Boardroom Battle

by Kelsie Fann

  Liz gritted her teeth. A heaviness filled her entire body and made her hands start to tremble. Why did this man think he was so much better than everyone else?

  Darcy looked down at the pavement. “Absurd. Completely absurd.”

  Liz stuffed her hands into her white jeans’ pockets to stop them from shaking and to stop her from punching Darcy in the face.

  He looked back up; his brown eyes met hers. “Despite it all, I want you to come work for me. You’re diligent, hardworking, and one of the smartest people I’ve ever talked to,” he said.

  Liz gasped. What? He was asking her to work for him after he insulted her employees, her city, and her company? “Please come be a director at Pemberley Media, Liz.”

  He was offering her a job after tearing her life apart? Did he really think she was that desperate for work? Even though she was, there was no way she would ever work for him. She felt her face twist in anger. “It must be really hard for you to make that offer.” She barely kept her voice from shaking.

  “It is.” He looked sincere.

  She pulled her hands out of her pockets and placed them on her hips. “I have something to say, too.” This time, she failed to steady her voice.

  Her words trembled as she spit out a response. “You are unequivocally the last person on earth I would ever work for.”

  Darcy took as step back, and the line between his eyebrows got deeper.

  Liz dug in further. She was ready to put him in his place. “You’ve insulted me in every possible way. You’ve insulted the employees whom I hired. You’ve insulted the company I’ve spent the last twelve years working for. This place,” she said, waving her hands at the brick building, “is not just a job to me. I put my heart and soul into my work.”

  Darcy looked down, but Liz didn’t stop.

  “Plus, you single-handedly ruined Mr. Chambers’s opportunity to sell his company. You clearly had no intention of buying, but you still pulled strings to get Hamilton’s financing denied. You sabotaged both of them. For what? Sport? Out of spite? Do you realize you almost ruined his chances to help his sick grandson?”

  Darcy looked back up into Liz’s eyes. His face was clear and emotionless. Liz took a step forward, closing the distance between them to mere inches, as she hissed, “And then you have the audacity to insult everyone I work with? These people may be a little immature, and they may not be from a big city like you, but they are brilliant. If you spent half the time talking to our clients about how happy they are with our work as you did judging us, you’d know that.”

  When Darcy didn’t respond, Liz had one more thing to say. “I cannot, will not, ever work for you. You aren’t a businessman. You are just a rich jerk.”

  Darcy’s eyes narrowed on her face. Before he spoke, he paused for a minute.

  “I’m sorry I offended you.” He turned, and he walked back toward the Chambers’s Media building. Liz turned to walk in the other direction toward a pint of ice cream and maybe no pants at all.

  24.

  For the next few days, Darcy was really angry at Liz. Their conversation played over and over in his head, like an annoying pop song. “Rich jerk. Rich jerk. Rich jerk.” He could hear her voice. No one had ever talked to him that way. No one.

  His past dates didn’t even ask what he did for a living, let alone tell him off about how he conducted himself.

  At first, he tried to forget her. Liz Bailey was exactly the reason Darcy didn’t want to seriously date women—especially women who wanted more from him than jewelry. On his flight home, he resolved to stick to women like Cas, who only got upset about easily solved problems like portion sizes.

  But he still couldn’t get Liz’s words out of his head. Was she right? Was he a rich jerk? He tried sleeping it off. He spent eighteen hours in bed, catching up from a month’s lack of sleep, until he dreamt of her face and woke up.

  Next, he asked Cas to dinner, but immediately retracted it after she told him she needed two and a half hours to get ready.

  Finally, he turned to his trustiest diversion tactic: work. For a week, he stayed so late at the office working on finding staff and office space for the Pemberley Media expansion in Denver that he almost fainted.

  And, after 100 hours of hard work, he started to feel something else: remorse.

  Liz was right. He had acted like a rich jerk. He shouldn’t have insulted her whole team and the company she’d built. He couldn’t imagine what he would do to someone who talked that way about Pemberley Media. He probably wouldn’t have handled it as well as she did.

