Cutting Loose

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Cutting Loose Page 3

by Dash, Jayson


  She sat behind her oval-shaped desk cluttered with a pile of paperwork in her box labeled in/out, next to that was her seventeen-inch flat panel LCD computer monitor, a keyboard and a phone. She also had a couple of framed pictures scattered over the desk, which now had some freed up space now since she tossed away ones that had pictures of her and Carl together.

  She didn’t have a chance for him to evade her memories when her phone starting ringing off the hook. “Sabrina Evan’s office,” she answered in her most professional voice.

  “Hello, Sabrina. I assume you got the memo about the eight-thirty meeting?” It was her co-worker/half-sister from hell Camille, and she didn’t sound mad or angry as usual.

  She opened the folder her assistant Raquel handed to her and found the memo staring her dead in the face. “Actually, I was just getting around to it. I’m heading to the conference room now.”

  “Great. Oh, and Sabrina, make sure you bring your A-game. We really need this account. See you in a few.”

  She took a moment to collect her thoughts. She had completely forgotten about the cosmetic company that was doing and ad in their magazine and it was up to Sabrina to put together an appealing pitch that would make them want to use their magazine at an affordable and reasonable price and if not, they were going to take their millions to some other magazine. And since Fabulous was amongst the top-selling fashion magazines in the world, there was a lot riding on her shoulders.

  But that was the price she paid as being co-editor-in-chief ever since her mother retired and made her half-sister the new editor-in-chief and bumped Sabrina up from creative director.

  The job wasn’t too bad except it consumed the majority of her time and she always found herself going home with a big headache at the end of the day. She honestly couldn’t believe how her mother put up with twenty-three years of this madness; dealing with hundreds of clients, some worth millions of dollars, some worth billions. Sabrina didn’t dream of working for a billion-dollar magazine company when she was younger. She always wanted to be a journalist or something close to it. And then there was her love of fashion ever since she laid eyes on the way her mother used to dress back in her younger days and how her stepfather even dressed like a well-put together guy thanks to her mother.

  For twenty-three years Sabrina’s mother broke barriers and stereotypes of all kinds. Everybody thought she was crazy for wanting to publish a fashion magazine. But it wasn’t the idea of starting a magazine in the mid-eighties; it was just the fact that she was a young, black single mother raising a kid on her own while working two jobs to make ends meet. While other women like her living in the projects were out selling their bodies on the street to strangers, getting raped, beaten and sometimes getting killed, Sabrina’s mother took her good looks to the strip club and started working there, where she eventually met Sabrina’s would-be stepfather Sean. It was instant mutual attraction and from the first lap dance was all it took to have him hooked and not before long he swept her off her feet and out of the projects to New York where they settled down and got married. A year later he loaned her the money to debut the magazine. Then it was off to Miami where things went to a whole new level and the publishing world never knew what it hit it.

  She gathered her folder full of notes just as Raquel walked in with a cup of hot coffee.

  “Anything else I can get you?”

  “That’ll be if for now. Thanks. ”

  “Okay.”

  Sabrina headed over to the conference room, where the room was filled with a bunch of rich white guys in suits and maybe one or two females. Sitting at the head of the table was a thirty-something looking guy dressed in a pen-stripe Italian suit. He arose from his chair and extended his hand. “And you must be the beautiful co-editor-in-chief, Sabrina Evans?”

  “Yes, that would be me.” She shook his hand firmly. “And you must be Lance King, the CEO of King Cosmetics, and world’s top-leading cosmetics company in the world?”

  He smiled and said, “I see you did your homework.”

  “Well, yes. And I happen to be a big fan of King Cosmetics, especially the cherry shimmer lip-gloss—it’s my favorite. And don’t get me started on the eye shadow.”

  “Don’t worry, you won’t,” said Camille as she waltzed into the room, dressed in a crème pantsuit, her crimson colored hair pulled back into a boring bun. “I’ll be sure to stop you.” She shook the investor’s hand before taking her seat at the head of the round table.

  Sabrina took her place in front of the many faces she knew was just waiting for her to say something stupid. She said, “Good morning, everyone.” They smiled and greeted her back. She turned on the projector and a screen descended from the ceiling. She continued, “My name is Sabrina Evans and I am the co-editor-in-chief of Fabulous magazine and I am here today to show you all why King Cosmetics should advertise in our magazine. Now, if you would all please turn your attention to the screen.”

  She stood up there for at least half an hour babbling about how Fabulous magazine was a great way to get Kings Cosmetics’ clients attention in every community nationwide, also noting the tremendous amount of gross the company would make and save versus going to another magazine. Sabrina delivered a powerful presentation, and yet at the end of it all, some people were looking at her as if she didn’t belong there, like she didn’t know what she was talking about. She didn’t want to think it was because she was a black woman standing amongst a crowd of men, so she just kept her cool.

  Lance King looked impressed, and that was her main goal. After he gave her a brief applaud, he said, “Well, Miss Evans, I must say that was a very educating presentation.” He looked to his colleagues and asked, “Can anybody tell me why we shouldn’t sign with Fabulous magazine?”

  They talked amongst themselves and no one said anything about objecting the idea.

