by Ali Parker
“I found this hat when I was out yesterday shopping,” he said, putting a brown-gold hat on Mikey’s head. “It might be a bit big now, but it’s timeless, and you can wear it when you grow up.”
“Thank you,” he said, hugging him.
I knew Mikey didn’t care about a hat, but he was the most gracious little boy I had ever met. He never took things for granted and felt special when someone he loved got him something. It didn’t matter what it was. He saw beyond the material part of it and appreciated the thought behind it. He was an old soul, and I was proud to call him my son.
“Where is that pretty mom of yours?” Dalton asked.
“Right here.” I smiled.
“Fashionably late as always,” Dalton said, standing up and straightening his cardigan.
“Mom, can I eat my cereal on the couch?” Mikey asked.
“Yes, you can,” I said, kissing his cheek. “Just be careful.”
I watched as he plopped himself down on the couch and turned on cartoons. I smiled and walked over to the counter, looking down at the stack of mail from the previous day. They were mostly bills from the hospital. My mother was there on life support, and I was the one fronting the bills. My father had actually passed away a couple years before she got ill. She had been on life support for over eight months at that point, but I wasn’t willing to let her go yet. So, I added her healthcare needs to my financial burden and did what I could to pay for them. I knew they would ding my credit by being late, but I also knew they wouldn’t take her off support for late bills. Still, it was hard to even fathom the amount of money this was costing me.
“Are those for the hospital?” Dalton asked, handing me a cup of coffee.
“Yes,” I sighed, sitting down. “They never seem to stop coming in. It’s cheaper to die than live in this country, but hospitals are there to keep you alive.”
“I know,” he said. “I actually visited your mom a week ago. I took her a beautiful throw I picked up in the southside. I washed her hair and put a little rouge on her cheeks to make her feel fresher.”
“I appreciate it,” I said with a smile. “She always did love you.”
“How could you not?” He laughed. “Have you figured out your work situation yet?”
“Ugh, no,” I said. “I mean I hate the fact that Elon has this new hands-on approach going, and when I’m there, it’s easy to think about quitting and going somewhere else. Then, I get home and I see Mikey and the bills for my mother, and I remember I have no other option. I can’t leave the company, not without something else on the table. It would have to be something considerably better too.”
“Maybe you should put your feelers out there,” Dalton said. “You have an excellent resumé. You’re fabulous, of course. And you learn very fast. Any company would be more than lucky to have you on their team. Of course, I wouldn’t want you to leave Truitt. I don’t know what I would do there with the bunch of them, but I know that something has to eventually change for you to be happy.”
“I look, on occasion, and I have a couple job sites that send me notifications when something in my field comes up, but so far, I haven’t seen anything worth the change,” I sighed.
He put his arm around me. “I know it all seems so stressful to you right now, but I promise you, everything will be okay. You’ll push through all of this. It’s the stagnancy before the big break. It always happens like that.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. “I need that big break, and I need it sooner than later to keep my head above water.”
I smiled at Dalton and laid my head on his shoulder, staring down at the stack of bills. Hopefully, he was right. Hopefully, my break was coming. In the meantime, though, I had to figure out how to get through my current work situation, Elon and all.
Chapter 5
Elon
I hated Mondays. No one was ever on top of their game, including myself. I’d spent all weekend trying to de-stress only to wake up and have to come in, back to work mode. It was hard to do, especially when I was starting out with my new view on work life. I was going to be hands-on, I was going to give my company a voice that it had been missing for quite some time. I wanted it to work. I wanted the employees to jump right on the bandwagon and want me to be involved, but I knew that was asking a lot. If Amanda’s response to me coming aboard was any indication of what to expect, I was going to be in for a tough time. I had done it to myself, though, standing back for so long and waiting for it to work itself out.
As soon as I walked in, my secretary told me Cartier was on hold. I rushed to my office and put everything down, feeling completely thrown into the day. I picked up the phone and straightened my shoulders, putting on my work persona.
“It’s good to hear from you,” I answered.
“Elon,” he said happily. “I just wanted to make sure you got the contracts I sent over.”
I searched my desk and put my hand on them. “I did,” I said, sweating it. “I was just getting ready to take a look.”
“Good,” he said. “Let me know what you think. We can move some things around if necessary. I’m very excited to be getting this project underway.”
“I am, too, sir. Almost as excited as my next golf match with ya.”
“I am practicing up, ready to see what you can really do.” He chuckled. “I’ll be around the office all day, so call me with any questions.”
“Will do, sir, and rest assured, you’re in excellent hands,” I said.
“I’m not worried a bit,” he replied, hanging up the phone.
I put the phone down and let out a deep breath, shaking my head as I pulled the contract out of the envelope. I had always been really good at keeping clients’ excitement up, at least until they had an issue with the work that was handed over to them. Cartier was going to be a tough one, I could tell. I needed to make this one of the best campaigns the company has ever done, both for my own career and for the future of the company.
