Third Wheel

Back to work

The alarm goes off and Kacey groans out loud. She then musters all her might to get up, get dressed,eat breakfast and hastily pack for the day.

In her usual uniform she takes a cab and heads to Spencer’s office in the city. She opens her schedule for the day, moves a couple of meetings around due to a client who cancelled at the last minute because they had to fly out for business. In a couple of minutes the cab stops on a four storey walk-up apartment converted to a home office.

She gathers her stuff and enters an evergreen main door and the smell of coffee, freshly baked bread and cinnamon welcomes her.

Spencer’s idea of welcoming guests is a coffee shop looking lounge area. Walls in cement finish, a couple of wood accents and Sophie's whimsy in the decor and the evergreen feature wall full of artsy photos of their projects.

Tara, the company secretary, welcomes Kacey and informs her that Spencer will take a couple of minutes to finish a work call.

“Would you like coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice or water?” Tara asks

“It's ok Tara, You don't need to wait on me. Thanks though.” Kacey says

“Oh, Miss Sophie instructed me to hand these cinnamon rolls and croissants to you.”

“Oooh, thank you.”

She sits the pastries on the counter, goes around the pantry and makes herself a cup of hot chocolate. She grabs her tablet and works on a pending mood board while waiting for Spencer and Sophie, enjoying her croissant and hot chocolate.

“Hey!” Sophie greets while taking a cinnamon roll

“Morning, thanks for these.” Kacet holds up the bitten croissant

“Welcome, Spence is almost done, let's move to the conference room while waiting for the others.” She says while grabbing a cup of tea from the pantry.

“Others? Is the client coming too? I haven’t signed off yet.” She says concerned

“Relax, the client isn’t coming. We’re just waiting for-”

“Me. Morning.” Daniel suddenly shows up beside Kacey and grabs a croissant from the basket of goodies making Kacey freeze.

Kacey gives Sophie a confused look, while Daniel makes himself coffee

“So what's the project about?” Daniel asks turning around sipping his coffee

“Well, it's a lot, but we're pretty much excited.” Sophie says giddy with excitement

“Come on, let's head to the conference room.” Sophie continues going around the pantry table to fetch Kacey and signals Daniel to follow.

Spencer comes out of his office and meets them at the entrance of the conference room

“Hey guys, sorry for the wait.”

They all settle down in the conference room, the guys on the other side of the table. The secretary approaches and hands them folders with the project breif inside. Sophie turns on the TV and gets ready to present to the group the exciting news.

“Ok, to end the suspense, presenting our upcoming project.” Sophie plays a video she has compiled

“A resort?” Kacey excitedly inquires as soon as the video ended

“Yes, but not just any resort, the site is on a private island. A playground for the elite.”Sophie emphasises

“Is this legit?” Daniel asks a perfectly reasonable question coming from experience some clients dreams are bigger than their budget.

“We just went there last week and yes the island is sufficient enough.” Spencer says in his usual non chalant way

“It's so beautiful we're gonna have fun with this.” Sophie says

“I think what Sophie is meaning to ask is, Are you guys interested to work with us on this project?" Spencer asks

“You know me man, I game for anything.” Daniel says checking the topography plan of the site

“Um, sure- but for sure I'm going to be needed later for this. I mean timeline wise I would be joining in, in about six months?” Kacey says

“Um no, after the plans and perspectives are approved, you'll need to start right away.” Sophie says

“Because of the vastness of the scope of work we'll need to work in teams. I hope you guys are ok to work together.”

Kacey looks stunned at Spencer.

"What do you mean by working together?" Kacey asks

“I know it's a first, but we really need you guys for this to work.” Spencer encourages Kacey.

“I mean, yeah, Of course I want to help you guys, also I love the project.” Kacey says giddily looking at the proposed look of the resort and her mind is realing with ideas.

“That's what I like to hear! I'm so excited for this, wait till you see the island. It's paradise.” Sophie as enthusiastic as ever

“Oh, yeah, one more thing.” Spencer starts in a cautious voice

“We have another team to work with on this project. The landscape architect will meet us on site.”

“Oh goodie, I miss Jaime, can't believe she still has time for this. I mean, with the wedding and all, you'd think-” Kacey stops as she sees Sophie's nervous face

“What's wrong?” She asks Sophie

“Who's Jack Johnson?” Daniel asks looking at the briefing package

“No.no.no.no. count me out. What the hell.” Kacey panics in disbelief

“Kace, I'm so sorry we kind of don't have a choice. The client chose him.”

“Damn it” Kacey says in frustration, knowing well that in this profession she was bound to see him again.

“Kace, we know you don't like the situation, but the good thing is you don’t have to communicate with him. Daniel can meet with him and you’d never have to interact with him.” Sophie says reassuring Kacey

“Wait, does anyone care to bring me up to speed?” Daniel inquires truly intrigued

“He’s this ass who led me on. He and my then close friend planned to use me to graduate, unbeknownst to me while they sucked face. I was stupid and learned a very harsh lesson.” She says before anyone can explain to Daniel.

“Come on Kace, This is your chance to show Jack that he doesn’t matter.” Sophie encourages her

"Believe me I almost didn't take the offer, but this project is too good to pass up." Spencer adds

“Or we can just push him off a cliff” Daniel jokes to lighten the mood Spencer snickers

"Ha, there's no need for that, I can be professional-" Kacey reassuring herself

"Does this mean you're accepting?" Sophie excitedly asks

"Yeah, why not." Kacey says making Sophie shriek with glee