by Claire Adams
“Yes! Oh, my God yes! You quit? You really quit? I can’t believe this. This is so awesome. Yes, get your ass out here right away, and we will have an amazing time.
“Okay, well, I just have to call my father and get him to help me with my move. This is going to suck,” I laughed.
“It’s fine. Your Dad loves you and hates that you’re out there. He will be fine with you coming to Los Angeles.”
“He’s going to flip his shit when he hears that my boss tried to get me to grab his penis and that’s why I quit. You know my father; he’s going to have lawyers and lawsuits and make a huge thing of it.”
“Just tell him you got fired.”
“What? But I didn’t.”
“It’s easier. Aren’t you always saying that your Dad feels like you’re not responsible because you forget to make your student loan payments all the time?” Jessica said as her logic started to unravel. “Just tell him you forgot to turn in an important project on time and were fired. He won’t question it.”
“I like it,” I laughed. “I’ll just play up the stuff he’s always hounding me about, and he’ll say ‘I told you so, ’ and it will be done with.”
Admittedly I didn’t like the idea of my father going on and on about how he was right, and I was wrong, and couldn’t live alone in New York. But I liked this plan much better than talking about my boss and his penis with my father. If my father knew what had really happened, nothing could save Dan Duncan and his career when my father finished with him.
“Okay, call your Dad and get your move started. I’ll clean off my couch so you can actually have a place to sleep.”
“Thanks, Jessica, I’ll get a job right away and help with the bills.”
“No worries. I get paid four times as much as you did at that marketing firm,” she laughed.
“What? Really? Four times?”
“Yeah, I didn’t want to make you feel bad when you were so excited about landing that job. But yeah, the club business is pretty good here in Los Angeles.”
“Wow, good for you! I’m excited for you. I bet you’ll have your student loans paid off before I even get a real job,” I joked. “Okay, I’ll text you when I’ve got a moving date, but hopefully it won’t be long.”
“Deal. Talk to you soon. Good luck with your father. And don’t worry about getting a job when you get here. With your blonde hair and cute body, you’ll land a nice job to match your nice ass,” she joked in reference to my old boss always commenting on my ass.
“Thanks a lot,” I laughed. “And I’m going to need all the luck I can get with my father.”
My father was one of the best men in the world. He just wanted what was best for me, and I knew it. After my mother had passed away, my father had stepped up his game and started worrying about every little decision I made. It was like he wanted to make sure I didn’t do something stupid that my mother would have stopped me from doing if she had been alive.
“Hi, Dad,” I said in an upbeat voice as I tried to hide the bad mood I was really in.
“Baby girl, how are you?”
“I’m going to be coming to stay out in Los Angeles…” I started to say.
“What happened?”
“Why do you think something happened Daddy? Can’t a girl change her mind and decide to move to be closer to her father?”
“Yes, a girl could, but not my girl. You just told me last week how much you loved it there. Are you having troubles? Is it a boy? Tell me who it is, and I’ll get him fired,” he said in a half-joking, half-serious way.
“Daddy, you know I can handle myself just fine. There was just a little misunderstanding at work, and it got me thinking that I’d like to work somewhere that I’m valued and appreciated.”
“Did one of those scumbags hit on you? I swear to God, if I find out—”
“No, Dad, it’s nothing like that. I just came in a little later than I was supposed to because I thought our meeting was at a different time. It’s for the best; I didn’t really like it there.”
“You got fired?”
“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it getting fired. We decided to part ways.”
“Emmi Lynn Shields, are you still using your damn cell phone as an alarm? I told you over and over that you can’t rely on those and needed a real alarm clock. Gosh, I wish you’d listen to me sometimes.”
“Yep, that was it Dad,” I said as I leaned back into my couch and put my feet up on my coffee table. “I’ll definitely get an alarm clock before I start my next job. You were totally right.”
“You know I have a business friend that needs an assistant for a little bit. Maybe you could take the job until you find something that is better suited to your MBA.”
Oh, man, this conversation was derailing fast. I didn’t want to work for some old dude my father knew. The last thing I wanted was my Dad getting me a job or having any say in what I was doing while out in Los Angeles.
“How about I get out there first before you start lining up jobs for me?” I laughed as I tried to avoid committing to being his friends assistant. “Speaking of getting me moved all the way out to Los Angeles…”
“Oh, honey, of course, I’ll send you some money. You know I’m going to love having you out here. We can go to the beach, have dinner together and maybe you’ll even decide you want to come into the family business after all.”
“Dad, we’ve talked about this. You and I just don’t work well together. I don’t want to ruin our relationship.”
“Okay, but don’t hold that against Declan if you decide to take the assistant job with him. He’s a good guy and not nearly as overbearing as I am. In fact, he’s a lot like you.”
I wasn’t sure if my father meant that comment as a compliment or not, but it didn’t sound like one. I slowly licked the frosting off the second cupcake I had brought home and felt more relaxed than I had in months. This day was turning out better and better now that I had decided to move to the west coast.
