing the door, Callie chose to have the desk adjacent to the window so that she was facing the opposite wall, and she could work undistracted.

She was relieved to sink into her comfortable chair and dig into her work. It was always a great distraction - one that she enjoyed. She loved pouring over data and seeing how some of their experiments were going. She determined the successful ones that were worth sharing at the next leadership meeting and archived the others that didn’t quite work.

Even if some experiments didn’t provide winning results, they could still learn from them or improve them for later testing.

When the office got darker, Callie finally glanced up from her desk. The sun was setting outside, letting her know that she should get a move on if she didn’t want to be late for the birthday party. Just as she was wrapping up for the evening, there was a gentle knock on her door, and Ruth pushed her way inside.

“Hi, Ms. Everett!” She greeted enthusiastically. Her smile was infectious, and even now, when Callie was feeling a bit anxious, she still found her spirits lifting at the sight of Ruth. “I was on my way out when Trends sent me the final layout of the article they wrote about you. They’re running it tomorrow.”

Ruth handed her some papers, and Callie saw her photo along with a huge tagline that named her, “The Queen of Conversion?” Callie read out loud. Well, that was new, she’d give them that.

“That’s what they’re calling you because of the amazing way you help companies convert leads into actual clients,” Ruth said with glee in her voice. “Frankly, I think it’s very catchy and creative. We may want to forward that to PR and see about making it a trademark.”

At that, Callie had to chuckle. She was glad to see that her hard work had paid off, but maybe not in the way that she was expecting. Still, she tried to be happy about this victory. “Thank you, Ruth. You should add that to our calendar, so we don’t forget.”

“I already did, Ms. Everett,” Ruth replied readily, a proud look on her face.

“Great job, Ruth,” Callie praised, always pleased when her assistant thought ahead of her. “Do you mind if I keep this?” Callie added, holding up the paper.

“Not at all, Ms. Everett! I’ve got my copy,” Ruth answered, making the smile widen on Callie’s face. She wished she could grab dinner with Ruth instead of her family. Sighing, she put the article in her bag and excused herself. The sooner she got to the dinner, the sooner she could leave, and the sooner she could go back to having her peace of mind.