Chapter 13 - The Most Attractive Candidate
Despite her fear, Lydia resolved to project an aura of confidence and professionalism. Maybe Oscar was right that if it looked like she was convinced, it would be easier to convince the board members. More than once, she had repeated his line to herself, that she was already good enough, and that the Board just had not yet been convinced. From the clothes she wore and the way she did her hair to the speeches she had prepared, she was going to look like a person who had everything together.
Half an hour before the meeting was to begin, Luke approached her desk.
“Lydia,” he asked, “how are things coming for your big presentation today?”
“I have all my handouts ready to go and I’ve prepared everything I need to say,” she replied confidently.
“Great,” he replied. “I was counting on that. Listen, we need some food for the meeting. Can you head over to the bakery to get the usual order?”
“Can’t someone else go?” she asked quickly.
“You said everything was ready, didn’t you?”
Lydia couldn’t help but think that he was intentionally trying to humiliate her. She sensed there was something going on that she didn’t know about. She could try appealing to Gerald or even try to get someone else to run the errand for her, but she decided it would be less of a hassle to just do it herself. Luke had not yet been convinced of Lydia’s qualifications, but he soon would be. Besides, this was still technically in her job description and there was more than enough time to go there and back.
On her way out the door she bumped into Soleil. After Lydia’s book project, the next item on the agenda was a board discussion with Soleil to discuss aspects of the promotional tour and to try to finally lock her into a contract for a second book.
“Getting cold feet?” Soleil asked.
“No,” she smiled, “I’m just running a quick errand before the meeting.”
“They’re making you run errands too? The meeting starts in less than half an hour!”
“It’s fine,” said Lydia, hiding her frustration. “I have everything I need ready for the meeting, and the bakery is just around the corner.”
“This is your big meeting and they are making you get the coffee break? They may as well ask you to wear a short skirt and drive the beer cart for them as they play a round of golf after the meeting.”
“Well, it was just Luke,” Lydia said, to correctly channel Soleil’s frustration.
“Somebody else should really be doing this,” insisted Soleil. “I’m going to go have a talk with that good-for-nothing, son of a …”
“No,” interrupted Lydia, “don’t worry about it. They can say what they want about the project, but I don’t want them to have any reason to say that I don’t do my job here.”
“Okay,” said Soleil hesitantly, “I guess I’ll see you in the meeting then.” Soleil kept her word and didn’t confront Luke, but she made a mental note to mention it to Gerald.
The order was ready quickly at the bakery just as Lydia expected, and she was back at the office in plenty of time before the meeting, but the amount of food she had brought meant that she had to make several trips from her car. Since it was near the door, she put everything on her desk rather than take it directly into the conference room. When she came in the second time with the carafes of coffee, a familiar face greeted her at her desk.
Gerald’s mother was sitting in Lydia’s chair with the same knitting bag on her lap that she had at their initial meeting.
“I’m so glad you came again,” said Lydia. “I wanted to thank you again for the pie. It was delicious.”
“Oh, never you mind about the pie,” she said humbly. “It was no trouble at all. Come to think of it, now that you have a pie plate, I should give you my recipe.”
“I’m not much of a cook,” Lydia replied. “Is it easy to make?”
“No, but it used to be that we didn’t eat anything that was.”
She was about to say something else when she quickly drew a handkerchief from her purse and started coughing.
“Are you okay?” Lydia asked. “That cough sounds pretty bad.”
“Oh, these old lungs,” she began with a weak laugh, “they just can’t deal with the dry winter air as well as they once did. I’m going to see my doctor tomorrow and he’ll likely give me a little something for it. But don’t you worry about me. Anyhow, I wrote up a little card for you.”
Lydia looked down at the envelope with her carefully handwritten name. She quickly read the note and smiled up at the old woman. “Thank you so much,” she said.
“Now, I know not everyone likes hearing this, especially my grand-children, but I am praying for you. Whatever you need for this project, whether it’s the right helpers, money, or strength, I’m sure it will be given to you.” With that she drew the handkerchief to her mouth and coughed some more.
