by B. B. Hamel
She laughs. “Yes, I suppose it would be.”
“Aunt Sylvia—” I start, but she stops me.
“Let me speak first for a moment, if you’ll allow it.”
I hesitate. I worked up this nerve and I want to spit it all out, but if she wants to speak first, I can’t say no.
“Thank you,” she says as I give her a little nod. “I just wanted to say that I know our families haven’t been very close over the years. I’m aware that it’s entirely my fault. I know having you over once a year isn’t exactly… well, it’s not familial. And for that, I apologize.”
I’m surprised. I look at her for a long moment before ducking my head. “It’s okay,” I say.
“No, darling. It isn’t. I’ve let the concerns of my immediate family trump everything else for a very long time, even to the detriment of my own children. I just want you to know that I’m aware of it, and I’d like to do better.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
She smiles and nods once. She’s so poised, her back so straight, and I almost want to get up and leave. I wish we could keep things right here, right in this moment, but I know that’s not why I came.
“Aunt Sylvia, we’re moving forward with the merger,” I say.
She doesn’t react. She sips her tea and smiles a little. “I assumed as much,” she says.
“Really?” I clear my throat. “I mean, I know it’s not what you want, but it’s important to both of us. We’re going to force the board to vote on it soon, and then this will all be over. You won’t have to worry about us embarrassing the family anymore.”
She gives me a long look and nods. “I appreciate that, dear. I really do.”
“It’s just—” I stop myself again. I can’t quite seem to get myself rolling around her. “Can I ask you something, Aunt Sylvia?”
“Of course, dear. Go ahead.”
“You’re familiar with the situation and all the people involved. Do you think we have a chance at this?”
She laughs, her voice light. “Oh, I think I’d push back harder if I thought you were going to fail,” she says.
That surprises me. I sit back in my chair and look at her. “Really?” I ask.
“Of course. It’s not just the two of you going through the motions of convincing the board to vote in your favor. It’s also the failure that will reflect poorly.”
“But I don’t understand that,” I say. “What does it matter?”
“Lofthouses don’t fail.” She stares hard at me. “I know you aren’t a Lofthouse. But you are my blood, my niece. You carry my maiden name, and my reputation is tightly woven with the Lofthouse name.”
“So in the end, it’s about you.” The words tumble from my lips, and as soon as I say it out loud, I’m horrified.
But she just smiles. “I suppose.”
“It’s all about you and your family. What anyone else wants is never a consideration. I’m sorry, Aunt Sylvia. I’d do this whether you wanted me to or not. Because it’s my life and my choice.”
“Good for you then,” she says and smiles. “I was never really going to force you to stop, truth be told.”
“But… you came over. You threatened.”
She shrugs. “That’s usually enough. I wouldn’t actually go against my own niece. I suppose I could have taken a different tack and decided to help inside, but…” She trails off. “Listen, darling. You’re young, you have a lot ahead of you. This Josh man, he seems smart, he seems capable. Keep him around if he furthers your goals, but always remember, what you want is worth fighting for.” She smiles and leans toward me. “That’s what I’ve always done.”
I can’t help but laugh. “You really do whatever you want, don’t you?”
“I do,” she says and shrugs. “Always been a fault of mine, I suppose. Don’t tell my children though, they won’t believe you.”
“I’ll try to be more like you then.” I stand up. “Thank you for meeting with me, Aunt Sylvia.”
“Of course. Good luck with the vote. I’m heading back to the manor in the morning.”
“I’ll tell Josh that you said hello.”
“Of course.” She tilts her head. “And do be careful. Failure is not an option, dear.”
“I don’t plan on failing.” I turn and head to the door then stop. “And Aunt Sylvia?”
“Yes, dear?”
“You should call my dad more often. I think he’d like to hear from you.”
“Would he?” she asks.
“You two used to be close, right? I think he misses his sister.” I shrug and open the door. “But what do I know? I’m just an only child.”
She laughs as I leave her room. I shut the door and head back downstairs. I give the girl at the front desk a smile as I walk back to Josh’s house.
Aunt Sylvia’s words keep running through my mind. She does whatever she wants… and what I want is worth fighting for.
The problem is, I’m not sure what I want.
I know I want this merger. I can say that for sure. But beyond that, I don’t know if I want to stay with Josh, if I want to be more involved with the company, if I want any number of things.
I just don’t know.
But as I climb the stoop to Josh’s house, I realize one thing.
I’ve been happy here. Ever since my fake marriage, ever since that night at the party, I’ve been happy. Each day is exciting with him. Every moment is fun. Even the boring moments, the moments where we’re sitting on the couch together, my feet up on the coffee table, and we’re both just reading in silence. That’s good, that’s comfortable. That makes me happy.
I have to hold on to that.
I open the door and step inside. Josh is in the kitchen and something smells good. I walk over and find him making bacon and eggs. He looks over his shoulder and grins at me. “Hey there, how’d it go?”
“Good.” I walk over and he turns to me. I kiss him, kiss him hard. He seems surprised but kisses me back. “Sorry. I just wanted to do that.”
