Open Eyes (Open Skies) by Marysol James Read Free Book Online Page A

again, losing confidence.
    “Vicky,” he said gently. “That’s OK. Let’s see it, alright?”
    She swallowed and clicked on her laptop. “OK. Here… here it is.”
    Rob sat down next to her and looked at the ad. It was rough, sure, but it was all there, everything they had wanted: it was warm and inviting and featured a family. Julie really wanted to promote Open Skies as a place for families to come to ski, horseback ride, and skate. Vicky’s proposal would appeal to both parents and to kids.
    She was twisting her fingers. “I was thinking, you see, about a piggy-bag kind of thing – this ad could run first, but it’s really just the first of three. I have ideas here for two more ads.” She handed Rob a stack of papers covered in hand-written notes and hurried sketches with an apologetic expression. “I can type it up for you, of course, I just didn’t have time yet. But I suggest running this first ad, the second one two weeks later, the third one two weeks after that.” She tapped the notes. “I picture the three ads as three separate parts of a bigger picture.”
    “Like a running story?” Lindsey said. “Each ad gives a bit more information about the family and our services?”
    “Exactly. And by doing things this way, we actually buy some time – we can stagger the release of the ads and sort things out with Robinson. If we can’t get them to agree to do the work at a significant discount for the little trick they pulled and which lost us over a month, we still have time to approach someone else.”
    Rob leaned back and surveyed Vicky. The woman was nothing if not a surprise.
    “How did you come up with this whole concept so quickly?” he asked.
    I just imagined the way I’d want to spend Christmas at Open Skies with Sonia and Mom. After that, it was easy.
    Vicky shrugged. “It just came to me.”
    “Well, OK,” he said. “I’m glad it did. We may be able to pull this off yet.”
    Lindsey nodded.
    “Lindsey, please call Teddy over at Robinson and set up an emergency meeting for today. No excuses, OK? Today.” He grinned at Vicky. “And I want you to come with me to the meeting.”
    “Me? Oh. Oh, no…”
    “Yes, you. You are going to come and show them the ad they couriered over yesterday and the one from four years ago. You’re also going to show them what you managed to come up with in just one night. They have a lot to answer for, I think, and you’re going to make them answer.”
    Vicky was about to protest again and then a small voice inside of her spoke up: What are you doing? Come on, Vicky. You used to eat lazy studio layout designers for breakfast… go on and do it again. Hell, you may even enjoy it.
    She squared her shoulders and looked up at Rob. “OK. I’ll come with you.”
    **
    “You should have seen her. She kicked their asses from one side of the meeting room to the other – and she was so totally polite the whole time. I think Teddy and Gordon were shocked and awed to the point of terror. I kid you not.”
    Julie, Jake and Tammy laughed.
    “So, do we get our first ad for free?” Julie asked as Rob – ever the attentive dinner host – poured her some more wine.
    “Nope,” Rob said. “Teddy offered to do that and Vicky very sweetly told him that the first ad was already free – because she had done it for them.”
    “Oh, my God,” Tammy said. “I love her.”
    “So then Gordon jumped in and said that they’d do the first two ads at no charge. Vicky thought about that for a minute and finally agreed, like she was doing them a big favor by accepting the free work. But she said that she’d be supervising them personally and no more nonsense. She actually said ‘nonsense’.” Rob shook his head. “I damn near hugged her, I swear.”
    “Wow,” Jake said. “It seems that Ms. Thompson is going to keep those boys in their place, huh?”
    “With smiles and sweetness,” Tammy said. “So much more effective than yelling.”
    “You know,” Julie