The Waiter by Bradleigh Collins (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

“It’s a lot of work, Sam. A lot of deadlines. I want you to hire more freelance writers. In fact, I want you to take on a much bigger editorial role.”

“I can do that.”

“I know you can,” she replied, arranging her flowers in a vase. “That’s why I’m promoting you to Editor-in-Chief.”

“What?”

“As of today, you are officially the Editor-in-Chief of e-Styled.com.”

“I think I’m going to faint.”

Jackie laughed.

“So I’m like, the Anna Wintour of our website?”

“Not just the website. We’re going to launch a quarterly print magazine later this year. You’ll be in charge of that as well.”

“I am going to faint.”

“Sam, it’s a tremendous responsibility and a ton of work. I know you can handle it, but if you start to get overwhelmed, you have to tell me. Deal?”

“Absolute deal! Jackie, thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

She got up and hugged me. “I’m proud of you. And I’m really proud of the work you’re doing. The work all of us are doing. We’re having a staff meeting in the morning to discuss our plans for the upcoming year. I’ll make the formal announcement then.”

“Great!” I left Jackie’s office and walked back to my desk. I wanted to call The Waiter immediately and tell him the good news, but I didn’t want to interrupt his and Nick’s meeting prep. Plus, I would have had to go out of the building and call him on my cell phone so that nobody else would hear, and I had no intention of going back out into the tundra. Instead, I made a note in my calendar that said, “Remember this day!” with a big smiley-face. And then I got to work.

At lunchtime, pizza arrived for the entire office and Jackie had us all gather in the conference room.

“Something’s missing,” Jackie said, looking around. She got up and walked out.

“I ordered garlic bread, too!” George yelled after her.

She returned a few minutes later with a couple of bottles of champagne.

“Today we are celebrating. Not only my triumphant return from Bermuda,” she laughed, “but the fact that we just got another round of funding. A substantial round of funding.”

Everybody cheered.

“Wait!” Jackie yelled. “Hold your cheers. Because in addition, you’re all getting raises!”

The cheers turned into screams.

“I’m so proud of all of you, and we’ve got a lot of hard work ahead. But today, we celebrate. Tomorrow we’ll discuss details. And I promise to host a more formal celebration soon.”

“I’ll go get champagne glasses!” George said.

“I’ll help.” I followed him to the kitchen.

“I hope my raise is enough for me to get an apartment in Manhattan,” he said.

“I thought you had practically moved in with Jeffery. I love you guys together.”

“Me too. But his apartment is minuscule and we’re on top of each other. And when we’re not on top of each other, we’re on top of each other.”

I laughed.

“Are there any apartments available in your building?”

“I don’t know. I can check.”

“I want one on your floor. Right next door. So I can see your hunky man every day.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Around four o’clock, The Waiter called with more good news.

“They bought it baby. We got a deal.”

“Are you serious? That’s incredible!”

“Yeah,” he replied. The tone of his voice was less than chipper.

“You don’t sound very excited.”

“I am, babe. I’m just in shock.”

“I need details.”

“Um, why don’t you meet me at Jake’s after work. Nick and I are here drinking.”

“I’ll be there. I have some news worth celebrating as well.”

“Are we having a baby?” he asked jokingly.

“That’s not even funny. I’ll see you around five-thirty.”

I hung up the phone and looked down at my calendar. I drew another happy face under my “remember this day” entry. I couldn’t believe it. On this random, bitterly cold Tuesday, my life had dramatically changed for the better. Twice. I had never been so certain or felt more validated of my decision to move to New York. I shuddered to think of what my life would like if I were still in Atlanta. Still with Dalton. The thought made me shiver more than my morning commute.

At five o’clock on the dot, I packed up, layered up, and headed out. I knew this would probably be the last day in a very long time I’d be leaving the office at five. And I was perfectly okay with that. I knew The Waiter would be okay with it, too. He’d be busy making his dream happen, and I’d be busy succeeding in my new role as Editor-in-Chief.

I flagged down a cab in front of the building. “Amsterdam between 80th and 81st.”

When I walked in the door at Jake’s Dilemma, The Waiter was sitting at the bar by himself. He looked exhausted. I walked over and hugged him.

“I am so incredibly proud of you. You did it, baby.”

“Thanks, Red,” he replied. I ordered an apple martini. He ordered another bourbon. From the looks of it, he’d already had quite a few.

“Where’s Nick?”

“Oh, he’s doing some kind of personal training thing tonight.”

“Well, he won’t have to do that much longer.”

“So,” The Waiter asked. “What’s your good news?”

“I just got a big raise and a big promotion. Your girlfriend is now the Editor-in-Chief of e-Styled.com.”

“Oh my god, baby!” He hugged me. “That’s incredible!”

“I know, right? We just got another round of funding. Everybody is getting raises, and a few of us, yours truly included, are getting promotions.”

“I’m so proud of you,” he said. “Are they planning on expanding to other locations?”

“I don’t think so. Not now anyway. But we are launching a quarterly print magazine in the fall. I’m so excited. It’s going to be huge.”

“I’m so happy for you, Red.”

“I’m so happy for both of us! You know, I totally thought this day was going to suck because it was so cold and I was in a bad mood this morning, but now look at us! Talk about a New York minute!”

The Waiter’s smile looked pained. I couldn’t begin to imagine the amount of