Looks like my sweet revenge could gag an elephant.
Lucy, Anna, and Ida all look at me, tossing curious looks around the room.
揓ust sit wherever you抮e comfortable,?Anna says as Miss Poe lingers without quite sitting down.
揝he抯 comfortable there,?I say matter-of-factly.
She nods梩oo briskly梐nd pulls out the chair at the other end of the table.
I turn my head to Anna again. 揗iss Patel, would you kindly bring Miss Poe a cinnamon roll? I believe we have a few left in the box outside and I抦 sure she抎 enjoy one for visiting us today. Everyone in this city is practically ready to go to war over those rolls.?
Anna nods at me and stands.
Dakota throws up her hand, finally showing me a hint of the hellcat I抦 used to. 揘o, Miss Patel. Thank you, but I抦 good. The roll looks lovely, but I had a huge bear claw on my way in. I really can抰 eat another bite.?
Anna nods again with a polite smile and sits.
揊rom Sweeter Grind??I ask.
Dakota looks at me like she抯 drilling a hole in my head.
揑s there anywhere else in Seattle worth the calories??
揑 believe there are many places in this city where you can get delicious pastries,?I tell her. 揙f course, the Regis rolls are their signature creation. People will fight over them.?
揑 suppose that抯 true,?she says awkwardly.
I shrug. 揗aybe. Or maybe someone in front of you buys the last pastry in the whole place and refuses to sell it for a stupefying profit. Then you have no choice but to go somewhere else to satisfy your sweet tooth.?
She holds my gaze. 揝ounds like you value availability over quality, Mister桵r. Burns, was it??
揕incoln Burns,?I say harshly, giving a name to the sneer she won抰 forget for the rest of her natural life.
Such a shame.
She has the right backbone to work long hours on a luxury line. Too bad I have a policy against hiring deranged pastry thieves who put pride over commonsense profit. Even if it抯 not in the HR handbook, it抯 my policy, made up right here.
Still, I抦 not above making her squirm like a worm on a hook for the next half hour.
Anna and Lucy sit quietly, watching this baffling tennis match of words with muted, wondering looks. Finally, Anna clears her throat.
揝o, Miss Poe, I checked out your website,?Anna says. 揧ou抳e done some excellent work. The project I was most interested in was the campaign you did for a local florist last year. That抯 exactly the kind of creative edge we抮e looking for. Can you tell us about it??
For a second, Poe looks at me. The eyes live up to her namesake, at least. A whole army of ghosts and nineteenth century killers dance in her gaze.
揧ou heard Miss Patel. Can you??I whisper slowly when she抯 quiet for too long. 揈xpiring minds want to know,?I say, deliberately swapping out inquiring for expiring.
I抎 love to think I threw her off her game. Knocked her flat with the sheer shock of seeing me here, a hate note from the universe that what goes around comes around in spades.
Only, she smiles, exuding an annoying confidence with teeth that seem too sharp.
揑抎 love to,?she says, locking those bewitching green eyes on me. 揕et抯 see, where do I begin…？
3
Only This And Nothing More （Dakota）
揑抎 love to. Let抯 see, where do I begin…？I say, then everything goes right out the window.
I can抰 even remember the question.
And it抯 all thanks to the brute in the suit who抯 painfully close to me, staring like he抯 holding my death warrant.
Breathe.
So Hot Shrek梩he Grand Duke of Dickheadistan himself梚s on the interview panel. So what?
There抯 basically no chance you抮e going to get this job, but you can still be the best candidate. You can make everyone else question his decision-making when he hacks up some sorry excuse for shooting you down.
I draw in a deep breath. 揑抦 sorry. Can you repeat that??
揑 was just asking if you could tell us about the project you did for the florist,?Anna says, cocking her head like she抯 wondering if I抦 okay.
Right. It抯 face-saving time.
The job was for almost no pay and involved thousands of dollars?worth of flowers. I slogged through it the same way I抣l strap on my mud boots today, too.
揟hey were having a hard time competing with the bigger chain shops. Most of their previous campaigns focused on the flowers themselves. After studying competitors?ads, I realized they focused more on the experience. So I asked the florist, 慦hy buy my bouquet from you instead of the place down the street??She said, 慖t will be every bit as beautiful at half the price.?慦hy do I care??At this point, she looked at me like I was dumb and told me, 慪ou抣l save money. Obviously.?But again, 慦hy do I care??She came back with, 慏uh! You can use that money to fly to Hawaii with your new husband!?And that抯 what I went with. She gave me the perfect concept, unwittingly. A smiling couple leaving for their honeymoon with the bride still clutching her bouquet. The flowers were almost an afterthought when sentimentality makes brides buy flowers.?I pause, stretching my hands on the table. 揅opywriting is all about emotion. We all like to think we make decisions based on logic, but really, most people let their hearts do the deciding.?
My eyes unintentionally fall on Satan. He抯 fit for the fallen angel part today with that navy-blue suit stretched over his mile-wide shoulders, a brown tie tucked neatly into his suit that抯 barely a shade off from his dark, piercing eyes.
What emotional connection does Lucifer have to his cinnamon rolls? I wonder.
I remember how he just offered me one for the ego stroke.
Does he get off on power play involving pastries? Is this how he buys loyalties and seals business deals?
I almost laugh at the absurdity, but it would make a twisted kind of sense.
Careful. You have one chance to pull this out. Act normal, a voice whispers in the back of my head.
揥hat made you go into copywriting??Anna asks.
揅opywriting梬ell, actually writing in general梙as been my jam since I was eight years old.?I smile. 揑 started a lemonade stand in my front yard. My first banner was pretty boring and it said something like Lemonade fifty cents. The first two hours, people kept walking past. When I went inside for lunch, I made a new banner. Beat the heat with ice cold lemonade!!! I remember using three exclamations at the end. I made ten dollars and we ran out of lemonade before sunset. That抯 when I realized that the words you use matter. Sometimes a whole lot.?
揝mart thinking, especially for a kid. What抯 your biggest achievement??Lucy asks.
揥hen I was in high school, I won the Young National Poet抯 award棓
Lucifer snorts. So loudly I stop mid-sentence, my eyes whipping to him.
揥ith a name like Poe, it must be in your blood,?he growls.
Very funny, prick. You抮e such a funny man you抳e made the whole room quiet enough to hear a pin drop.
揧ou抮e not a copywriter, are you??I glare back at him, hoping if I act fearless long enough, then maybe I抣l actually feel brave sooner or later.
He glares at me. 揑抦 the CEO.?
Holy yikes.
I almost choke. This maniac runs the entire company?
I had him pegged as some high-level project manager, a midwit with a God complex inflated to Jupiter.
But it looks like he owns his own corporate kingdom to help justify the mania.
Just peachy.
Somehow, this keeps getting better.
揥ell, marketing copy has to be original梱ou can抰 just swipe it from somebody else,?I explain.
Anna snickers.
揧eah??Lucifer asks. 揑抦 not sure what you抮e implying, Miss Poe.?