Skinny Dipping Read online

  Sophie gave a tight lipped smile. Jessica’s desk sat outside Bradley’s doorway, with a view of the rest of the office, but it wasn’t really like Jessica to act like a team sentinel. Especially not with her. The two of them were relatively close – they even went out for burgers on a Friday. Jessica was a capable woman, not only was she Bradley Clark’s personal assistant, but had stepped up as the group secretary for no extra pay, being in the midst of a recession and all. Jessica was in her early thirties, and recently started studying fulltime at London Metropolitan University. Although she was now a mature aged student, she was sharp as a knife with intelligent, warm, brown eyes.

  Bradley’s door burst open. Jessica almost catapulted from her chair, a stack of papers in her arms and the rest of the office snapped into life with dramatic energy like actors performing on stage. Everyone was all too aware of Bradley, and his presence.

  Staff shouted across the office with great intensity. A girl burst into tears about something. Sophie felt like everyone was standing next to an active volcano, eruptions breaking throughout the office.

  Bradley’s gaze scanned the office floor. His scowl was somehow incredibly attractive. She’d seen him in action. Bradley wasn’t the most reasonable man. He was moody. He had a temper much like a grizzly bear. His gaze settled on her, eyes locking, broody, and angry.

  “Hi, Bradley,” she said, giving a slight wave.

  Those cold, angry eyes told her he was about to snap about something. “Morning, Sophie.” Looming over Jessica and her mountain of papers, he barked an order, then one to the office. “Progress meeting. Every manager to the boardroom, in five.” Everything in the office stopped, and the managers left their stations, stopping what they were doing. Bradley sauntered down the corridor.

  Sophie shot off like an arrow, following Bradley, her heart beating rapidly. “Excuse me Bradley,” she called out.

  Bradley tossed a look over his shoulder, then stopped in the corridor waiting for Sophie to catch up.

  “How are you? How is your head? Did you enjoy the gala?”

  “Oh yes, very much so. I took some aspirin, so I’m fine.”

  “Ah, yes, I had to do the same. I’m sorry I didn’t get to speak to you much. I know you can hold your own. I saw you in deep conversation with Tom Johnson from Barney’s Chocolates. How did you go with him?”

  “Great, but I wanted to talk to you about the Silver account.”

  “Wait for the meeting.”

  “It’s important.”

  “It can wait five seconds.” His voice was scathing as he swept into the boardroom. His smile scanned the room, settling on each person’s face as they entered. His acknowledgement worked like a Mexican wave where each person lit up under his gaze, leaning forward in their seat just in case his eyes would come back around to touch them again.

  Sophie slid into a seat and next came Desmond, from the Art Department. Sophie was surprised he’d made it to the last-minute meeting. Desmond couldn’t actually be called reliable, though when he worked, he was extremely good at what he did. Sophie often found herself micromanaging him to ensure he stuck to budgets, or actually turned up. He was a little overweight, wore crisp suits, perfectly matched, and always managed to look suave.

  “I’ve got the artwork for you to look at when you get a chance.” Desmond leaned over grinning at Sophie, probably trying to look down her top.

  “You’re a star, Desmond. What would I do without you?” The trick to Desmond was to bolster his artistic ego. His face flushed with pride and he settled himself back in his seat. “Casting’s next week.” Desmond was a ladies’ man, tried to have it on with every girl in the office, as well as girls he auditioned.

  “Yeah, I’ll find the right model..., um, I mean, actress.” Desmond was practically licking his lips, salivating at the thought of another string of girls he would probably try to sleep with.

  The real chore would be when Sophie would be stuck finding the right model while Desmond would get all their phone numbers. She’d be left with the grunt work.

  “Morning.” Next was Flora, a copywriter, very clever and quick-witted. She was young with peachy skin, been with the agency for only a few months. Desmond leaned over toward her.

  “Morning Flora, you smell nice today.”

