by Mia Ford
“I’m exhausted just listening to you.” I said. “Would you let me do one last thing?”
She pulled back a little as if I might ask for a kiss.
“What?” she was suspicious again. It was adorable.
“My driver is parked out back. Let me have him drive you home. You don’t need to stand out in the rain for the bus. I think you’ve had a hard- enough day.”
“Are you serious?”
I nodded my head.
“Okay?” she said, pursing her eyebrows together as if she didn’t quite believe me. I made a quick phone call and within a minute my car was in front of Liona’s.
“Come on. I’ll walk you to your ride.” I stood, picked up her banker’s box, held it for her and walked to the door. “Wait here.” I said as I stood under the tiny awning that was at the front entrance. My driver hopped out of the car with a wide black umbrella and stood holding it over me. I instructed him to take Natasha home and make sure he kept her address. He got back behind the wheel and I walked back to the awning where Natasha was standing with that look I always loved to see on women’s faces. That look of being totally impressed.
I stuck out my elbow for her to hold on to. She did and she wasn’t shy about it. This was fun for her. It was honest fun. And when she turned to face me I waited for the Universe to open the door wide in the form of a kiss.
“I really appreciate this. Thank you.”
And there it was. Natasha had her hand stuck out like we had just made the deal of a lifetime. I let a surprised laugh tumble out of my mouth and I shook her hand then brought it to my lips.
She blushed but she didn’t look away. Instead she smiled and climbed in the car. I folded the umbrella and dropped it on the floor of the back seat and slammed the door shut. Off she went.
I was full of wild electricity. Something had been jarred awake inside me and I was elated. It was a challenge. A puzzle to be solved. Natasha Morgan was something so different and special I had to stop and regroup in order to figure out what to do with her next. The Universe had really smiled on me. It was just giving me that seductive peek, just a tiny taste of its gift that was by far its most generous yet.
The rain felt good on my face. I looked at the Liona’s red neon sign as raindrops wove their way across the glass that protected it. They were such simple little drops of rain but in the right light, under the right conditions they sparkled like jewels. Everything around me looked sharp and crisp as if I had slipped on a pair of much needed glasses in order to focus. The air smelled fresh and clean. For the first time in a long time I felt really alive.
But in the meantime, what would I do with this excitement surging through my veins. I went back inside Liona’s. With the rain keeping everyone where they were, it was slow. I took Beth to a back room and let her ease my stress. But all I could think of was Natasha Morgan.
MARTY
It was 7:56 in the morning and already my daily status report was coming in late. Reid Industries was never going to stay in the black if I, the CEO, couldn’t get organized before the rest of the four hundred and sixteen employees even sat down at their desks.
I looked at my desk and could have sworn some work had been done yesterday in order to move some of the files but over the six hours I was gone from here it not only didn’t look like anything had moved but it looked as if more were added.
The windows pointed and looked out over a beautiful skyline as another gray day opened up. My small conference table was also covered with paperwork that I had forgotten about. There were letters and contracts to be signed and others to be edited or tossed.
I had a small bar at the other end of my office collecting dust since it was only utilized during the Christmas party that I insisted stay traditional like they were when my father ran the business. No wasting time and money making people go to a restaurant that jacks up the prices at that special time of year.
Instead we had a BYOB policy and I paid for a fleet of cars to get people home if they needed it. So far it had continued to be a success.
“Mr. Reid, we’ve got to get your schedule ironed out or you won’t have a clue what you’re doing today.” My secretary Denise yelled from outside my office. “Not that today should be any different from yesterday.”
“Yes, yes, Denise. Let’s go then.”
“Okay,” she stomped into my office as if she had a war to fight. “You’ve got a conference call with Patrick at 9:45. You’re supposed to respond to Ireland’s proposal.”
“Push that back for me, Denise. At least a week. There’s no hurry for that right now.” The truth was I just wasn’t interested in the articles Seymore Ireland was asking me to contribute to. It was more of a headache than it was helpful.
“You’ve got an appointment with your chiropractor at two o’clock today.”
“That’s one bright spot in my day. Other than seeing you, Denise.”
“Mr. Reid, I’ll be sure to tell my husband of thirty-eight years you said so.”
“Thirty-eight years? How do you do it, Denise? What is your secret?”
“Separate beds and separate bathrooms. Now, are we going to continue on or do you need me to explain the birds and bees to you, too?”
“Denise, we have work to do. Don’t tempt me.”
It was always funny to get Denise to laugh. She had the other secretaries terrified of her since she was in her sixties and rarely smiled during business hours. She knew how to use a computer better than most of the new hires coming right out of college but because she carried around an old stenographer’s pad, some of the girls thought she was just some fossil waiting for retirement. They’d quickly learn that she was as sharp as a tack and twice as painful if you got stuck.