I read over the contract, finding everything pretty straightforward. I sent it down to legal to review, just in case, and started to grab the papers I would need for my first full department meeting. I was nervous. I hadn’t done anything like this in a really long time. I hadn’t been hands-on since the inception of the company, and I was about to face all the employees who had seen me be reclusive, never actually knowing what kind of businessman I was. It was nerve-racking, to say the least.
I made my way out of the office, slowly walking to the management team conference room where all of the team members for the project were waiting for me. I could see them through the glass sitting around the large mahogany table chatting and waiting for me to arrive. Amanda was sitting in the middle of them, a distracted look on her face. She looked up through the glass door and saw me sitting on the other side and quieted the team. I swallowed hard before walking into the office, not even sure how to start, I was so out of practice. I set my papers down at the head of the table and wiped the sweat off my palms. Everyone was staring at me and waiting to begin.
“Good morning,” I said enthusiastically.
“Morning,” several people sputtered.
“For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Elon Truitt, and I am the owner of the company,” I said, clearing my throat. “As many of you may have heard, we’re getting ready to work on a new project by Cartier, one that’s going to be done slightly different than the others. I am going to be leading up this project with the help of your fearless leader, Amanda Taylor. I know that over the last few years, I haven’t been very hands-on with the floor, focusing my efforts on other parts of the business, but I want you all to know that’s over, and I’m here to see this project through from start to finish. Amanda, is there anything you’d like to say before we get started?”
“Um, sure,” she said, standing up. “Nothing has changed, guys. We just have the boss pulling us through this one. I know some of you are nervous, but there isn’t any reason to be. We are going to kill it with Cartier
.”
“Thank you,” I said, smiling. “Now, I want to start out with each of you telling me who you are and what you do here at Truitt Marketing. Let’s start to my right.”
“My name is Emily,” the first girl said. “I’m in charge, with several others, of the preliminary markup of the ad.”
“My name is Mark,” the next person said. “And I work with Emily in markup.”
They went down the line and around the table, each one standing up nervously and telling me their name and their job role. I wrote everything down as they went, wanting to start remembering who these people were. It became very clear to me that I had completely neglected my staff, not paying attention very much at all to the people who were keeping my company going all of these years. I should have known every person in that room, but I didn’t. In fact, I didn’t know a single face except Amanda’s, and really, I didn’t know much about her either. If it hadn’t been for the meetings I had been in with her since she took the position, I wouldn’t know her at all. I had become disassociated with my employees, and it was heartbreaking to me. I had spent so much time and effort to create a company different from the rest, and there I was, in a room full of strangers, realizing I had failed every one of them, and according to the board, my company too.
“It’s really great to start to get to know you guys,” I said. “I want everyone to relax today, get your stuff in order, and be ready to start working on this project first thing tomorrow.”
“We’re not starting today?” Amanda asked.
“The contract is in legal as we speak, and I want to make sure that gets taken care of first,” I said.
The reality of the situation was, I felt terrible about the fact I didn’t know any of these people. I felt like everything I had made the company out to be from the outside was a lie, that I had gotten lazy, loose in my desire to further the company from the inside out. There was never anything I wanted more than to push through with an upstanding work ethic, and part of that ethic was being a leader who actually led. I hadn’t done that for several years, and it was definitely showing to me at that point. Everyone was courteous to me, but they had to be. I was the one who signed their paychecks. I wanted them to accept me, to trust in what I had to say, but I knew it was going to take a lot more than wishing to make that happen.
I sat in my seat and watched as the employees filed out of the room, Amanda staying behind to clean up after the meeting. She didn’t even look up at me, just kept going, throwing away any leftover trash and picking up her papers. I knew I needed to talk to her, to seek out her guidance, but I also knew I was the last person she wanted to talk to at that point. I sucked it up anyway, knowing it was important.
“That didn’t go so bad,” I said with a smile.
“I guess,” she said, not looking at me. “You’re the big boss, so they don’t know what to think. The big boss doesn’t usually come down and take over unless the job isn’t getting done. So, naturally, they’re all walking around nervous as hell, wondering if they’ll have jobs at the end of the day.”
I figured I should tell her what was going on, but I also thought it might be a bad idea. If my job was in jeopardy, surely they would assume the rest of their jobs would be too. I didn’t want to add panic to the rest of the issues I was trying to handle. I stood up and put on my jacket, stretching my arms over my head.
“I need you to meet me in my office when you’re done here,” I said. “Shall we say ten minutes?”
“Sure,” she replied, looking up at me as I left the room.
I sighed and gathered my things, walking quietly across the floor and back to my office. I felt like everyone was avoiding eye contact with me, trying to act like they were hard at work. I hated making people feel that way. It was the part of being the owner of a company that I always wanted to get rid of. I wanted to be part of the team, part of the crew, just working alongside everyone else trying to make a project as good as I could possibly make it. I guessed that I should have probably done that from the beginning if it was really something important to me. But I hadn’t and that was where I was.
