Unarmed

Chapter 3

Chantelle's POV

I look up from my desk when I hear a knock on my door frame. Graciella smiles at me then walks towards my desk with two cups of coffee.

"Grande mocha with extra whip." She hands me my Starbucks cup.

"Thank you so much Graciella. I don't know what I would do without you."

She smiles. "No problem Chantelle. I've also emailed the San Francisco office about next month's issue. They'll be sending us photos by the end of the week."

"You're awesome." I open up my calendar to see that I have an editor meeting this afternoon. But I'm also supposed to have lunch with our Editor-in-Chief.

"Graciella?" I call after her while she's walking out the door. "Would you be able to stand in for me at the editor meeting today? I'm meeting with Sandra at 1."

She's suddenly nervous. "Uh. I'm just an intern Chantelle. I don't know if I can do that."

"Of course you can." I pull a black portfolio out of my desk. "All you have to do is present the slideshow we made then pass the files in here around the room. If any of the editors have any questions about our ideas for the next issue, answer them. If you can't answer them, tell them to email me."

"Are you sure?" Graciella asks. "I don't want to make the Relationship section look bad."

I smile. "You'll be fine." I hand her the portfolio. "And you're the best intern ever."

Graciella smiles weakly and heads out of my office. When she's gone, I sip at my coffee and start reading through the articles for next month's issue of Cosmopolitan. It's fun being the Relationship section editor. The ironic part is that I haven't been in a serious relationship since grad school.

I start making edits to the articles and the next time I look up, it's 12:45 p.m. I scramble out of my office and head up the elevator towards the fifth floor. When I reach Sandra's floor, I check in with her secretary and am immediately invited into our editor-in-chief's office.

"Hi Chantelle!" Sandra says, welcoming me in. She stands up and hugs me.

"Hi Sandra!" It's pretty nice being on a first name basis with your boss and the head editor of one of the most read magazines in America.

She motions for me to sit down and I do.

"Do you know why I called you up here?" she asks with a smile on her face.

"No.." I slowly shake my head.

"Well, I'm giving you a raise!" Sandra claps her hands excitedly. "You've worked hard over these last few months and you most certainly deserve it."

"Really?!" I can't help the smile that comes to my face.

Sandra pulls out a large envelope and hands it to me. "The details of your raise are in here but long story short, you'll be making 10 thousand a year more than you do now."

I do the math in my head and that puts me over the 100,000 mark for my annual salary. 102,400 dollars to be exactly.

I smile wider. "Thank you so much Sandra!"

"I'm just the messenger," Sandra says. "HR noticed your fine work before I did. You really are a huge asset to this team and we'd hate to lose you."

I furrow my eyebrows. "I would never leave Cosmo."

Sandra sighs. "I know. I guess I shouldn't be saying this but People Magazine just opened up a Seattle office and they're hiring like crazy. They're also offering an amazing salary for entry-level positions and awesome benefits. And right now, Cosmo can't compete with that." She rubs her head. "Suzannah is has already accepted a job offer and will be leaving in the new year."

I'm shocked. "Suzannah has been here since college. She's a grandmother now."

"I know." Sandra says. "But like I said, they're offering amazing benefits. People is tripling her salary."

My jaw hits the floor.

"Crazy, I know." Sandra shakes her head. "I know you'll most likely get an offer as you do amazing work but promise me that you'll let me know okay? For editors like you Chantelle, I will add whatever money to your salary that I need to keep you. We can't lose you here."

I smile a little. "Thanks Sandra. That means a lot. I will definitely let you know if anything comes up."

We chat for a few more minutes before one of the college interns brings us lunch. After lunch, I head back to my office and fire up my computer.

Instead of reading and editing more articles, I find myself logging into Facebook. I click on the search bar and type in "Lucas Stevenson."

The first profile that pops up is the beautiful cop that happens to live in my apartment. I open his page and immediately start exploring.

This is a lot more fun than editing articles.