Tough Sell

by Trixie More

  “So, you want to sell your business?”

  “No. Not at all. My partner and I want to retain the majority shares between the two of us. We want to sell forty-nine percent of our company.”

  Adam pressed his lips together. Edward heard him exhale in a short burst. Adam continued. “You basically want to price your company so high that half of it pays your debt and finances your future. Ed, you know that’s going to be a tough sell, don’t you?”

  Ed frowned. “I don’t think so. I think the time is right for these types of innovations. We need to take active steps toward reducing carbon emissions and these types of change makers are priced right to really generate some major adoption. I think at the price we are going to sell the tailpipe module, every car maker in the world will build it right into their new car designs. Don’t you?” Ed leaned forward again. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that Dorothy seemed to be watching him closely, her head tilted slightly to the right, her mouth soft. She was fucking gorgeous. He turned more toward her to include her in the conversation and was astonished to see a light flush creep over her cheeks. He gave himself a mental shake. “All we need is a great ad campaign combined with targeted selling and we hope to be able to get the kind of attention we need. I was looking to your company specifically because of your reputation for green advertising. I think your company and mine make a good fit.” Edward forced himself to shut up before he could start begging the guy to step up. Adam really didn’t look impressed. How could he not be? Edward had at least six other products in the wings and Adam had to have seen them on the company website. Edward was right. CDP meshed perfectly with Walker and Birkeland. Plus, wasn’t he the customer here? He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back, waiting.

  “I’m not seeing it that way.” Adam set down his pen. “These types of products typically detract from the overall conversation in my experience. But even if they didn’t, a campaign to bring about public awareness, that might work. But to drive a successful initial public offering? You’re asking too much.”

  Ed was confused. He expected to get priced out or refused because of the deadline he had to meet, but this guy wasn’t even mentioning price or time frames and he was already shooting down the project. Worse yet, he was rejecting it based on the products his company sold, something that hadn’t crossed Edward’s mind. Not seriously. He knew, of course, that some people thought that no products with relatively small impact should be brought to market before the world was totally on board the global warming train. Their thinking was, that if people were not scared out of their wits, they wouldn’t take action on the scale needed to actually halt the forward trend of the problem.

  Everyone basically agreed, including him, that the type of change needed to stop the progress of the global warming would be huge. Every single man, woman, child, business and government would have to be working hard to reduce their carbon foot print if utter tragedy were to be avoided. That was a given. However, some extremists felt that anything less than massive scale change should not even be mentioned to the public for fear that the public would latch onto it and fail to take any larger action.

  Frustration twisted inside Edward’s chest. Massive change wasn’t going to be enough, and there was nobody talking about that. Products like the ones that Edward, and others, were making were still going to be needed, if any reversal of the problem were to occur.

  All this flashed through Edward’s mind in a moment. Was Adam an environmental purist on the topic of climate change? Was that the objection here? He didn’t even want to bring it up.

  “Look our companies are both interested in the environment and specifically, in solutions for the global warming catastrophe.” He leaned forward, making sure his posture included Dorothy in the conversation. She responded by edging her chair forward and Ed fought the urge to lean back. “That shouldn’t even be an issue.” Dorothy nodded in agreement but Adam gave no indication of conceding the point. “So, let’s just move on to the more pressing issues: time and money.” He straightened in his chair, trying to look confident. “We want to launch our IPO in three months. Could a project like the one I’m talking about be done in that time? And how much would that cost?”

  Adam pulled his chair closer to his desk and he began scribbling on his notepad. Ed risked a deep breath while Adam was looking away. Thank God, the man was basically a business man and had a business man’s deep interest in just such questions. Edward felt like a bullet had whizzed by his temple; he’d been that close to losing the whole thing before they even talked about money.