  Also, he felt terrible about Mr. Chambers. He knew the old man really needed to sell, and maybe he should have figured out a solution that would have worked for both of them instead of being so stubborn about finding out who committed the fraud.

  As regret began to creep out from his heavy heart and into his fingers and toes, he wished he could talk to his mom. His mom would know what to do. His dad always knew what to do about buyouts, finances, and mergers, but his mom always knew what to do about clients and employees. Like James, she could sense when people were hurting, and somehow she knew how to fix it. His mom and dad were perfect life partners. Each filling in where the other was lacking.

  But no matter how perfect they were for each other, their love hadn’t saved them. They left him and his sister alone.

  He looked across the couch to the end table where a picture of them sat. His parents were younger, tourists in Italy, looking at each other like they always did, like they just shared a joke and they were the only ones who knew the punchline.

  Darcy fell hard onto the seat of his couch, fully dressed from work: suit, tie, and laced-up loafers. As he untied his shoes, he felt another tinge of regret because Liz was wrong about one thing. Darcy hadn’t interfered in Hamilton’s financing at all. If he thought Hamilton could actually get financing, Darcy might have pulled some strings, but Hamilton couldn’t even get a hundred dollars—let alone millions.

  He wished he could tell Liz the truth, but Darcy knew he couldn’t tell her the entire truth because it would embarrass the only family member he had left in his life: his sister, Georgia. So instead, he promised himself that if he ever saw Liz again, he would apologize and tell her he handled their conversation wrong. He was thirty-five, and the way she defended herself and stood up for her employees made her the first woman to ever make him want to apologize.

  25.

  Weeks passed, Liz finished wrapping projects up for Mr. Chambers, and she sent out 100 resumes to everyone she could think of in Savannah. Unfortunately, no one was hiring a director without a college degree, had less than a year of experience, and whose only executive position was at a business swirling with rumors of fraud.

  As Liz was deep in self-pity, Dee called. “Why don’t you come stay with me for a week?” Dee asked. “Get some fresh air?”

  Liz sighed. She hadn’t visited Dee in Denver. Even though she moved over three years ago, Liz spent the past few years so consumed with work that it was impossible to leave.

  Liz knew that If she got a job, then she wouldn’t be able to visit Dee for at least six months. Or if she couldn’t find a position, her backup plan was to finish her degree in the fall. That would mean waiting until Christmas break.

  This was the perfect and possibly the only time. “What can I bring?” Liz asked.

  “Just yourself,” Dee said. “Can’t wait to see you.”

  Liz booked a plane ticket to Denver and left the next day. As she Ubered to her friend’s house, she soaked in the sights of a new city. The car pulled up at a gray, stucco, street-level apartment in uptown Denver, only a few blocks away from the lush City Park.

  “Want to take a walk?” Dee met her at the door of her apartment with Andy in his wheelchair. Andy had bright eyes and a smile that looked just like his mom’s. It was so wide Liz could see almost every tooth.

  “Hi, Liz.” He reached out to shake her hand.

  She grabbed his small hand with both of he
rs. “Hi, Andy.” Dee took Liz’s bag and put it inside her townhouse.

  Dee and Liz chatted about Mr. Chambers for a few minutes as they walked down the sidewalk. A few minutes in, they were interrupted when Andy looked up and made an announcement. “Did you hear Mom has a boyfriend?” Liz immediately looked at Dee and noticed that her friend flinched a little at Andy’s revelation.

  “I didn’t,” Liz said. “How about I push you while your mom fills me in on this new development?”

  “Really?” Liz mouthed to Dee, who gave her a small nod.

  Dee’s last relationship was a few years after high school, and it ended tragically. Dee got pregnant, and Andy’s dad ran off to bootcamp.

  The ribbed handles of Andy’s wheelchair felt rough underneath Liz’s tight grip as she wondered who Dee’s mystery man was. “Can we watch the kids play basketball?” Andy asked as they walked down the street to the park.

  “Sure,” Dee said. “Liz, turn right as soon as we enter the park. There’s usually a few people playing on the first court.”

