Edited by HJF
The months leading up to the wedding we quite hectic as Brandon and Katy made plans for their life together while organizing like crazy. There were a lot of adjustments needed and tough decisions to be made, the easiest of which was the wedding date, as there was only one date that would do. The advantage of marrying on a Thursday two years earlier meant their original wedding day was now on a Saturday and neither Brandon nor Katy wanted another day. As the wedding approached they anticipated some problems, namely Brandon half expected Alexis to show up and try to crash the wedding, but nothing happened. It turned out to be a wonderful ceremony on a lovely fall day in Connecticut. What's more Brandon's new father-in-law personally assured them that there would be no mix up with the paperwork this time, citing he had the word of a judge, the mayor, and governor that they would make sure the paperwork went through this time.
Brandon and Katy's honeymoon was a fun, sex filled week on, what else, a cruise liner. They enjoyed several months of wedded bliss avoiding the baby issue. Both wanted to start soon, but given what had happened the first time Katy was nervous and Brandon was afraid to press her. That is until a Saturday in February when she brought it up.
Brandon was enjoying an afternoon of sports when Katy came in in a huff, slamming the door behind her.
"That woman is going to drive me nuts, I cannot stand working for someone that is that stubborn and frankly has zero taste," Katy said as she fell onto the couch near him
"So, quit," Brandon said matter of factly. He knew this drew a glare, but they had had this conversation several times and after playing the understanding husband the first four times he opted for voicing his opinion this time. He figured there was little risk in it, she would piss and moan the whole day no matter what he said until she got herself out of it, and with this week being her 'off limits' time of the month he had little to risk in the sex department.
Brandon knew why Katy was so frustrated. The woman she was designing for was the new VP at her firm; she had just transferred from Boston and immediately demanded help designing from her staff. She said to it was to help sell the product,but Katy said it was because she wanted a free design consultation. Both had valid arguments, but the VP had rank so her view won out. The VP, whose name was actually Melissa, but went by Mel, was very demanding and wanted the best fulltime designer the firm had, but given it was the busy season the company felt that would be a bad idea. So the job fell to Katy, their best part-time designer.
Needless to say Mel was not too happy about not getting her way so she and Katy got off on the wrong foot to start with. However, upon learning they had been classmates at Harvard, Mel had warmed to Katy a bit. It didn't hurt Katy that Mel soon realized Katy was just as talented as the fulltimers, she just didn't want the workload of one, nor did she need to because of Brandon's job. Katy liked being a lot more personal with her clients than some of the other designers, which was one of the other reasons her manager had steered Mel toward Katy.
However, this had caused a bit of friction between the two women as Mel was not into sharing personal details, nor was she willing to listen to Katy's ideas. This led to the reaction Katy came home with each time after presenting a new idea to Mel.
"I can't," Katy said when her anger had faded a bit and she possibly understood that Brandon was as frustrated with this conversation as he was. "You know I can't. I promised Jen I would stick it out; we need Mel to like us or she'll make everyone's life hell."
Hearing the resignation in her voice and realizing she might be willing to listen this time he turned off the TV and moved closer to her. She immediately cuddled up to him and said, "I don't know what to do, I want to finish but I just can't take getting cut down anymore." They sat silent for a second before she added, "Help me Brandon, I don't know what to do... what would you do?"
Brandon thought and said, "Play hardball Katy, she asked for your help. Tell her that her taste is horrible and you won't do it her way, she sounds like the type that might respect that."
"I can't do that! We never do that, it's the first rule of our company. We never tell the customer that."
"True, it is, but first off she's not paying so she's not technically a customer, and second I believe her argument was that this was supposed to and I quote 'show off the company's talent.' Well, your designing is one of the best examples of the company's talent, not her taste. If she wants to make her home a showcase of the company's talent she needs to trust in that talent. And if she doesn't like it, quit. You're a great designer; I know your friends with Jen and all, and you love the freedom they allow you, but trust me you're good enough you'll land somewhere and if Jen's really your friend she'll understand."
Katy smiled and kissed him, "You're right, I'll do just that, thanks baby."
