Nerdy Girl Nation (Nerdy Girl #1) (2 page)

Ouch.

The woman in front of her vibrated with anger. The daughter of her boss was a force to reckon with when upset. Waves of fury billowed off her like fire in a furnace on the verge of explosion.

Emma slipped her glasses off and took a deep breath. She shifted back into a professional mode. “Irene, I don’t want to sound like a bitch, but—”

Irene huffed and folded her arms under her ample breasts.

“You don’t have the authority to fire me. I have an employment contract with Hunt Consolidated. Also, I talked to Gregory Burnett yesterday. Today’s meeting was for marketing and Reggie was supposed to be in on the call. Was he there?”

“Yes, but—”

“But what, Irene? You have been pissed ever since this deal started. I am the VP of Operations. London is
my
deal. Your father knows about every single step I’ve taken with these negotiations. If he wants me gone from Hunt, he’s going to need to tell me to my face.”

“I don’t care who you think you are, but I am
the
member of senior management in charge while my father is unavailable. If you want to contest your contract, we’ll see you in court. Clean out your desk. Security will wait with your assistant and escort you out.” With a twist of her statuesque form, Irene Hunt turned and stormed out of Emma’s office.

Emma turned her head toward the crew who caught the whole ordeal on film. Her days as the nerdy Vice President of Hunt Consolidated were over.

“We just got a ratings boost,” the cameraman whispered to the sound guy.

The crew captured snippets of her daily life since Terrance began filming his reality television show,
Hunt for Life
. Launched into the limelight as soon as the first episode aired, her entire world transformed. Not the typical female form, her five foot nine frame curved where most celebrities slimmed into straight lines. Her hair, an odd shade of black, made her crystal blue eyes stand out from her face. Emma had many flaws outside of her perceived appearance she’d spent years in therapy attempting to overcome. But, her major malfunction according to the tormentors from her teenage years was being a complete nerd from head to toe.

Fame brought invitations to parties and galas all over the world. With more than a little help from a personal stylist, hairdresser, and makeup artist, she transformed into a more exquisite version of herself. Thankfully, she only attended those events she was contractually obligated to. She displayed an inherent shy nature but had a head for business unlike anyone else at Hunt Consolidated. The number one reason she got the coveted job of Vice President of Operations five years earlier.

“I don’t have time for this.” She wiped a single tear from her cheek.

With a shaky hand, she reached for her cell phone and dialed Terrance’s number. Four rings later his voicemail message came on. She clenched and unclenched her fist while waiting for the beep.

“It’s Emma. I don’t know if you’ve talked with Irene yet, but she fired me this afternoon. Something she thinks I did with the London deal. I’m not sure what is going on today.” Another tear slipped down her cheek. “I found out my mother died this morning. As soon as I can get a flight, I’m going home.” She swallowed hard to keep herself from sobbing. “This whole thing is such a mess. I am going to take care of my family for the next couple of weeks. My desk will be cleaned out within the next hour. Please give me a call when you get this so we can figure things out.” She pressed the end button and fell back in her chair.

“They want us to come with you,” the cameraman, Al, announced as he moved in for a close-up.

“Who?”

“The producers. They want us to go with you. Troy is on his way here,” the sound guy, Ben, said while adjusting the levels of his equipment.

“Fine. If he gets here before I clean out my desk, I’ll talk to him, but I need to make arrangements to get home.”

Al nodded and continued to film as Emma sifted through the physical form of the last five years of her professional life.

“What’s going on?” Sharon, Emma’s assistant, asked when she caught Emma packing.

“Who the hell knows?” Emma wiped away another tear. No matter how many deep breaths she took, the flow of saltiness continued.  “Reggie was in on the conference call with London, right?”

“Yes. I talked to him about twenty minutes ago. He said the meeting went well.” Sharon grabbed Emma’s hand to stop her from placing a picture frame in a box. “What did Irene do now?”

“She’s amped up her bitch mode to DEFCON one.”

“That bad?”

Emma nodded, and Sharon let go of her hand. “She fired me.” Sharon gasped. “I don’t know if it will stick. She has no authority to fire a member of upper management, plus I have a contract. I suppose it will get sorted out when Terrance gets back. I’m not sure what this will mean for you in the meantime.”

“Don’t worry about me. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going back east for a while.” Emma stacked the last of her private papers in the box. “Keep an eye on Irene and the whole London deal for me. I know the woman hates me since I saved her ass with the Kenya mess, but this is a little extreme.”

“I will.” Sharon came around the desk and gave her a tight squeeze. “Call me when you can.”