I had hired her after I inherited the business from my father. He had built up this corporation by slowly buying off bits of businesses and selling them for a profit. Then he realized some of the businesses were just poorly managed and took a stab at running a few by himself. Whatever it was in his fingers, it seemed whatever he touched turned into gold. Heading out before the sun rose and getting home long after it set made my father a successful businessman.
He also had a way of smoothing over the most hardened, crusted over hearts of the stingiest misers around by pouring on the kindness, inquiring about their wives and children, offering sound advice and laying all his cards out for them to see. Dirty deals were for insurance agents and ambulance chasers he’d say. He had nothing to hide from any man so they always knew where they stood with him. It was a good way to do business. And because of the old man’s brilliance I still did work with the sons of some of those men.
In fact, I was supposed to play golf with Morton Susberg, the son of Michael Susberg who loaned my father enough money for him to crack his first million. The Susbergs were good people and I liked Mort a lot. He had an excellent business sense and often had a couple of insider investment tips for me. So far, he was five for five on the stocks he told me to invest in, more than tripling the value of my portfolio.
But sadly, my schedule was too full right now. And I knew when I could finally come up for air Mort would be on some big-name trial working thirty hours in each twenty-four hour period.
“Some good news for you.” Denise said, snapping me out of my daydream of golf.
“Good news? That’s a switch. Tell me.”
Denise smiled and the wrinkles pushed up to fold her skin around the corners of her eyes.
“First,” she said as she looked at the steno pad. “Mr. Carson confirmed he will be able to join you for the Knick’s game.”
“Of-course, he will.”
Her face scowled a little and she rolled her eyes.
“And what is that all about?”
Taking a deep breath Denise folded her thin arms over her chest and looked at me from beneath her heavily eye-shadowed eyes.
“You’ve been trying to get a meeting with him for how long? You, the fifth wealthiest man in the country and now he can me
et with you because you’ve got game seats on the floor. He’s got to be able to smell their jocks…”
“Denise!” I said pretending to be shocked.
“Oh please.” She waved me off with her hand. “You know how I am, Marty. I have to call it as I see it and I’m just not sure much good will come from cozying up with Carson.”
“It’s the nature of the beast, Denise, you know that.”
“That doesn’t make it right, Marty. What would your mother think of a guy like Carson?”
I smiled as I let Denise’s words sink in. My mother was a tough old broad. She had to be. From the beginning my father probably had to work hardest for my mother. Not because she was mean or ungrateful. But because she always reminded him of what was really important and made him pay attention. In between business meetings he came to the hospital for me to be born and every baby afterward.
He made it to a handful of school plays, a couple of dances and of course high school graduations. He may not have been around for everything but he made his presence known.
When it came to business deals my father would run almost everything past my mother. Especially if it was going to require he put in extra hours or travel anywhere.
And as the bank account continued to grow so did the schools of barracudas that circled the old man in an attempt to get their hands on some of it. And some of those barracudas were of the female persuasion to which my mother made it very clear. My father only got one chance. If he screwed that up his stuff would be packed and on the stoop before he could say “honey please”. There was no gray area.
She told me a story about one of my father’s uncle’s who had a girlfriend in Palm Springs that he would visit once a month.
Uncle Charlie thought no one knew a thing about this other woman and for years would talk about Palm Springs as if it were the breathtaking pyramids of Egypt or Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel.
“He was always so serious as if trips to Arkansas made him worldly and a cut above the rest of us.” Mom would say. “But the truth was Aunt Colleen knew all about it.”
“Why didn’t she say anything to him? Why didn’t she kick him out?” I remember asking.
“Because she didn’t want to be on her own. She’d rather be made to look like a fool than to go without. Charlie was a good provider. Of course he was. He was paying off his conscience. Aunt Colleen could always have a new mink every year, a new car, the newest appliances because she knew Charlie would give it to her out of guilt.”
“Isn’t that smart, though? I mean, she wasn’t being a total chump, right?”
I’ll never forget the look my mother gave me when I said that.
“How old do you think Aunt Colleen is?” She asked me. In my teenage brain everyone over twenty looked old so I just shrugged my shoulders.
“Your Aunt Colleen is fifteen years younger than me.” Mom said.
“What?” I shouted in shock. Aunt Colleen had a face that was so wrinkled and so gray it was like a faded piece of wooden lawn furniture that had been left in the elements over a particularly cruel winter.
“That is what she traded for a few mink coats. Her youth is gone, wasted trying to stay one up on a man who should have had the shit beat out of him and then tossed out with the garbage.”
My mother never cussed. So you can imagine I was very interested in seeing how she acted toward both Uncle Charlie and Aunt Colleen at the next family gathering.
My parents set a good example for me but it was definitely a hard act to follow.
“I’d love your father whether he had all the money in the world or not even two nickels to rub together.” I remember her telling me when I was just starting to take an interest in girls.
“How come?” I asked.
“Because your father makes me laugh.”
