Free Taking Chances by Nina Perez

Grateful, Part 1
Chloe
     
    Lila’s new assistant was driving me crazy. Jules knew her job, but she didn’t know she knew it. She constantly second guessed herself and that was a definite no-no when working for Lila. Every task Lila gave her required Jules coming to see me first and asking my thoughts on the best way to get it done. She’d timidly knock on my door, poke her head inside with her brown eyes wide, and ask, “Do you have a minute?”
     
    It wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I’d told her, “Just see me with any questions.”  I was beginning to wonder how she got hired in the first place. How did she make it through the interview process with such low confidence? Lila would have eaten her alive. Then Myra informed me that Jules was related by marriage to Hampton Lloyd. Who needs self-confidence on the job when your uncle-in-law owns the place? Still, it was frustrating because she had the chops. She just needed to focus and believe in herself. She definitely needed to stop running to my office every damn time Lila tossed her a to-do list, her calendar, and instructions to “make it work.”
     
    One afternoon I tried to be polite yet firm in letting Jules know that I’d help her—but only briefly, as I had my own work to complete. She vigorously nodded her head; her brown ponytail bobbed up and down, and an appreciative look spread across her round face.
     
    “Oh, I understand. I’m sorry. It’s just I don’t want to mess up.”
     
    I spent twenty minutes explaining how to run a performance analysis on a major client’s social platforms. “You make it all look so easy,” she told me once we were done.
     
    “It’s okay. You’ll get it, too.”
     
    “I hope so,” she said, rising to leave. “And thanks again for doing this. I know you’re busy. It’s just that Lila is always talking about how great you were. I figured I’d rather check with you first before making a mistake.”
     
    “Give it time.”
     
    She thanked me again before leaving. It was nice to hear that Lila thought so highly of me in my old role because my new one was intimidating as hell. Though I still reported to Lila, it was in a completely different capacity. I was one of several project managers on a team that reported to her.
     
    I was relatively new, which meant I didn’t have any big clients; I mainly had small companies with small advertising budgets. That didn’t matter. They were mine, and when they wanted to launch new social media promotions they called me. It was my job to oversee everything involved in their projects. I developed concepts, assigned tasks to team members, and then managed the whole project to make sure that the client was happy and, above all, that it came in under budget. My current project was to develop a Facebook campaign for a car dealership that operated out of the tri-state area. My team had a meeting scheduled later that day during which I’d have to tell one of them that their first concept, in a word, sucked. That was my least favorite part of the job.
     
    My cell phone vibrated against my office desk. I checked the display screen to find Patrick had sent a text message.
     
    Pizza OK? We have enough cooking 2 do next week. xoxo
     
    Fine with me. xoxo
     
    He was right; we did have more than enough cooking to do next week as it was Thanksgiving and we were having two of them. Yes, two Thanksgivings, and they were Patrick’s idea. We hadn’t told many people that our relationship had changed. I’d told Crystal, and Patrick had confided in Paul, but that was about it. We were living in this cocoon, in our own little world. That world was about to be infiltrated by Thanksgiving around the corner and my mother’s visit looming. She’d long since gotten over her reservations about me living with a man. She understood that when Patrick moved in it had been a necessity; I needed a roommate and I couldn’t afford the rent alone. After a while she was just relieved that