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Mirabelle, she was
not going to disappoint.

 
    An hour later, she rapped lightly on my
door before letting herself in. She had a lot of nerve just walking in all the
time like that, but I chalked it up to her naivety. Even Sapphire never had the
audacity to just barge in like that. Mirabelle was reminding me of a bratty
little sister I had once upon a time, only this time she was a sexy, young
woman.

 
    Mirabelle took a seat across from me with
a stack of handouts. “Here’s your copy of my marketing plan. I really think
it’s going to work. I think it’s going to blow them away and have them signing
on the dotted line by this afternoon.”

 
    “You’re that sure, are you?” I asked as
my eyes scanned the papers. For someone so young, she had the presentation of a
seasoned executive.

 
    “Positive,” she said. “Let me know if you
have any questions.”

 
    My eyes scanned the papers once more,
looking for something, anything. A flaw that I could point out and tear her
apart for, but I found nothing. Her plan was, quite simply, flawless. It was
better than anything I could’ve come up with on my own.

 
    “This’ll do,” I sighed. I didn’t want her
knowing she’d blown me away quite yet. “For now.”

 
    “Oh,” she replied, her eyes dropping to
her papers in disappointment.

 
    “Johnston account’s on line one, Mr. Woodfield ,” Ruthie’s voice came through on the loudspeaker.

 
    “Ready?” I asked as I studied Mirabelle’s
face. She seemed only slightly nervous, and for an intern, that was damn
impressive.

 
    “Ross, Brenda, Steve,” I said with a
charming smile in my voice. “How are you doing today?”

 
    “We’ve been better,” a man’s voice said
on the other end. “What do you have for us? We don’t have a lot of time, so
make it quick.”

 
    “I’ve got my newest exec, Mirabelle, here,”
I said. I hoped that by calling her an exec, it
wouldn’t go to her head, but I’d be damned if the Johnston account knew my most
talented employee was a twenty-three year old intern.

 
    “Hi,” Mirabelle drawled sweetly. “How’re
you doing today?”

 
    “Good,” they said in unison. “What do you
have for us, Mirabelle?”

 
    “Okay, so did you get the documents I
emailed you earlier?” she asked. I had no idea she’d done that. She was already
way ahead me of me. I sank back in my chair, impressed, and let Mirabelle take
the reins.

 
    “Let’s start with the social media
aspect,” she said. “I’d like to start up a Facebook page and a Twitter account.
We can link them together so we can send our messages from one and they’ll
automatically go to the other, which will cut back on upkeep drastically.
Second, we’ll get some banners and branded pieces to flood the pages with
picture-wise. People always click on pictures, and your banners and headers
will be the first thing they see. They need to be attention-grabbing, and I
have some ideas for fonts…”

 
    I tuned out the rest of it. I didn’t need
to hear it. She had it all down pat. She knew exactly what she was doing, and
she was presenting like the star employee I knew she could be.

 
    I sat back and crossed my fingers across
my lips as I listened to her cute little southern drawl and watched as her eyes
lit up.

 

 
 
NINE

 
 
 
    MIRABELLE

 
 
 
    “So that’s what I have for you,” I said
as I leaned into the speakerphone on Mr. Woodfield’s desk.

 
    “Well,” Brenda said on the other end. “I
think Ross and Steve and I have some talking to do, but I will go ahead and say
that I’m very impressed, Ms. Baker. Preston, we’ll be in touch.”

 
    Preston’s twitchy fingers pressed the
button and ended the call, and his eyes were wild with excitement. My heart
raced as I waited for his feedback. Blowing him away would’ve meant worlds more
to me than impressing the Johnston account.

 
    He stood up and walked around his desk,
stopping