  With that, Lance stood up next to Sabrina and said, “Well, I think you’ve got yourself a deal.”

  She smiled, proud of herself.

  They shook hands again and the room went into an uproar of applause. Once everyone left the room, Camille came up to Sabrina and said, “You were fierce up there.”

  Sabrina chuckled and said, “I guess you couldn’t tell how nervous I was up there.”

  “Nope. You did a great job. Well, I have to get started on some ideas for the twenty-third anniversary issue. I don’t even care about it being the weekend. You got any plans?”

  “Of course not.”

  Camille chuckled and added, “Why did I even ask?” she crossed her arms at her chest. “If you spent half as much time on your relationship as you do work, maybe you wouldn’t be so miserable.”

  That stung, for like, a second. She let the comment roll off her. “At least I can get a man.”

  Camille sneered. “At least I can keep one.”

  Turning, Sabrina cursed and hurried back to her office before her temper flared up.

  She took her frustrations of Carl and everything else and channeled it into work. If there was anything practical she learned in college, it was that you have to kill your competition with a smile and when that didn’t work, success was the next best thing. As she worked on her latest assignment, she realized she was supposed to collaborate with Camille. She cringed at the thought of sharing credit with that entitled half-sister of hers who never hesitated to take credit for everything. Looking over Camille’s half, Sabrina felt disgusted and fed up.

  Enough was enough.

  She marched over to Sean Mead’s office and stepped into his spacious office and walked over to his desk. Since he was her stepfather and boss, it made it awkward to come to him at times, fearing that he would think she couldn’t hold her ground.

  His office was dimly lit with a nice homey feel too it; large windows with the blinds closed gave it that darkness that and the atmosphere cool and calm. When Sabrina’s mother worked in the office it was a totally different atmosphere and more chic. Sean looked up from his pile of paperwork, smiled and
said, “Sabrina, it’s good to see you this morning. Please, have a seat.”

  She obliged and took a seat in one of the leather chairs in front of his desk. “Morning, Sean. My head is throbbing.”

  He surveyed the look on her face and asked, “What’s got you looking so upset?”

  Sabrina slid the layout in front of him and said, “Take a look at this.”

  He took a moment to scan the pages. “He looked up and said, “Let me guess: This must be Camille and Tasha’s work?”

  “Yes, sir, it is.”

  He shook his hand and said, “Sometimes I wonder about that daughter of mine and where she gets her horrible work ethics from because she certainly did not get it from me.”

  “That’s for sure.” Sabrina laughed humorlessly. “But seriously though, I’m thinking about starting from scratch. That’s the only way I’ll be able to go to sleep tonight.”

  Sean leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Wow. If I were to say that was unexpected of you would, it would be an understatement. But tell me Sabrina, how are you going to start all over from scratch and have the magazine in time for print? You have to book photo shoots, schedule interviews, and set up meetings with agents and advertisers. Simply put, it is a lot of responsibility for one person.”

  “Trust me, it’ll be a cakewalk. But have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Exactly. Then why doubt me now?”

  She studied him as he waited a beat, considering her words. Ever since he became chairmen after her mother Dorothy stepped down and left him in charge, he was reluctant to take the position but since Dorothy had it written in her will and contract that no other member of the Evans-Mead family could own Fabulous magazine with no exceptions, he really didn’t have much choice. Sabrina and Camille really didn’t have the work experience to be able to handle all the work on their own so it was left to Sean to lead the way until they could and so far he was doing a pretty damn good job at it with no complaints.

  Sabrina was certain that she had the potential to take over once he decided to retire in the far away future, even if that meant fighting Camille tooth and nail for the position. Camille was too immature even for her own age to be able to handle a position with such responsibility and leadership qualities it took to keep the company running. She could barely keep up as it. Sabrina on the other hand, there was no doubt in her mind that she had everything and was a natural-born leader like her mother. Or maybe it was something she picked up from him? He definitely knew how to balance work and family. Sabrina often wondered just how the hell he managed to do it all and make it look so easy.

  Moving around his desk, he said, “You’re right; I have no reason to doubt you, and I won’t.” He waited a beat and asked, “So, what approach are you going with this time?”

  Sabrina stood up and said, “I am not telling you just yet—you are just going to have to wait until the final product is sitting on your desk. And trust me; it is going to be hot!”

  “Of course. Fabulous wouldn’t be a magazine without it.”

  She let out a soft laugh. “Well, I better get started if I want to meet that dead line. I have a lot of phone calls to make.”

  Sure, she had a big mess on her hands to clean up but she was for sure that there was no one else with more dedication than she had to be able to fix and make it look good. She could do it without bitching and moaning about this and that and pointing the blame finger everywhere but at herself.

  “Well, don’t let me get in your way,” Sean said, opening his office door and stepping to the side.

  Before she knew it a full two weeks had flown by in the blink of an eye. And what a hell of a week it had been.

  From dealing with a plethora of non-stop phone calls to this person and that person, scheduling interviews, pulling off the impossible. All in all it was going to be well worth it when she saw the look on Camille’s face when she heard about the newly redesigned issue that she had no hand in and she couldn’t take the credit for it like she always did.