  He caught Dorothy’s eye and smiled thinly. Maybe he could get her into the conversation on his side. She hadn’t said a word the whole time. Now that he had a moment to really look at her, he realized she was holding a large folder, slightly open, filled with what looked like pictures of his products and specs on his business. It was open to a picture of their exhaust converter. Next to the photo someone had scribbled in pink ink the word wow followed by three exclamation points. He reflexively swallowed, his throat constricting as emotions hot and strong welled up in him. Wow. No. Wow!!! That was exactly what he had thought when he and Gunnar had first started brainstorming the idea together. It was their first project, the first good thing that had happened to him after … He felt slightly short of breath.

  Dorothy glanced at him, a slight furrow on her forehead. Across from him, Adam put down his pen. All thoughts of Dorothy fled and Edward looked sharply at the legal pad. He couldn’t make out the figures.

  “Well,” he asked. “Can it be done?”

  Adam scowled at the numbers on the pad. “It can be done, but just barely. There’s a lot of risk and potential for it to take longer than you want.” Adam looked up. “And of course, it will be very costly.”

  “How costly?”

  “About one point five million.”

  The guy actually had a straight face when he said it. Edward had been braced for it, expecting to hear an estimate in the high six figures, but one point five? It was double what he had expected. He tried to keep the shock out of his face, despite the fear that was creeping in. Where was he going to get a million and a half dollars? At that price, he might as well pay off the venture capital group and keep the forty nine percent of the business for himself. He willed his voice remain steady.

  “OK. What do I get for that?”

  For the next ten minutes, Adam went over the basic network, cable and magazine ad slots needed as well as the type of Internet coverage he would need. “Of course, the cost for those is in addition to our fee,” he said. Adam sat back in his chair with a faintly self-satisfied smile.

  The realities of the costs were starting to sink in and some of Edward’s dismay must have shown on his face because Dorothy finally found her voice.

  “I think your company lends itself to some other forms of advertising that are also very cost effective,” Dorothy interrupted.

  Adam’s head snapped up and he focused sharply on the young woman, almost as if she were going against some prearranged rule forbidding her to speak. She had her legs crossed at the ankle and she started to shake one of her feet, the bright blue pump drawing Ed’s eyes briefly to her shapely calf. She was wearing very sheer, very smooth, stockings. He forced his eyes to her face.

  “You see …” she continued, apparently not tuning in to her boss’s displeasure, being rather focused on the folder in her lap. She shifted, bracing one bright blue high heeled shoe on the rung of her chair, causing her knee to be raised up so she could support the folder better. Her head was bent over the folder and she was struggling to balance the whole thing in her lap. Edward reached out and gingerly supported the corner of the folder, careful not to accidentally touch her knee. She muttered her thanks distractedly, never actually looking up. Her blue and cream tweed skirt slid another inch higher on her tilted thigh. She selected one of their product photos, a bottle of pale brown liquid. “You really aren’t doing yourself any favors with photos like t
his on your website.” The liquid was something that could be added to the water given to cows to help improve their digestion. “Four clicks away from this product is the seeding mixture your biology division is working on.” She plucked the pages free from the folder and sort of slapped them onto the desk, looking up at Edward. Those blue-green eyes beneath dark, dramatic eye makeup blew him away.

  “What’s wrong with our website?” he grunted.

  “First off, your website should be doing a better job of showing people what this means.” The pages in the folder slid precariously to the left but Dorothy didn’t seem to notice, her face was flushed slightly pink and her eyes were lively and alert. She looked like she was actually excited about the cattle products. “Healthier cows, better tasting beef and milk, as well as pastures that are better for the environment are all side effects of your products to improve grazing grasses and reduce methane from cows. If you package this right and get it picked up on social media the cost can be extremely friendly and the impact, significant.” The papers slid from the folder to the floor between them. Dorothy lunged to the side to grab at them and Edward politely looked away. He couldn’t reach the papers and he didn’t want to get caught staring at her legs as her skirt inched higher while she struggled to reach them. Not that he’d noticed. He did notice Adam’s face though. The guy looked like he’d swallowed a golf ball. Or a cow patty.

