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While they ate, Olivia kept the topic neutral. The airport was the common thread that held them together, so she wanted to hash out more details.
“Melanie believes we’ll hear soon about the grants.” Stuffed, Olivia leaned back in her seat and set her napkin on the table. “We’ve already gotten a list of contractors we’d be interested in getting an estimate from for the renovations.”
“Zach Monroe.” Jax set his fork down and eyed her across the table. “I won’t argue with you on most of this, but Zach is local, he’s good, and he’s a friend of mine.”
Olivia wasn’t surprised at Jax’s loyalty to his friends or that he would be so passionate about the process. This was going to be his long after she went back to Atlanta to continue her work. She would be more of a silent partner, whereas Jax would be here day in and day out.
“Actually, Zach is the first name on our list,” she explained. “We have two others that aren’t local, but—”
“Zach is the one who will do it.”
Olivia wanted to argue simply for spite because she hated being told what to do, but she also knew Zach from school and had met up with him again when she and her friends stayed at Bella Vous a few months ago. Zach and his brothers had truly tapped into a gold mine, so she was comfortable with him doing the work.
“That’s fine,” she conceded. “Anything else you won’t budge on?”
Jax shook his head. “Not that I can think of. But I’m sure there will be something along the way that we clash over.”
“I have no doubt.”
Her cell starting chiming from her purse, which she’d left in the living room. Olivia came to her feet with a sigh.
“Can’t you let it go to voice mail?” he asked.
“Never,” she replied as she headed to the front of the house. “Work is always needing something.”
Now more than ever she wasn’t letting her phone go to voice mail. After that slipup the other morning she had to be on her toes.
The shrill ring kept echoing through the house as she grabbed her purse and pulled the phone out.
“Hello?”
“Olivia, I hope this isn’t a bad time.”
Oh, no. Just the tone of Steve’s voice coming over the line made her cringe. What on earth did he want and why was he calling her so late?
She glanced to the large clock overtop Jax’s mantel and realized it wasn’t late at all. If she were in Atlanta, she’d still be in the office . . . even on a Saturday.
“Actually, I am a little busy,” she replied. If this had been her boss, she would’ve lied, but since her nemesis was asking, she opted for honesty. “What can I do for you?”
“I was put in charge of the budget meeting for next Friday and I wanted to know if we could count on you to be there.”
Olivia stilled. Steve was put in charge of the meeting? Nobody but the COO was ever put in charge of that. Surely, he hadn’t already been named. Maybe this was just one way they were continuing the interviewing process? How long was this going to take, because her nerves were about shot.
“I can be there,” she told him. No way in hell would she miss that meeting and let him gloat all over himself. She was fighting to the death when it came to this promotion.
“Fantastic.” His tone told her he felt quite the opposite. “The meeting will start promptly at eight. I hope you don’t miss this one.”
That jab referring to the last meeting wasn’t worth getting worked up about. Steve was a jerk and she refused to let him goad her into a verbal sparring match. She’d show him who was the best man, or woman, for the job.
Besides, she didn’t care what he thought. All she cared about was her boss and his opinion. He’d actually been understanding the other day when she’d missed the conference call, and a sliver of her felt guilty for lying about her absence.
Steve was nothing but an annoyance and he better start treating her with respect . . . considering she’d be one of his bosses soon.
Olivia hung up without telling him bye. All manners and common sense went out the window when she had to talk to Steve. He was a smarmy jerk. There simply weren’t enough negative adjectives to describe him. It wasn’t that he was bad at his job—he wasn’t a terrible accountant. But his inability to play well with others made her want to pull her hair out at times.
“Everything okay?”
Olivia realized she’d been clutching her phone and staring at the clock. She pulled in a breath, but that did nothing to calm her nerves. She wanted to be in Atlanta right now. She wanted to march into the office and . . . damn it, do something. Anything to make her boss realize that she could handle her personal life and the promotion.