  As soon as the courts were in sight, Andy looked up at Liz. “I’ve got it,” he said, taking over. He slowly wheeled himself toward the court, and Liz and Dee took a seat on a nearby bench.

  Liz watched as a couple kids walked up to Andy and started talking to him. Dee smiled at the other boys accepting Andy without question. “Kids are amazing.”

  “They are.” Liz grabbed Dee’s hand. She couldn’t wait any longer to find out about Dee’s mystery boyfriend. Two very fit male cyclists rode by as Liz envisioned Dee’s potential mate. Liz forced herself to focus on her friend. “Spill it.”

  Dee turned and slowly faced Liz with more than a little apprehension behind her eyes. “Well, remember that day in Sugar Hill?” Dee asked.

  “Yes.” Liz wondered why Dee was bringing up their hometown.

  “Well, Coney was so sweet with Andy that I went by his house to thank him afterward. He asked me in and wanted advice on his curtains.”

  Liz started shaking her head. “No.” This couldn’t be going where she thought it was.

  Dee put her head in her hands. And Liz looked from side to side, wondering if someone were about to punk her. “And now we’re kind of dating.”

  Liz felt her widen in shock. Before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “You’re joking!”

  “Nope. He asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes.”

  Liz shook her head again. “Dee, no. You can’t date Coney. He’s literally the worst. Like if there were a pageant for the grossest man alive, he would win, hands down.”

  Dee let out a deep breath. “It’s easy for you, Liz. You’re beautiful and fun, and you don’t have obligations, but Coney’s the first guy I’ve met who doesn’t just see me as a sick boy’s mom. There’s not exactly a dating app for thirty-two-year-old women with a son who is in a wheelchair.”

  Liz wouldn’t let her friend settle like this. “You can’t,” Liz said.

  Dee interrupted before Liz could say anymore. “Stop. Please. Coney’s nice, and he cares for Andy and me. And, yes, he’s a little rough, but he calls every day at the same time, and he always checks on us. And he gives me car advice.”

  Waves of disbelief rolled through Liz’s body. She looked away from Dee to compose herself. Then she forced herself to turn back and congratulate friend. “I’m happy for you.”

  As Liz said the words, she realized that however much Liz disagreed with Dee, she was an adult and could make her own decisions.

  Liz could still hear the loud, slurping noises Coney made while sprawled out on her mom’s couch. She couldn’t stop a burst of laughter from coming out of her mouth. “What are you laughing at?” Dee said.

  “He has a lot of bodily noises,” Liz confessed.

  Dee paused for a moment, then tipped her head back, and laughed. The bright sound made Liz smile. It had been a long time since she’d seen Dee laugh. “Yes, yes, he does.”

  26.

  “So I was wondering . . . ” Liz walked into the kitchen where Dee was stacking clean plates she’d just removed from the dishwasher. Liz had been in Denver for three days, and she wasn’t ready to go back home.

  Liz picked up the stack of plates and put them in the cabinet. “Could I stay for a couple weeks? I haven’t heard anything back from the applications I’ve sent out in Savannah. My lease is up this month, and I don’t want to sign a new one without a job. I’m going to move back into my mom’s house until I find something, but I’m not ready to go back to Sugar Hill yet . . . ” Liz trailed off, hoping her friend didn’t make her wait too long for a response.

  Dee didn’t make Liz wait a second. “Absolutely. Please stay! It’s been really nice having you.” Liz’s entire body relaxed. She grabbed a bunch of clean silverware and started sorting it into a drawer.

  “Thank you!” Liz said. “Just for two weeks, I promise.”

  “Are you moving in?” Andy shouted from the living room, where he played a video game.

  Dee put a stack of bowls away. “He hears everything.”

  “Nope, just extending my vacation,” Liz yelled back at Andy.

  Dee sat down at the kitchen table and patted the seat next to her. “You know, you could move here.”

  Liz shook her head. “I would, but my heart is in Savannah.” And it was true. She’d fallen in love with the southern city the first time she stepped out of her car, and she didn’t want to be anywhere else. Plus, she liked being close enough to Sugar Hill to get home in a few hours if her mom needed her.