  “Yes, well.” Adam pushed back from the desk and stood. Dorothy looked up over her shoulder at him, still leaning over to collect her papers. The collar of her blouse fell open and Ed thrust his hand blindly out to take the papers from her while he committed himself to looking at Adam. “That said, it still won’t be less than a million and a half and I don’t think that is something your company can take on right now if you’re trying to pay off loans, is it?”

  Edward remained seated, took the sheaf of pages from Dorothy and offered her his hand to help her get her balance back. When she was sitting upright again, he took the folder and placed it gently on the desk. A few strands of her blond hair were caught on the back of the chair but he resisted righting them for her. He decided to ignore Adam and smiled at her instead. “I see what you mean, Dorothy. A picture of a healthy green pasture with a nice-looking cow would make a better ad page, wouldn’t it?” She beamed and nodded at him.

  “It really would,” she said, eyes flicking between him and Adam. “And more targeted spots during cable business shows would cut costs further. You would really only need a few during the weekend political shows I think for network ads.” She shut her mouth quickly, a look of concern on her face as she finally noticed Adam’s scowl. “You, you don’t think so, Adam?” It actually hurt Edward to hear the doubt creep into her voice. The mixture of excitement and doubt too closely mirroring his own feelings throughout this whole business venture, pretty much a daily roller-coaster of hope and fear.

  “Actually,” Edward cut in. “I think I can raise the funds.”

  Adam looked surprised and a little frustrated. “Even if that were possible, Ed, I’m still not sure our company wants the job.”

  Stunned, Edward rose to his feet, hands fisted at his sides.

  “Gentlemen,” Dorothy was still seated, craning her neck to see both of their faces, her expression confused, “would you like to see some of my other ideas?”

  The softly asked question seemed to ease the tension. “I would,” answered Edward at the same moment that Adam said, “We’re out of time for now.”

  She looked between the two men, frowning slightly. She stood up and straightened her suit jacket, giving it a little tug along the hem. “Well.” her voice broke a little, then she tried again. “Well, then if Ed would like to see more but you don’t have time now, Adam, maybe we can schedule a follow-up meeting?”

  The two men spoke at the same time, once again. Edward simply said, “Great.” While Adam insisted it wouldn’t be needed.

  “Next week at this same time?” Edward asked, practically holding his breath.

  “I’ll have my secretary call you if I decide to pursue this,” Adam stated flatly.

  “No problem. I’ll give you a call next week to settle on the date,” Edward countered. When Adam said nothing, he took that as the best he would get. “It was a pleasure meeting you,” he said to Dorothy and extended his hand, looking her in the eyes. Her eyes were blue green, ringed in dark green around wide dark centers. When she took his hand, he felt a jolt of sheer attraction.

  “Please leave your contact information with the receptionist, Ed. I’ll make sure Adam’s secretary receives it,” she said. She tilted her head, with that same slight smile again before she released his hand.

  Ed left the office and cursed to himself when he realized he’d have to apologize to the receptionist after all, if he wanted to be sure Dorothy got that information. It wasn’t until he was showing himself out that he thought to wonder if pretty, helpful Dorothy had seen the video of him. This time, he felt his face heat so fast he knew for sure others would notice, so he ducked his head as he made his way back to the receptionist’s desk.

  Dorothy released Edward Walker’s hand and was sorry to let it go. He was definitely her type of man, a little rough, unpolished and unapologetic. He acted like he didn’t need anyone and she knew she found that very attractive. Very attractive and very hurtful. Guys like that left a girl feeling lonely even when they were around. The fact that he was handsome as anything didn’t help her either; she hated liking guys like that. She watched him as he nodded to Adam and left the room. Had she been flirting with him? She wasn’t even sure. Ugh. She didn’t need another icy loser of a guy. She had Flynn to make her feel like shit already. She forced both her “sometime boyfriend” and the insanely typical attraction to their client, of all things, out of her mind.

  She was left with the puzzle of trying to figure out why her boss didn’t want this contract. After all, the price he had quoted Edward Walker was really high. She thought that, when Ed suggested he might pay it, the deal would have been done right then. Instead, Adam had backed off. Why? She started to straighten out her papers which were in disarray on Adam’s desk.

