Chapter I
Evelyn pinched the bridge of her nose, tapping her pen on her desk in a most annoying fashion. The door to her office clicked open, causing her to look up from the manuscript in front of her.
"Miss Trevelyan, Miss Pentaghast has asked to see you in the council room," a small woman stood in the threshold, shrunken into herself and not making eye contact of any kind.
"Right. I'll be there in a minute," Evelyn hadn't meant to snap the words. She was too focused. Oh, maker, she hoped Dorian wasn't busy with dinner rush tonight. She needed wine...
"I'll inform her," and with small footsteps, the woman retreated from the room.
Evelyn slapped an alligator clip on the stack of papers as to not lose her place, stood up, fixed her jacket, and began making her way through the rest of the office. Picking her phone out of her pocket, she checked to see if Dorian was going to be busy in the kitchen tonight.
The only thing she got in return was "that bad, huh?"
She scoffed at her phone, pocketing it and approaching the council room.
As she pushed the door open, she saw everyone's eyes immediately turn to her. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, she shifted in her shoes and nervously fixed her jacket before taking a seat beside Cassandra.
"As I was saying," Josephine cleared her throat before speaking. "Our main priority now should be getting more clients in rather than out. We need more editors."
"If we need more editors, then perhaps you would consider promoting rather than hiring," Leliana was the one to speak this time, her voice firm but soft at the same time,
"Our people don't have the experience. We need to hire good people, Leliana. There is quality in our workplace."
Not many people wanted to be editors these days. They were either not looking to read or they wanted to be on the other end of the book; the part that most people care about.
"I still think that if we want to improve the workplace, we should consider-"
"Where are we going to find people with experience who don't already have a job, Josephine?" Leliana and Josephine had two different points of view, but somehow they made this place work. Cassandra cleared her throat before she spoke.
"I know someone who was working with Templar who may be willing to work for us," everyone's heads turned to her.
"Can you get a hold of them?" Josephine and Leliana asked at the same time, causing Evelyn to have to stifle a chuckle.
"Yes. I'll give him a call," Cassandra nodded at her superiors, which they reciprocated.
"Well, with that concluded, we should turn to the issue of our workspace..."
The meeting lasted for more than three hours, and while most of it was between her superiors, she contributed to some of the ideas that were thrown out on the table. This business was just getting started and it was hard to stake a claim on authors without a good name for the company, and this made it hard to hire employees as well. She tried to convince some of her college friends to consider working here, but none of them really wanted to.
Now it was about five-thirty in the evening. Everyone was starting to pack up for the day, so she bookmarked Mister Tethras' manuscript once again and slid it back into its plastic guard before dropping it in her bag.
She could see her reflection in the glass doors that parted her office from the cubicles outside. Her hair was in disarray from her constantly grabbing her head in frustration, and her dress pants were becoming wrinkled from her sitting all day long. She had some makeup smudged underneath her eyes, making her look more exhausted than she already was, probably coming from the fact that she was looking down all day. Evelyn attempted to straighten herself out as best she could before walking out of her office.
While walking down the hallways, she felt her phone start to vibrate in her pocket. Stopping her frantic stepping, she reached inside her jacket for her still buzzing phone. The words across the screen read: "Dorian Pavus". Pressing the "accept call" button, she brought the phone to her ear in one fluid motion.
"Did you buy wine?" There was a fit of laughter on the other end of the line.
"No, I bought champagne," She could hear the smile in his voice as he said those last words.
"Oh?" Evelyn started walking again, fishing her car keys out of her bag as she approached the elevator. "What's the occasion?"
"A little someone got promoted today," Her feet stopped dead in her tracks. But that would mean…
"You're head chef?"
"It's wonderful isn't it? I now get to boss everyone around and criticize their cooking rather than just doing it for someone else," she could tell that he was smiling across the line. He couldn't hide it at all.
"Dorian, I'm so proud of you!" A bell rang in her other ear and she looked up to see the elevator door opening. She pulled her car keys out of her bag, and strode into the elevator, leaning against the railing as she talked on the phone.
"Now, I'll finally be able to talk about boss things with you. 'Aren't lesser employees so needy?' 'Why, Dorian, yes they are! I'm so glad I have someone to talk to!'" Evelyn scoffed at his impression.
"You know, I'm technically not the boss."
"But, you're in line to be, aren't you?"
"Well, there is a possibility that Justinia could give me the editor-in-chief job, but honestly Cassandra and Leliana are far better suited than I am," The familiar bell rang again and Evelyn pushed off of the railing in the elevator as the doors opened. "Anyway, I need to clock out then drive I'll talk to you when I get home, alright?"
"Very well. I'll be waiting to pop the cork, so hurry." Evelyn giggled at him as the line cut off.
Walking to the desk by the main entrance, she pocketed her phone once again, keys jingling in her hand as she did. Morrigan sat at the desk, poised and proper as ever, while typing something away on the keyboard in front of her. She didn't bother looking up as she stopped her typing to hand Evelyn a pen.
"Have a good evening," Morrigan just dismissed her with a hand gesture as she made her way out of the main entrance of the building.
The air was getting colder as the sun was setting, and really all that she wanted to do was curl up on the couch and drinks and celebrate with her best friend by drinking a fair amount of champagne.
Clicking the button on her keypad unlocked the door for her with a pop. Evelyn sat into the car, pulling the door closed behind her, and placed her bag in the passenger seat. Grabbing her sunglasses off of the dashboard, she stuck the key in the ignition all in one fluid motion. One thing was for sure; she was going to be very happy to be home.