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“I’d be a fool to do that. She’s too valuable. She’s only had a part-time role managing the Joyntz acquisition for a week and she’s already flying. She’s showing all the signs that one day she’ll be the best executive I could wish for. And not only that, but I will always know I can trust her. And that makes her a rare and valuable asset. So no, I will not cut off my nose to spite my face by holding her back just because she wants to date my little brother.”
“Yeah, well, that last part remains to be seen. But I sure as hell am not going to give up on her without a fight.”
I stand and offer Max my hand. “Thank you.”
He takes it, but instead of shaking it, he pulls me into a hug and holds on tight. “And I couldn’t hope more that you win,” he says against the side of my head, his voice cracking a little. “I love you, El.”
He pats me on the back, then let’s go. “And I don’t want to be the dick brother you dumped because he stood between you and the love of your life,” he adds with a smile.
“You can go on just being the dick brother then,” I say with a smirk, because this has been quite enough family emotion for one day.
“Hello, sir. Can I help you?” Greta asks as I trot toward my office.
“Very funny.” I roll my eyes. “How come you’re here late?”
“Wanted to get ahead of some things for tomorrow.” She stands and grabs the cane leaning against her desk. “Good to see you’re still a living, breathing human and not just a voice on the phone.”
“Yeah, I suddenly have something urgent to do for tomorrow. Thought I’d come in and take care of it now.”
“Did you jog here?” She looks me up and down.
“Don’t you start. I just had enough of that from Max.”
“Well, you look in a better mood than you did the last time you came in. So that’s good,” she says. “Anyway, I’m heading home.” She takes a limpy step toward the hallway.
“If you’ve gotten ahead for tomorrow, take the day off.” I tell her. “Rest that leg. And wrist. Just have a nice day doing whatever you like.”
She looks at me, eyebrows raised, like I might be making an incredibly bad joke. “Seriously?”
“Seriously. I appreciate you more than you can know. Lord knows I fell apart while you were away. So let me say a little thank-you by giving you a day off.”
“You say thank-you in lots of ways. The Christmas bonuses and gifts are always very generous. And that wine was…” She makes a chef’s kiss with her good hand.
“Please take a free day off.”
She points at my face with her walking stick. “Judging by that smile, you’re having a good day.”
“Actually, most of it was pretty shitty,” I say, moving through the open door into my office and firing up my desktop. “But I’m hoping tomorrow will be a lot better.” I circle the room impatiently, waiting for the computer to finish its updates. “Thanks for looking after my plants,” I call to her as she hobbles away.
“Oh, shit,” she says. “I watered them today but forgot the fern thing. I always miss it because it sits on that table by itself. Intended to go back and do it later, then I forgot again.”
I shove my fingers into the pot. “Feels like it was watered recently.”
“Nope. I’ve been forgetting it for days.”
“Huh.” That’s odd. “Anyway, have a nice day off.”
Then I sit at my desk and get to work on the most important presentation of my life.
35
CHARLOTTE
I’ve been laboring over this email to the Joyntz COO for half an hour. I need to be clear that the thing he’s being petulant about is actually my decision—in fact, I could probably fire him if I wanted to. I don’t want to, but I could.
This is my fourth attempt at writing this message, and I’m still agonizing over whether to use an exclamation point. Leaving it in might make me seem un-executive-y. But taking it out might make me sound like a bitch.
I expected to have a lot to learn, but I hadn’t anticipated the tone of my emails to be on the list of things I need to worry about. And there’s no way I’m writing in Max’s style—I want these people to like me.