  “Some of these products are really exciting, Adam, and I think you can get him to pay the one point five million. This looks like a great project,” she said.

  Adam returned to his chair and sat down. “It’s not a good fit for us.”

  “I was surprised actually, that you were meeting with him.” Adam looked up quickly at that but she pushed on. “I mean, I thought Peter did all the environmental accounts.”

  “He does. And he doesn’t want us to take this one on, at all.”

  “Then why did you decide to meet with him?”

  “I wasn’t sure if I agreed with Peter. Plus, I hate to cancel on a client at the last minute. When I saw the way Walker was treating Lisa, frankly, I didn’t want to take the job for personal reasons. The man’s a jerk.” Adam shrugged. “I’m not going to fight with my partner over some idiot who can’t be nice to my receptionist.”

  “He’s a jerk who will pay you one point five million dollars,” she burst out.

  “Most of that goes into expenses. We only make a fraction of that.” Adam pulled his chair closer to his desk. “Sit down a minute, Dorothy. Not taking this project, means we have other things to discuss.” He cleared his throat and looked away from her for a moment and her heart shrank. Here it came. Some kind of bad news.

  “Dorothy, you’ve been through five slams now.”

  She nodded, numbly. Why hadn’t she worked harder at them?

  “And you haven’t won any of them.” His eyes closed for a moment, then he seemed to pull himself together. “I hate doing this but we are going to have to discuss your performance.” He actually looked pained.

  “I’m sorry, sir. I really am. I realize I let you and Kathy down.” Dorothy fought to control her emotions. She couldn’t be getting fired, could she? She had been so happy when Adam invited her to sit in on the Walker an
d Birkeland meeting. She had thought he meant to give her the account. Heck, she wanted the account. It was the first one she’d looked at that even remotely interested her. “I will work so much harder on the Walker account, that is, if we take it.” She hesitated, then added, “Or any account. Whatever I do next, I’ll do well.”

  “Dorothy, I know you’re young but your work just isn’t as polished as we expect it to be. And if that was all there was to it, maybe we could help you but we have a bigger issue.”

  Dorothy couldn’t imagine what that bigger issue might be, maybe her tardiness? “I’ll be on time from now on, I swear it!”

  “No, that’s not it. It would be best if you came in on time but that isn’t the big issue. The problem is, that you are simply too much work for us.”

  She was stunned. Too much work? How could she be work for them? Didn’t she do the work? He must have seen how puzzled she was, because he went on.

  “You require a lot of time, Dorothy. I know that you are getting help from Kathy on your slams. Not just mentoring and advice. She’s actually working on them with you.”

  Dorothy studied Adam’s serious face. “That’s not what the other mentors do?” she asked.

  Adam shook his head. “No.”

  Dorothy groaned. “I’m so sorry.”

  “I can’t have a first-rate employee like Kathy running errands and picking up your printing for you. Her time is just too valuable. And I don’t want her working more and more hours at home. I need her in good shape for when a real emergency comes up.” He put his elbows on his desk and leaned forward, looking earnestly into Dorothy’s eyes. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “I’m not pulling my weight?” Dorothy would not cry. She would not cry. She searched the pockets of her jacket without breaking eye contact. Why the heck didn’t she have any tissues in her pocket?

  Adam reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a napkin, holding it out to her. She blew her nose. God, what a mess she had made of things. She thought of her father, thinking furiously. What did he expect his staff to say in situations like this? She knew immediately. “Listen, Adam, I understand everything you’re saying and you’re right. I’m not working hard enough and I’m asking for too much help. But Kathy has been a terrific mentor really, and I’ve learned a lot. Let me work on the next project. I promise, I won’t need any help. I’ll be prepared and on time. You won’t regret it. I would appreciate the chance to show you I can learn from my mistakes.” She forced herself to pause but couldn’t resist one final word. “Please.”