Too Close To Call

Her heels clicked on the hallway floor as she made her way toward the east wing of the studio at three in the afternoon.

When Harold Gauthier, the chairman of the board, had asked her to attend tonight’s Platinum party at his mansion, she’d been overjoyed. It was an A-list party, a sure sign she was being noticed in the upper echelons of the studio.

In the split second after he’d issued the invitation, she’d planned her wardrobe, her hair, even pondered if she’d have time for a quick facial and a pedicure.

But then he’d dropped the bombshell.

“Get Jeffrey Bradshaw to pick you up,” he’d said.

And, of course, she’d said, “love it.” And suddenly, instead of going to the party as an up-and-coming executive, she was going to the party as the date of an up-and-coming executive.

For a minute there, Harold had actually reminded her of her father. And that chafed.

What was with men?

Why couldn’t they simply see her as a professional? Not a female professional, but simply a colleague.

Her father was wonderful, and she loved him dearly, but he had an annoying habit of trying to second-guess her life. With the best of intentions, he kept asking why she was knocking herself out to get ahead in her career, since she’d probably meet a good man and quit anyway.

Her brothers were the same way, mired somewhere in 1950s thinking. And the one and only time she’d been in a serious relationship, the man squashed her professional aspirations so fast she’d barely known what hit her.

“There’s nothing wrong with a career, darling.” Reggie had said as her three-carat diamond solitaire sparkled hypnotically in the candlelight at Ruffino’s. “It just has to be the right career. You know, maybe something at the museum or the gallery, a hostess, part-time. At least until the children come along. You’ve got all the right clothes.”

Actually, she hadn’t had all the right clothes.

Thank goodness.

She had power clothes. He’d wanted low-key elegance followed by designer-maternity and upscale-housewife.

Ashley definitely did not have the right clothes to marry Reggie Lawrence.

She approached Jeffrey’s office and took a deep breath, bracing herself to take him on next.

Men.

When they weren’t trying to marry you off, they were throwing themselves in your career path.