I give them each a hard stare and then turn to the door. I know I should leave it at that and just go, but I can’t resist taking a few more shots now that I know I have the power here. Their client wants me, and leaving means they risk losing the entirecampaign.
“By the way,” I say over my shoulder, “I’m not Spanish. I’m Portuguese. You might want to get your facts straight now that you’ll need to replace me. I’d also recommend you find someone who can come up with an original idea, instead of just copying mine. ‘#Favouritebathingsuitfeeling’ doesn’t exactly roll off thetongue.”
With that, I walk out of theroom.
No one bothers to chase after me and I have to at least give them credit for knowing a lost cause when they see one. I cross the P&T lobby for the last time and exit onto the sidewalk, speed-walking down to the parking lot where I left mycar.
I should feel happy right now. I just sassed Jim Sanders and Harry Bell into oblivion, and left them stranded without anything worth giving to their client. That should be payback enough. They were sexist assholes who couldn’t recognize potential if it punched them in the face, but for some reason their opinion of me did some sort of critical hit to mymorale.
P&T never wanted me at all; their client did, and only because of how I looked in some photographs. I know they were never the kind of firm I wanted to work for in the first place, but their dismissal still makes me feel like I’m losing something, like I’ve been pushing a boulder up a hill just to have it kicked all the way back down right after reaching thetop.
I head home and find myself in the same position I’ve been in a lot these days: lying on my bed, feeling angsty and sad. I can’t call Aaron, and I don’t really want to call Alice, but there is someone else I can talk to, someone who’s been there for me way longer than either ofthem.
I flip to the screen on my phone that shows the time in Portugal. My parents will probably have just gotten back from the walk on the beach they take every evening. I send a request to video chat with mydad.
“Amorzinho! Quesurpresa!”
As usual, my dad has his face held way too close to the camera and I can’t help butsmile.
“A little farther back,Papai. I can’t seeyou.”
He stretches his phone out in front of him. “This is good, my rockstar?”
I nod. “How are you,Papai?”
“Muito bom. But I see even now that you are not, my dear. Whathappened?”
I shift on my bed and sigh. “A lot,Papai.Too much. You know the job I told you about, with the really big firm? It turns out it wasn’t the kind of job I thought it was. I thought they cared about my ideas, that they wanted me for the company, but they were using me all along. I just...I feel so stupid,Papai.I should have seen it coming, but I wanted to believe I’d made it, that I’d done somethingright.”
“Minha filha.” He makes a tut-tut noise and shakes his head. “You havealreadymade it. You know this, yes? Sometimes we forget the today when we are looking at the yesterday, or for you, my dear, the tomorrow. You have climbed many of the...the...how do you saymontanha?”
“Mountains,Papai.”
“Yes! You have climbed many of these mountains already. You must notforget.”
He draws several triangles in the air with his finger that I think are supposed to represent all my mountainous achievements. My eyes almost well up at the pride beaming in his face as hedoes.
“There’s just so many more mountains to go,” I admit, my voicesmall.
“Well,minha filha, the AC/DC has something to say aboutthat.”
He draws in a breath and I know one of his impersonations is about tobegin.
“It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock androll!”
This is followed by a vocal rendition of the song’s guitar solo that has me laughing hard enough to forget there’s something else I wanted to tell him. He knows me too well to miss it though, and asks me what else iswrong.
“It’s kind of stupid, but you know that guy I told you about, the one I had to do my showcase projectwith?”
“Oidiota?”
“Sim,” I answer. I don’t know if the memory of how pissed I was to find out Aaron was my partner makes me want to smile or cry. “It turns out he wasn’t such anidiotaafter all. I couldn’t have done the project without him. He’s very smart, and he always knows what to say when I’m stressed. He just makes everything feel...fun, youknow?”
“You like this boy,amorzinho?” His tone is cautious; I forgot that he can get a little Traditional Portuguese Father when it comes toguys.
“I do. I did. I don’t know,Papai. He also makes me want to scream and throw things athim.”
“Sometimes love and hate are very close, mydear.”