Both my parents had passed away. First my mother died four years ago and then my father almost six months later to the day. I had already been running the business but I was touched to see how many people from the beginning remembered and called my father an honest businessman.
It was hard to be an honest businessman these days. Especially with guys like Carson around who had something I needed but wanted to play all kinds of games and make me jump through hoops in order to secure his commitment. It was worse than politics.
Maybe Denise was right. I knew exactly what my mother would say about a guy like Carson.
“For a lesser known client you could get a one hundred percent backing instead of settling for a possible fifty percent backing from Carson. Give it a month and see if he hasn’t changed his mind.”
My mother always said to give things a month.
“Your flunking science, give it a month to really work hard and you’ll see a change.” “Emmy Lou Perkins doesn’t want to go out with you? Give it a month of ignoring her completely and you’ll see a change.” “Thomas Carson will only talk to you if you get him Knick’s tickets. Give it a month and take his competitor to the game and see if you see a change.”
And Denise knew my mother well enough to know the weight of making that suggestion.
I looked at her while she blinked her eyes looking over her long thin nose at her notes as if she were studying something huge she had to present to me next.
Denise was not here to play games. She took pride in her job but she was not a yes man. I had plenty of those whether I wanted them or not. My secretary, on the other hand, had insider knowledge of just about everything that went on in my twenty-eight story building. I valued her opinion more than even the most seasoned members on the board of trustees.
“Why don’t you let me worry about Carson?” I said, buying myself some time to think. “What’s the second bit of good news?”
“We’ve got Bonnie’s replacement.”
“You’re kidding?”
“Nope. She was just interviewed by phone this morning and will be coming in tomorrow for a face to face. But according to Mrs. Ogawa she is perfect.”
“What a relief.” I rubbed my temples. “What a train wreck Bonnie was.” I squeezed my eyes shut and could see the face of the red-headed beast that had worked here until just two months ago.
“That’s what happens when you have a man do a woman’s job.” Denise snapped, folding her pad over as if to indicate the conversation was over.
“Denise, you were having your gallbladder removed. I had two choices. I either send all the applicants to the hospital while you were recuperating or I interview the candidates myself. I chose to do it myself.”
“To make it easy on me?”
“Exactly.”
“So, making it easy on me is hiring a bimbo with dollar signs in her eyes every time she looked at you who couldn’t spell Administrative Assistant, let alone be one. Thank you, Marty. Thank you for making it so easy on me that I almost went back to the hospital with a stroke.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” I said, laughing.
“I am still finding files that she mismanaged and she’s been gone for two months.”
“Now don’t just make up stories, Denise.”
“Believe me, I wish I just made up Bonnie.” Denise said standing up and smoothing out her skirt before she went back to her desk outside my office. It was now 8:12 and I could hear the secretaries chirping away getting caught up on the evening events before Denise made her rounds making sure they were all at their desks and working.
I looked at the only photo I had on my desk that was of my parents. My dad was about twenty-four years old wearing a suit and tie. My mom was two years younger and in a pretty dress that had polka dots and a wide skirt. They stood in front of a 1960 Lincoln Continental convertible. They had been married about a year when the old man bought that car. It was a gift for my mom.
The picture was faded and the clothes were terribly out of style but I liked how real they looked. It was hard to find that kind of authenticity today. Just like Carson as Denise had said.
She was right. My mother would not waste her
time on a guy like that. But he had the money I needed and for the backing of an overseas venture that could prove to set Reid Industries apart from the rest of the struggling and climbing competitors in the industry.
Sometimes good business meant making difficult choices and an unsavory partnership could end in a successful gamble. But was it worth it?
“Do you need me for anything else?” she asked seriously.
Looking around my desk I shook my head.
“Maybe while I’m at the chiropractor you could straighten up this desk.”
“I thought you’d never ask.” Denise said turning and marching back out of my office. “And one more thing. I’ll be training Bonnie’s replacement this time because, well, I want things done right. So you will have to share me with her. Nicole will be helping to pick up the slack but I’ll still be handling all the confidential transactions and monitoring your schedule.”
I nodded my head. As if a switch had been flipped I began to run through the other things that needed to be tended to before noon, today. There was a meeting on Wednesday with the board of Directors and that was like getting my gums scraped. They were worse than a group of coffee-clutching old ladies but a necessary evil in this business.
I had heard through the grapevine that some lobbyists were going to approach Senator Goodwin about new legislation that may impact some of my overseas acquisitions so I needed Tom Harris to pay the Senator a visit and find out what was going on.
In the quiet of my office, when things started to flow and I settled into the work of the day I was amazed at the number of things that needed to be accomplished and even more amazed how many of those things did.
I called Harris who was already on his way to the Senator’s office.
The secretary to Mitchell Sanders on the Board confirmed everyone would be attending and they hoped to have breakfast served like last time. Priorities, I thought to myself.
There would be some major rescheduling I’d have to discuss with Denise if she was going to be busy training Bonnie’s replacement.