by Elle Woods
Fake It Then
By: Elle Woods
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Also by Elle Woods
Excerpt
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Keeping up with Elle
Copyrights
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2020 Elle Woods– All rights Reserved
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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Chapter 1
Location
Dylan St. James stared out the window at the city’s skyline as he waited, rather impatiently, for his meeting to begin. Most people would be nervous if called to the top floor office of their CEO for a last-minute meeting. Dylan St. James was not most people, though. He was a driven man and being the best in the business was his sole focus. And, not surprisingly, it had all worked. He was a Senior Vice President, the youngest in the company’s history. The six-figure salary hadn’t hurt either. There was nothing he couldn’t buy and nobody who wasn’t eager to take his call. It was everything he had planned to have for himself and it put him on track for his ultimate goal.
It was for that reason that he knew he had nothing to be nervous about. His boss, Talbot Erickson, was a fair man and Dylan had no doubt that Talbot knew exactly how valuable he was. In fact, rumors had been swirling for months that the old man was considering retirement; Dylan hoped that’s what the meeting was about. Everyone gossiping about Talbot’s retirement was also talking about Dylan and the likelihood that he would take Talbot’s place as CEO of Darton Inc, one of the largest manufacturing conglomerates in the United States.
Dylan, of course, was not surprised by the talk. In fact, everything was going just as he planned. It was part of why he had chosen Dalton nearly 12 years earlier. He knew that he would have enough time to rise in the ranks and be positioned perfectly when Talbot chose to retire. Everything he had worked for since he was a 22-year-old fresh out of business school was finally becoming a reality.
He looked around the office, arrogant in his assumption that it would one day be his. The old man’s office was traditional, with an old antique desk and bookcases covered with family photographs. The furniture would be the first thing to go when the office was his. He wanted sleek furniture and modern art. There would be no room for those kinds of photos either. They were a distraction from the work and not at all professional. He wanted anyone who came into his office to sense that he was the most powerful man at the company. A photo of him covered in sand on a family vacation was not going to accomplish that.
“Admiring my family photos?” said a booming voice from behind him. Dylan had been so consumed with his plans that he hadn’t heard Talbot come in.
“You have a lovely family, sir,” he replied, hoping the man would be flattered by his words.
A smile crept across Talbot’s face as he stared at the faded photograph, though Dylan could not imagine why. He had never seen the value in family. His parents had divorced when he was a young boy and he hardly remembered what it was like when they were together. His father had sent him to boarding school soon after and he had only seen them on holidays. Even those were not intimate gatherings. They were a power struggle, with each of them fighting over who he would spend his time with. His parent’s tensions made it impossible for him to relax and feel at home with either of them, even on what should have been the happiest days of the year.
He had never known anything else though. In fact, he was grateful. Experiencing that at a young age had shown him that he could only count on himself.
“Thank you. They make all of this hard work worth it.”
That idea was even stranger to Dylan. Family had nothing to do with one’s career.
“I am sure, sir.”
“Are you?” The look in Talbot’s eyes told him that there was more to this conversation than a hearty congratulations and the offer of a promotion. The older man was clearly concerned. In that moment, Dylan realized that he may have misjudged the nature of this meeting.
“When I looked down at my daughter as a baby, I realized that there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make sure she had every possible advantage in life.”
“I have not been lucky enough to have children yet. I look forward to the blessing one day.”
It was his canned response in situations like these. People rarely understood his aversion to focusing on anything but work. Misleading them was easier than trying to make them understand that he had no desire for a family of his own.
“I hope that you do experience the joy of it one day, St. James. I truly do.”
It was then that the man reached out and picked up a frame on the corner of his desk. In it was a picture of a woman in a hospital gown cradling a tiny baby in her arms. From the company Christmas party, Dylan knew that the woman in the picture was Erickson’s wife.
“It wasn’t something I thought you wanted.” Even as Talbot spoke, his eyes did not leave the frame. It was as if his thoughts were far away, on the day he became a father. Given his own father’s resentment and apathy, the expressions on the man’s face were completely foreign to Dylan.
“Who doesn’t want a wife and children,” he answered, more out of habit than anything else.
“I find it hard to believe that you care to have either given how much time you spend here at the office. I checked the building logs. You were here over 80 hours last week. That is 16 hours a day. It isn’t natural. I have never sent you an email to which I didn’t get an immediate response. You behave as if this job is the only thing in your life.”
It was rather shocking to hear the man say that. In fact, Dylan couldn’t remember facing much criticism at all in his professional life. The last thing he expected was to be chastised for working too hard.
“Are you saying that I am too dedicated to this company?” This man held his future in the palm of his hand and he could take it all away just because he didn’t like the way Dylan conducted his personal life.
“I have been in this business a long time. I have seen hundreds of men like you in my career. When the job is the center of your world, you have no empathy for employees or coworkers. You also have no understanding of the American consumer.”
It was very hard to keep his anger in check. “Is that why you called me up here?”
“I called you up here because, as I’m sure you’ve heard, I plan to retire soon.”
“Yes, I have.”
“And I am sure that you have also heard rumors that you are being considered as my replacement.”
