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Chapter Twenty-Four
“Are you ready for the next step?” Joe asked right after I typed that final full stop.
I let out one long nervous breath and nodded affirmatively. “Absolutely.”
For the last three weeks, Joe and I have been drafting a business proposal –mybusiness proposal. Been working at it night and day. Researching the market, analysing competitors and doing a gazillion calculations of finances and projections. Joe helped me pinpoint the right niche market and to perfect my business proposal. If it wasn’t for his guidance, I wouldn’t have gone past the front page of this nineteen-page document we have just finalized. Not only was he the kindest friend ever to help me out but he also lent me his former office which still had two months lease in his name. So I’ve been spending most of my waking hours between the same four walls where Joe used to stay instead of coming home when we were roommates. I even slept there whenever I missed the last train back to the city. Oh, the irony of that.
I’ve never been more ready and excited to see this plan come to life. Not just the business plan but thewhole plan. It was the perfect road map to impose a well-needed shake-up to my life. And the fact that along the way I get to keep the promise I made to my dad was an added bonus. With some improved changes. Instead of decorating houses, the plan was to brand offices based on their marketing branding. That’s hitting two birds with one stone – keeping the promise, rekindling my passion as a painter, going into another phase of my careerandwell, shake-up. That’s three or four birds! With the latter bird being the most welcome of all.
“I’ve been thinking,” I swivelled in my chair to face Joe. “There may be someone else I could present this proposal to, you know, other than just Zimmerman. I can’t rely on just one option, can I?”
Joe remained focused on the emails he was checking on his phone. “I don’t think that’s the brightest idea you’ve ever come up with, Luc.”
“I know I’m new at the business side of stuff but I’m trying to think like you, like a businessman. Surely you never just devise a plan A. You must have a plan B and C, maybe even a G.”
“Sometimes, yes.” Joe looked up from his phone, his eyes cautioning me. “But I never had aplanS. And thinking like you, like Lucy the new-born businesswoman, or better yet, specifically like you, Lucy Monroe, I wouldn’t even consider plotting out a plan S-A-M.”
I knew he’d understand exactly what I meant.
I shrugged a little, a gesture meant to curb my own enthusiasm. “Why not? You know more than me what an excellent business mind he’s got. He’s the brightest head I know. No offence to you, of course, because without you I wouldn’t be sitting in this chair least of all would have done a single page of this business plan, but you know what I mean. I mean, it’s… it’sSam. Besides, I wouldn’t propose it as a partnership as such. Maybe more like an extension to his company. A new department sort of.”
“But that wouldn’t be starting out fresh or going solo. You’d be working for Sam again. If that’s what you want, why don’t you just ask him for your old job back while you’re at it?”
I sighed. “I’m not sure if I can do this alone, Joe.”
“You’re not alone. I’ll help you in every way that I can. Not just with this first step, with all of it. But seriously, you doubt yourself? Are you not the same person who left school at sixteen, worked two jobs while studying and years later became a Creative Director at two – not just one – two prominent companies? You can andwilldo this. Just like you did everything else you set your mind to.”
“I know. It’s just… I wanthimto be a part of this. And I… I thought I could…”
“You thought you’d get him back if you worked with him again.”
I didn’t need to confirm Joe’s statement. I didn’t need to nod. His words were an exact translation of what my mind couldn’t form into words.
“Luc, you were the one who let him go. Twice. Do you really want to work with the man whose heart you broke? Do you think that would be a comfortable environment for either of you? Or for us, his other employees? Every time you would have a disagreement, he’d be pissed off with us instead of with you. And every time, I’d be the one watching him pick up more pieces of his heartbreak. Just like I’d have to be there for you if he becomes all ruthless with you like he acted with me when things went south between him and me. Luc, you shouldn’t even be thinking about proposing this to Sam. Not before finding common ground after the way you left things. Not that you can propose anything now that he left anyhow. Right now, you got to stick with the original plan of getting Zimmerman’s backing. If that fails, then we…”
“What do you mean he left?”
“…we’ll find another investor who would be interested in your–“
“What do you mean he left, Joe?” My question came out with a louder volume and more demanding.
Joe looked away, escaping my question, escaping me. He made to pick up his phone again.
“Do not ignore me, Joe. It’s a simple question.”
“As is the answer. It’s exactly what you heard – what youshouldn’thave heard. He left.”
Joe stood up from his chair. Went to the water dispenser and filled a plastic cup. When he stayed there drinking tiny sips from that small cup of water with his back to me, I had the inkling he was trying to avoid elaborating.
“No, it’s not that simple at all.‘He left’could mean anything. It could mean he left his office early or it could even mean he stepped down from CEO which is almost impossible since it’s his own company and he lives and breathes for it. It could also mean he left as in moved into his new house…”
“It means he packed his bags, got on a plane and left.”
“For a holiday?”
I knew Joe’s answer even before he shook his head in a negative response.
If I could decipher my emotion at that moment, I’d be a damn genius. No amount of brainpower could have made me comprehend what I was feeling. Like anxious butterflies. Angry tigers. And elephants, big ones. And rhinos with huge, heavy feet. All stampeding and causing chaos in my chest. It was all the kind of mixed-up feelings that if my heart stopped beating, I would only realize in the afterlife.
