by Simone Jaine
“You have to lie quietly while I read them,” Sonia said.
“Okay. Kiss goodnight,” Aidan demanded and leaned towards his aunt.
Jem then Eben dutifully gave him a kiss and waved him goodnight as he disappeared up the stairs.
Daisy and Isabella appeared, carrying the plate Aidan had sampled from between them and moved towards the group of adults conversing by the breakfast bar.
“Would you like to try the dip?” Daisy asked. “I made it myself.”
“Did you really?” asked Celeste as she scooped up a generous amount of cheese dip with a stem of celery and stuck it in her mouth.
“Mmmm,” said Celeste, as she sucked the dip off the celery and gave an enticing little shiver. “Very nice.”
All male eyes in the room were glued to her performance. Jem grabbed a wine bottle and refilled Celeste’s empty wine glass. The sooner she sorted out Celeste the sooner she could send her back to join the rest of their potential clients.
“How did you get it so smooth?” Celeste asked.
“I chewed the lumps up first,” said Daisy.
There were bursts of laughter around them. Jem grabbed her own glass and drained it. She put the glass back on the bench and carefully refilled it and took another swig. Daisy did not just say that to the boss’s wife in the hearing of both of her bosses and goodness knows how many clients. She bit back a groan.
How many had already sampled the cheese dip?
Jem considered finishing the glass of wine she had poured and rationalised it by deciding the way the evening was turning out she would need the rosy glow alcohol provided. She figured she was beyond the point of worrying how it would affect her judgement.
She looked up to see Celeste draining her own glass, maybe hoping that the alcohol would sterilise her mouth.
I’m sure she’s swallowed worse, Jem thought and slapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle that was erupting in her throat.
Mark entered the kitchen and frowned at Jem, interrupting her musings.
“I’m almost ready to start the presentation but I need you to show me where you’ve put the receiver so I can connect my microphone. If you’re finished in here I’d like to get started.”
“Sure,” said Jem, feeling the warmth of the wine spreading through her. She offered the plate containing the cheese dip to him. “Would you care to try the dip? It’s homemade.”
“Okay,” said Mark, surprised, and swiped a carrot stick through the dip.
“This is very good,” he said after the first bite “and so creamy.”
He slid a couple of chips through the dip and munched on them. Jem stumbled forward on her high heels.
What the hell, she thought and kicked them off.
She grabbed Mark by the elbow much as he had done to her earlier and led him away before anyone remaining in the kitchen could comment.
After connecting the microphone to the receiver under the buffet table she left Mark tapping through his powerpoint presentation on his laptop while she checked on the children who were now playing in the guest bedroom. Eben was in the process of setting up a laptop on the foot of the bed to play a movie in the hopes of settling them down. She would worry about the effects of almost continuous movie watching on the children tomorrow.
By the time Jeremy and the girls were seated and the twins settled down in the portable cot, Sonia had returned and took over.
When Jem and Eben returned to the marquee they found that in their absence Mark had started ushering a few people towards seats in anticipation of his presentation. Cherie came rushing up to them.
“I’ve just done a quick headcount and we’re two tables short,” she said urgently.
“Let’s move the dining table out here and set up the picnic table,” Eben suggested. “It’s about the same size and shape and once a tablecloth is on it no one will notice.”
“What about the table settings?” Cherie asked as Evie and Greg came up behind them.
“There are spare glasses in the crates and just grab cutlery from the kitchen drawer. If the caterers haven’t got enough plates then we can borrow some of Jess’s good dinner set as it looks similar enough not to be that noticeable,” Jem said, pleased with her quick thinking.
They worked quickly. Eben and Greg moved the tables while Evie and Cherie brought in dining chairs and the seats for the picnic table to place around them. Jem hurriedly retrieved the glasses and cutlery and threw on table cloths. When that was done they assembled the cutlery and glassware on top.
Luckily a lot of the clients had been in conversation with each other so hadn’t paid much attention to Mark’s request or had noticed the speedily set up tables. Jem’s final touch was to relocate two ivy arrangements from either end of the serving table to place in the centres of the extra tables.
“We’re still six seats short,” Cherie groaned.
“Then we can stand and have leftovers later,” said Jem, crossing her fingers as she hurried to the kitchen to speak to the woman in charge of the catering.
The elegantly coifed woman in black was not pleased to learn they’d have to make the portions go further to accommodate another sixteen clients, not including Sachs Wall staff beyond Nate and Martha. In response Jem pulled out several packets of pasta from the freezer, a couple of jars of Jess’s homemade pasta sauce from the pantry and told the caterer to help herself to anything else in the kitchen or vegetable garden she needed.
The woman nodded sourly even as she switched on the full kettle to get a head start on boiling water for the pasta and told Jem that Sachs Wall was going to be charged the full price for the extra guests despite the food being supplied. Jem agreed that was more than fair before returning to the marquee.
Jem found Cherie pacing in front of a concerned looking Evie by the serving table.
