A half an hour into the swanky soiree, held at a McMillan owned luxury hotel downtown, Esme was enjoying herself but also having a few growing pains for her new life. On the one hand, even if Governor Cromhold was the guest of honor, she was the real center of attention. Everyone was there because of a connection to her family, or her business; she'd leap frogged from gutter trash straight to pillar of the community. The obvious looks of lust and envy she caught people shooting her depending on their preferences also made her flush with pride over her new smashing good looks. On the other hands, she wasn't used to being the center of attention like this and it caught her off guard. For one, she didn't have the confidence of someone who was born to, or at least used to, power and privilege, making her feel hesitant and stumble over her words more than the 'Esme McMillan' of the reality everyone else remembered really should. More worrying though was that, even with the wish for basic knowledge of her new life, she'd never run a lemonade stand much less a multinational corporation, and she kept having to defer and bluff her way through guests who wanted to talk about McMillan industries, falling back on the excuse that tonight wasn't about work.
The opening ceremonies had already been attended to, and currently she was eating some delicious duck at the high table, along with her wife, several company vice presidents, a few other notables and the Governor and his wife. Alexander Cromhold was a dignified older man, and had been governor of their state as long as Esme could remember, even if she didn't really know that much about him beyond that. The silver haired politician smiled genially at people and seemed charismatic enough in his opening speech, but she couldn't shake the feeling the guy was pretty bored and didn't want to be there. That rubbed her the wrong way; people should beg for some of Esme McMillan's time, not act like it was a chore. Susan was engaging in idle small talk with the guy's wife, Charlotte or something, who was younger than the Governor but still in her mid 40's. Esme twice caught the refined-looking woman shoot a dark look towards her husband and eventually she realized it was when Alexander was glancing down at Susan's exposed cleavage. Can't really fault him, my wife is spectacular, but maybe I should be a bit offended by the disrespect...
"So, boss, you think you can seal the deal tonight?" Her VP of operations, a balding dude called Ted, asked quietly from her right.
"Uh, what do you think?" Esme replied, deflecting to avoid revealing she didn't know what he was asking about. While she'd been altering a lot of aspects of her new life to her liking, in large part she'd inherited ongoing situations and relationships from Richard, and the new Stephanie wasn't here to fill her in on what was going on.
Ted chuckled lightly, "I believe in you boss, but Cromhold's a crotchety bastard. No matter how much money you gave him during the last campaign, he's the sort to think he won all by himself. We really need the contract or the construction division is going to miss projections, and damn it, I think the bastard knows it. He might try to squeeze us for more, or he might just ignore us all together to score points for appearing incorruptible or whatever."
"Oh to hell with this," Esme muttered, before blinking her left eye three times in a rhythmic pattern. The wish that allowed her to be unnoticed, that she'd made way back when she was experimenting at school went into affect; people wouldn't think she'd disappeared, but their eyes would kinda glance past her and they wouldn't remember what she said, perfect for making a quick wish in public. She reached between her boobs and plucked the stone out from where she'd hidden it; she'd always been a bit jealous of the more endowed girls who could stick their phones in their cleavage as a temporary storage option, and relished having such an ability herself now. "I wish I knew what deal he was talking about, and I wish I was a business genius."
FLASH
Oh of course, the building contract for that new soccer stadium they're building for the Seattle Reign, the soccer team were the pride of Washington and had just signed a new contract which included the construction of a new state of the art pitch. Because state money, along with municipal funds, were being used, the Governor had a lot of implicit pull on what vendors would be used for the massive civic project, and McMillan industries was in the final three candidates. She also suddenly had the instincts of a corporate shark, and was ready to do whatever it took to come out on top.
For the moment she just blinked her eye in a repeat of before to let herself be properly seen and heard again, then whispered to Ted, "one way or another, he's signing that contract." Ted nodded in reply and the two returned to their dinners. For the moment she let herself relax, suddenly feeling a lot more on top of things now, even if she knew securing the bid wasn't a sure thing, she at least knew what was going on. She smiled a couple tables down where she saw Sarah giggling while Rosa playfully tried to feed her some of the duck confit, and Jenni clearly playing footsie with a red faced Lily below the table. They were seated with a collection of the other kids of the rich and powerful guests at the banquet, and Karyn seemed to simultaneously be flirting with at least three of them, two guys and a girl, all of them hanging on the blonde's every word. A feeling of pride burned in her chest, her newly established maternal feelings coming to the fore.
She let an hour of idle chit chat and merriment go by before she decided to get down to business, leaning past Susan and Charlotte to address Cromhold, who was looking pretty checked out. "Alexander, why don't you join me in the private lounge? I have a bottle of scotch I've been looking for an occasion to enjoy, and could always use some pleasant company."
