CHAPTER 1

ERIN RACED DOWN THE busy street trying to avoid colliding with any unsuspecting pedestrians. She decided on moving to San Francisco to make a fresh start. After her ex, Brad cheated on her with his secretary and one of her close friends Erin needed to get away. They had known each other since middle school, and they shared the same circle of friends. All except one. Lillian, her best friend who had moved away from Portland, Oregon during her sophomore year in high school. Lillian had never liked Brad and never made a secret of it. As soon as Erin caught Brad cheating, she called Lillian who convinced her to move to San Francisco and apply for a marketing job there. It was a big town full of new opportunity. She landed a dream marketing job at the number one advertising company in the bay area, O'Connell Advertising.

Erin checked her watch for the hundredth time as she hastened down the street. She was so engrossed in what time it was she didn't see the cyclist cross in front her. His sudden appearance caused her to stumble back and spill her overpriced caramel macchiato with a double shot down the front of her white dress. "Are you kidding me?" She growled shaking the hot liquid from her hand.

"Not my fault you weren't paying attention, lady." The cyclist grumbled and kept speeding by.

Erin would have kept arguing, but he was right. She had been so concerned about time she hadn't been paying attention. Ushering a quick apology, Erin started sprinting down the street in her six-inch heels. It wasn't the first time, and she doubted it would be the last. No matter how much time she planned for anything she could never be on time. Her mother once told her it was a birth defect when she was two weeks late when being born. She didn't mean to always be late. It just happened.

Erin sailed into the building with only one minute to spare and went straight for the elevator. She hardly paid attention to the lone desk with the security guard watching her questionably. She didn't care about running down the street but racing up six flights of stairs would be suicide. Erin listened to the droning ping on the floors she passed as she tried to calm her breathing. It wouldn't do to be introduced to her boss when she couldn't breathe, little lone speak.

The door opened, and Erin sailed into the room with confidence. She approached the front desk and pasted her brightest smile she could muster. "Hi-" She looked down at the nameplate in front of her. "Cynthia. I'm Erin Andrews. I'm scheduled to start working today under Henry Sheridan." Cynthia barely looked away from her computer screen as Erin spoke. Erin could tell they were not going to be fast friends by any means. You don't become the number one company in the western hemisphere by playing nice, right?

"You're late," Cynthia stated in a monotone voice.

Erin looked up at the clock. Sure enough, she was five minutes late. Who knew the elevator ride was going to take so long? "I apologize I've had a rough morning." She indicated with a sweeping of the front of her half brown and white dress. Cynthia didn't bother to look up from her screen. Erin wondered what was so enthralling on that screen. Curiosity got the better of her, and she started leaning forward to see. Cynthia's blue eyes snapped at hers, freezing her in place. Cynthia cleared her throat and handed her a packet of papers and an ID badge with a white lanyard on it.

"Fill out the forms and turn them back in by the end of the day. Wear your badge at all times while you are in the building." With that, Cynthia went back to staring at her screen. Erin opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She made a mental reminder to steer clear of Cynthia in the future.

"Thank you." She pasted another smile on her face and collected the items left to her. She looked left then right to figure out where to go. There was a set of double doors on either side of her. Which way was she supposed to go? Conceding defeat, Erin looked back to Cynthia. "Excuse me, Cynthia." Without missing a beat, Cynthia pointed to the right and continued staring at her computer. Erin mumbled a quick thank you and headed for the glass doors to the right. Erin pulled on the door, but it was locked. She pulled a few more times then tried pulling it. Still nothing. This was so not the way she thought this day would go.

"Miss. Andrews." Cynthia called out. Erin cringed, and half turned back. "Your badge." She pointed at the little black square next to the doors she hadn't seen before. Erin nodded and swiped her badge in front of the box and heard a beeping sound and a door click. She pulled on the door and felt it open with ease. Erin felt the heat rise up her neck. This was turning into the worst day ever. She should have known that her badge was more than just a picture of her. There was security downstairs. "Miss. Andrew's one more thing." Erin turned back just wanting to get this day over with already. "This company has a zero tolerance policy for tardiness. Try to remember that in the future." Cynthia turned away dismissing her. Erin bit her lip and rushed to Henry's desk.

Henry Sheridan was not any friendlier than Cynthia had been. The first words out of his mouth when she walked up to his was "You're ten minutes late. If that happens again, I will see you fired." Well nice to meet you too Mr. Sheridan. Did no one notice how disheveled she already was? She was almost run over by a cyclist and had coffee spilled on her. She had an excellent reason for being late. Did they care? No. Erin took a calming breath and jumped into her new role.

"It won't happen again, Mr. Sheridan. I'm ready to get started." Henry eyed her up and down and stopped at her chest. He was probably noticing the coffee stain gracing her person. She made a mental note of never wearing a white dress to work again and to always bring a jacket to work.

"You come with an impressive resume, Andrews. Portland was hard pressed to lose you." Erin remained quiet. There wasn't anything for her to add to that statement. She had been the top marketer in Portland, and her boss had begged her not to leave. Though her boss understood her reason, it left a ping in her heart at leaving them. They were her first job out of college and taught her everything she knew. She owed them more than a few days' notice, but she couldn't remain in Portland with everyone looking at her with sympathy or whispering behind her back. She had to get away.

Erin was not ready to delve into why she left Portland to Henry. No one needed to know about Brad and the fact she couldn't show her face in Portland anymore. "It was time for a change." Was all she said.

"As long as you don't leave us high and dry without the courtesy of a two weeks' notice I don't care." Henry eyed her like she was a bug in a jar. It unnerved her.

"I had my reasons." She gritted out between clenched teeth. "Why don't you show me the accounts you are working on, and I'll jump right in?" Anything to get her out of this topic of conversation.

Henry must have sensed her agitation and quickly changed the subject. He spun around to a pile of manila envelopes on his desk. He took the top one off and handed it to her. "Lucky Ducky Toys, they are a small kid's toy company. Their numbers have been down for the past couple of years and hired us to boost their sales. Come up with some campaign ideas and showcase their toys. Should be a walk in the park for you."

Erin took the file and flipped through it. This was a joke, right? There were three pages to it, the sales spreadsheet over the past three years, the background, and a list of merchandise. They set her up to fail. She didn't think this day could get any worse. Henry watched her with a calculated eye waiting for her outburst. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She was, after all, nothing but a professional. She was going to give Lucky Ducky Toys the best marketing she could. She would prove herself to Henry.

She sat down at her desk and immediately looked up everything she could on the company. There wasn't really much information. They started up a few years ago with only 50 toys. Today, they sold more than 200 kinds of toys. She couldn't pinpoint why sales were down, but she had every intention of finding out. Erin set up a meeting with the owner to walk through the store tomorrow so she could see first-hand what she was getting into. She asked a few questions about the company and their number one selling toys and got together an outline of what she wanted to do. Before she knew it, it was six o'clock, and everyone was starting to head out.

"Come on, Andrews. Can't having you staying late and making the rest of us look bad. It will still be there in the morning." Erin looked up from her computer and noticed almost everyone was gone now. She still had at least another hour or two of work left and was reluctant to leave. She could pick it back up when she got home. She had some great ideas on how to help Lucky Ducky, and she put a significant dent in her first day. Erin followed Henry out and waved goodbye. She called Lillian as she walked home. She knew her friend would want to know how her first day went. She answered on the first ring.

"So how was it?" Lillian never bothered with hello most times. She always figured it was a waste of time. Erin felt her first genuine smile all day.

"Let's see. I almost got ran over by a bicyclist, I spilled my caramel macchiato all over my brand new white dress, I was ten...