  Sophie refrained from rolling her eyes at the ceiling, and noticed Harry race into the boardroom, diving into a chair – next to Flora, of course. His crush on Flora couldn’t be missed. Everyone knew except for Flora. Harry was the manager of the Digital Department and everything to do with technology. He walked round the corridors hugging walls like a shadow.

  “Morning.” Bradley’s voice resonated around the boardroom as he rapped the long wooden table as if in excitement.

  “Where’s everyone else?” Sophie asked brightly, looking around at the empty seats.

  “We’re a small firm, Sophie,” Bradley continued.

  “But dynamic,” she shot Bradley a smile.

  “Where’s Jessica?” Bradley barked looking at the empty seat next to him.

  A low snigger came from the doorway. “I think her gossiping on the phone sounds much more exiting then the management meeting.”

  The room was oddly silent, as Kelly Moore entered the room. It was true though. Jessica’s constant chatter on the phone hadn’t gone unnoticed. Sophie needed to warn Jessica, as it was becoming a problem. A smug smile spread across Kelly’s face, then her eyes settled on Sophie and she winked.

  “Let’s start,” Bradley said.

  “Where is everyone else?” Flora looked around the room as well.

  Bradley adjusted his tie, then rubbed his hands together. “As you all know, Clarks is a small firm. Although we have a presence in New York and London, we’re really a boutique firm with all hands on deck. There have been a few changes recently, and the purpose of this meeting is to remind you all that we’re in a recession.”

  Sophie nodded, feeling suddenly wary of where this conversation was going.

  Bradley continued. “Some of you have probably heard about Joey Symonds, Katie Stevens, and Julia Brown all being made redundant late last night before the gala awards. I took them all to The Dorchester. We celebrated their successes and their time with the firm.”

  “The Dorchester is the place Bradley takes people to celebrate or commiserate,” Desmond said under his breath. “If he ever asks you to lunch, be very wary.”

  Sophie felt herself pale. That’s why everyone was so dynamic this morning. She hadn’t heard because she was too busy with her personal life. “A recession doesn’t stop at a few redundancies.” Bradley paced the front of the boardroom, and a silence filtered around the boardroom. “We’ve come onto hard times. This isn’t meant to scare you, but as managers, I need to work with each and every one of you on business development. We need to win new work. I’ll be looking at all the teams, trimming the fat.”

  Sophie scribbled on her notepad, shivering at the words, ‘trimming the fat.’ Many companies in London were “restructuring” due to the financial crisis which had hit the capital, the country, and the world almost overnight.

  “You’ve probably already heard rumours from other advertising agencies. Floors of staff are being given redundancy packages. A solid business development strategy will help us keep ahead of the pack, but we need to start now.”

  Silence engulfed the room as the team tapped their pens on their desks.

  The door burst open and Jessica stood there. “What did I miss?” She ran to the empty seat next to Bradley.

  “Why were you late? Chatting on the phone?” Bradley asked.

  Jessica’s face flushed an almost scarlet colour. “I’ve been taking client calls, thank you very much.” Jessica pushed her shoulders back.

  “Sure, you weren’t talking on the phone? I’m surprised clients got through.”

  “For your information Matthew Silver called and left a message for Sophie, and I spoke to him for quite some time. Relationship building like
you instructed me to do.”

  Sophie sat straighter in her seat. “Tell me later.” She waved her hand dismissively.

  “It’s about a spot coming up for a swimming lesson,” Jessica continued. “If you want it, you’re to confirm with Eve or of course Matthew.”

  “Swimming lesson?” Kelly’s eyes narrowed. “You have time to take swimming lessons. Bradley, aren’t you trimming the fat?” She looked innocent as she spoke.

  Sophie felt her cheeks become hot. “The Silver Account, as everyone knows, has potential. We only have a sliver of the company – the swimming pool chain, the smallest part of the group,” she said.

  “Why don’t we start with you Sophie, tell us the business development work you have been doing the past two weeks.”

  Sophie twitched, fear sinking in, urging a terrified feeling away. She smiled and gave her report on the Advertising Gala, where Matthew Silver hadn’t shown up.

