Julie had left his hotel room confident he would call. They hadn't exchanged numbers and they had avoided the idea that they might ever see each other again but she had slipped one of her business cards into his coat pocket before she left. She spent the day making sales calls with her engineer. For the most part, Todd, her nerd, handled the conversations. The big one after lunch would be different.
The missed calls and ignored text messages from her husband continued to pile up but she had as yet received nothing from an unknown number with an Arizona area code. Phoenix had three. She couldn't believe it was that large a city. She had an image in her head of dusty dirt roads and cowboy bars.
She walked into Cloudmaster, her largest potential client, feeling prepared. She had a marvelous slide deck, 22 slides that laid out the business case for her education software. It addressed each of their criteria and how her solution had met the requirement and then went into the financial costs and benefits. She had tailored her numbers to them specifically using information from their financial filings. She had role played the presentation with her boss twice.
Before she could open it, they wanted to run through a deck of their own. Point by point they showed her how the competition was better. About the third slide she saw the typo that wasn't a typo. Return on Investment was abbreviated RIO. It was the presentation her competitor, and predecessor had given them. She let them keep talking and stared at the giant screen television set as she played back the highlight reel of the night before. She wondered what her dad would think of him. Her dad had never liked Bobby.
"Julie. Hello."
"Yes," she said, snapping back to reality.
"You said you had a presentation. Can we do it in 15 minutes?"
"Naw. That's cool though. It sounds like CJ made a heck of a case."
"CJ?" the man asked. He looked Korean but his name was Harvey. She was still getting used to Northern California.
"Yeah, CJ. He worked for us before I had this territory. He's a nice guy. Always says RIO though. Does he still pronounce it Rio? Did he try to demonstrate the Rio?"
She had him. He had stopped smiling. He wasn't grumpy, just confused.
"I would like to try to get to the airport before 4:30 though," she looked down at her phone. She could just make it.
"My boss just wondered if you wanted to counter their offer."
"Naw. We are good. I will just make CJ buy me beers later. I'd like to get going if that's okay."
They held her captive in the conference room. After a while the CIO came in. He asked for her boss's name and number. She called him herself and put the call on speaker.
"Hey, Jules, how did it go?"
"So yeah, I have Jim here. He is the CIO. He wants to know if we want to counter EdTech's offer. I told him if they want to buy cheap crap they should. Jim, this is David. David -- Jim. Go ahead."
The two men talked for a time before David asked for her again. He was being awesome. He stuck up for her, which was exactly what she needed today. She wasn't going to get to the airport before his flight left but she might still be able to call him. She had found a number for him on the Internet.
She took the phone off of speaker and held it to her ear. "Say whatever you want to. Make the kill," he said.
"No, I never game them the July price, they still have the June proposal. It's expired." She paused for a minute. "It only went up about $25k. I will get it to them." Another pause. "Well no, we didn't get into the business case. They had a pretty solid argument to buy from CJ. He still says Rio instead of ROI, by the way."
The dorky grey haired guy touched her arm. She scowled at him for it. He yanked his hand away. "If we sign the June proposal today, will he still accept it?" the CIO whispered.
She covered the phone but didn't, "If I ask he will have to ask for approval and that will take a day or two. If you sign it, I can just enter the order. Andrea in Opps is a buddy, I bet she will let it fly. It's still expired though so it might get kicked back." She decided she was laying it on too thick. She grinned her girlish grin and cut to the chase. "Still worth a shot though if you want me to try it."
She left with a signed proposal that made her number for the year. It was 5:25 when she finally stepped out to the street. Her nerd gave her a giant hug. She wasn't happy about it but she couldn't help it. She cried. Flight 1312 to Phoenix had departed.
She arrived home from what forever she would think of as THE trip with eleven different plans and depending on what time of day it was and what her mood was like she was determined to make whichever one she was presently thinking of work. The plans ranged from simple such as dying her hair back to red, to complex such as having one of her friends seduce him and convince her husband to run away with her only to leave him high and dry after the divorce was finalized. Her favorite, despite the weather report for Phoenix that said it was going to be 118 was to fill her car with her kids and clothes and drive south and west until she found happiness. Her least favorite was to quit her job, get pregnant again, and eat chocolates while she waited for Bobby's truck to get repossessed.
She picked up her kids and got a talking to from her mother who had spent the day hearing from Bobby what a horrible wife she was. She kept her big win a secret.
In the car with her boys she called her sister. She needed just a few words of support. Her sister didn't understand why she even wanted to work, let alone work so hard. She could get a job at target and be home every day by 3:30 AND get 10% off regular merchandise and 25% off clearance.
Bobby was waiting for her. The minute they hit the door he sent the boys to their rooms.
"Did you go see them at all this week?"
"No. Why would I?"
"I don't know. Love?"
"Don't change the subject. You are quitting."
"No I'm not."
The conversation stagnated, each of them going back and forth like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck discussing hunting season.
Eventually she just walked away. She dug into her bag to get out the Giants Jerseys she had gotten for the boys with their names on them and went to bed.
She wasn't asleep when he came in but she pretended to be. He tapped her on the back a few times. She sighed relief when he stopped and went into the bathroom; he poked her again when he came back.
"What?"
"I just love you so much," he said.
"Do you?"
"I'm sorry."
"Thank you," she said. She believed he might actually feel sorry because it was easier than denying it. He placed his thick hand on her leg.
"I missed you."
She could have reminded him of his night at the bar but she didn't. She rolled onto her back. He was naked below the waist. He pulled the cheap comforter off of her. She had planned a new bed and linens when her check came in. As he tugged her free of her panties she wondered what difference new sheets would make.
He smelled of beer and body odor. He was heavy. It was a burden to breathe beneath him. For a minute she tried to think of better times, better lovers, but it was too different, the two experiences were incomparable. She bent her legs to allow him inside of her. His gut pressed down on her own.
He didn't kiss her. That wasn't a problem. She turned her head and felt hot breath on her neck.
He was inside of her. Thick, troublesome.
He sweated, stinky sweat, chemical sweat. It dripped down on her chin.
He grunted. He began to move.
She let her mind wander at first but he always brought her back to the moment.
She had liked this once. He had always been heavy but he had been stout. He had been a football player. He had been large but light on his feet. They had danced. It seemed like they always danced and laughed in the bars.
He grunted again. He was moving quickly and she became more accepting. She grunted, he had hit a good spot.
He grunted. She reached an arm around him gripping his T-shirt. She grunted. She moved her hips.
This is what it was going to be, at least for a while, at least until he didn't want it anymore. Her sister had gotten fat. Her mother had always been fat. She would be fat. He would stop insisting then. Probably. That was what she had heard anyway.
He grunted loudly. She grunted back. She raised her hips.
He rolled off of her. He trapped her ankle under her and it hurt but it was over quickly. She lay there for a minute dripping and regretting not being on top, not moving to his side of the bed. He snored.
She got out of bed. She found her bag and her laptop. She couldn't quit but she couldn't keep doing what she was doing. It was just after midnight when she posted for the inside sales job. It might take six weeks to go through the process but she would stay in town. It would make everyone happy.