“Don’t have to apologize for kissing me,” he says, and grabs my ass.
I laugh and push him away. “Is this for me?” I ask, nodding at the food.
“Yep. Figured you’d be hungry when you got back. And if you weren’t, I’d just have a feast.”
“I’m starved.” I lean against the counter. “Hey… do you know what you want? I mean, from your life, long-term.”
He hesitates and looks at me. “I think so,” he says.
“What is it?”
“I want our companies to merge,” he says. “I want to build something… with you. And with your father. But mostly with you.”
I smile and tilt my head. “Really?”
“Really. You haven’t thought about that? I mean, your dad won’t be the head of Bushings forever.”
“I have… and he did say something about leaving me in charge when he was finished.”
Josh laughs. “Perfect. That’s what I want. You and me at the head of our company… leading it together.”
“But why me?”
He tilts his head like the question surprises him. “Because I like you,” he says. “Because I’m happy when you’re around. Now grab some coffee and sit your pretty ass down. I’m almost done cooking.”
I smile at him, my heart beating fast. I stand there for a second, taking in the scene, before doing what he says.
20
Josh
I stand outside of the board room with Maggie, trying to keep myself calm. The entire board is in there, talking amongst themselves.
“It’s going to be okay,” Maggie says, touching my lapel. She straightens my tie and puts her hands on my shoulders. “I believe in you.”
I smile and kiss her. “I know. And this isn’t even the hard part.”
“Just go in there and kick ass, okay? Do what we discussed.”
“I will.” I hesitate. “You’re coming in with me.”
“I am?” She frowns. “I thought it was a closed meeting.”
/>
“It is. They can try to throw you out if they want.”
She laughs. “Okay then. I kind of doubt any of them could throw me though. I mean, they’re all pretty old.”
“Good point. I could just beat them all up and get what I want.”
“Oh, boy, what an alpha. I’m so attracted to you right now.”
“Shit, if I knew all you needed was for me to beat up some old guys, I would’ve been going on a rampage at an old folks’ home already.”
She groans and pushes me toward the door. “Get in there, idiot.”
I take a breath and nod. I open the door and step inside, and as soon as I enter, the talking in the room dies down and all eyes are on me.
Maggie slips in behind me and takes a seat by the wall, away from the table. I walk to my position at the far end and stand there, looking at the full board.
Guava smiles at me, quirky and goofy, and gives me a little wink. Elizabeth nods once, and Duncan Trucking gives me a thumbs-up. At least my allies seem to still be on my side, although Elizabeth will abstain from the vote.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming,” I say as my eyes move over the familiar faces. Seb McKenzie glares at me, and I notice a few other men follow his lead, but not as many as I thought might. Most of the people in this room give me a neutral or a bored expression, like they don’t know anything about what’s going on, and don’t really care to know either way.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Seb barks. “You’re not supposed to call an emergency meeting if there isn’t an emergency.”
“There is an emergency, Seb,” I say, looking at the board. “I understand that it isn’t easy for everyone to gather on short notice, and for that I’m very appreciative. My wife and I want to thank you all for showing up.”
Maggie gives everyone a smile and I notice a few smile back at her.
“Like I said,” Seb growls. “There’s no emergency, and thus this meeting should be considered out of order. What’s going on, Josh?”
“Well, Seb, there is an emergency. It’s the kind of emergency that we’ve all seen coming for a very long time, but we’ve all been ignoring because it’s easier to pretend like it won’t affect us.” I tilt my head and lean down, palm on the table. “Cork is going to go under. We all know it, and if you haven’t realized that yet, I’m here to tell you the truth. We’re going to be finished.”
There was some hushed whispering. Seb continued to glare, but I could tell I had their attention.
“Soon?” Janet Tierce asked. “Is this imminent, is that why we’re all here?”
“No,” I say. “It’s not. But the business can’t right itself in time to avoid the collapse if we don’t act immediately.”
More whispering. A man named Alfie Khan raises his hand then speaks up after I nod to him. “I’ve seen the financials. We’re on firm ground. Better than Bushings.” He glances at Maggie. “Sorry.”
She shrugs and I smile. “Don’t worry. She knows the score. But the truth is, despite our current sound financials, we don’t have a future. There’s no growth anymore, and the longer we wait, the less ground we’ll have when the big guys come calling. Sooner or later, we’ll get swallowed up or muscled out, and we all know it. We’ve seen it happen to the smaller companies, and it’s only a matter of time before it happens to us.”
Alfie looks around, frowning. “Is this true? What he’s saying?”
“It’s true,” Paula Nyx says. “He’s right. I’ve seen some forecasting data, and it doesn’t look good for us.”
“Why are we just talking about this now?” Larry Sloan asks.
Seb snorts. “Because our CEO is incompetent. He doesn’t know how to save this company.”
“There has to be something,” Gail Moncrief says.
“There is.” I hold my hands up for silence. “Please, I do have a solution. We’re going to merge with Bushings Telecom.”
