A Curve Ball Called Love

“I want to know everything he does,” she’d said. “If he so much as takes a dump, I want to know about it.”

Ian had done exactly that. He had kept tabs on the comings and goings of Douglas Ingram and that was how Tiffany found out about Douglas getting a new office.

“What do you mean he has a new office?” Tiffany asked. “No shareholder has an office. The board room is their office and even then, they only get to use it quarterly. Otherwise it belongs to Entity staff.”

Ian shrugged.

“Well, I should probably point out the fact that he didn’t really get an office.”

Tiffany raised an eyebrow.

“Now you lost me.”

“He kind of took over someone’s office,” Ian went on and Tiffany forced a laugh.

“Really? Who?” she asked.

“Vincent Abrahams.”

Tiffany sighed loudly and leaned back in her chair. He hadn’t only taken over one of the employee’s offices without cause or warning but he just had to pick one of the most temperamental people at the company. Vincent was like the evil queen and stepmother all moulded into one figure of white privilege. If it wasn’t for how good he was at his job, Tiffany was pretty sure that he would have been out of a job a long time ago.

“How did he handle it?” she asked. “Vincent?”

Ian shook his head.

“I’m not so sure how I’m supposed to answer that.”

“Why? Did he make a scene or something?” Tiffany was more concerned than ever.

“Well, no. That’s the surprising part.” Ian sat down in one of the two chairs in front of her desk. “To be honest, that’s the main thing that has me so worried.”

Tiffany bit her lip and took a long, deep breath. Her assistant was right. Having little to no drama from the most dramatic person she knew was a little weird to say the least. She clasped her hands together and then intertwined her fingers, wondering what she was supposed to do next. There was so much to do and she just couldn’t focus all her energy on Douglas.

“Get HR to move Vincent into another office ASAP,” she said.

“That’s going to be hard. Vincent loved his office… he had it personalized. Down to every little detail.”

“Well, he’s going to have to settle in his new office and maybe I can talk to Virginia about giving him a bonus this month. I know it will look like hush money…”

“Really?” Ian asked.

The tone in Ian’s tone was cynical at the very least. It was obviously hush money but he knew as well as she did that she could spin the facts so that it looked like appreciation for his work.

“Well, in truth, we’re due for the quarterly bonuses anyway and Vincent has grown our online presence significantly.” She shrugged. “It would be the normal and expected thing to do.”

Tiffany reached for a file on her desk and handed it to Ian.

“This is the hard copy of the new press release on Xavier’s case. I already sent an email to the relevant parties but this goes directly to Lauren Flores’ desk. Not the station. Her desk, specifically, and need I add strictly?”

Ian took the file and shook his head.

“You give a lot of scoops to Lauren Flores. Any reason you favor her over the hundreds of journalists out here?”

“She has journalistic ethics. Real ethics, not just a front like the rest put up,” she answered.

“Do you mind telling me more on that?”

Tiffany sighed. Ian wasn’t letting up.

“Some time back, we were handling one of the biggest advertising campaigns we’ve ever handled. It was the inclusive underwear brand launching and there was a lot of buzz around the event,” she started as she began typing on her laptop.

“Understandably. Plus size women never have choices in general clothing let alone underwear,” Ian pointed out and Tiffany looked up at him.

“I have to admit, I’m a little surprised that you know that fact.” She’d thoroughly minced her words. What she really meant was that she was always confused about Ian. He always seemed to know a little too much about fashion and alternative lifestyle trends. It served the purpose in the business but even after working with him closely for so long, she never really knew how to react when he spoke on something that was clearly not his forte. It was always a pleasant surprise.

“Well, I like to keep up with the trends. It could come in handy one day when I’m interviewing for assistant public relations officer or vice president of Entity Media,” Ian said with a smile.

“Good for you,” she said before she went on typing. “So, while the designer was working hard to ensure that she could beat her deadline, a story leaked to the tabloids that she’d had some cosmetic surgery done and every journalist ran with it. Except for Lauren.”

Tiffany looked up from her computer.

“She said that a woman who took so much pride in creating for the plus size market because she was one herself couldn’t just lay on a table for cosmetic surgery unless there was absolutely no other alternative. She knew that there was more to the story so she decided to check her facts before saying anything on air. That was how I met her.”

“I still don’t get it,” Ian said.

“She knew that we were handling her PR, so she contacted me and told me that she wasn’t about to pull down a fellow woman based on rumors. She wanted the real story but she was clear that if it wasn’t real, then she wasn’t going to report on a woman looking to feel good about herself just for the ratings.”

“That’s admirable,” Ian pointed out and she nodded, smiling.

“I know. Which is why she was my first call when the designer decided to go public with her health issues. She got an exclusive with Miranda Tate. The only exclusive she ever gave and we’ve had a strong professional relationship since.”

Ian nodded.

“You should really consider writing a tell-all based on your life as a public relations agent,” he said as he began walking to the door.

“Yeah, that isn’t going to happen. I have professional courtesy. Now I need that copy sent to Lauren like ten minutes ago,” Tiffany said dismissively before she went back to work.

She still had a lot to do before she called it a day or even looked in on Douglas. Something told her that if she looked in on Douglas, she might not be in the mood to work on anything later on. She looked through the other proposed photos for the upcoming campaigns. She usually liked to be two issues ahead. That was always her plan but she also had to be able to think on her feet because things had a tendency to change a little too fast in the industry she worked in. Apart from that, she had to make sure she always had a plan in case everything went south. Scripted press releases and regular photo shoots were how she worked and so far, her plan of action always seemed to be on top things. Well, that and how to handle herself in the middle of heated arguments. It was a quality she realized came handy in a lot of her mediations.

When she’d done all that she was supposed to, she leaned back in her chair and sighed in desperation when she realized what she’d been putting off had to finally be done. She pushed her chair back and made her way to what used to be Vincent Abrahams’ office but what she saw made her heart almost stop.

“Dear God, no,” she thought as she stood at the doorway.

The office still had a touch of Vincent all over but Douglas had brought in a few personalized items like signed baseballs and a framed hundred-dollar bill that she was definitely going to ask him about later. After all, it was no secret that Douglas made his first million at nineteen when he first got into the stock market.

As she stood there, she couldn’t help but wonder how a man looking so dapper in a customized suit could look so ridiculous at the same time. He had two girls with him and it wasn’t the company she minded so much as how he was acting around them.