“Is it sunny there?” I asked to change to topic a bit.
“Yep, sunny and seventy-nine degrees today.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m looking forward to getting out of New York already,” I laughed. “Can you transfer the money to my account tonight and I’ll call some movers to see when I can get things going.”
“Sure thing, honey. I think you should have them move your car also. I don’t want you driving across the country all by yourself. I’ll send you enough so you can fly out.”
“Okay then, I’ll let you know when to expect me.”
“Perfect. I’ll have Salina make up the spare bedroom for you.”
My eye got big; I might have stopped breathing even as I tried to figure out how to word what I was about to say. Sure, I couldn’t wait to see my father and I’d love to spend some quality time with him; but no way was I going to move in with him. I’d rather sleep on Jessica’s couch for a year than under the watchful eye of my father.
“Um, Dad,” I started to say. “You know my best friend, Jessica Timmons from college…um…she lives out there also.”
“Oh, so you don’t want to stay with me?”
The silence on the other end of the phone practically broke my heart. I couldn’t do it to him. No matter how bad I wanted to avoid his watchful eye, I couldn’t let him be heartbroken.
“No, no, it’s not that; I was just going to say I might be staying with her sometimes too. You know, until I decide where I’m going to work and all. I hear the traffic out there can be very difficult to navigate.”
“Yes, it is. It can take up to two hours to commute to work for some people. Don’t worry about that right now; we can figure it out when you get here. I can’t wait to see you.”
“I love you, Dad. I’ll call you with all the details when I have the move organized.”
“I love you too, baby girl.”
Chapter 3
Declan
“Margery, I can’t thank you enough for coming in to help today. You’re a lif
esaver.”
“Declan, I gave you two months notice and hired you the perfect assistant before I left. I can’t just come in whenever you need help. I’m retired. It’s my time now,” she said with that soft smile I had become so used to.
“I know. I’m just in such a pinch. I have no idea how to get my schedule up on the computer and sync it with my phone. Plus, I’m pretty sure I had the marketing department order too many samples for the trade show.”
Margery smiled and sat down at my computer. She pulled a pad of paper out of the drawer and started to write down the answers to my questions. I was grateful she was there, but the truth was I had only asked a couple of the dozens of questions that had come up over the last few days. I couldn’t let her leave my office. She had to stay; there was no question about it.
“I’ll pay you twice what your old salary was. Please, just stay on for a few more months. We can hire someone new and train her.”
“I did that already, Declan. You were so picky about who I hired that we ended up choosing someone who wasn’t all that qualified.”
“I know. You are right. Can we call back your favorite? What was her name again, Mrs. Doubtfire or something like that.”
“No, all the good assistants got other jobs when we turned them down,” she laughed. “But I’m sure that movie character Mrs. Doubtfire is still available.”
At least I got a chuckle out of her before she denied me. But she greatly underestimated the lengths to which I was willing to go in order to get her back. I needed her expertise in order to keep my company running. There were entirely too many details that were lost without her there.
“I’ll double your salary, and you can work part-time. Basically, that’s like quadrupling your salary. Come on now; you know that money will come in handy when you’re ready to retire.”
“Declan, I love you like my own son, but I’m ready to retire right now. It’s going to be a bumpy road for the next couple of weeks, but I promise you’ll get everything figured out.”
“I’ll give you a private jet. A new house. A million dollars,” I said dramatically as I literally got down on my knees and begged her.
I knew it was no use though; Margery was a tough lady. Once she made up her mind, there was no changing it. I wasn’t ready for her to leave me though. Selfishly, I wanted her to stay working; although I knew she deserved to retire. Margery had worked her entire life dedicated to her employers. Her ability to keep me organized and on task during the years she had been with me was amazing.
“You know I can’t stay,” she said kindly. “But you can call me with questions or have your new assistant call me. I’ll try to help when I can.”
“Thank you, Margery; I’m sorry for dragging you down here for the calendar.”
“It’s alright,” she said as a dozen buzzing noises sounded from my computer. “Apparently you’ve missed a few meetings.”
Margery had a calming effect on me; normally I would have been freaking out if I saw so many meetings missed. But as I looked into her dark-brown eyes, she didn’t look worried, so I didn’t feel worried. In all the years she had worked with me, I couldn’t remember a single time when she appeared overwhelmed or worried, even when we were in the midst of big deals. Her calm demeanor centered me; it helped me stay focused.
“Are there any going on right now?” I laughed.
“Yep, the Breckenridge deal in the main conference room.”
“Well, Teddy wouldn’t start without …” I started to say as Teddy knocked and opened my office door all at the same time.
The large wooden door was a stark contrast to the glass walls all around it. It was the one thing about my office that I always wanted to change, but never got around to. The modern glass walls let me see what was going on throughout the office floor while also giving others an open view of me while I was working. It felt like we were more of a team with the glass walls although there clearly wasn’t much privacy in our office building.
