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Naturally, the thought of that many lives in my hands, causes panic to shred through my chest. I begin to breathe heavily, fear taking over every mixed emotion I’ve been feeling. Savannah approaches me, guiding me back to the chair at the table, while Josh pours me a glass of water. Willing me to drink it, she nods at James to continue.
“Listen, Carly, calm down. You said you operate a hotel, I’m sure you have a Business Degree perhaps. Your job as the CEO will be a lot like managing that hotel, times five. Basically, you will just call all of the shots. You will have to see the day to day operations of all five mines, attend supervisor meetings. Just a lot of command and pencil pushing. The Supervisors were informed of the transition when your Daddy found out he was sick, so everything should go smoothly. You need not to worry.”
“Fine.” I whisper in defeat.
James smiles, and hands me an ink pen, and a slab of documents to sign, making my inheritance final. I feel like I’m signing my life away. Raising from my chair, I shake James’ hand, and thank him for his time. Savannah and Josh follow suit. He walks us out of his office, and wishes me good luck as the new CEO of Simon Energy Company. CEO. I walk to my car, and take a second to calm the frozen fear that is lurking in my chest. CEO. What the hell just happened in there?
Chapter 5
After I was declared CEO of Simon Energy, I took a few days to tie up the loose ends of my life back in South Carolina. With hesitance, I resigned from my position at the hotel. I may have the power of coal giant CEO scrolled behind my name on a door back in Kentucky, but that’s not what I want. I want my peaceful life here, at the beach.
After boxing up the small remnants of my life in South Carolina, I spent two days, just lounging on the beach. The ocean has always been my personal oasis. When I couldn’t sleep at night, I always found myself jogging the three blocks to the beach. I would sink my toes down into the cool damp sand, and lay back, gazing up at the black star filled sky. The sound of the waves crashing against the shore, was my lullaby, soothing me from the personal hell I often lived. Leaving all of that behind, I’m forc
ed to find a new comforter for my aching heart.
Today is my first day at the office of Simon Energy. I officially have my Underground and Surface Mining cards for Kentucky and West Virginia. The mandatory three week class, could have been as simple as walking in the training facility and dropping my name, according to James. He said the certification is just a legality in case I need to go underground, but if I’m gonna run the mines the way Daddy intended, I’m gonna do it the right way.
So, for the last two weeks, I have sat in a class full of men learning safety procedures, the different equipment used for Surface and Underground Mining, etc. God, I hate the thoughts of having to ever go underground. Hell I don’t even want to work at the damn office. The coal dust cakes all over everything, and the disgusting smell of sulfur turns my stomach just to think about it.
I walk into the office and am immediately greeted by Shelly, who is quickly on my heels with a cup of coffee in one hand while balancing a note pad and pen in the other.
“Good Morning, Ms. Simon. Glad to see you in the office bright and early.” Shelly says with her usual chipper tone.
“Good Morning, Shelly, how are you? I must say I am happy to see a familiar face. God, I haven’t been in this office is so many damn years, I’m nervous as hell.”
Shelly laughs. “Oh no worries, Ms. Simon. I’m sure you will run the company as smoothly as your father. He made a wise decision in handing Simon Energy down to you. Now, you do have a meeting this morning with your Foremen and Supervisors. They should all be in by eight o’clock. Day shift just went underground, so once the bosses make their rounds, they’ll be out. Here is the spreadsheets of the employees, listed by the mines they work at. It may take you a while to learn everyone, but as long as you know your Foremen and Supervisors, they can handle everyone else for you.” Taking the documents from Shelly’s hand, I thank her for her time and walk into Daddy’s office. My office.
Closing the door, I take a deep breath, and look around. The feeling is absolutely sorrowful. I miss Daddy terribly, but I don’t want to be here, in this office, or in Kentucky for that matter. I miss South Carolina. I miss the ocean breeze, I miss the simplicity that my life was before I found out that Daddy was dying.
But all of that is behind me. Now, I’m the powerful CEO of Simon Energy, and although starting my life over isn’t ideal, I’ll make the best of it. One day at a time. Baby steps. It won’t be easy, but I’ve learned over the last seven years, that there isn’t a moment in life that will come easy.
I suck back the anxiety that is rising in my chest, and decide to jump right into work, and prepare for my first meeting. I sit down at my desk, and power on the laptop computer. The tech department already forwarded all of Daddy’s emails over to my new company email, so I decide to start there first.
After an hour of reading through month old emails, I lift my tired eyes from the computer screen to check the time. It is almost eight o’clock. Shit! I completely forgot to go over the employee file Shelly had given me. Guess I am going into this meeting a little blind. Hope I see at least a couple familiar faces.
Standing from my desk, I straighten my suit, and grab my messenger bag, and head out of my office. Shelly directs me to the conference room, as if I’ve never been here before. Around the table sits ten of the finest miners Simon Energy has. I glance quickly from face to face, giving each a friendly smile, when the one I least expect to be here, in this damn room, hell even at this damn mines, sits back in his chair and grins a cocky grin back at me. Colton Weston. What the hell! Hoping nobody notices the anxiety I feel constrict my chest, I sit quickly at the head chair and begin the meeting.
“Good Morning, y’all. I’m sure most of you know me. I’m Big John’s daughter, Carly, the new CEO of Simon Energy. I will run this company just as my Daddy did. You know my expectations, as they are the same as Big John’s. Don’t disappoint me, don’t lie to me, don’t piss me off, and we’ll be peachy keen. Got it? Now let’s get started.”
The Supervisors each give me the report for their mines. Two hours of productivity, safety, and breakdown reports, is more than any woman can handle. Damn, this shit is boring!
As I sit and listen intently, I can feel his eyes piercing me throughout the meeting. I try to ignore his glare, but the tension between Colton and me is fierce. Finally, our eyes lock. Looking deep into his dark brown eyes, I can see the raw pain and desire. Quickly, I look away, trying to ignore his seductive eyes.
As the meeting comes to a close, the men all file out of the room. Gathering all of my paperwork, I stuff it in my bag, and stand to leave. Colton steps in front of me, stopping me from my escape.
“Carly Jo, I see you’ll be in town a little longer than expected, huh?” He teases.
“Hey, Colton, busy day.” I say quickly, trying to step around him.
“Listen, we have to work together, so we might as well get along. We have a lot to talk about. I don’t want us workin’ together with all of this shit flyin’ in the air. Let’s have dinner, tonight maybe? We can clear the air.”
Rolling my eyes, I take a deep breath, and try to think of the nicest, most professional way to approach the one man I ever loved, without being too big of a bitch. Yeah, impossible. “Colton, listen, I don’t have a damn clue what it is that you think we need to discuss. I’m your boss, you’re my employee. We will carry on that same relationship until I fire your ass, or you fall off the face of the damn earth. Whichever one comes first, I’ll be grateful for. Until then, just do your friggin’ job and stay the hell out of my way.” Stepping around Colton, he chuckles. Son of bitch will think it’s real damn funny when his ass is standing in the unemployment line.
I walk back to my office feeling so much better than when I first laid eyes on him earlier today. The rest of the day is all smooth sailing. I work diligently, catching up on all of the untouched paperwork. Around five-thirty, my eyes have blurred from looking at the computer for so long, so I call it a day.
Chapter 6
It feels so good to finally be home. I’m used to working eight hour shifts at the hotel, so twelve hours at the mines has me totally busted. Climbing the stairs to my bedroom, I place my iPod on the dock, and press play. Trudging to the bathroom, I turn the shower to hot as hell and begin to undress.
