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He hikes his sleeve up, his silver watch catching the light. “I’m out. Got a meeting with a client over in the wharf.”
“Don’t think you’re getting an easy ride to a promotion just because you think you’re my best mate.”
As he opens the office door and walks away, he shouts over his shoulder, “Admit it, you're obsessed with me.”
Cheeky bastard.
Grayson’s words resonate with me. He’s right. Not about the part where I’m obsessed with him, but the part where I work hard for this place. I push my rolling chair away from my desk as I stand and button my suit jacket and stride over to my dad’s office, counting my steps as I go with my heart beating in my ears.
Knock knock.
“Come in,” my dad’s voice bellows from the other side of the door, and I take one last deep breath in. I’ve never been so nervous about approaching my dad. I mean, he’s my dad; the guy who taught me to ride a bike, but right now I need to see him as the CEO so I can take all this emotion out of the situation.
When I open the door, I see him in his usual spot, on the sofa in his office. He hates desks and has always worked from a low sofa onto a coffee table, despite my many attempts to tell him he’ll end up with a broken back. The man’s a creature of habit.
“Liam, everything okay, son?”
My hands find my pockets as I hover in front of his black, glossy coffee table. “I’m good. I wanted to talk to you about something. Do you have a minute?”
He nods, as his hand gestures for me to take a seat in one of the wingback chairs surrounding the table.
I hesitate. “I want to talk about Claire first.”
He shifts in his chair. “What do you need to talk about?”
“I guess I want to let you know that Jess is doing really well. She met with Claire last week and I think she got the closure she needed. I don’t know if they’re going to have a relationship yet. I guess I need to know where you stand, too.”
“I’m still her sponsor. I also plan to keep her working here, but she’ll be based with the site teams rather than in the office,” he says.
“Okay, that makes sense.” I rub my hands over my trousers to rid myself of the damp feeling coating my palms. “I feel like I need to do something to support you. I’ve missed out on something big and I can’t shake this feeling.” I stand, needing to move.
“There is something you can do for me.” He says confidently. I turn my gaze to him, trying to read his face before he says, “I’d like to take a step back, spend more time with you mother. I know you have plans and I’ve been ignoring them, but I want to hear them.”
I stand tall, letting his words soak over me. He’s finally letting me take on more. I’m more than ready. I know I am. “The company does need an overhaul. We’re in desperate need of new IT systems. We need to hire more upper management and if I were you, I’d be looking to push more of the smaller properties into a separate division from the larger corporate companies.” I wait, trying to figure out if the frown he's giving me is good or bad. “It doesn’t make sense to not use the revenue we’ve generated in the last two years alone to expand and evolve the company. We’ll be washed out of the water soon with all these new kids on the block. If we act now and re-brand with two divisions, then we’ll be setting president for other companies instead of following.”
He’s still frowning, staring at me blankly. He shifts his weight, leaning his elbows onto his knees. “Who will run the divisions?”
“It’s something we would need to decide.”
“And you said something about new IT systems?” he questions.
“Yes, Grayson has a contact who is leading the field for office software.”
He nods, looking down at the scattered paper in front of him. “What’s the timeline for Grayson’s contact to install it and run some training for the staff?”
“I’m guessing a couple of weeks.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?” I echo his words as my feet fidget inside my shoes. I have zero clue what my dad is thinking right now.
“You’ll take point on this. This is a great way to introduce you as CEO. Start the division of the company and work out what the cost is for expansion and how many staff we’ll need, in addition to who will be allocated new roles within each division.”
My whole body vibrates with excitement. I want to fist punch the air. I want to whoop like I’ve just won the world cup. “Okay. I’ll get started.” I stand and turn, dazed from my dad agreeing to my ideas. My head is awash with determination and elation. My hands clench at my sides with excitement as I nod to my dad. “Thank you. I mean it.”
“Liam?” He pauses. “I’m sorry for what I said before about your abilities. I was wrong and I’m sorry.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I croak, my emotions getting the better of me.
