Two days later I am in my office at the tower when Chris and Brodan knock.
“Hey guys come on in.” I smile standing up in a mid calf tight grey
dress, black knee high heel boots and some jewelry topped it off.
“Wow Chicago is doing you good Serena, you look healthier and happier.” Brodan smiled.
“I think it does work for me, I’ve been trying to run down by the lake I haven’t gotten more than a mile a day but its better than nothing.” I motion to both of them to take a seat at the round table in my office. I join them there with my files. “Can I get you something to drink?”
“Water if you have it.” Both of them say and I open the mini fridge in my office and hand them waters.
“Do these offices come with the fridges?”
“Yes they do actually I think its because its a long way to the employee break rooms. I’ve only seen two, 1 is on the 3rd floor, one on the 44th and the other is on the 105th floor. Way impossible so most people bring stuff from home and eat in their offices or leave for lunch.”
“How are things working out for you?” Chris asked.
“Ok now that I’ve come up with a plan.”
“OH really what’s the plan?” Chris follows up.
“I tend not to work here all day. I normally do like a half and half day.”
“What do you mean?” Brodan asks still looking out the window at the view.
“Well I found the commute to this building in the morning rush is a nightmare. I feel like a sardine on the train. So I tend to work at home til around 9 or 10 then come in. I’ll normally either work here til 6 if I want to be in the city for some reason or I’ll leave no later than 330 to work at home the rest of the day. Otherwise its sardine-ville again.” I laugh.
Chris laughs. “And obviously when you get home you aren’t done yet because I got an email from you last night at what 10?”
“Hey it was an important thought.” I smirk.
“Yep well Chris I’m more special because I think I got my last email from her at 11.” Brodan laughed.
“Serena whatever works for you, if it helps that you break your day up like that I have no issues. You’ve been working full days so where you are at is not a concern. I just appreciate that you’re trying to use this office at least weekly since otherwise Bob might have a concern because people may wonder why he needed the space.”
“Well Chris I wouldn’t worry too much because I did walk around one day in here, there is about 40% of this building with open space so its not prime real estate as much as people seem to think it should be.”
“Well they should be happy they are getting reimbursed anything for this office, this entire half of the floor is MM and its empty.”
With that we get down to our meeting and I show both of them my analysis of only the West Zone accounts, proving that in order to effectively manage and maintain these accounts I’m going to need the full scrubbed account lists cross referenced to DEA#’s or HIN#’s. Chris tells me he understands my logic and analysis and he’ll get with Steve to see what he can get me.
“Hey I’ll fly to Jersey to argue my point if needed.”
They smile that Chicago is doing me good I’m back to the feisty Serena they met and were mesmerized by the first time in NJ. “You must be really enjoying Chicago its agreeing with you, you actually seem to be liking living here.”
“I do, its a lot of fun, the city has a heart beat to it that makes you match it. But I bet in the winter it won’t be nearly as much as it is now.”
“Its fun?” Brodan asks.
“Actually it is, after work when I’m not inclined to go straight home the rest of the MM gang on the floor heads down to the Franklin Tap. Its a cute bar close to here but its nice to stay in the city and watch it change from all work to all play.”
Chris and Brodan love that I’m finding that happiness. They each tell me to be safe and get ready to leave. Not before Chris tells me he loves what I’m doing and that he’s happy they put me in place. I’m challenging the higher ups and that’s what’s needed to get things moving. He excuses himself to the restroom and I actually ask Brodan for a strategy session meeting about accounts and also if he knows a good mortgage person. He tells me to come out to the house next Wednesday and we can meet and he’ll have a name for me by then. He has to do some calling to make sure a few people are still in business.
Over the course of the next few weeks things start moving quickly. I meet with Brodan, get my house refinance working, I also save as much money as possible but also spend a bit on a new wardrobe. I meet with Alicia Gulegian, a style consultant and personal shopper that charges $240 for an hour consultation. I go to her and she sets me straight. I’m thin, I’ve been working out every day and trying to run and with the surgery I had to correct the errors I saw I no longer have to be ashamed or scared of my body. I don’t need to buy an XL size shirts anymore, I should be buying at most a medium or walk away. I’m a size 6-8 and I should wear that, enough with hiding in my clothes. She also explains to me that if I want to draw attention away from an area then I should put bold patterns and colors in opposite areas. For example, I feel I have a fat face, which she tells me I don’t I just don’t know how to pose in pictures. She’s brutally honest because she doesn’t know me and its not personal its just the facts. She tells me I’m not the most photogenic person, but I can be if I learn to position by body right she does show me what she means, but that’s a whole different story. She points out though, to cause me more comfort, I should be using solid tops and bold print skirts. I’m skinny in the hips and have no ass, its not like there’s a lot to be ashamed of there, draw attention to it and I’ll look more proportional and put together, than with tops that I buy that are way too big to hide what I think is bad right next to them. She tells me one other hint, if I’m going to wear a patterned shirt then put a solid color blazer over it doesn’t have to match the skirt color, to again not draw all the attention to one area, it will allow the person looking at me to focus on me as a whole not follow the pattern only.