“I thought ordering for an extra ten people would more than cover any extras Mark invited. I knew he’d do this to me,” Cherie muttered as she passed in front of Jem before turning to walk the other way. “Damn Mark for changing the subject every time I asked him how many people he’d invited and a slap on the hand with a wet bus ticket for me for not making him give me an answer. I could really give him a good...”
Jem interrupted Cherie’s rant by grabbing her arm and telling her what she had done. Cherie whooshed out a big breath in relief.
“I hope that will be enough to feed everyone so I won’t get raked over the coals for poor planning,” Cherie said grimly, carefully avoiding Martha’s blue gaze as their boss took a seat at the table nearest the marquee door. Unlike many others, their boss had noticed the addition of two full tables to the seating.
“Most people have probably filled up on hors d’oeuvres beforehand and will think the mains are some sort of nouvelle cuisine so won’t mind the smaller portions,” Evie offered as encouragement.
They all crossed their fingers.
As the clients were getting the message to take a seat and the numbers of people standing thinned out, they realised they had forgotten to take into account one person who had the potential to make their lives difficult if things didn’t go her way.
“Fudge,” said Cherie. “What about Celeste?”
They watched as Celeste made her way between clients to Nate who was smartly dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and a tie in a shade of red to match Celeste’s dress. He was looking for his young girlfriend while standing beside a seated Martha at the table nearest the marquee door. His brown eyes lit up as Celeste approached and he swept back his freshly dyed comb over with a finger. When she stopped in front of him he lifted her hand and kissed her fingertips.
“I don’t want to break the news to her that because she isn’t a client we don’t have a seat for her because she’ll spit nails,” Cherie grouched.
Nate looked around and it became apparent that unless Martha was prepared to give up her seat there wouldn’t be one for Celeste to use. Considering Celeste hadn’t been invited and wouldn’t be able to push
any other staff out of their seat seeing as they didn’t have one to take, Jem wondered how she would handle it.
Luckily no one had to find out. Just as Nate gallantly offered Celeste his seat the younger dark haired man he’d been in conversation with to the other side of him pulled Celeste onto his lap and said something to both of them. As Nate took his seat it became clear that Celeste was going to stay on the potential client’s lap for the presentation. She seemed more than happy about that and Jem just wondered how Nate felt about it, considering it wasn’t him.
He didn’t seem to be bothered considering that he was busy drinking down a vile looking concoction that Celeste had started giving him soon after she started working for him, insisting he finish a bottle of it daily to keep him youthful. Judging by his vagueness lately, Jem thought Celeste should ask for her money back.
She noticed Martha’s lips momentarily tighten and felt strangely comforted by the fact that Martha saw through Celeste even if Nate was determined to find his new girlfriend faultless.
“Who’s she sitting on?” Cherie asked Jem quietly.
“From here I’d guess it was Troy Wright. He’s a start-up chartering luxury yachts in different ports and wants software to coordinate all the bookings,” Jem murmured.
Cherie pursed her lips, raised her eyebrows and nodded.
“Good choice,” she murmured back.
At the front of the marquee Mark opened with a joke which went down well with everyone. He then stepped behind a podium set to one side of the screen and waited while the servers discreetly showed plates of what was on offer to the guests for them to make their selection before starting his presentation.
Did he bring that podium in from his car when I wasn’t looking?
Jem nudged Cherie with her elbow as Eben, Greg and Evie slipped out of the marquee.
“Does he have his own podium?” Jem asked as Mark brought out a laser pointer to highlight a statement on the screen.
“You’re surprised?” said Cherie. “He wouldn’t possibly want to use a soap box.”
Jem sniggered then clapped a hand over her mouth.
No more wine tonight.
They tentatively watched as the meals kept coming out and with relief saw the last person served.
“Come on,” Jem whispered as Nate took a forkful of burrito to Celeste’s pouting lips. “We have things to do.”
They slipped out of the marquee and through the house to Jase’s home office. Inside the office Eben was stapling piles of printouts together which Evie and Greg were adding to information that had been prepared earlier.
“Only another two to do,” Eben told them.
“Great,” said Jem. “I’ll allocate them while Cherie watches the driveway.”
A few minutes later two cars pulled up outside and several people got out. Sam and Crash who were waiting outside, drove the cars down the street to park them as instructed while Cherie ushered the people into the office. As they entered Jem gave each person stapled files.
“Brett, Angela!” she exclaimed as the last two people came through the door. “I didn’t expect you both to be in the country.”
“We’re here visiting the in-laws,” said Brett in his Australian accent. “Neither of us want the promotion as we’re happy in Sydney but couldn’t pass the opportunity to stick it to Mark.”
“Yeah, he has it coming,” added Angela.
O-kay. Maybe this should have been done a lot sooner, thought Jem as she redistributed a few of the files so that everyone had a similar number.
When everyone had perched themselves on desks and chairs and made themselves comfortable, Jem began her spiel.
“In front of you is information from our new software program about the companies represented this evening. Because we are supposed to know everyone here tonight no one is wearing a name tag so the printouts carry photos of the decision makers in the companies for you to identify by sight. If you look under each photo there is a brief bio about that person which may help you decide how to pitch the sale.”
