Tequila Sunrises over Georgia (a novella) by Yara Greathouse Page A

with you, always!
     

CHAPTER 1
Gia
    The click of the door closing behind me gave
me the much needed signal to finally let out a long held breath.
This was one of the toughest rooms I’ve had to face in the seven
years I’ve been at this company. The meeting with Dillon Smart, CEO
of Smart Home Design, Inc., (SHD), also included our VPs of
Creative Design, Entertainment, and Audience Programming. I’m at a
make it or break it time in my career and today will be a turning
point.
    As I walk past Dillon’s assistant, Jessica,
she smiles brightly and gives me a “thumbs up” sign. I smile back
and nod but continue walking. I know she heard what went on in the
meeting through the speakerphone. She’s a great assistant, and by
doing that, she can be ready for whatever Dillon needs within
seconds. I’m glad she didn’t try to speak to me because with the
adrenaline release thumping in my ears, I wouldn’t have been able
to hear her or respond coherently.
    I’m also grateful that my assistant, Kennedy,
managed to clear my schedule for the rest of the day. All I want to
do is get home and soak in a hot steamy bath with a glass of wine
to help me relax. Now, the waiting game begins.
    It’s not hard to hail a cab at this time of
the day in New York City, so I don’t have to wait. Traffic is light
and it only takes a few minutes to get to my SoHo apartment.
    Walking straight to the bathroom, I start to
run the water as I take off my clothes. I smile inwardly at my
achievements. Coming from a small Georgia town, my mother knew
early on that design was my destiny as I was always rummaging
through garage sales and flea markets, repurposing things that no
one wanted and most of my allowance was spent on paint, tools and
home improvement store purchases. The ladies from her book club
always showed interest on my re-designs and bought most of them.
Ads through the church bulletin sold the remaining pieces. I was
able to start saving for college early on.
    In high school, I obtained a full ride at the
Art Institute of Atlanta, and once attending, I scored an
apprentice job with one of the most notorious graduates of the
school, my mentor, Ty Penningham.
    After graduation, I knew that I wanted to be
a part of a modern up and coming firm, and it had to be located in
one of the major cities of the United States. Ty put in a good word
with a friend of his who was a Director of Design with SHD, and as
they say, the rest was history. I have been working my ass off and
moving through the ranks of the many different media outlets they
own: their website productions, magazines and television shows.
This meeting today was for them to consider me to be the Head
Designer/Project Manager for a new and promising TV show, Clever
Design. I have assisted and been a member of design teams for other
shows. Market tests have proven that audiences are not only
receptive to me, but they love my simple but elegant design ideas
and enjoy my segments. At least I have that on my side. They have
kept hush-hush who the competition is, so much so that not even
Kennedy, who knows everything, has been able to figure it out.
    After getting out of the tub, I throw my
bathrobe on and go to the kitchen to make a salad. My phone ringing
startles me. On the screen, Kennedy’s picture smiles at me.
    “Hey, Kennedy. What’s up?”
    “Uh, I have Jessica on the other line. Dillon
wants to speak with you.”
    My heart stops for a few seconds and then
starts beating again.
    That was fast.
    Really fast.
    This cannot be good. It’s too soon. It’s only
been a couple of hours. Fuck!
    Well, might as well rip the band aid
quickly.
    “Go ahead, put her through.”
    “Okay.”
    “Hi Jessica, it’s Gia. I’m ready for Dillon.”
Our company culture was pretty laid back. During formal meetings
with clients, I’d normally address everyone by their last name, but
during one-on-one conversations, that was not expected or
wanted.
    Jessica patches him through.
    “Hey,