“Sure.”

Sharon walked toward the door when it opened and smacked against the wall.

“The company jet can take you wherever you need to go.” Troy Banks, the executive producer of
Hunt for Life
explained. He approached her desk and laid her contract out in front of her.

Emma eyed him while Sharon shut the door behind her. She read through the first couple of pages of her
Hunt for Life
contact. If the fine print was correct, her contract stated she would be filmed through the rest of the scheduled season, whether she worked for Hunt Consolidated or not.

“Please, Troy. I’m going home to bury my mother, not on vacation in Cancun.”

He took her hands in his. “Al and Ben will be the only ones with you. I will be the first to view the footage and will give you final approval on what we air. No one has ever gotten a deal like this.”

She nodded while she gazed down at her hands. Troy had always been kind to her. He was the reason some of her most embarrassing moments never aired in the final episodes.

“All right, but I want everything in writing to go over with my lawyer. Email me and I’ll fax a signed copy back.”

“Fantastic,” Troy sighed as he pulled her in for a hug. “I’ll call our pilot. Where do you need to go?”

“Marblehead, Massachusetts.”

A car waited for Emma, Ben, and Al when they arrived at Logan International Airport in Boston the next morning. The driver, Phil, would be at their disposal for the duration of their stay. Phil helped load their luggage and gear into the black SUV, and they began the short drive to Emma’s hometown.

Six weeks since her last visit, Emma expected the same welcome calm entering Marblehead always brought her. Now that Elaine MacLean was gone, the sensation fled with her.

Dozens of cars littered the street in front of the MacLean home. She called ahead to warn her older brother, Harry; the cameras would be coming with her and to inform everyone to act naturally.

Emma’s feet hit the ground, and her eleven-year-old niece appeared in front of her. She took Charlotte into her arms and held tight.

“Aunt Em, I can’t believe you’re finally here!”

“I’m here.”

Charlotte took Emma’s hand and led her into the house with Ben and Al trailing behind. They entered through the back kitchen door to find the room full of food. It seemed as if almost all of the twenty thousand residents of their town donated a dish for the grieving family. Apparently, when the Mayor of a small town passes away, food appears on the family’s doorstep as if by magic.

“Hey, Sis,” Harry called as he sifted through the casserole dishes and desserts.

“Hey.” Emma left Charlotte’s side to hug her big brother. “How are you?”

“Hanging in there.” He drew back from her as he detected the cameras.

“Ignore them as best as you can.”

Harry nodded. “Annie is out front with the rest of the town.”

“What about the baby? Where’s Sam?” Her six-month-old nephew got her through her last visit to Marblehead for her thirtieth birthday in March. She needed her baby fix. Some baby love would hit the spot.

“Nan is feeding him his bottle on the couch.”

A sweet pang struck her chest at the thought of her eighty-year-old grandmother, Moira, feeding the infant.

“And Dad?”

Harry had gazed at her for a long moment before he reeled in a harsh breath.

“The boat?” she asked.

Harry nodded. “He’s out there most of the time. Annie and I started making the arrangements, but we need him with us. Do you think you could talk to him?”

“Sure.”

After an hour of reintroductions and some strange stares at Al and Ben, they climbed back into the SUV, and Phil drove them to the marina.

Her father’s boat wasn’t hard to spot. It resided in the same slip off and on for years. She ambled across the wooden boards until she stood in front of the boat where she spent most of her childhood.

“Permission to come aboard, Captain?”

Her father stopped sweeping the deck to take in the sight of his daughter. The corners of his mouth lifted up, and he tossed his broom aside.

“Permission granted,” he stated while he offered his hand to help her aboard.

As soon as her feet hit the deck, he brought her into his arms. One of the things she missed the most about home, the feel of her father’s arms around her making her believe everything would be all right.

“How are you?”

“Not good, Princess.” He led her to the bow and leaned his forearms on the railing. “I feel so lost without her.”

The same thought plagued Emma as well. Her mother was not only a hero to the community, but the glue that held their family together.

“She would want us to celebrate her life and go on with ours.”

“Getting through this is going to be hard without you here.”

“I’ll be around for a while. I kind of got fired yesterday.”

He looked at her, at the camera, then back to her.

“I’m still under contract with the show until the end of the season, so we will see what happens.”

“There is always an opening with my company. We don’t do the kind of business Hunt does, but you always seemed to like the work.”

A simple life helping Dad manage his charter business?

Calm waters spritzed with a few rough seas were a piece of cake compared to her life at Hunt.

“Sounds wonderful to me, Dad.”