“What sort of plans?” Birdie asked. Drew could certainly appreciate the suspicion in her tone.
“Well, I was about Drew’s age when his grandfathers started seriously grooming me to run the company. Now he’s headed off to China for at least a couple years. Maybe longer depending on how things go there. We’ve talked about this extensively. We need him there to personally oversee things and make sure all is according to the company interests. I’m not entirely sure our staff over there is one hundred percent loyal to us. Not even sure they’re fifty percent.”
Drew nodded. The plan they’d begun implementing soon after his mother’s death. Acceleration through school, breaks spent in the London office working in various departments from the ground up. In fact, he’d started in the mail room. Much like he expected Birdie would, although she had her mind set on starting in the executive offices. She had a lot to learn. The last few years while he’d completed the courses required for the Stanford International Law program, he’d spent plenty of time in the legal offices and had passed the British Bar. One more session of school and he’d be more than ready to enter the company fully.
“With that in mind, it’s time for me to make a tour of all our foreign offices and spend time with the staffs there, ensuring things remain on track.”
“But what about the London office?” Birdie asked, a deep frown drawing her delicate brows together.
Drew cast a glance at Oswald and saw his lips flatten into a straight line. The man was fighting to keep a blank face, but for what reason. Did that mean…?
“Oswald’s had several years working his way up the ladder in London. He’s done some traveling to liaise with the satellite offices, but I’ve spent far too much time in London and far too little in the field, so to speak.”
“You’re turning London over to Ozzie?” Birdie asked in disbelief.
“At this time he’s the most qualified,” Dad confirmed. “Although the board of directors has indicated in the short term, Randi could probably run the company if I got run over by a bus.”
“But-but…” Birdie spluttered.
“Randi?” Drew tossed in his own question. Certainly she had a business background from an accounting view, but to run the company?
“Sure,” Dad said and nodded at Drew. “In fact, it was your grandfather Catchpole who suggested it.”
Drew’s mouth dropped open. “You’re off your trolley. How’d that come about?”
Randi sat up and preened as she said, “He loves my turkey dinner with all the fixings.”
“What?” Drew and Birdie spoke at the same time, then shared a look of disbelief.
Randi shrugged with a grin on her face. “Your dad wants a full turkey dinner for Thanksgiving, so your grandmother insisted we do a trial run so I could teach Cook how to do it right. Of course it’s a big meal, so she invited the vicar and the Catchpoles to help eat it. While they still don’t approve of me, we have a tentative truce.” She and Dad shared a grin.
“And in his mind that qualifies you to run the company?” This wasn’t making any sense to Drew. Bea’s parents hated Randi and Birdie.
“Conversation at dinner included a review of Randi’s resume. A grudging respect has been slowly growing,” Dad said. “We’ll take what we can get. However, the fact remains, Oswald is currently the most qualified to fill in, in the case of disaster,” Dad said firmly. “Next year, Birdie, you’ll join the London office as I’ve promised.”
“But I’m to train as your assistant,” Birdie said with barely a quiver in her voice.
“And you will,” he assured her. “You’ll learn your way up the corporate structure first, exactly the way Drew and Oswald have.”
Birdie’s mouth dropped open. “You’re going to start me in the mail room?”
“Only fair, Bird,” Drew jumped in. “Although I’m guessing your climb will be a little faster than mine. I spent an entire summer in the mail room.”
Dad nodded. “The plan is a month, two at the most in each department on the way up the structure. You need to know people throughout the entire organization. No better way to do it than to jump into each department with a cheerful, helpful attitude. Spread a little honey, listen, learn everything you can from the people who will eventually be under you.”
Birdie’s mouth snapped shut. Well, Drew thought, she hadn’t expected that. Better to tell her now rather than on her first day in the office with her shiny new degree. She’d have a year to get used to the idea.
“Oswald?” Dad asked the third person concerned in the room. “Ready to start assuming more duties?”