Lydia would have found it more comforting if the giver this woman had been referring to was Gerald. Since God had little to no influence at Westminster Printers, Lydia was sure those prayers were in vain. Lydia didn’t quite know what to say, but it wasn’t because she was uncomfortable. In fact, with the love and hope this woman conveyed through her smiling, wrinkled face, Lydia realized that she had perhaps never been this comfortable in a discussion involving God.
“Now what’s all this?” the woman asked, alleviating Lydia’s anxiety about what to say next.
“Oh,” she answered quickly, “these are the refreshments for the meeting.”
“Well,” the grandmother exclaimed, “you shouldn’t have to take care of this, not today, not with what you are doing in the meeting.” And with that, she picked up the boxes of muffins and pastries and turned toward the boardroom.
“No,” Lydia said quickly, “please, you don’t need to do that.” Lydia tried to take them away, but the old woman made it clear she was not going to let go. Lydia picked up her folders, the carafes of coffee, and the knitting bag, and followed her to the boardroom. Because of the senior’s slow pace, Lydia was still able to open the door for her when she arrived at the boardroom.
“Mother,” said Gerald, interrupting a conversation he was having with a board member, “you shouldn’t have to carry these things.”
“And I suppose you think she should,” his mother said with a scowl. Meanwhile Lydia had begun arranging the food and drinks on the refreshment table.
Gerald looked over at Soleil who was also staring at him, and then he gave a disappointed look toward Luke.
When the time came for Lydia’s presentation, she distributed the new documents she had prepared. “Now I know you have all brought your folders from the last meeting,” she said once all the papers had been handed out, “but in today’s package you’ll find two new candidates as well as some more information on the other four. I know your time is valuable, but I’m sure you’ll find this new information will prove worthwhile.”
Between meetings, Lydia had kept up her correspondence with the other four candidates and she had included a few of their comments in the package. She had also asked them to fill out an estimation of the kind of start-up money and royalty percentages they would expect. The only part of this new information that was noteworthy to Lydia was the remuneration that Reverend Ballard was expecting. It seemed exorbitant to her, but given the warm reception his name had received earlier, she had no idea if this would change anyone’s mind about him or if they were prepared to gladly pay the amount.
Also, despite his opposition, Lydia presented Oscar as a candidate. She had simply taken the email he sent her after the breakfast and rearranged it into the format of an article. If they liked him she was sure he wouldn’t say no, and if they didn’t, then Oscar never had to know she had done this.
She was fully prepared to defend either Zack or Oscar. She still didn’t know what she would do if the board members were still convinced that Reverend Ballard was the best option. She thought that maybe if Oscar was on the dev
elopment team, then it could be bearable.
The boardroom was quiet as everyone read over the new material. Lydia was hoping for any kind of sign of approval or disapproval, but the men all read quietly without displaying emotion. As a non-board member Soleil wasn’t entitled to participate. The only things breaking the silence were Soleil flipping through her own notes for later in the meeting, Gerald’s mother clicking away with her knitting needles, and Gerald taking out a calculator and entering some numbers.
Finally Gerald spoke up. “I think we’ve all had sufficient time to have a good look at the material. Miss Phillips, is there anything you would like to say first?”
“Thank you, Gerald,” she began, trying to project her most confident voice. “After the previous board meeting, I followed your guidance very seriously. I got some more information from Reverend Ballard and some excerpts from those conversations are provided in the materials. While I recognize his immense wisdom and respectability, I am still not convinced that either his writing style or his content is in keeping with Westminster’s brand image.”
To her surprise she noticed that some of the board members were nodding. She also noticed that they were not looking at his written material or the conversation excerpts, but at the financial proposal he had submitted.
She continued. “In contrast, both of the new writers included in your packets are young men, edgy thinkers and dynamic writers. Either of these two options would be much more in line with our company’s requirements. Also,” she added, deviating from her notes, “they have more modest financial expectations.”
There were more nods.
Maybe she hadn’t meant everything she said, but it was all a part of the plan. Still, she saved the biggest lie for last. “I’d love to hear your thoughts,” she said with a smile.
A Pie Plate Pilgrimage Page 15