I'm Your Man Read Free Page B

She wants to be you when she grows up.”
    â€œAw, that’s sweet. I’d be happy to.” Sheila took my Mont Blanc pen and signed the magazine. “How old is she?”
    â€œNine.”
    â€œWhen I was that age, I wanted to be Barbie,” Sheila said. “Looks like I made it.”
    â€œIf you start singing Barry Manilow, I’m getting off this plane,” I said.
    â€œYou stay right where you are, mister,” Sheila ordered. “There’s no way I’m facing Lillith the wacko on my own. Besides, she wants to meet with you, too.”
    â€œI don’t know why I had to cancel two days of meetings to fly to Baltimore for one meeting with her,” I said. “If she could just use a phone, or e-mail, like a normal person, my life would be so much easier.”
    â€œShe can,” Sheila said. “Just not while Mars is interfering with her communication planets.”
    Lillith Parker was my number one client in my role as an advertising executive at Breslin Evans Fox and Dean. In fact, Lillith Allure Cosmetics was my only client. As Lillith Allure’s Account Planner, I oversaw all packaging, product development, and promotions. There was a lot on my plate, but I thrived on it. The only hitch was dealing with Lillith’s penchant for all things astrological. Her every waking moment—and possibly her dream state, as well—was guided by a series of charts, readings, and courses designed to keep her personal and business lives in harmonious balance with the universe.
    Most CEOs had a personal assistant to organize their business lives. Among Ms. Parker’s staff were people who read tarot cards, threw rune stones, communed with “the other side,” and kept meticulous astrological charts. If there was one star or planet out of place, her life was in turmoil and an entire ad campaign might have to be reworked. During the three years I’d worked with Lillith, I’d had my aura fluffed, my palms read, and my chakras balanced. While I never felt different after these exercises in faith, and whether or not Lillith knew I was only going through the motions, she trusted me with her product line.
    â€œSpeaking of Zodiac,” I said and opened my briefcase, “I have the final prints for the Taurus line.”
    I handed Sheila a set of color prints which featured her in a boxing ring. In the photos, she wore bright red boxing trunks, gloves, and a simple tank top. Her eyes were “bruised” with Zodiac’s Taurus eye shadow as she charged her opponent in the ring with gloves raised.
    â€œThese are terrific, Blaine,” Sheila praised, flipping through the pictures. “You’ve got a great mind for this stuff.”
    â€œSee how your ‘trainer’ is whipping that red towel off your shoulders as you’re charging into the ring?”
    â€œSo it also looks like a bullfight,” Sheila observed.
    â€œTaurus is the sign of the bull,” I reminded her.
    â€œSuch a crafty ad exec, you are,” Sheila continued. “I never know how these things are going to turn out when I’m posing. I just trust that you know what you’re doing.”
    â€œFunny,” I said, returning the photos to my briefcase, “that’s exactly what Lillith always says.”
    â€œShe never would’ve entrusted her business to you if she didn’t think you were the right man for the job.”
    â€œThe same could be said for you, you know. Out of hundreds of women, she picked you to represent her biggest line.”
    Sheila nodded thoughtfully, her silence giving me time to remember how I’d ended up with a client as bizarre as Lillith Parker. I would never have been able to handle her at the beginning of my career.
    Fresh out of college, I’d been hired by Trueluck and Frost, a Wisconsin advertising firm. One of their clients was Frank Allen, the founder of Allure Cosmetics, which sold a line of