The stern man nodded silently, his expression blank as a slate.
“Excellent. Randi and I will return to London in another week or two, and then we’ll start transitioning you into the temporary lead position. We’ll see how that goes; then about the time Drew returns from China and Birdie is running the executive suites, he’ll take a turn, allowing Oswald to travel the field and implement the changes I’ll recommend. Or if Drew is happy out in the field, then you’ll have your turn at the helm, Birdie. By then I’m sure you’ll have the London offices eating out of your hand.” Dad sent her a grin, but she only answered with barely a grimace.
“Sure thing, Dad.”
Drew could see it wasn’t the response his parents had hoped for, but contrary to Oswald’s prediction, at least she wasn’t throwing things.
And if the board was unbending enough to consider Randi a candidate to step in should Dad not be able to carry on, then maybe there was a way to convince Meilin to join him in China. Could they create a position that would dovetail with her design business?
A tad early to consider that thought, but it did bring up interesting questions.
He slid his gaze from Birdie to Oswald and back again. The two were currently engaged in a silent battle of some sort. Now that could make life more interesting in the offices.
Chapter 15
From the moment she stepped into the office Monday morning, Meilin knew, just knew, the week wasn’t going to go her way.
“Mercury is in retrograde,” her assistant Susan said, handing over a stack of messages.
“I never understood that,” Meilin murmured as she sorted through the slips. Contractor delays, delivery issues, and clients with fickle taste all filled the dozen notes.
True hell started the moment she had to call Shan on Wednesday afternoon to tell him she couldn’t make dinner that night.
“I explained how important tonight is, Meilin.” His voice was tight, like he was trying not to yell, or not be overheard.
“And I can’t plan for my contractor’s son breaking his arm. Things happen, Shan, and with the furniture delivery tomorrow, I can’t get another painter on such short notice. Unless you want to reschedule your dinner and come help me?” His scoffing noise came through loud and clear. “That’s what I’ll be doing tonight until the job is done. It’s called stepping up and being a responsible business owner.”
“A business you no longer need.”
“Well, at least you finally came out and said it instead of dancing around the issue with placating words.” She bit out the words as sharply as he had.
On the other end of the phone he let out a sigh. When he spoke again his voice was much softer. “Meilin, I want to work this out. It’s just, well, timing sucks.”
She softened her tone as well. “I get that. But when the school called and said his son had a compound fracture, what else could Paul do? He couldn’t let the kid sit there scared and in pain. It’s what parents do. They take care of their kids, and sometimes that means dropping the work mid-job. He’ll make it up to me down the road, but right now I have a deadline that can’t wait, and that’s not his problem. It’s mine.”
A hint of impatience returned to Shan’s voice. “And I have a problem in that I promised a very important client he’d meet my fiancée tonight. It’s certainly more important than whether som
e walls get painted or not.”
Meilin’s back stiffened once more. “I can’t help you tonight. I must meet my commitments or my reputation is worth nothing. Please extend my deepest apologies and explain my situation. Clearly, if they’re any kind of business person, they’ll understand my need to take care of my client. You should understand that.”
“I understand it when meetings determine whether fresh food is delivered or medicines arrive on time. Surely those events are a higher priority on a global scale.”
“Yes, they are. But my business, while small, is still important. Without my clients, craftsmen have fewer jobs to pay for the fresh food you ship to feed their families. Without my employees, yours would suffer. It’s how the entire world comes together in the scheme of things.”
Shan all but growled his frustration into the phone. “Fine. But don’t do this to me again. I’ll try to reschedule dinner for tomorrow night. And remember we’re going away this weekend.”
“I remember,” she said, withholding the impatience from her tone. “Now, unless I want to spend the entire night here smelling paint fumes, I need to get to work.”
Shan sighed, as if releasing his anger to the universe. When he spoke, his tone was much calmer. Nicer. “I’ll call you if I get the dinner rescheduled. Do you need me to come by and escort you home? Whatever the hour, Meilin, I want to see you safely to your door.”
