Trust in Advertising

“No, bring him by. If Julian goes with Hunter, then we can see more of each other. And if you say Vincent’s a good guy, that’s all the recommendation I need. Anyone has to be better than that strange guy—Reid? Something’s off about him, and I really don’t feel like talking to him all hours of the night on campaign things. I’ll work my magic on the big guy, don’t worry. It’ll be fine.” Christina glanced over her shoulder and saw Claire heading in Julian’s direction. Suddenly feeing territorial, Christina excused herself and ran off in pursuit.

Left on her own, Lexi’s head began to swim with excitement. Oh my God, I think I just got Vincent a meeting with Julian Stone. It took every bit of self-control she had to not do a happy dance in the middle of the ballroom.

The party finally began to pick up, and the elite of San Francisco poured into the ballroom at an alarming rate. Donation checks were being written left and right, and the champagne flowed. Lexi stood off to the side and took inventory of the guests, noting that about half of the people on the hit list were already in the room. Celebrities that Lexi had only seen on television stood ten feet away from her, and she had to fight the urge to gawk at them or ask for an autograph. When Cameron Lett, the star of the biggest action film of the year, said hello to her and complimented her on her dress, Lexi was completely star struck. Fortunately, Leigh found her and led her back to the table before she could make a fool of herself.

“I can’t believe all the people who I recognize from the newspaper and magazines,” Lexi told Leigh as she watched Anna, Erik, and Madison make their entrance down the staircase. Madison was dressed to the nines, complete with long gloves and a sparkly tiara tucked neatly into her hair. Anna’s husband, Erik, was a well-known photographer in the business, and as soon as they made it off the last step, people crowded around the couple, greeting them and admiring their daughter, who instantly became the center of attention.

“I saw you talking to Julian Stone earlier.” Leigh leaned in closer to get the skinny. “Is he nice?”

“Yeah, he was a normal person. I think I might have gotten Vincent a meeting or at least lunch with him. Word is he wasn’t too thrilled by Reid when they had their meeting last week, so hopefully Vincent can dazzle him a little.”

“That’s awesome, Lexi! What a snag he would be for Hunter.”

Lexi continued watching the people come in and out of the room, marking them present and accounted for on her mental tally. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a very distinguished-looking taller man with long, whitened hair standing off to the side, talking with someone. She knew the man to be Paolo Marradesi, one of the heads of Marradesi Cosmetics. Curious, she sprung to her feet and decided to do a little snooping and perhaps grab a snack from the flock of servers hovering around the man.

“I’ll be back. I’m going to grab something to eat.”

Just as she got close to the spot where he had been standing, the sound of Paolo’s fluent Italian faded. She looked around and saw him being led across the room by his wife Francesca where he was greeted by a large group of people, one of whom was David Reid. Any chance she had of eavesdropping was gone unless she wanted to risk contact with Reid. Dejected, she grabbed a crab cake and continued her people watching from a secluded corner of the room.

“Lexi?”

She spun around to see Mrs. Dee standing right beside her with two glasses of wine in her hand. She offered one to Lexi.

“You look spectacular, dear.” Mrs. Dee smiled warmly.

“Thank you.” Lexi blushed. “What are you doing lurking in the corner?”

Mrs. Dee sighed. “I need a few minutes to myself. There are quite a few people here, and a person can only make small talk for so long before they want to scream. Besides, I saw you standing here by yourself and figured I’d come keep you company.”

“You weren’t kidding about there being a lot of people here.”

“What do you think of the gala so far?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it. We didn’t have parties like this where I lived before I moved to San Francisco.” Lexi chuckled as Mrs. Dee shook a few hands of people passing by.

“I have to ask, how are you enjoying your job?”

“It’s great.”

Mrs. Dee didn’t even try to hide her surprise. “Really? You enjoy working for Vincent?”

“Sure. He can be short tempered, impatient, and stubborn, but I pay attention to the way he does things and make sure that everything is in order for him. That seems to help make him less irritable. He actually chatted with me today, so I think maybe I’m making progress,” Lexi said hopefully. “But underneath all the hostility, he’s a nice guy. I can tell.”

“That’s wonderful. I’m glad you don’t regret your decision to come to Hunter. Of course, I hear Mr. Reid is still hoping to change your mind this evening and get you to work for him. He said something about a dance?”

Lexi paled considerably, her jaw dropping in shock. Mrs. Dee quickly laughed and let her off the hook. “I’m sorry, dear. I was just kidding. The Reid tango is infamous. I assumed Leigh warned you.”

Lexi let out a huge sigh of relief and watched Mrs. Dee greet more guests. She introduced Lexi to the Warners, who owned a large investment firm based in Seattle, as Lexi knew from her cards. They were considering moving their base of operations to San Francisco, so Vincent wanted to make sure he took a moment to introduce himself.

“What do you do at Hunter, Lexi?” Mrs. Warner asked.

“I’m Mr. Drake’s assistant.”

“How is he to work with?”

“He’s wonderful. Everyone at Hunter is. It’s like a big family, very supportive and welcoming. I’m very happy there.”

“I’ve heard wonderful things about them, so I told Arnold we needed to come say hello. He can be so stubborn sometimes, but when I get a feeling about things, I make him listen to me. For some reason, I have this feeling that Hunter is a company we could work with.” Her husband gave her a little nod, indicating he saw someone else he needed to talk to. “Duty calls. I must go be a social butterfly. It was lovely meeting you, Lexi.”

“You too, Mrs. Warner. Good luck in the marathon.” Lexi remembered this detail from her research at the last second.

“Thank you so much!” Mrs. Warner turned to Mrs. Dee and beamed. “I like this girl. We’ll talk more later. Tell Vincent to save me a dance.”