  “But,” Dee continued, “it would be perfect. Dad is moving here in a couple weeks. With you here, too, it would be perfect.” Dee stopped talking. “Also I should mention . . . ”

  “What?” Liz asked.

  Dee tapped her fingers on the table. “Coney is coming this weekend.”

  “Really?” Liz couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Coney was the type of guy who described eastern Georgia as “God’s Country.” He frequently said, “Can’t leave there, else the devil will find me.”

  Dee grabbed Liz’s hands. “I really want you to get to know him better.”

  The thought of spending more time with Coney made Liz feel physically ill. She shook her head. She couldn’t watch him plop his dirty feet on Dee’s immaculate, white living room furniture, and her upper lip curled.

  “Please, Liz. Give him a chance,” Dee begged.

  Liz tried to think of an excuse to leave as soon as possible, but she didn’t have one. Think, think, she told herself. “I have to . . . ” she trailed off.

  Dee’s eyebrows raised, waiting for Liz to answer. Andy yelled from the living room before she could come up with an excuse, “Why doesn’t Liz like Coney?”

  Dee chimed right back, “I don’t know, son.”

  He’s disgusting, rude, and calls me a pig. Liz could think up lots of reasons, but she didn’t say any of them. “I do like him,” Liz said. “I just remembered I have things to do back in Georgia.”

  “But you were just saying you want to stay,” Andy said. “Take that! Gotcha!” he screamed at the TV.

  Dee smiled at Liz. “Looks like I gotcha too, Liz.”

  Liz exhaled. She wasn’t going to get out of seeing Coney unless she completely insulted Dee. “I’d love to stay, and I’d love to get to know Coney better, if you’ll have me.”

  Dee stood up, smoothed her white shirt, and walked to her stove to get the tea pot. “Want some tea?” Dee asked as she slowly poured hot, brown liquid into a floral, intricately-painted tea cup.

  Liz nodded, raised the cup to her lips, and took a sip. She was stuck. And she was about to be stuck in Colorado with Coney.

  27.

  It can’t be Liz, Darcy thought, standing in the Denver office building he just bought. It can’t. But, as he stood there in disbelief, he knew immediately, even from hundreds of feet away, it was her. Long brown hair. Creamy skin. The same height. The same curves.

  It was Liz. Liz, the woman who so th
oroughly chewed him up that he felt like he’d been through a meat grinder. And, for a reason he wasn’t ready to admit to himself, he desperately wanted to go to her.

  She walked across the street with purpose; her long ponytail bounced on her back as she walked toward City Park. He had promised himself if he ever saw her again, he would apologize for his not-so-warm job offer. This was his chance.

  He looked around. There was no way he’d make it in time. He was on the seventh floor, across from City Park. The building isn’t the problem, he thought, knowing he could get down the flights of stairs in less than two minutes.

  The problem was Caroline, the strawberry-blonde woman to his left, who was looking out the window like she’d just smelled a garbage truck.

  “Darcy, pay attention,” she said.

  Caroline was going to be hard to get past.

  “Black and white. Herringbone black and white floors. Sixteen offices. Thirty-two cubicles. White walls with black trim.” Caroline turned her back to the window and walked out into the middle of the room. As the unofficial Pemberley Media interior designer, she demanded to see any new office space they purchased.

  Darcy’s eyes followed Liz into the entrance of the park.

  “How about glass walls and an open office?” Darcy said as Liz disappeared into the park.

  Caroline scoffed. “Is this because of that tragic Savannah company you were going to buy? The only employees that place attracted were college girls who don’t wear shoes.”

  Darcy didn’t answer. Maybe it was.

  Caroline leaned against the window he was looking out of. “Where are you taking me to dinner tonight?”

  He didn’t look at her; he couldn’t tear his eyes from the park entrance. “I don’t care. You chose.”

  As Caroline named off different restaurants, Darcy disappeared into his thoughts. He couldn’t believe the crazy coincidence. Was it fate? Darcy knew Dee lived uptown; Chambers had mentioned it to him, but Darcy never expected to see Liz from the window of his new building.