“Mr. Truitt, the legal floor called for you while you were gone,” my secretary said. “They said everything was perfect, and they would send the contracts up for your signature.”
“Did they say when?”
“No, but I suppose they’re on their way up now,” she said. “Should I bring them up when I receive them?”
“Yes, and the ads manager is coming to my office,” I said. “Let her in when she gets here.”
“Of course, sir,” she said. “Any order for lunch?”
“I’m not sure yet,” I said. “I’ll think on it.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said robotically.
Even my secretary acted strangely around me these days. I went to my office and shut the door, sitting down at my desk and putting my head in my hands. I sighed, thinking about how much everything had changed so quickly. I had to find a way to get my new team behind me. Everything about this Cartier contract relied on the fact that I was going to be able to lead a team to victory. I was pretty sure at that point that Clayton knew I was going to struggle with that aspect of things. He knew I was smart and talented enough to create a killer ad, but it would take the total cooperation of a group of people who didn’t know me at all. These people had been working together seamlessly for ages, and now I was coming in. I just had to remember that fresh eyes were good for perfecting systems, and hopefully, the staff would eventually get behind me on the changes.
Either way, I had to make this work for me, for them, and for the future of the company.
Chapter 6
Amanda
He wanted to talk to me. He wanted me to come to his office and stoke his ego on how good of a job he’d done. It was hard for even me to swallow, especially since none of the team trusted him or understood what he wanted out of all of this. The last thing I wanted was to lie and make the whole thing even worse. I walked into Dalton’s office and plopped down in the chair across from him.
“Well, that was interesting.” Dalton chuckled. “I didn’t mind the view, but the rest was terrible.”
“Awkward,” I said.
“Yes, like dinner with my grandmother who didn’t understand what being gay meant and constantly asked me in front of everyone when I was bringing a nice girl home.” He laughed.
“Ugh, it is exhausting having to deal with this,” I replied. “Now he wants to talk to me in ten minutes in his office. What am I supposed to say to him? Tell him he’s doing a fantastic job, and everyone’s on his side?”
“No. Just be honest with him,” he said.
“Tell him no one wants to work with him?”
“Personally, I don’t care about whether he works with me or not,” Dalton said. “I’m still going to put out the same work. You’re the one all up in arms here. I’ll tell you exactly what to do.”
“Okay,” I said, leaning forward. “I’m listening.”
“You march into his office, and you find out just how straight that man really is,” he said with a gleam in his eyes. “There is a little gay in every man, and I personally would not mind helping him explore that.”
“You are unbelievable.” I leaned back and shook my head.
“What? He is sooo sexy, even if he seems to be at a complete loss for how to talk to us little people in the employee pool,” he said. “Maybe it’s partly the power, but I think he’s so damn hot.”
“You think every guy in a suit is hot,” I scoffed. “I’m serious.”
“So am I,” he said, waving his hand. “Daddy needs some lovin’ girl, you just don’t even know.”
“Lock it up, Dalton,” I said with a sigh. “This is important, way more important than your fantasies.”
“All right, all right,” he said. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch. Go to your meeting. Sheesh.”
“I still have three minutes.” I stood up and walked to the window. “Is it terri
ble that I want this to go well, that I have worked so damn hard on this department? I just can’t see him and me working side by side without killing each other. He is so intrusive and doesn’t seem to care what I have to say about it at all.”
“He asked you to his office,” Dalton said, staying on track. “Maybe he’ll ask for your advice.”
“Yeah, right.” I laughed. “He probably wants to lecture me on how he’s the boss again. I swear, it’s like he thinks because he’s the owner, he knows how everything works. He has no clue and mostly because he has never taken the time to figure it all out.”
“Look, honey,” Dalton said. “The only thing I can tell you is, if you want to keep your job, you better go along with whatever little experiment he’s running. It won’t last forever, and when it’s over, you can go back to being the queen.”
“I hope so,” I said. “Well, not the queen but the leader, a job I worked really hard to get, and I’ve more than proven myself over the last couple of years. It’s not my fault they aren’t bringing in clients like they used to. That’s where he should be focusing his attention, the sales department.”
“Well, he’s not, and if you don’t want to end up selling shoes at the sales department of Dillard’s, you might want to get your little behind over to his office,” Dalton said.
“Oh,” I replied, looking down at my watch. “Good catch.”
I hurried out of Dalton’s office and down the hall to Elon’s. The secretary stood up and smiled, showing me to his office. I stepped inside, looking around at the expansive space, gawking at the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the entirety of the downtown area. This was a real office, unlike my three by six shoebox office down the hall. Of course, when I had first gotten it, I was more than happy to not be in the pit anymore with a desk without walls around me. I was impressed, though. His office was nicer than my house. I looked up at Elon standing in front of the windows, staring out with his arms crossed. It was like he hadn’t even noticed I had come in his office. I stood there silently for a moment, rocking back and forth, waiting for him to turn around.