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“Not bad,” he said before I even reached him.
“I’d say it’s a little better than not bad,” I countered.
“Still half the quarter left,” he grumbled. It sounded almost like a threat, like there was a part of him that wanted to see me fail.
It wouldn’t be that far out of the realm of possibility for that to be exactly what he was thinking. It wasn’t uncommon for older investors not to respond well to younger men coming in and finding faster success than they did. I still had a good distance to go to get to the level of some of these men, but the millions lining my bank account came faster than was expected, and I only saw myself going up.
“Have a nice day,” I offered.
With that, he turned and walked away, and I stood speechless in place. Amanda came up behind me and tapped my shoulder. I turned to face her. She met me nearly at eye level in the heels that she somehow managed to work in all day, and I smiled. Amanda returned the smile and then hurriedly looked down at her tablet.
“So, I had to schedule Mr. and Mrs. Keaton for later this afternoon as they are due for a flight to Beijing tomorrow morning,” she said.
“Oof,” I said, and she nodded. “That’s a long ride.”
“It is. Other than that, you are free for the next few hours,” she said, crossing something off her screen.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, walking back across the room to wave my hand over the sensor for the lights. As I did, the lights in the room shifted from a presentation brightness to a calmer, more energy-friendly dimness.
“I could go for lunch. I only had a bagel this morning,” Amanda replied.
“Then off to lunch. My treat. Come on, I have a standing reservation at June,” I said.
We stepped into the restaurant and took our seats near the back. June was my favorite restaurant on the strip where our office building was located, and as such, I visited a lot. I had even developed their app on the side, just to keep myself busy one week. I refused payment in lieu of always having the same table available to me as long as I gave them fifteen minutes’ notice. Knowing them, I could give them none, and they would toss customers out on their ear if they needed to in order to seat me.
As we sat and ate, we chatted about the meeting, and specifically Mr. Fuller. Amanda was an animated talker, and I enjoyed listening to her rant about how rude the old man was. I knew she was too much of a professional to say anything like that outside of my company, but I got to see the real Amanda.
For the last six years, I had grown to rely on her to keep functioning at my best on a daily basis. Not only was she a model employee, but I enjoyed her company on lunch breaks and business retreats. She was invaluable, and I appreciated her presence and her ability to make my work life much easier.
As we spoke, I tossed out an idea, using her as my sounding board as I often did. Together we began to cobble together a few ideas that could double our profits for the remaining portion of the quarter. This way I could show Mr. Fuller exactly how wrong he was to be so pessimistic. And maybe he’d stop calling me Tom.
When we got back to work, I went into my office and dove into the paperwork for the day. Usually, I hated paperwork and would procrastinate doing it until the end of the day, but I was in such a good mood I wanted to knock it out and celebrate a little. Suddenly a thought hit me, and I pressed the button on the side of my phone and asked Amanda to come to my office.
Moments later, Amanda arrived at my door. I looked up at her tall, curvy frame and for a moment, noticed how pretty she was. I shook my head to toss those thoughts away.
“Amanda, did you send out those emails this morning?” I asked.
“Knocked that out when I got here,” she said.
“Awesome.” I shook my head as I looked down at the papers on my desk. “I do not know what I would do without you.”
“Oh, you know,” she said, waving me off, “fail miserably and be lost at sea. Something like that.”
I laughed loudly and she giggled, one hand moving up to rest on the doorframe for a second. She reached up and brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and took a deep breath in. Her smile dazzled from across the room.
“So, is there anything else, or did you just call me in here to grill me about something you could have sent a text for?” she asked, teasingly.
