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I know he’s right, but I’m not ready to face any of it.
39
BAILEY
Ijump from Rhett’s chair, feeling guilty for getting caught sitting there. What must it look like to Sherman that I’m in Rhett’s seat?
My entire face flames. “Hello.”
Sherman waves me to sit down. “You look good in that chair. You must be Rhett’s right-hand woman. Bailey, is it?”
I wonder if he ever knew I was fired. It doesn’t seem like it.
“And you must be Uncle Sherman.”
“I’ve been outed it seems. The young lady at reception could barely get a word out. I sure would like to meet the whippersnapper who figured it out. I was trying to be the strong, silent type, at least on this one. It’s not normally my style.”
I picture him with his sons and extended family, belting out “Fight for Your Right to Party” like the Gen-X rebel he likely is.
“I bet not,” I say, although I’m not sure how to address his request. Viola is as impossible to find as Rhett at the moment. And the rogue IT guy.
Things are a bit of a mess at the moment.
“Rhett didn’t come in today, at least not so far,” I tell him.
“That’s what I understand from the front desk. He’s been trying to get in touch with me for a few days. I flew to the Atlanta airport to pursue the possibility of a Pickle franchise in Terminal A, and decided to make a stop here on the way back.”
I’m not sure how much to tell him. “We had a meeting yesterday where your role in the creation of Dougherty was revealed. I take it you wanted Rhett to keep it a secret.”
“I did. It can be a real trial proving yourself when you’re saddled with nepotism. It becomes the de facto reason why you fail, even though failure is the fastest track to success.”
“You think so?”
He leans forward, bracing his elbows on the opposite side of Rhett’s desk. “I know so. If I hadn’t played it so safe in my early years, I might have had fifty Pickle delis, not five. So I’m encouraging all the kids to take big chances.”
“Dougherty is doing well.”
“I’ve seen that. I had a feeling strategy and analysis would be a good fit for Rhett. He’s a natural at spotting a problem and being unrelenting about finding a way to fix it.”
“But management is a different skill.” Only after I say it do I realize that I might not ought to question Sherman. Dougherty is at a pivotal moment with its CEO MIA.
But he laughs. “On that score, you are totally right. This company grew faster than the experience level of my nephew. So here we are.” He glances around. “So what made him take off, exactly?”
I describe the issue with marketing and how there was a conflict with some staff and possibly some IT involvement in changing records. I leave out the interpersonal stuff with Viola and Rhett and myself.
“I think the reveal of your role in making Rhett the head of the company may have come at exactly the wrong moment,” I tell him.
“And so my nephew has retreated.” Sherman sits back in his chair, the fingers on both hands pressed together. “He hasn’t answered my calls today. Yours?”
I shake my head. “Our head of HR has been trying, too.”
“Is this out of character for him?”
“It is. I’ve been his assistant for two years, and he’s always been so intense. I can’t imagine what would make him simply…leave.”
“Did anything else happen? Not that there needs to be more. Did you all just come back from the cruise?”
Oh. That. “Well, there were some irregularities there.”
