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“Really?”
“Not really. It’s in storage.”
“Well, get it out. I liked that thing.”
“You can have it,” I said. “Take it, please. No one else wants to touch it.”
He narrowed his eyes, trying to decide if I was joking. “Call the VPs, let’s have a working lunch.”
“It’s almost five,” I said.
“A working dinner then,” he continued, unwilling to give up.
“Is there something you want?” I shoved my hands in my pockets, feeling like a teenager again.
“I just want to check up on you,” he said.
“Don’t.”
“You’re not too big for your father to help, are you?” He jokingly gave me a one-two punch, as if I was still a kid and I cared about that sort of thing.
“I’m really busy,” I lied.
“Alright, well I’ll ask that secretary out for a drink.” He turned to walk away.
“No!” I snapped. “Leave her alone.”
Lex Brockton stopped, turned, and favored me with the ugliest smile I had ever seen. “You like her.”
“I don’t,” I insisted.
“You do,” he challenged, taking another step back toward my desk. “If you don’t, then she’s still on the market.”
“Okay fine,” I snapped. “I like her. I’m going to ask her out. Don’t touch her.”
“You’ve got good taste in women,” he approved, turning back to the door. “Come by my house sometime. Don’t be a stranger.”
“Okay,” I responded, relieved that I had managed to usher him out the door without too much drama.
I didn’t even want to imagine what a dinner meeting with all the VPs would have been like. It would have been torture for everyone involved except my father. No one would know who was in charge of the meeting, and there would have been plenty of awkward pauses and unflattering jokes. No one would want to go, but everyone would show up out of obligation. I would be forced to suffer through story after story about how great the company was a year ago when my father was the CEO. And everyone would expect me to shut the thing down after a half hour so they could all get home to their wives.
A short time later, I was in no mood for Jonas’ call when it came in, and I considered asking Ava to take a message. But the threat the younger man represented made me think twice. I couldn’t let my daddy issues get in the way of making the right decision for the company. I didn’t want to earn an enemy just because my father got under my skin.
I gave Ava the go ahead to transfer the call, noting that there was only half an hour left in her workday. Jonas was over the top friendly as usual, flattering me with his signature brand of charm.
“Hard at work or hardly working?” he asked jokingly.
“You know me,” I refused to comment.
“Listen, smart guy like you, anyone would be thrilled to pick your brain. How about you and me, sushi? You pick the time and the place. I won’t take no for an answer.”
What could I say? The guy wasn’t going to let me go without a fight, and I wasn’t even sure if I wanted him to. He could very well be the next FUBU and all he was asking for was an hour of my time. I agreed to meet him but was able to push the meeting to the following week. That gave me some time to work up to it, knowing that the entire affair was likely to be a headache.
Ava came into the office at five on the dot to ask if there was anything else she could do for me before clocking out. I stared at her without speaking, my eyes narrowed under duress. It seemed like everything that could have possibly gone wrong in the past hour had gone wrong. It was as if a small tornado blew through my office, upsetting the potted plants and blowing out the windows. I was left to pick up the pieces and I didn’t want to do it alone.
“I need you to work on a project,” I said.
She shifted back on her heels, uncomfortable under the power of my gaze. I never asked her to work late before. I never stared at her as if she were meat on a stick. Yet I found myself doing both and not feeling even the slightest bit of remorse.