  “How are you going to get part of the hotel chain? Is that what the swimming lessons are all about, living and breathing your work?”

  She wanted desperately to impress him, but she shook her head. “No. No. I was traumatised by a swimming incident as a child and it happened to come up in my conversation with Matthew. Apparently he has loads of experience with all types of swimmers – or non-swimmers in my case.”

  “Swimming lessons look like the ideal way to get to know Matthew Silver, and grow new business.”

  “You don’t mean I should actually take the swimming lessons?”

  “Of course.” Bradley gave Sophie a puzzled look.

  Sophie felt her hands sweating. She should try to explain, try to help him understand. She bit her lip, practically chewed it off. “I almost drowned. I’m scared of swimming. I can’t just get in. Not even for a lesson. There are emotional issues to deal with.”

  “Spare me the excuses. Just go for it, impress me.” Bradley’s eyes glinted. “‘Swimming is for Living’ – your motto remember?”

  She desperately wanted to impress him. “Bradley, I’ve been traumatised,” she blurted, unable to help herself. “You do understand? I died for three minutes. I was actually brought back to life. I have a phobia of swimming.” Sophie felt her cheeks burning with humiliation. She loved this job, would do anything. Almost anything. But swim.

  “He has dealt with other people who have had traumas before hasn’t he?” Hysteria jumped face first onto Sophie’s lap. What was happening here? Matthew Silver had given her the option, but Bradley was practically insisting she learn how to swim.

  Sophie squirmed. “Yes, he has, but most people who learn how to swim. Well, they’re not…” She swallowed, considering her phraseology. Traumatised. Scared. Unable to possibly consider ever getting in, she felt she was sweating. “Not as busy as me,” she tried.

  He nodded. “Right. Yes, you’re right. By getting in the pool, you won’t be able to work back as late. However, I think you might be onto something here. The swimming lessons are a real way to really get in bed, so to speak with the client. Move the relationship to the next level. We’ll share the workload Sophie. Are you okay?”

  She felt physically sick. “Yup,” she said in a small voice, although her stomach was churning so hard she desperately wanted to run to the loo and throw up.

  “Of course if you don’t want to do it, well does anyone else want a go? Get in bed with the client, so to speak, or in the pool.”

  “I’ll get in the pool,” Kelly practically jumped out of her seat. “I can sort of swim. I’d love to improve, learn properly.”

  Bradley looked delighted. “You can’t swim either? Incredulous. Did we touch anyone with our advertising campaign?”

  “Why is that so fascinating?” Sophie practically demanded.

  “How is it that two people in this room can’t swim? Our firm did a ‘Swimming is for Living’ campaign. Didn’t you both learn anything?”

  “Apparently about thirty percent of British adults can’t swim,” Kelly quoted. “I learnt that from the campaign. And I can swim. Sort of. Sophie can’t do anything. She’s got a phobia.” The way Kelly said phobia, it was like she’d said a dirty word.

  “Well Kelly, if you would prefer to take the lessons, it would be a great opportunity to win work.”

  “If Sophie’s so...traumatised,” Kelly emphasised the word ‘traumatised,’ like she was making fun out of her accident. Making up her fear. How would she like it if she fell in the water and struggled for a few minutes with no air? An event which was etched into her brain and even caused nightmares every now and then.

  She breathed out, controlling her anger. “No, no..., of course I can get in the pool.” She looked down at the desk, struggling to stay in the seat rather than jump up, run from the boardroom and not talk about the dreaded swimming, and throw the account at Kelly.

  Bradley beamed. “So you’ll impress me. You’ll make me think you’re worth not being on the firing squad list.”

  Sophie froze, that wasn’t even funny. Firing squad list. Firing squad list. Firing squad list? What did that mean? “I’ll certainly impress you.”

  “I’ll want updates. Loads of updates. So where are we at with everything else?” His voice was so smooth it almost soothed her out of the shock she was sitting in. The very unpleasantness of this whole conversation caused her to almost stutter the rest of her status report. “I’ve done a budget.”

