Chapter 6
Monday rolled around before Jasina knew what hit her and to say she was nervous was an understatement. She ended up calling Andy three times during the weekend, explaining to her everything that happened. Andy told her this was apart of the healing process and that she had to stick this out, she couldn't run away. Jasina knew she was right and now she was back in the real world. Wearing a pinstriped midnight blue and white skirt suit, Jasina walked in with her black shades on top of her head, hair down, and she was wearing matching pumps. She walked straight to Trish's office and knocked before entering, taking a deep breath and knew she had made it by the skin of her teeth as far as time went.
Trish's brown eyes narrowed, glancing at the clock pointedly, the table filled with the newspaper staff. "Have a seat, Jasina. Everyone who hasn't met her, this is our Jade."
"The article Jade?"
"How many Jade's do I have writing for my paper?" Trish laughed, shaking back her hair. "She'll be stepping into the role of Ask Me, but we need a new name for it."
"Ask Jade?"
Smiling gently at everyone and shaking a few hands, Jasina sat down at the table, pulling her shades off of her head and tucked them at her side before focusing on the meeting. She still couldn't believe Trish had promoted her and had to take another deep breath to slow her racing heart. Ask Jade. Who was she to be giving advice? Andy had simply told her Trish saw something in her that nobody else had and that she had to do this, to take this next step.
"I...I don't know." She finally answered when Trish asked her what the section should be called. "I kind of like the Ask Jade title that was mentioned earlier."
Lisa nodded, a pencil tucked behind her ear, glancing at Trish then back to Jasina. "It fits in with the whole 'Dear Abby', 'Ask Margo' theme from national papers. Our readers will know what to expect with the new section."
"Basically people will ask your advice. Expect questions regarding what to do at weddings, family problems, just general things. Jesse has some clippings of those Dear Abby letters to give you an idea what you'll be doing. For your first time writing for it, we'll be giving you a few questions ourselves, then you'll be answering ones sent in by readers."
"I understand." Jasina said as the article clippings were handed to her, putting them in the folder Trish had handed her when she first arrived, deciding she would read over them later. The rest of the meeting was about deadlines, including hers, since her column would still be published along with the Ask Jade section. She would definitely be a lot busier and appreciated all Trish had done for her. The woman was a saint, in her own way, and had a big heart for someone who used to be into drugs. "Thank you for the opportunity, Ms. Stratus." She said once everyone left. "I will try not to let you down."
"You had better not, Jasina." Trish said seriously, staring at the other woman intently. "I know you have problems, everyone does, but yours are a lot different from most. But...even with your history there is no reason why you shouldn't lead a normal, healthy life. Consider this my way of pushing you out of your hole." She patted Jasina's shoulder. "You'll also be seeing an increase in your checks, buy yourself some tinted sunglasses. Those black ones get depressing."
For the first time in a long while, Jasina genuinely smiled and hugged the woman tightly. "Thank you for believing in me." She whispered, pulling back. "I will get new glasses." Jasina promised before walking out of Trish's office and toward her new office.
It even had her name, her real name, Jasina Jameson, engraved on a gold plate that was hung on the door. Jameson was her maiden name, she had changed it legally after her divorce with Mark had been finalized. Jasina walked into her office and sat down in the chair before pulling her folder out and began reading the articles. Family life, advice on what to do, relationship advice...was Trish out of her mind?
Trish was not out of her mind, she was actually one hell of a cunning, devious woman. Given that Jasina had given up her family, she would be more sympathetic for the young people who frequently wrote asking for help when it came to the issues that plagued them: drugs, drinking, addictions. Not to mention Jasina would have an unbiased view on things. Hopefully. If this didn't start getting that woman's head out of the ostrich hole, Trish was going to kick her ass.
After getting her office the way she wanted it, which wasn't hard considering Jasina had no pictures or anything, she got to work on her next article. Forgiveness. She didn't deserve it and she knew it, but it was the topic that had been branded into her mind. Halfway through the day, she looked up when her office door opened and in walked Trish, finishing up a line before saving and closed her laptop. Nobody read her work until it was finished, that was one of Jasina's general rules.
"I take it you're here for the questions?" She asked with a hesitant smile, hoping she could pull this off and not give 'bad' advice.
"Of course I am." Trish said brightly, sitting down across from Jasina, crossing one leg over the other. "Normally I'd have one of the junior editors look it over, but I'm curious so…" She teased, flashing one of her brilliant smiles. "Before I see it, tell me, how do you think you handled the questions? Are you satisfied with the answers you gave?"
"I feel I answered them to the best of my ability." That was the honest truth as she pulled the printed paper from the printer and handed it over, her answers to the questions on it. "Hopefully they're satisfactory." Jasina would be lying if she said she wasn't nervous. She was on pins and needles and chewed her thumbnail while Trish looked them over, waiting with bated breath.
Trish read the answers, beginning to smile. "This is perfect." She announced finally. "You don't read like any of the other advice columns out there, so that's something new, something fresh. You think you can keep this up? I'm sure you'll have an assortment of questions to pick from so you shouldn't get too bored." She joked.