“Let’s go; we’ve got a few million dollars of your money to sign away,” Teddy laughed as he made himself at home in my office.
“Sorry, Margery is helping me fix my datebook so it syncs on my phone.”
“Oh, I could have helped you with that,” he said as he scrolled through his smartphone.
“Really? You know how to do that?” I asked.
“Sure, my assistant showed me how to self-manage my calendar and share it with her. I’m a high-tech dude.”
“You know how to pay attention,” Margery said quietly. “That’s Declan’s problem. He only pays attention to the things that are interesting to him.”
“Hey, I’ve got an official ADHD diagnosis; you should both feel bad for making fun of me. And let us remember that I’m actually the boss around here,” I joked.
“Nope, I don’t feel bad; now come to the meeting so I can take a bunch of your money and we can get this damn deal going. Are you still alright with signing the contract before you get out there?”
“Yes, I think our legal team put some clauses in there if the property ends up not being buildable. Did you look it over?”
“You know I did,” Teddy said as he pulled his glasses out of his pocket. “You should look it over too. You never know when I might try to slip one past you.”
It was an inside joke between the two of us that we trusted each other so much. There was no other person on the planet that I’d throw millions of dollars into a deal with before I had even seen the property. But working with Teddy was more like working with my own father. He was an honest man, and I trusted him.
“Sure, Teddy; you know you need me just as much as I need you old man,” I joked as I pulled him out of the chair and we made our way to the meeting. “Let me give you some cash so we can keep things moving on this. I’d like to have a nice place to stay for next year's film festival.”
“You are a little glassy eyed with your visions for these projects. How about two years? Maybe let the builders actually see their families sometime this year?”
“Oh, Teddy, you’re underestimating them. If you ask for greatness, you’ll get it.”
“I think you missed your calling; you should have been one of those inspirational, late-night infomercial guys,” Teddy said as we joined the rest of the lawyers and staff for the meeting.
“Sorry I’m late, everyone. I’ll try to keep this short,” I started the meeting. “Rosa, tell me a little about your vision from the architecture side of this project.”
“We will need a nice-sized main hotel to offset the current building. In our tentative plans, the main chalet will only have four to six apartments. The main hotel will have over a hundred rooms, depending on the number of luxury suites.”
“I don’t want to overdo it with luxury. I know that it’s technically your hotel, Teddy, but our customer base can’t afford those fancy suites.”
“Understandable. I think we should make the chalet all about the luxury and have the hotel regular rooms and a basic upgrade suite. Nothing too high end. The high-end clientele can book at the chalet if it’s that important to them. How would that look, Rosa?”
I loved this part of business deals. We were all on the same side, all feeling like the deal was good for us. If I could do business like this all the time, I would. That’s why I was continuing to partner with Teddy over and over again; we worked well together. Never had I imagined my ski and snowboard business would migrate into investing in hotels and resorts. And it wouldn’t have gone that way if Teddy and I hadn’t met.
“I’ll need a minute to calculate. Come back to us in a second,” Rosa said.
“How’s the land look, Stanley?” I asked as Rosa and her team looked through their figures.
“It’s good. We will need to have some big trees shipped in to provide a good buffer between the two properties and the ski slope. I’m not too worried about it though. There is enough room, and if we plan ahead, we should be able to get the trees shipped from the Denver area in the spr
ing just before it’s finished. That’s assuming you’re going for a year turnaround?”
“Yes, thank you, Stanley, that’s exactly what I was looking for,” I said as I looked over at Teddy.
I was good with people, and that made meetings like this perfect for me. The push and pull of deadlines were met by the people that worked on a project, and I’d learned over the years that I liked being involved with my people. When employees knew me, understood me, they could anticipate what I was going to expect from them. I wasn’t the kind of boss that wanted to catch people doing something wrong; I liked to catch them doing amazing work and reward them for that.
“I know how you think,” he joked as he wrote down some notes.
Our meeting lasted several hours as Teddy and I went through the big details and finally signed the papers for the deal. I had started to take over more and more control of the joint deals between us, just because I really enjoyed learning the process. Teddy was still the main guy, and he was the one who knew the market and where to buy our properties.
“There was one more thing I wanted to discuss before everything is finalized here,” Teddy said with a serious tone.
“Uh oh, am I in trouble?” I laughed.
“I really think you should name the hotel after you, Declan. This is going to be a huge draw to your customer base. It’s all about the young, hip snowboarders. I want you to think of a name.”
“You don’t want it to be a Shield Hotel?”
“Nope, I want something new, hip, and more in tune with the current climate. People are staying at Air BnB rentals more and more. They want unique experiences, and I think we need to incorporate that into this property. I give you full control over the design and naming. I’ll be the money man and of course answer any questions or offer help as needed.”
“So you think we should go young and hip and not have the chalet?”
“Keep the chalet, maybe, I don’t know. Go out there and see for yourself and see what kind of place you’d stay at. Maybe keep the chalet and make it into something cool and hip? I don’t know. I’m an old business man,” he laughed.