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Watching Dominic Holmes in action is like watching a sneaky octopus camouflage itself to evade becoming prey.
He’s slimy and has no fucking backbone like one too.
In contrast, with all the grace of a swan, I watch my phenomenal wife take it all in her stride.
“So, let me get this straight.” She looks at the proposal he brought with him and summarizes what’s in it. “You want to buy sixty percent of my business, meaning I will have no influence over the bigger decisions. You want us to merge with an event company I have never heard of, and who you bought last year for a song, because they were struggling, which tells me you want to use Tiger Lily Events to float the business. I would need to do a full reference check on them if that is the case.” Tiger Lily Events is a reputable company. I know she won’t do that.
Pride grows in my chest as she reels off another three issues she has with the proposal and then she surprises me when she says, “And lastly, you’ve been rude to my husband not once, not twice, but several times during our meal. The deal is off.” She closes the folder and lays it down on the table.
I swear I was about to punch him in the face if he mentioned he was a Lynx fan again. They’ve won fuck all in ten years.
She stands and I follow. “Now if you will excuse me, my husband and I have plans.”
Hell, yeah, we do.
Unable to look Lily in the eye, speechless, Dominic remains seated while running his finger back and forth across his bottom lip.
Lily saw straight through him, and her staff would hate him.
“It’s a relief not doing business with you, Dominic.”
Before we leave, I add, “Since you know so much about the Lynxes, maybe you should have their management call me, Dominic. They need all the help they can get this season.”
He looks up at me, then quickly drops his gaze. Nostrils flaring, his jaw clenched so tight it’s causing the skin of his neck to turn red. “I’ll pay for dinner,” I inform him, placing my hand on the small of Lily’s back, signaling for us to leave.
“Have a good night.” Lily waves goodbye.
I know our night is about to get increasingly better.
* * *
“What are we going to do now?” Staring through the windshield of my new Chevrolet Corvette, Lily sounds distressed. I love how she said we.
Lily has always included me when it comes to making decisions about her business.
“I don’t think you should give up control.”
“No?” She snaps her head in my direction as we cruise along the street.
“Do you want to keep it?”
She bites her bottom lip. “I think so, but what can I do to ease my workload?”
I’ve got a plan for this, too. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. “First of all, you can’t manage everyone yourself, which you do.” I expect her to disagree, but she doesn’t. “I suggest you hire four new team leaders and split your staff into teams, making people more balanced and manageable. Hire two managers above the team leaders, buffering them from you. That way, the only people who report to you directly are the managers, not everyone, as it is now.” Like me, she’s too available. “Same for finance and marketing. You need a manager; they can’t all be assistants reporting to you to ask everything.”
“Okay, go on.”
“I know you love event planning, but I think you need to delegate and oversee the plans rather than design them and then physically turn up at venues and events to implement them. If you took on a more strategic role to focus on finance, growth, and marketing, there would be more time in your schedule for vacations, appointments, spa days, maybe a day off to watch television, read a book, or go hiking.”
“I haven’t been for a hike in months.” She sounds melancholy.
“Self-care isn’t just about spa days and having a bath, although that’s okay too. But I think if you took on a more executive director role, not an event planner role in the business, you would find the time to do things you want to, and we could spend time together too. Maybe Hawaii?”
“I’ve always wanted to go to Maui.”
When I look over at her, her eyes are lit up like a jukebox. “I know.” And yet, I've never taken her. I’m a douche canoe.
“You can hire interns too.” I check the rearview mirror, hit my blinker, and turn onto Jasper Avenue.
