Chapter 2 - Office affairs

The next day she reluctantly left her small but cozy apartment in Brooklyn and started walking to work. Brand Today was renting a couple of floors in a building in Manhattan on Lexington Avenue, so there was no way Julia would manage the whole way on foot, but she didn't want to rush there today. Why speed things up? She would see him again sooner or later, and judging by where her desk was located it would rather be sooner and probably often too. She occupied a small office next to Zoey's, and Zoey's office was on the management floor, next to Jack's old office. So unless Jack suddenly decided that he'd like to work on the floor occupied by HR and Payroll, Julia would be seeing him every day. Oh joy!

Julia owned a one person company Perfect day organizing family and business events. Originally, when she had still lived in Seattle, she had been organizing weddings, but after moving to New York and starting the cooperation with Zoey she added balls, charity events and conferences to her offering. For now however she was mainly involved in Brand Today, organizing events for the company and since recently for their clients as well. She would always organize the events as Brand Today, keeping Perfect day as a subcontractor behind the scenes. That was the idea when Zoey had made the offer to Julia a year ago; knowing that her friend had been running from the ghost from a rather recent past Zoey came up with this idea that would have helped Julia keep a low profile, but still allowed her to do what she loved.

Julia was extremely grateful to her friend. Especially since their plan had been working out just fine. Well, until now. Julia had a gut feeling that with Jack coming back the cooperation between herself and Brand Today would not be going so smoothly anymore.

When she walked into the lobby it was already after nine. Everyone was probably at their desks by now as she did not notice the usual crowd by the elevators. The elevator doors popped open as she walked over, and as they were about to close she heard a familiar voice, a voice she so much did not want to hear.

"Hold the elevator!"

Instead of stopping the doors from closing, Julia actually pressed the 'door close' button, and not once but three times. Unfortunately Jack was too quick.

"Thank..." he trailed off and his charming smile disappeared when he noticed her.

Julia quickly pulled her hand away from the 'door close' button, but he anyway eyed her suspiciously.

"Good morning, Jack," she said with a charming smile. Fake it till you make it.

"Julia."

Finally the elevator door closed and the elevator started moving at a snail's pace.

Jack looked at his watch.

"Nine thirty... better late than never," he said. Julia assumed he was hinting at her late appearance in the office, but ignored his remark completely. This did not put Jack off, instead he turned to her with a serious look on his face. "We had a very important meeting yesterday, a meeting that required your attendance. But instead you decided to work on your couch?"

"I'm sure you had enough people to pat you on the back and cheer for you. Unless of course it was my approval you so desperately needed yesterday?"

"It's not your approval I needed," Jack answered in a tone that could freeze the ocean. "It's your attendance and commitment that are required. You work for this company, so I'd expect you to follow the same rules as all other employees."

Julia took a deep breath and glimpsed at the floor they were currently passing; five more to go.

"First of all, I do not work for this company, I work for myself, so I'm sure as hell that I am not your employee! Second of all, if you doubt my commitment to what I do, I suggest you talk to Zoey and verify your theory." Julia hoped her voice wasn't trembling. Every time she would get pissed, just like she was now, her voice would get stuck in her throat or would tremble annoyingly.

Finally the elevator reached the 20th floor. The doors opened showing a group of people wanting to get in. They stepped aside seeing who was inside.

"Have a nice day, mister Deschanel," Julia said with a smile, but put all her poison into these few words.

"Miss Stiles." Jack nodded stiffly.

She started walking to her office quickly, hearing his footsteps behind her. He would be following her all the way to her desk, since his office was right next to hers.

What a nightmare!

***

This wasn't exactly how Jack imagined his return to New York to look like. First of all, he came back alone. He and Penelope had been together for over six months... Have been or were together...? He wondered, annoyed. He had been sure she would follow him to the Big Apple, but to his surprise she'd laughed at his expectations.

"Darling, I have my career here!" had been all she'd said. Her career being a couple small roles in TV dramas. She'd seemed determined though, and had not been interested to discuss the topic any longer.