  “What do you mean you re-did the entire issue?” asked Camille once the news first broke that Sabrina had sent the original issue into oblivion and didn’t tell her, the editor-in-chief, anything until the issue had already been sent to the printer.

  “Don’t act like you didn’t see this coming, Camille,” said Sabrina calmly sitting at her desk while Camille stood in front of her desk looking fierce and stunned. “That issue was a disaster so I took the liberty of stepping up and doing what you couldn’t.”

  “Excuse you? Who do you think you are?”

  Sabrina stood up and said, “What is your problem?”

  “My problem is you. How could you go behind my back and change the issue at the last minute and not consult with me about it?”

  “I did what I had to do to save this magazine; and besides, I did not go behind your back—I left a dozen messages on your desk telling you what I was doing after I got approval from Sean and the entire creative department.”

  Camille rolled her eyes. “You’re a real bitch, Sabrina. You’re going to regret crossing me.”

  “If you’re done, you can get out of my office.”

  “Gladly,” said Camille, stepping away. “But this isn’t over by a long shot.” She walked out and slammed the door.

  Sabrina sat behind her desk and laughed just to get the hatred she was feeling for Camille off her chest. She never knew it was possible to loathe someone so much.

  She figured Camille would get over the whole ordeal but once the final issue hit magazine stands worldwide, that’s when all hell broke loose; she came in ranting and screaming about how she didn’t appreciate how Sean just let her do whatever she wanted.

  “This is what my hard work got replaced with?” exclaimed Camille, holding Sabrina’s handiwork as if it was hazardous material, in Sean’s office. “Are you kidding me?”

  “What is the big deal?” said Sean coolly. “You should be glad Sabrina was able to pull your weight and hers to make this issue happen. I saw the sample layout that you were going to send out and if Sabrina hadn’t come in here and shown it to me and stopped it from happening, there’s no telling how many readers we would have lost, not to mention the money.”

  “Why couldn’t I have been involved? I’m the damn editor-in-chief, not her!” She cried as if she was actually convincing someone.

  “Because you’re a grown ass woman,” interjected Sabrina. “And I honestly work better alone. But that’s beside the point, Camille. The point is I saved your ass and I’m tired of it.”

  “Well you know what, Sabrina? I don’t need you saving me. Like you said, I’m a grown ass woman—and if I’m going to make a mistake, I’ll take the blame. That’s fine.”

  “Ladies, I think it’s time you two squash this now. The main thing is that the magazine is on stands and from what I’ve heard, copies are selling like hot cakes.” He turned to Sabrina and said, “Sabrina, I don’t know how you did it, but you did a tremendous job.” He looked at a copy of the magazine and said, “Throughout the twenty-three long years running this magazine we’ve never had such a diverse cover design; that was a brilliant idea, Sabrina.”

  A fake smile crept across Camille’s face. “Okay, you won this time, sis. I’m sorry for getting pissed but you always make me look bad. It’s always been this way since we were little.”

  Sabrina nearly blurted out, “And you still haven’t gotten your shit together,” but held her tongue. Just as good at putting on a fake smile, Sabrina said, “I hate when we fight. Let’s call this one a truce and get back to work.”

  Camille waited a moment. “Agreed.”

  As far as Sabrina was concerned, Camille was a snake and she was never ever going to let guard down around her. Maybe she just being paranoid, but she could feel something in the air. A change was coming. With no relationship taking up precious time, she could now focus on work better than ever. If Camille wasn’t worried before, she
had better get prepared.

  Chapter Five:

  Girlfriends

  In one swift motion, Sabrina threw her long legs out of the car and ran to her front door before the rain had a chance to ruin her hair. She spent a fortune getting it done and all week the weather guy on TV kept making announcements about the weather being cloudy but he never said anything about it actually pouring down. And what a helluva storm she had been through at work.

  Once out of the shower, Sabrina wrapped her body in a towel and ran to the phone to see who was calling her. “Hey, Rina, it’s me, Larissa. Are you still coming over here?”

  “Yeah. I just got out of the shower and I’m about to get dressed.”

  “Okay. Well make sure you put on something good, in that case.”

  Sabrina waited a beat and curiously quizzed, “Why?”

  “Because you’re coming to the club with us tonight.”

  “Just exactly who does ‘us’ consist of?”

  “Me, you and Cassandra. She just got back in town. Are you up for it?”

  Sabrina thought it about it. She really wasn’t the type to like the club scene and it had been a while since she had been out of the house to have a little fun. “Yeah, I’m up for it.”

  “Cool,” said Larissa. “Make sure you wear black and white so we can all look like we match like we used to in high school. Find some tight jeans—I know you have some.”

  Sabrina laughed and replied, “Hey, I know it’s been a minute since I’ve been out but come on now—I work at a fashion magazine for goodness sakes.”

  Larissa chucked and added, “Yeah and I work at a modeling agency but you don’t see me slipping in the wardrobe department.”

  “Uh-huh. I’ll see you in about twenty minutes. Bye.”

  Once off the phone with Larissa, Sabrina scavenged through her closet for something that was club-worthy. She had plenty to choose from.

 

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