I thank her and leave, to go shopping. As she has me all fired up I want to fix it my clothing. Most of it falls off me now so its out of necessity too. After about an hour of frustration I realize the problem is i don’t know where clothing stores are in Chicago. The bad part about this city is all the buildings house 60 things and most aren’t labeled outside. I decide the next day to head to a mall out of the city since I can’t seem to find stuff in the city.
The following day I get up and do some work and then once the rush hour calms down a bit, I take the train up to the Merchandise Mart. I’m feeling pretty good that I’m figuring out the train system pretty well. I know that Red runs closes to the lake and Purple is pretty close to that but further in a ways from the lake, blue runs east and west. Within just a few weeks I’ve figured out a good portion of the trains and it reminds me that I’m strong and confident and I can do this on my own. The self confidence and strength that I’ve felt has left me is coming back more every day and I love that. I however don’t find anything I want at the Merchandise Mart because they don’t have clothes for the most part so I head home and then just walk the two blocks to Macy’s.
After 3 hrs of shopping I find an entirely new wardrobe for work, new casual clothes are also on the agenda but I’m just out of patience. The style of work clothes I choose is exactly what Alicia advised me to choose: (Examples)
I get 2 new pairs of jeans that fit my smaller body, one dark washed and one light. The liposuction worked to reduce my stomach and the working out finally showed the evidence that it was being done so I didn’t mind doing it anymore. The little running I’ve been able to do has also tightened and toned my body so now when I put on my old jeans they completely fall off. After the two pairs of jeans I know I should get lingerie and tops but I look at my phone and its already 430.
I haven’t been working all day so tonight I’ll have to work the rest of the evening to make up for this , screw it I might as well get everything now. I walkover to the casual area and start picking out some tops. I originally start looking for them in the women’s section but at Macy’s most of the women’s clothing seems to old. I walk over to the juniors section and knowing that I’m not as big as I thought I was. I know that I’m able to fit into these clothes because they are cut closer to what petite clothes would be.
I pick up 10 different bra and pantie sets of all different colors and hope thats enough for now, man I hate shopping. I try to pick out a bunch of different colors, in one of two styles, either form fitting or free flowing but nothing that is sized too big like before.
Some of the clothes I get
After I spend close to $4000.00 at Macy’s they offer to have me sign up for a Macys card and get 20% off today’s purchase. I’m all about that, $800 off is nothing to sneeze at. Now the problem is how to get the 50 bags home.
“We can deliver it for you, or we have a driver that can give you a ride home if you’re in the city.” One of the managers lets me know.
“Actually I’m just over at Legacy, just 2 blocks away that would be fantastic.” Not more than 20 minutes later I’m in my condo unloading all of the bags from the luggage cart I stole from our concierge. Once everything is in my unit I call down and the door man comes up to get the cart. I spend the evening washing or febreezing everything in my new wardrobe and while that’s happening I’m working and I get to the point where I analyze another section of the accounts. I send that off to Chris and in about an hour I get a call from Bob asking me to come to Jersey to meet with him.
When I arrive home I call one of my new friends from the office and we meet at the Tap and pass the night away with a few drinks. I have a lot to think of because Bob has asked me if its ok with me if he changes my scope of my position. He still wants me to be involved with the Inside team when that happens but he loves the analysis and the digging I’m doing into all the accounts and really wants that to be my main focus. Mapping the IDN’s and understanding them so as Chris’ team wins we have a solid plan on the accounts. That will be about 80% of my job. I had bargained for a pay raise and got my additional $10K and even another week of vacation telling him that all that looking at a computer screen will cause me to go bonkers sooner. He laughs and agrees.
After all he feels with my analysis the teams can actually work better and stronger with fewer people so he has the money to play with in his budget. I tell him I want it in writing before I sign anything and again he asked why I didn’t trust him and I’m blunt with him. “You tend to get rid of people carelessly I want to know I have some security in this world. I also don’t want to be required to move to Boston, I haven’t found a lot about that area I love yet so I’d like it to be optional for me in my agreement. If I’m going to be working so much with Chris and Brodan it makes sense I’m near them, cheaper for the company in the long run.” He agrees to consider it and send me the new paperwork in the next week.
After spending time with Zoe at the Tap we laugh and have a great time, both of us flirting with some hot guys until I realize I’m about to miss my train. “Zoe I have to go luv ya hon I’ll see you later.” I throw $40 on the table and high tailed it out of the bar. I would have been perfect had I not ran smack dab into a strong, muscular chest. Falling on my ass right outside the door I look up.
“I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
The most amazing blue eyes meet mine and his hand comes down to help me up, “Its alright darlin I wasn’t watching either. Are you ok?”
