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life.”
    “So, what are you saying, sir?”
    Leaning forward, the older man looked him in the eye.
    “I need to see you lead a balanced life. One that allows you to unwind at the end of a day.”
    Jason’s heart plummeted.
    “How do you suppose that I go about making this happen?”
    Mr. Coleman rose from his chair, stood to his full six-foot height, and re-buttoned his jacket—a sign the meeting was over.
    “I can’t tell you that, Jason.” The older man walked toward the door and then halted. “You’re an advertising exec, I’m sure you’ll come up with something—if you truly want this job.”
    Mr. Coleman opened the door and left the office as silently as he had come.
    Damn.
    Jason stood up from his desk and began to pace his office.
    Now how in the world am I supposed to ‘get a life’? Jason had no idea how he was going to be able to show that he had personal distractions in his life.
    “I am consumed by my work. Hell, so is Raquel,” Jason said aloud to himself.
    He took a deep breath. He had to calm down. He didn’t know if Mr. Coleman had given Raquel this same speech or if he was leaning so hard toward him he had given him a little advice to tip the scales completely in his favor.
    Buzz.
    Jason turned toward his desk to answer his intercom.
    “Yes, Jeannie?”
    “Mr. Richardson, all of the staff has arrived. May I send them in?”
    “Send them in.”
    He put his personal life on the back burner, where it was used to being, as his staff filed into his office. He arranged five vacant chairs in a half moon across from his desk, then he perched himself on the edge of it facing them.
    His staff consisted of two graphic designers, Louis Bradford and Anthony Williams, one public relations person, Clarence Brown, and two marketing heads, Cassandra Hinton and Carlos Branch.
    “Well, ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed your rest, because we have a lot of work to make up. We planned for Scorpio’s promotion party to be this summer. Where do we stand with that project?”
    Louis spoke. “First, I’d like to say welcome back, sir. I think I speak for all of us when I say you were greatly missed.” After a brief pause, he went on to say, “We’re almost done with the graphics. We have a few more ideas we’d like to sketch out.”
    “We should be able to have about five boards ready for your review by the end of this week,” Anthony added in.
    Jason nodded his head. Turning around to his desk he picked up the Scorpio file. Opening it, he pulled out two sheets. He handed one to each of the graphics artists. “I jotted down a few ideas while I was away. If they work with what you all have already got designed, then great. If not, then bring me your designs and if I think one of them will work better, we’ll roll with them.”
    While the two designers took a look at the papers, Jason turned toward the others in the room.
    “How about the rest of you?”
    “While you were away, Mr. Richardson, I tossed around and checked on some dates and events this summer that we could piggy back on, something that would draw a lot more attention than if we just threw the promotion party on our own,” Clarence said, enthusiastic.
    Jason could tell by the gleam in Clarence’s eyes that he was bursting at the seams to share his idea. “What did you come up with?”
    “The Neptune Festival this summer at the ocean front.”
    “Based on Clarence’s idea, Carlos and I did some checking around,” Cassandra spoke up.
    Carlos took over. “Mr. Richardson, Riverdale Heights’ ballroom was still available for that Saturday and they had enough rooms for the key people from our agency and Scorpio’s staff.”
    Carlos and Cassandra began tripping over each other to give the details of the party.
    “We thought it would work great in conjunction with the festival, given Scorpio’s line of merchandise,” Cassandra voiced.
    “During the party, Scorpio can have some models wear their latest swimsuits and intimates,