“Eben has downloaded the presentation from Mark’s work computer and a summary of it is on the last page so you know how this is being pitched.”
When the newcomers looked around, Eben held his hand up for a moment so they could identify him.
Jem looked at the clock on the office wall.
“I estimate we only have about twenty minutes before we have to be out there so everyone start reading.”
Cherie ducked out and brought back a tray of savouries. She passed them around and people munched as they read. For the next several minutes only the sound of pages being turned disturbed the silence as everyone present read the information they had been given.
“Are any of these more likely sales than others?” Angela asked as she tapped her files with a manicured fingernail.
“Good point,” said Jem. She looked through the list of people in attendance and gave the names of three companies.
“Who has those?” she asked.
“I have two of them,” said Rod.
“Well, these will be the difficult ones,” said Jem.
“I swap one with you,” said Brett. He showed the company information he had been given to Jem. “Which do you think will be the easiest sale?”
Without hesitation Jem pointed to the company with Garth Smith’s name at the top.
Brett exchanged files with Rod.
“I like a challenge,” he said with a wink at Jem.
Beside him Angela laughed.
When everyone had finished and put down their files Jem said “Come with me” and held a finger to her lips to indicate they should be quiet.
When they got to the marquee they decided to have the newcomers wait out of sight while Greg and Evie took up strategic positions near their clients. While they waited, servers bustled to and fro, removing dessert plates and replacing them with cups of coffee or glasses of something stronger.
Cherie and Jem stood at the back of the room to identify people from the files then went outside to tell the others the best places to wait to approach their targeted clients.
Before long Mark started his final remarks and the rest of the salespeople took up position.
He immediately noticed their presence and momentarily stiffened but being the professional he was, he carried on.
When he finished, there were a few questions. Mark gestured to his fellow employees at the back of the room.
“My sales team will answer your questions,” he said and stepped down from the podium.
My sales team?
He wasn’t wasting any time considering himself above the rest of them, Jem thought.
Mark headed towards Garth Smith knowing he’d be the most lucrative client present but Rod bet him to them. Knowing he couldn’t neatly interrupt and take over, he looked for the next client on his mental list and found her talking with Angela. The next one was talking with Evie and the one after that with Greg.
He stopped in front of Jem who was annotating a brochure between answering queries as she walked around the room in her stockinged feet.
“This is war,” Mark told her before pushing past.
Then he stopped and drew in a breath. He was in a search for his next best sale, hell, any sale. He could not leave tonight until he had shown up the others.
He spied the first client not attached to a sales rep. Damn. It was Aston. He knew it wouldn’t be a hard sale but it would be a lengthy one as Miles Aston liked to talk. And talk.
Resigned, Mark walked towards him.
Chapter 18
Almost two hours had passed by the time Jem returned to the kitchen after seeing off Evie and Greg and the rest of the invited sales reps. The catering company had long since cleaned up after themselves and left, more than happy with the bonus that Martha had personally given them.
Jem opened the fridge and withdrew her coveted slice of double chocolate cheesecake. Luckily a lot of people had filled up on hors d’oeuvres as they had hop
ed so there had been more than enough dessert to go around. She tugged open the cutlery drawer and withdrew a teaspoon to eat the cheesecake in the mistaken belief she would make it last longer that way.
Plonking herself on the barstool beside Cherie, Jem took a mouthful of cheesecake and watched her friend make final annotations to her notes.
“So how did we do?” Martha asked with interest, coming up behind them, a nearly finished glass of sparkling apple juice in her hand.
“We have eleven unconditional sales, five further sales requiring a few tweaks and another eight who are ready to haggle details. Only a handful escaped without committing themselves further,” Cherie reported.
Jem looked away so Martha wouldn’t see her smirk. One of the ones that had got away Mark had tried for. He would have done better if he hadn’t been stuck with Miles Aston for so long beforehand.
Jem wished that she could have seen Mark’s face when he tried to clinch the sale only to be told by Miles that Evie had already closed the sale before the presentation. It served him right for trying to take all the clients for himself.
Mark carried a box to the kitchen and dumped it on the floor, his face like thunder. After his strategic plan had collapsed before his eyes with the arrival of the other sales reps, he had only made two sales and they weren’t the most lucrative ones. He had never worked so hard in his life for so little.
“Where do you want this?” he asked with forced politeness.
Eben walked past him carrying a bigger box.
“Follow me. You can help me put them in the garage.”
Mark scowled but grabbed the box and followed Eben down the hallway.
Yes, this evening was turning out to be pretty good despite the beginning. With the whole sales force present they had their best ever uptake. Mark had tried to leave earlier with Nate on the grounds of discussing the evening at their usual watering hole but found his car was tightly parallel parked between two others that Sam and Crash had insisted weren’t there earlier.
Celeste had drunk more than usual and was very happy so Nate was more interested in getting home and taking advantage of her good mood than in going to the pub. Because Mark couldn’t go anywhere he had reluctantly returned to the house. With Martha still there he had to make himself look good by being useful so was stuck having to help clean up.