Jasina sighed a huge breath of relief and nodded with a smile of her own. "Yes I can." She wasn't going to question it anymore. Jasina knew she was meant to do this, to write her column and do this Ask Jade section for the newspaper. With her life experiences, she could potentially help a lot of people with their problems. Jasina had seen a lot in her life thus far and wanted to do everything in her power to help those who were in the same or similar situation as she had been in ten years ago. "I'm almost done with my column for Sunday's paper."
"Already? You are quick. Keep working this way and I'll take advantage and overwhelm you." Trish joked, standing up from her chair, smoothing down the front of her blazer. "Now the questions will be a daily thing, so we're going to use these for the first week, then when they start coming in, you'll need to be in the office everyday. No more faxing unless it's an emergency."
"I'll be here everyday." She promised, knowing she wouldn't be able to stay in her apartment holed up anymore. Somehow, that didn't bother Jasina and Trish was a blessing in disguise. "Just let me know when the next batch of questions come in." She said before flipping her laptop back up as Trish walked out, beginning to type. She had to get this article done before it vanished out of her mind.
"Oh...by the way..." Trish poked her head back in. "We're having a barbecue Friday morning, just something we do when the weather is nice. Casual dress and bring something, just not jello. See you later, honey." This time she really did walk out and not pop back in.
Jasina shook her head with a smile, knowing Trish was trying to get her to interact with other people. There was no way out of it and Jasina wasn't even going to attempt trying. She'd been blessed with a great job and, with the salary she was making now, she could potentially get her own house. Or maybe even a condo. Yeah a condo, she didn't need a house. Hell, it was only herself she had to take care of. That thought saddened her, but then again, who knew what the future held? With that thought in mind, Jasina finished up her article and put it in her outbox before getting started on ideas for her next one.
~!~
"Hey Jas, look." Trish grinned, knocking once and entering Jasina's office a few days later, waving a handful of envelopes. "You're getting questions already." She dropped them on the desk, pointing at the names in the return addresses. "Notice how people don't use their real names? Or no return address? They want to remain anonymous so any names you do come across, change them."
"Wow, all of these already?" Jasina blinked, wondering where to begin as the stack of envelopes were set on her desk. At this rate, she would never see her apartment again and grinned at the thought. "I'll change their names to anonymous." She said with a nod before taking the first envelope and opened it, unfolding the paper, and began to read. She had a lot to get done and there was no time like the present to start.
Dear Jade,
Sometimes I think my daddy is lonely. How do I make him smile again? He hasn't smiled for almost a month.
~Little Mermaid
PS: My teacher helped me write this!
Running a hand through her hair, Jasina set the letter to the side and opened her laptop, beginning to type the question, ignoring the PS part, and then proceeded to type her answer.
Little Mermaid
The only thing I can advise you to do is give him a lot of hugs and kisses. Maybe even make him something that's from your heart. As far as your father being lonely, the best advice I can give you is time heals all wounds. Everything will be fine, give it time.
~Jade
Trish stood there and watched, wondering Jasina had forgotten about her. "You look sad." She commented, reaching for the letter and skimmed it. "Aww...poor thing." She glanced at the return address, a PO box number. "These kind of letters are just heartbreaking." She sniffled, reaching up to pat her eyes with a handkerchief.
"I know." Jasina whispered, grabbing a tissue as well as she let a few tears fall. "It just...it breaks my heart because how do you tell a little girl how to make her father happy again? That's the best I could come up with Trish, I'm sorry." She lowered her head, sniffling, and felt Trish pat her on the shoulder as Jasina let a few more tears fall before quickly drying them up. "I'm alright, I'll have to get used to this."
Trish read the response quickly, smiling and patted Jasina's shoulder. "That is the best answer you could have given her. Let's just hope she's old enough to understand more then just the hugs and kisses, though the letter was rather mature. Hmmm..."
"Well, there was a PS part in there regarding her teacher helping her write it." Jasina pointed out, causing Trish's eyebrow to raise slightly. "I really don't know what else to say though, you know? She's a little girl and you can't really explain it from an adult's point of view." This was both confusing and frustrating, though Jasina didn't show either. She was simply pointing out the obvious and knew Trish agreed with her. "Hopefully, she'll understand where I'm coming from."
"Well if she doesn't, I'm sure she'll ask her teacher to explain, especially since she asked her teacher for help in the first place with the letter." Trish said reasonably, glancing at her watch. "I've got to run, Jas. I have to go meet with the layout crew and make sure next weeks ads aren't jumbled like this weeks were. You're going to be at the barbecue tomorrow, right?"
"Of course. I'm bringing potato salad, homemade." She smiled and waved to Trish before going back to reading the letters, typing what she thought the best answer would be.
Some were easy; others were heartbreaking, like Little Mermaid's had been. For some reason, that letter hit Jasina the hardest and she didn't understand why. Pushing it out of her mind, Jasina focused on the rest of her work, getting through half the stack by the time she left. She bid Trish good night, wondering if the woman ever went home, and headed out to the parking garage toward her car. This week had probably been the busiest, yet greatest time in her life, not to mention she was a success.
~!~
"What the hell are you so damn happy about?"
"Uh Mark, I need a favor."
"Steve...this had better be good, you still owe me for parts."
"I need tomorrow off, I DID cover for you that one time." Steve pointed out.
Mark sighed, knowing he was right, and asked, "Okay, what for?"
"A blonde with a beautiful smile and the firmest ass..."
