Welcome to the Cinderella Countdown!
At the stroke of midnight New Year's Eve, The Glass Slipper Sisters will present their new book, Cinderella Treasure Trove.
Fifteen romance authors have served up delicious samples of their modern Cinderella-themed stories, along with a feast of tasty treats and glitzy party ideas.
Genre: romantic comedy / chick lit
What happens when the glass slippers pinch Cinderella's toes? When Jaine Andersen proposes a new marketing role to the local amusement park, general manager Dylan Callahan charms her into filling Cinderella's glass slippers for the summer. Her reign transforms Jaine's ordinary life into chaos that would bewilder a fairy godmother. Secretly dating her bad boy boss, running wedding errands for her ungrateful sisters, and defending herself from the park's resident villain means Jaine needs lots more than a comfy pair of shoes to restore order in her kingdom. First in the Storybook Valley series, a blend of sweet romance, chick lit, and fairy tale fun.
Dylan scrutinized Jaine, arms folded across his royal blue shirt with the Storybook Valley logo stamped over the left in white block letters. “Do you wear contacts?”
“I have plenty of media contacts. Wait. Did you say wear contacts? You mean instead of these?” Jaine fingered the earpiece of her gold-rimmed glasses.
“Right. Contact lenses.”
She gave a nervous chuckle. “I scheduled a consultation in college, but was too squeamish to insert the lens. I was more comfortable in glasses.”
Was she really justifying her vision enhancement choices to her prospective new boss? Maybe he intended to discuss medical benefits. Or did he think she looked nerdy? What was the saying? Guys don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses? Not that she wanted him to make a pass even if he was hot.
“How blind are you without glasses?” Dylan persisted.
“You wouldn’t want to drive with me.”
“How about if you’re walking around a building? Are you in danger of hurting yourself?”
This interview had taken the Mad Hatter Freeway from Fairy Tale Land into Wonderland where nothing made a damn bit of sense. Did this guy have a glasses fetish, like those weirdoes with shoe fetishes?
“I should be okay. I take them off for special occasions.” In fact, Jaine’s older sister Bree, who was getting married in August, remarked just last week, “You are losing the glasses for my wedding pictures, right?”
What the hell. She’d be a good sport and hope Dylan would be so grateful to pick the brain of a real, flesh and blood, bespectacled person that he would appoint her marketing director. Jaine removed her glasses and the fine details of her surroundings fuzzed. She nodded toward the framed print hanging on a side wall, the picture a wash of symbols and colors. “I can tell that’s a park map, but the words and images smear together.”
And that was myopia in a nutshell. Jaine adjusted her glasses back into place so she could see his reaction. Dylan examined her with such intensity that a blush stained her cheeks. She patted her blonde French braid, in case stray strands were straggling out.
“Here’s the situation,” Dylan said. “I took over the general manager position a few months ago. I’m evaluating possible changes and researching how other theme parks run. My grandfather and father have worked with a marketing firm for years to create our brochures, billboards, print, and radio ads.”
Jaine’s shoulders caved, imperceptible to him, but it felt as if her whole body was sinking.
No fairy tale job ending for her.
“I think we could produce most of those materials in-house,” Dylan continued, and her breath bottled up in her chest. “The firm is expensive and I’m not impressed with their efforts. Summer is our busiest season and I’m not ready to implement a full-time marketing position, but I could hire you in that role effective November second, when the park closes and I can devote more time to your training. Most of our positions are seasonal, but the key spots are year-round.”
Jaine exhaled. He was offering her a job in her field, promoting a family attraction that once enhanced her childhood. Plus, it gave her an excuse to limit her babysitting availability without guilt. Her sister had received free childcare long enough; she could arrange an alternative.
“Besides the PR and education programs, you’d help to expand our group sales efforts,” Dylan went on. “You would invite companies to consider us for their picnics and outings and work with our catering department to make sure the event goes smoothly. Another responsibility would be to promote our new online corporate ticket program where businesses can give discounted tickets to their employees. I’m in the middle of re-designing our website and you’d update content. If everything goes well, there’s advancement potential. I foresee expanding the marketing department in a year or two.”
An opportunity to shimmy up the corporate beanstalk! Before retirement, her father worked as vice president of an advertising agency, and her over-achiever siblings were always shooting through the ranks of their respective jobs. Now she could latch onto her own chance at success... except with her unemployment money running out soon, November seemed far away.
“I’d love to accept your offer.” Jaine hesitated. “It’s just… is it possible to start earlier?”
A hint of a smile slipped across his mouth, contrasting with the furrow grooving his forehead. “I hoped you’d say that. We have a temporary seasonal position that needs filling. It’s thirty-five hours per week and I could add on another five hours to spend on marketing. After Labor Day, we’ll expand your marketing hours and limit the temporary position to weekends.”
Between the furrow and the cautious note in his voice, Jaine was getting a bad feeling, like Hansel and Gretel must have felt when standing before the oven. “What kind of temporary position?”
And how did it involve glasses?
Dylan wheeled his chair around and pointed to the castle poster. She followed his thumb toward the girl in an elegant white and gold gown. “I need a Cinderella.”
Interested in helping with the release tour for the Cinderella Treasure Trove tour (January 1-7, 2015)
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