She stumbled in to their office one morning just before the Boxx opening (Boxx, with two x's… because they're fancy!) Harriet has scheduled her a brief morning meeting with Emma to suss out what she needed and how they might be of service to her. Emma, greeting her at the office door, noticed some interesting things about their new client. She did not seem the type of person who normally sought out the help of an event coordinator, though it looked like she could use a matchmaker… or a stylist. She walked in wearing a grey cardigan over a ratty old band t-shirt and snug pair of jeans with an old pair of beat up vans. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she had a pair of oversize glasses on (the ones that became tragically hip after somebody famous started wearing them… sigh, they look horrific on people). She had dark brown wavy hair and was almost as tall as Emma. She looked as though she was still in college, but too old to be an undergraduate still.
"What can I do for you, Ms….," Emma glanced down at the calendar on her phone, "Ms. Nolan." Emma was being much more abrupt than usual, mainly because the Boxx opening was putting a lot of pressure on her. She was also somewhat antsy because she wanted to make sure that Harriet and Frank Churchill saw as much of each other as possible. As she spoke to her new client, he was somewhere in the office and she needed to orchestrate more meetings between the two.
"Please, Ms. Woodhouse, call me Maeve," the new client spoke in a clear but husky voice, one that Emma knew probably drove men crazy.
"Ok, Maeve… but you must call me Emma. What can I do for you? Do you have an event? Because if you are here for matchmaking services, we aren't really in that business at the moment," Emma started to ramble.
"Oh, God… no, no matchmaking. I actually have an event that I thought you might be interested in helping me with," Maeve hesitated… "actually, maybe I can just put in on myself. I can see you are busy here and I know that you are putting on the opening of a new restaurant soon…"
"You know about that?" Emma was pleased that word was getting around about their planning the opening of such an important event.
"I follow you on Twitter… and your secretary told me when I was begging her for a meeting," Maeve explained.
Emma could see that the woman needed help… in a lot of different areas, but she was extremely busy at that point. However, something about the woman peaked her interest. She could not help but asking:
"What is the event? Let me hear about it and then I'll let you know that what we can and can't do."
"We are holding an international conference on human trafficking at the university in two months. Scholars and politicians from all over the world will be there, I need help planning it.. I am only a graduate student and I am one of only three people working to put it together! It's not my first conference, but it's my largest and it's too big for our common venue – the Law Colleges amphitheater… there's too many people coming… we don't even have hotel accommodations for our speakers yet, I don't know where to book them on our budget… I still have all of my rewrites to finish on my thesis…" The more Maeve talked, the more she started to break down. Emma could feel the shift, from confident (albeit poorly dressed) scholar to bundle of nerves. She couldn't take it.
"We'll take the job!"
"Emma!" Alex Knightley had on his not-happy-face and had paired it with his you-are-in-way-over-your-head voice, "please tell me you did not JUST add ANOTHER event to our already over flowing plate!"
Maeve had excused herself to go to the bathroom, Alex was standing in the doorway, mouth open, ready to lecture when Emma responded
"Alex, I had to help… it was a good cause! We can really help people!"
"Emma, it's not all about helping everybody ALL the time…" He was getting flustered.
"What was I supposed to do? Turn down our first opportunity to do a pro bono charity event!?" Emma asked calmly, all the while staring at her phone – trying not meet Alex's eye. He moved over and sat next to her on the bench in front of the camera.
"PRO BONO!? You mean we aren't even getting paid for that!?" Alex was irate, "Emma… people depend on you to make decisions. I depend on you to make decisions that are good for this company…" He buried his face in his hands, dramatically.
"Hey… Alex," Emma patted his back, "it's for a human trafficking conference… we are really going to be helping people. Well, I mean we are going to make the conference run smooth so the people that help people don't have to worry about it."
Alex looked up. He realized that Emma had such a good heart when it came to these things and even though he felt overwhelmed, he trusted her.
"Ok, just… make sure our paying clients get their stuff handled first."
"Well, ok… Mr. Bossy!" Alex got up to go, but Emma stopped him, "don't you want to know about our new client?" Emma, cheerful as always, wanted to share the new development. He sat back down.
"Her name is Maeve Nolan…"
"Interesting name," Alex interrupted.
"Shhhhh… I'm doing my spiel!" She started over, "Her name is Maeve Nolan. She is twenty-five and is doing a combination history and juris doctorate program at the university."
"Wow! Seriously? That's insane," Alex interrupted again.
"I know, right? Brains, but no sense of style! Anyway, she is in charge of planning this whole event and she knows almost nothing about it… poor girl, I just had to help!"
"Am I interrupting? Should I come back?" Maeve stood at the door, awkwardly leaning over the door jamb.
"NO!" Emma practically shouted, "let me introduce you to the business side of the operation… this is Alex Knightley, he does our books."
"Oh, I passed you in the hall – were you brought in to tell me that the pro bono plan is a no go?" Maeve abruptly asked. Remembering herself she quickly apologized, "I'm sorry… I am too candid sometimes for my own good. I spend too much time with books. I come in here asking for favors and then treat you that way, I'm sorry." She reached over to shake Alex's hand. Emma, for her part, loved Maeve's abruptness and awkwardness – she was sensing a new pet project.
"I… er, I – no, I am just here to learn about what it is you need from us…" Alex trailed off, still shaking Maeve's hand.
"Alex, let go of her hand" Emma whispered out of the side of her mouth.
"Oh! Yeah, well… I should go. Maeve, I'm sure I'll see you around!" Alex was beet red as he left. Emma wondered what his issue was.
"Your boyfriend is very kind, although not very articulate – it's good you two can work together. Two halves of the same coin – the creative one and the business one!" Maeve said brightly.
"Oh! No! Maeve, Alex is very much like a brother to me. We work well together, but we are not TOGETHER together, if that makes sense?" Emma was quick to dispel any rumors among clients that she and Alex were more than business partners. It smacked of ethical issues and made her seem unprofessional.
"Really? I can't see how he'd do any better than you, Emma," Maeve enthused.
"I have no doubt that Mr. Knightley will one day find the perfect woman," Emma said emphatically, "but that woman is most definitely not me."
Emma paused and had she not glanced over at her new client at that moment, she would have missed the quick, shy smile that spread over Maeve's face as she looked down at her hands. For some reason, Emma did not care to know the reason, that smile made a knot in the pit of her stomach.