Everyone stares at me. I expected it. Seb laughs openly and Larry gives me a vicious grin. Guava and Trucking look around, and I can see a little uncertainty in their eyes.
Alfie Khan lets out a breath. “Merge with Bushings?” he asks. “I just… how will that work?”
“It’ll be simple,” I say. “We’ll work out the details but in essence, if we merge with our next largest competitor, that’ll give us both a size advantage. My wife and I have been working on this merger in the background for some time, and we believe it’s the only way forward for both parties.”
“You’ve been working on a merger without the board?” Seb asks, sounding aghast, but he’s grinning at me. “You can’t be serious.”
“That is somewhat in poor taste,” Gail agrees.
“Only in the big picture,” I say. “The details will be worked on by both boards, and we’ll all accept the terms. But in general, we’ve been thinking about how it will look, how it will function, and how it will benefit us all.”
More grumbling. I stand up straight, hands clasped behind my back. I glance at Maggie and she nods at me, giving me an encouraging smile. I take a breath and feel a swell of energy rush through me, just from one look from Maggie.
“I move that the board will vote on the merger in twenty-four hours.”
Seb stands up, outrage on his face, as the room erupts in conversation. “You can’t do this!” he shouts. “Twenty-four hours to vote on a merger with no details?”
“The details are in your inbox as we speak,” I say. “Or what details I’ve been able to put together.” I glance at Maggie again. “With the help of my lovely, brilliant wife, I think you’ll all see that the financials are there, that it gives us a real future.”
Seb shakes his head, red with anger. “You can’t do this. You can’t just… call a vote on something like this.”
“I think we can, Seb,” Rupert says. “In fact, I know he can. I helped write the charter, remember?” He gives me a little smile.
The room calms down as I hold up my hands again.
“I know this is strange. But I want you all to understand that I believe this is the only way to keep this company viable.” I hesitate then shake my head. “No, that’s not true. I think this is the only way to make this company competitive. I believe we can take on the world if we make this merger go through. Give me your faith. Give me your effort. We can make this happen.”
The room erupts into arguments again but I turn to Maggie. I nod at her and she stands. She takes my arm and together we leave the room. I can feel Seb’s eyes on our backs as we exit.
“Good speech,” she says.
“Thanks.” I kiss her cheek. “Think it’ll work though?”
“Maybe. But I’m thinking the document we emailed out this morning will be better.”
I nod once. We stayed up all night working on that, doing research, compiling figures. Her father even helped, offering as much of Bushings’ financial information as he possibly could. The document and presentation we came up with might be a little rushed, but it’s a good representation of what the merger might look like, and it’s real.
That’s the important thing. It’s real, it’s facts and figures and numbers. It’s not emotion, like Seb seems so intent on clinging to.
This is business. That’s all that matters. And I hope that the rest of the board will see that and agree.
I stop in the hall and kiss her. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her close. “I couldn’t have gotten this far without you. No matter what happens… Thanks.”
She just smiles and we walk out together, ready to face what comes next.
21
Maggie
We spend the rest of the day in and out of bed. I make a rule that we won’t discuss business, and we manage to make it all afternoon without talking about that meeting one single time.
It helps that we keep each other occupied. Sweaty, happy, and occupied.
The next morning, I get up early, go for a run, and take a shower. When I’m done, I find a missed call from an unknown n
umber and a voicemail. I listen to the voicemail, frowning the whole time.
Maggie, this is Seb McKenzie. I want to speak with you in person. Please, come without Josh. Come to my office this morning. I’ll be in all day. I think we can make a deal together.
He hangs up without saying more.
I stare at my phone before walking into the hall. “Josh?” I call out.
But he doesn’t answer. I go looking for him, but he’s not around. I figure he’s out running some errand, and so I end up sitting down at the kitchen table, staring at my phone.
I don’t know what to do. McKenzie wants me to show up without Josh, which makes me very uncomfortable. But he mentioned making a deal.
If we can manage that, the merger is all set. McKenzie is the only thing that’s really standing between us and what we want in the end. If he comes over, we’ll get all his votes, and it’ll be done.
In the end, I decide to call Josh. I can’t show up without talking to him first no matter what, even if Seb wants me to come alone. He answers on the second ring. “Hey,” he says. “I’m just at the store. You want anything?”
“No, actually, we need to talk really quick. Is this an okay time?”
“Sure, let me go hide behind this bananas display. Nobody will hear me talking dirty to you back here.”
I smile a little. “It’s about Seb.”
He clears his throat. “What about him?”
“He called me this morning. He wants to meet with me. Says he wants to cut a deal directly with me.”
Josh is quiet for a long moment. I can hear the sounds of other shoppers around him in the background and an announcement goes over the loudspeakers, though it’s too muffled to make out.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t know why he’d want to see you.”
“I’m guessing he thinks you’re not rational enough to listen.”
He snorts. “Or he thinks he can manipulate you.”
“Maybe. But I feel like we should hear what he has to say. I mean, even if he does try to make me some offer, you know I won’t take it.”