  Bradley nodded, and Sophie continued, trying to find her train of thought. “Of course, and I discussed it with Matthew at his flagship swimming centre this morning.” That was the point she was trying to make – this morning, she’d been working early this morning. Her head whirled with thoughts. She lifted a cup of water, took a sip. She was going to have to get in the water, learn how to swim, how on Earth had that happened? Yesterday she was rushing off to a gala night and today, everyone was getting made redundant and she was practically ordered to learn how to swim.

  “We talked about ideas for the overall campaign and the products we can deliver as part of a full-service campaign. He’s right for the cash.”

  “So what’s the business development angle, what have you got?” Bradley insisted.

  “A digital campaign, obviously involves web design, search engine marketing, internet marketing using social media. A radio campaign. A television commercial which of course can also be optimised using Facebook, and made viral if it’s played on YouTube.”

  “How does that service offering differ from last year? Where is the business development, I’m not focusing on our existing portfolio, I’m talking about new work, more cash in the door,” Bradley was practically shouting at her.

  “Last year we did a campaign, ‘Swimming is for Living’,” Sophie spoke quickly. “The development in this business is that Clarks didn’t get involved in the digital side of his business. So we can increase our fees substantially in this area.”

  “Did Matthew Silver sign up to all this? What do we have on the dotted line?”

  “He signed an engagement letter, a contract for continued services, and just this morning, he agreed to all of that.”

  “But it looks like half the staff have been …” She looked around the room. “Fired,” she said carefully.

  “We’re a boutique firm. We all need to help out on every project. Desmond’s going to have to help on the creative side, like he would anyway. Harry with digital and Flora obviously will help us with words. All hands on deck.”

  “I can help,” Jessica piped up. “I’m a student, I’m willing to learn.” She smiled broadly around the office.

  Bradley shot her a glance. “Possibly. Is that all you’ve got? You went to the awards last night and that’s all you got?” He shook his head.

  “Not quite.” Sophie faltered. “At the Advertising Awards I spoke to Tom Johnson, from Barney’s, like I mentioned to you a few moments earlier.”

  “How’s that going?” Bradley folded his arms.

  “I’m going to meet him next week to discuss a
pitch for the launch of his new chocolate bar.”

  “What about the whole group Sophie. The whole group?”

  “This win, if we get it, the win’s worth two million pounds. We had great ideas.”

  Bradley put up his hand. “Try for the whole group. I don’t like tidbits.” His eyes glinted.

  “But the other products are stitched up by other firms. It would be impossible.”

  “Impress me.” Bradley turned his attention to Harry, and Sophie found that she couldn’t really concentrate as he went round the room drilling each person about their new business.

  ***

  Jessica practically extracted Sophie from the whiteboard where she was working with her team on Matthew Silver’s campaign. She’d gotten them started straightaway. Harry was discussing the different types of websites he could build, and the technologies he could use, the advantages and disadvantages.

  Sophie’s brain felt like mush, because she really wasn’t a software type of girl, and she was totally absorbed in the technicalities, how to make websites more interactive. More importantly, she needed to know how much money Clarks could make on each product. Then what would be the best selling proposition. She needed to bring all the technical knowledge back to Matthew Silver.

  “You’ve got to eat Sophie.” Jessica was beside the whiteboard, purse in hand.

  “I know.” She turned to her team. “Let’s take thirty minutes, and then get back to it.” Harry looked disappointed that the meeting had stopped but relief washed over the rest of her team, all of them eager to escape.

  It was a little cold when they went outside to their favourite burger restaurant. It had an American feel, and was Sophie and Jessica’s Friday habit. Greasy food. Burgers with the lot and French fries on the side. The meal was just enough to prepare them for any unexpected turn of events on a Friday evening. In the advertising culture, it was not unusual for colleagues to grab a quick drink after work. A drink very often turned into two, three or quite possibly even ten. Sophie would stagger home around midnight – if she was lucky.

  Jessica ordered her usual burger and Sophie bought a salad.