Back in New York he tried calling her a couple of times, but would usually get the voicemail. One time when he had managed to get a hold of her, she'd been on her way to an audition and he could clearly hear she hadn't been paying attention to what he had been saying.

Jack wasn't really heart broken. First of all, it wasn't his style to be heart broken.

Second of all, there was never much chemistry or passion between him and Penelope; what they had was friendship, partnership and a lot of sex. He simply assumed they would just continue that here in New York.

He didn't want to admit it even to himself, but it was the first time a girl dumped him, well, maybe not dumped him, but found something more interesting than Jack Deschanel.

And to make matters worse, his office was next to Julia Stiles' office. The annoying witch was determined to piss him off on a daily basis. Why was she even here? What was so great about her and her company that Zoey decided to hire her? How long would he be forced to tolerate her presence?

Enough of the questions. I need to talk to Zoey. He looked at his watch; it was lunch time. Great opportunity to get to know more about Miss Stiles, or rather when he could be free of Miss Stiles.

Jack left his office in search of Zoey and found her just around the corner. She was in the main conference room with a group of young people. It seemed they were wrapping up a meeting, so he leaned against the wall and waited.

He'd missed his sister, her warm smile and artistic soul; something he did not posses himself. Jack was more focused on facts and figures, which made him and Zoey two opposites. They were both however very open and usually easy going people which made them work so well with each other and others.

Right now Zoey was explaining something to the group of coworkers in such a passionate manner that they were all staring at her in awe, at the same time they seemed to be throwing questions or ideas at her. He couldn't hear them though; they were behind a glass wall.

Zoey was that kind of person; in her colourful clothing; long skirts, funky blouses and hair in different colour every six months, she looked nothing like the Chief Marketing Officer, but her optimism and passion inspired others and made them follow her without hesitation.

His sister must have felt she was being watched as she looked up. When their eyes met, Jack touched his stomach, making a sad face. Zoey got his meaning immediately. Fifteen minutes later they were sitting at her favourite bistro.

"Alright, mister CEO, what is it?" she asked when they ordered their food. "I see something is bothering you."

"Nothing is bothering me. I've literally just come back, I need to get used to New York again."

Instead of answering, Zoey just raised her right brow. He forgot how she could read him.

"I was wondering how our Event department is doing..." he said innocently.

"Last time I checked, we did not have an Event department..." Zoey answered with a joyful spark in her eyes. Jack knew she did not fall for his trick. "We only have Julia and her company organizing events for us and for a couple of customers, but you know that very well already."

Jack tried looking very busy drinking his scotch.

"It didn't take you long to ask about Julia," Zoey concluded.

"Fine," Jack admitted with a sigh. "I'm just not clear why we need her and her company to do that job, while we could have equally or even better qualified people from Brand Today on it!" he exclaimed. "And I'm sure they would be less annoying," he added from behind his drink.

"First of all, Julia is one of the most creative and resourceful people I know..."

"I'm sure we could..." Jack wanted to butt in, but she interrupted him by raising her finger.

"Second of all, we talked about it last year and were fine back then with me making that decision."

"Yeah, but back then I was in LA and not thinking of coming back to New York, in other words not expecting to be bumping into her every time I leave my office..."

"Thirdly, you agreed to me making that decision because I was ok with you promoting Wyatt and Marks..."

"What's wrong with Wyatt and Marks? These guys are good!"

Zoey shook her head in disbelief. "I'll let you see for yourself, Mister CEO. And when it comes to Julia...

"She is using you, Zoey, to get herself and her company in the spotlight!"

"Believe me, Jack, attention is the last thing Julia wants. Anyway, this discussion is over, brother dear. Julia stays!" she said in a warm but firm tone.

For a fraction of a second Jack wondered if his sister should not be in his place.

"But," she added, "to ease your concerns, I can show you the results of Julia's work from the last twelve months."

"I'd like that." Jack knew he lost that battle.

"They will be on your desk first thing in the morning. Now, let's eat," she concluded as the waiter brought their food. "I'm starving!" and she dug into her Caesar's salad.

Just like Zoey had promised, someone delivered detailed reports to Jack's office very early morning; when he entered the room just after nine the next day they were lying on his desk in all their multi page glory.