With a smirk, she noticed he didn’t offer to help with the painting. “Thanks, Shan, but I’ve got it. Going home late is pretty much routine and I feel perfectly safe when I do.”
“Then please call me when you get home. For my peace of mind.”
“Fine. Now, really, I’ve got to get moving on this paint job.”
The huge sigh of relief she expelled a minute later released much of the tension, but not all. Shan was not happy. Well, that made two of them. So much for his talk of respecting her desire to continue working and running her own business. She grabbed her go-bag and headed for the bathroom to change.
* * * *
Things didn’t improve when her cousin Arnie called and begged for her help.
“Meilin, my favorite cousin,” he started.
“Get to the point, Arnie. I have four gallons of paint that need applying tonight.” Dressed to paint, in jeans and an old T-shirt with a bandana covering her hair, she hardly looked elegant standing in the middle of her client’s tarp draped living room.
“I need you this weekend at the school.”
Meilin groaned. “You mean the immersion school at Stanford?”
“Yes. You know I’m teaching this summer’s Mandarin session. You also know how critical the first week is for really dropping the students into the experience. I have to be gone Friday night through late Sunday. My father is having surgery on Friday and Mother needs me there first thing Saturday to bring him home. Monday she has a health aide coming in to assist, but the aide can’t start before then. That leaves me. I have to fly to Seattle and won’t make it back until very, very late Sunday night. I’ll be there Monday morning, but I need you for the weekend. I don’t trust Jack to teach them properly.”
“With good cause.” She sighed and looked up at the ceiling that had already been painted to look like a twilight sky. Arnie only called on Jack when there was absolutely no one else in the Bay Area who could fill in for a few hours. Meilin had to agree. She’d rather call her mother to teach than Jack. She’d filled in for Arnie before and worked with tutoring elementary kids from time to time. But Mother didn’t like teaching adults and Meilin found it challenging. Teaching wasn’t the problem. As Shan had said earlier, timing sucked.
Of course, Jack was no solution at all. Not with his tendency to cause mischief by teaching students the wrong phrases. Exhibit A, Drew week before last.
That Friday out with her friends seemed so far away as to be a barely remembered dream, but it had only been a matter of days since Jack had gotten a taste of teasing Drew. And wasn’t Drew a student in the program? She could only imagine what damage Jack could do to his friend all in the name of fun. Learning Mandarin was difficult enough for adults well-versed in English.
“I assume the lesson plan is ready? I don’t have to do any prep?” Because the thought of Drew in the class made her heart leap, she’d probably spend more time thinking about him than worrying about the other students. Could she really do this knowing he’d be there, watching her with those gorgeous blue eyes? Then again, seeing him in a class situation could very well drive home the fact how very young he was for her. Maybe this was just the chance she needed to make her brain understand Drew was a temporary infatuation.
“Not a bit. I’ll go over it again and add as much detail as I can. All you have to do is follow it, correct pronunciations, answer questions, the usual. There are only five students and they’re having the usual first week issues, although they’re pretty smart and definitely enthusiastic.”
“Yes, it helps when they want to be there. I’ll have to explain it to Shan, of course, and he’s already frustrated I had to cancel on him tonight. One more cancelation will be the icing on the cake.”
“I’ll make it up to both of you.”
“No, you have a true emergency. What’s going on with your father?”
Five minutes later, she had the details and Arnie’s promise to e-mail her directions and the lesson plan. All she had to do was call Shan and cancel their weekend plans too. After their previous conversation, she’d changed her mind about looking forward to going away over the weekend. Relieved to have an excuse, she still didn’t relish the thought of the discussion to come.