Throughout the day, whenever he got a chance in between meetings, Jack would look through each of the projects Julia had led and completed during her first year at the company. As much as he tried to find some gaps or failures in them, he could not. She for sure wasn't going for the cheapest solutions, but her ideas seemed original and diverse. Few months back she'd organized a vegan party for one of their clients; on the menu he could see only vegan dishes, but not just any dishes - they were all mini versions of popular food. Then last year they apparently had an eco-party in the office, also organized by Julia; with food made only of ecological ingredients and served on ecological disposable plates. During the party the winners of the eco-office competition were announced as well. If anyone would ask Jack, he'd say that sounded really boring, but judging from the pictures that Zoey attached to the reports, it was far from that.

Another event was organized for their client, a manufacturer of lingerie. It was a karaoke night called 'Girl power', and so on...

Among all the papers Jack also found emails from customers expressing their gratitude and excitement at how wonderful the events were and already confirming dates for future ones. Obviously, it was no coincidence that he found these among the party expense reports. Zoey must have squeezed the emails in there just to prove her point.

And prove her point she did. It was clear Julia was good at her job. Unfortunately. It even seemed she was wasting her talents here and would be much better off on her own. So why was she here? Why was she hiding behind Brand Today?

Jack was going to find out and while at it he could always try to make her life a bit more miserable.

"Agnes!" he called out to his assistant. He needed coffee.

Only silence answered him, so he got up annoyed and went in search of Agnes.

Apparently when going through the reports, he completely lost track of time, as the office was almost empty. His assistant must have left as well, since it was already after six. As he walked towards the kitchen to make the coffee himself, he heard voices.

"...but did you see what she was wearing? Jeez! That woman is like almost the most important person in this company and she wears like a rainbow, you know."

"Stop it!" the other voice said, clearly amused.

"Like every day a different rainbow! Pathetic!"

The voices started laughing hysterically.

Jack stopped a few steps away from the entrance to the kitchen. He knew the two women were talking about Zoey. True, she did wear very colorful clothes, but he always thought them to be stylish and original. He was surprised someone would use such a negative tone when talking about his sister. Maybe she was the boss, but she was also very sensitive. She would have felt horrible hearing this.

He decided to drink water in his office, not really feeling like facing the women and connecting the voices to faces. As he was turning around, he heard another voice. Apparently someone else was in the kitchen.

"I can't believe that in a world where men are allowed almost everything and women are criticized for every choice they make, for trying to be independent and strong, you two chose to attack such a strong woman, who's not only our boss, but also a warm and passionate person. You should learn from her, not criticize her!"

Jack smiled. Auch! That will show them.

The two girls left the kitchen in a hurry, not saying another word. They were so focused on leaving the kitchen, they didn't even notice him standing by the door.

He slowly looked into the kitchen to see who defended his sister so passionately. When he saw Julia there, he wasn't really surprised; she and Zoey were friends after all, plus the woman had always been good with words. He was even surprised she didn't scold them more!

"Aren't we a faithful puppy," he said. Jack knew it was unfair of him to talk to her like that. He actually was grateful to Julia for defending his sister. She was a good friend and you could never have too many of those, but he anyway decided to use this opportunity and push a couple of Julia's buttons.

She looked up from her coffee which she was stirring a bit too harsh. He could clearly see she was bothered by what the two girls had said. When Julia realized he stood in the door, Jack could swear he saw her anger level rise up.

"A person can't even make coffee in peace and quiet. I don't even want it anymore," she mumbled to herself. She looked tired. It wasn't the first time he saw her working late. Another thing that surprised him.

"I'll drink it, if you don't feel like it," he offered in a sweet tone.

Julia gave him a mean smile and slowly poured the whole content of the cup into the sink. "We faithful puppies are not in the habit of making coffee for eavesdropping chauvinists."

Jack couldn't help but laugh at her words. "Do you maybe keep a dictionary of all these epithets? They are real treasures!"

Julia left the kitchen at a lighting speed, not gracing him with another look.

Jack grinned, satisfied. If you play it right, Deschanel, she might leave by the end of the month.