By Saturday morning, Meilin was ready to step outside her life and play substitute teacher for a weekend. Shan’s icy displeasure had been hard to face. However, she’d finished the last job on time and on budget. Her client was over the moon and planning a party next week to show it off to her friends. Meilin and her plus one were invited. Shan’s secretary had it on his calendar, and he was somewhat mollified. Once he saw what she’d accomplished, how she put her love of beauty into every job, she hoped he’d be so impressed he’d forgive her the transgressions of this week and weekend. The very thought she was seeking his forgiveness bugged her.
The day was already heating up when she parked her car and gathered her briefcase with Arnie’s notes. Now all she had to do was find the classroom and face Drew in the most intimate setting yet. No loud music or swaying bodies to make conversation difficult. No fiancés, parents, neighbors, friends, or siblings there to run interference. Just Drew and four other students and lots of conversation in Chinese. Easy peasy.
In low sandals, a soft cotton skirt, and loose T-shirt, she wasn’t fashionable, but she was comfortable. She’d only brushed on a light coat of mascara to emphasize her fine eyelashes, and a dash of lip gloss to protect from the sun and heat. Sunglasses shaded her eyes as she found the building and entered the cool hall.
The smell of floor wax, books, and their unique dust filled her head, reminding her of her years at school. The nostalgia took her by surprise as she found herself wishing she were back in school, eager to rush into the future and prove herself a savvy, independent woman who didn’t need a man to complete her world. She’d proved herself a hundred times over. What was wrong with her life that she’d agreed to marry anyone at all? Shan in particular? Maybe she was being fanciful for the first time in her life. Maybe he was being too practical and logical with his captain of the boat analogy. Maybe she was over reacting to something that would probably work out sensibly.
Her sandals slapped on the polished floors and she heard murmurs of conversation coming from the classrooms. The number was easy to find. The door was unlocked and she let herself into an empty room.
A few small tables were pushed together to make one larger table with a handful of chairs around it. The board at the front of the room was a white board, and Arnie had already outlined the lesson for the day in colorful markers. One less
chore for her to take care of. At least he made it easy for his substitutes to step in.
She set her overnight bag in a corner and began emptying her briefcase of the printouts she’d prepared. A few minutes later the door opened and Drew stepped in.
Time stopped.
No, she hadn’t imagined this man’s good looks and presence. Beside his father last weekend, he’d stood out in a good way. Now he filled the classroom with a charisma that stole her breath. Didn’t hurt that he wore cargo shorts and a tight T-shirt reminding her of his rock solid abs.
Drew’s gaze locked on hers and he pulled in a deep breath. “Meilin.”
The way he said her name was like a caress of his hand down her spine.
“Hi, Drew.” She cleared her throat and forced herself to stand straight. “I’m subbing this weekend.”
Clearly trying his best, he said in Mandarin, “Wo hen gaoxìng jiàndào ni.” I am pleased to see you here. Not bad. He was learning.
Speaking slowly, she replied, “Wo hen gaoxìng cheng wei nide laoshi.” The pleasure is mine to be your teacher.
He nodded and stepped farther into the room. Outside, footsteps of many people filled the halls. Once more he seemed to gather his words, but knowing he was just beginning, she knew he didn’t have many. “May we speak later?” With his hand, he gestured between the two of them, indicating a wish to speak privately.
“Shìde.” She said the word in Mandarin and emphasized it with a nod.
“Xièxie.” Well, he knew that pretty well. She flashed a shy smile at him to indicate praise, and he huffed a small sigh as the door behind him opened.
The students ranged in age from late teens to late twenties, with Drew in the middle. She had each student say their name and age.
With a week under their belts, the class fell into the pattern set up by Arnie. Grammar and vocabulary in the morning. Then lunch where they sat together and practiced their words for the food and what they’d learned that morning. It also gave her time to learn a little about the students. They were just as curious about her and her qualifications to teach. They seemed satisfied when she told them about growing up bilingual and then the two years she’d spent with relatives in China not far from Beijing.
Her Unexpected Affair (The Robinsons) Page 14