“I had heard that, yes.” Though, after Erickson’s comments, it seemed less and less likely that it was going to be the case. He couldn’t believe that putting his caree
r before everything else was actually going to keep him from his dream job. It wasn’t fair!
“It’s true. You are bright and talented and I could see you carrying my company into the next chapter of its evolution. This place is going to need a leader with vision. I think that could be you.”Talbot’s words were positive, but his tone told Dylan the truth. This was not the conversation where he was going to be handed the keys to the kingdom. Instead, his boss was about to tell him that he was giving the job to someone else. Not only was he going to lose the job he had earned, but he was also going to be forced to work for one of his coworkers, none of whom worked half as hard as he did.
“Then why bring up all that business about my lack of family ties? Isn’t that an asset? Shouldn’t I be putting this place first?”
He did his best to keep the stress that he was feeling from showing on his face. He had worked too hard to cultivate his image to let one conversation ruin that. The man sitting across from him took a few moments to gather his thoughts as Dylan squirmed. He felt more anxious than he could ever remember. It was not a feeling that he enjoyed. Neither was the confusion he was experiencing. He worked hard to never be in a situation where he did not feel that he was in control.
“I brought it up because I would be doing the company and you a disservice if I were to allow you to make this place your entire life.”
“I am willing to do whatever it takes to be a success. If that’s what it takes, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“My boy, you have the wrong definition of success.”
He was no boy and the man in front of him was not his father. He had struggled for years to shed the impression that he was inexperienced. Dylan was a man who had spent every waking moment working to be seen as an equal by everyone he was in business with, even his CEO. He had never relied on his own father for anything and he did not need any man to try and play daddy to him. Dylan prided himself on being a man who took care of himself and needed nobody.
“I know what success looks like,” he managed to spit out without letting too much of his rage seep into his words. The smirk on Erickson’s face didn’t help the situation.
“No, you know what success in business looks like. That isn’t the same as being a success.”
“You have made this business what it is today. There is no way you did that without making this place your priority. I know you have a family, but you had to put this place first. That is the only way you could have accomplished all that you did.”
Many nights when Dylan had worked late, he had looked up to see Talbot at his desk too. The man put in long hours and carried armfuls of files with him when he did leave the office. He was not a man who gave his job a mere 8 hours a day.
“No, I have never put this place before them. My wife has always been my partner in all of this and when the children came along, they became my reason for working hard.”
It took all the self-control Dylan had to keep from telling Talbot exactly what he thought of that. Family brought distraction and pain. His own father had nearly lost his business during the years when he was fighting to make his marriage work. It was only after, when he had shifted his focus to his work that he made a success of himself. That was the example he planned to follow. His father may have been alone, but that loneliness drove him.
“I have never seen your wife in the office.”
He had seen her picture on the old man’s desk, but the woman had never come through the doors in all the years he had been there. How could she be by the man’s side if she was never there? It didn’t feel possible to have both. In fact, he could feel his walls going up as they did when he thought of having more in his personal life.
“Have I ever told you the story of how I met my wife?”
It was a silly question for the man to ask. They never discussed their personal lives with each other. That was not what their relationship was. All they spoke about was business.
“No, sir.” “Well, I was a young intern at a company much like this one. I hadn’t even graduated college yet. I had thought I would approach my career very much like you. After all, I came from a middle-class family, so there was nobody to buy my way to the top. I had to do it on my own merit.”
“I understand the drive to prove yourself.”
“I did have a drive to prove myself, but that’s a poor reason to do anything. It was Grace who showed me that. When I met her, she was coming to the office to drop off her father’s briefcase. I didn’t know it at the time, but he was the CEO. All I knew was that the young lady I saw in the hallway was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. I would like to tell you that I was brave enough to approach her right then, but I wasn’t. Instead, I did some asking around and found out exactly who her father was. Mistakenly, I thought that succeeding in my internship would be the best way to impress her. I worked diligently and gained her father’s attention. He was so impressed by the extra hours I put in and my willingness to do anything that he invited me to dinner at his home with a few of the other standout interns.”
“It sounds like you did exactly what I would have done.”
“I see a lot of myself in you. That’s why we are having this conversation.”
Dylan was more confused than ever. Was the man about to try and set him up with one of his daughters? If so, that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. A family connection like that could be advantageous to him.
“Go on, sir. I would like to hear more of your story.”
“Well, I used every dime I had to buy a new suit for dinner. I shined my shoes and slicked back my hair. I looked every inch the future CEO and I just knew that would impress her. We were invited in and the man’s wife greeted us and introduced their daughter. I had expected her to be excited to meet several successful young men. Instead, she looked absolutely miserable. She never smiled once throughout the dinner. She just kept staring at her watch and waiting for it to be over. A few of the others kept trying to get her attention and impress her, but I was too shocked by her reaction to do that. Instead, I watched her. Every time one of them started talking about his career ambitions or their desire to be just like her father, she grew more and more distant. Once dessert was over, she slipped away and her parents made no effort to stop her.
Soon after, I excused myself to go to the restroom, but I took a wrong turn and ended up in their library. There she sat, her dress exchanged for an old tee-shirt and sweatpants. She looked even prettier because she was smiling down at the book in her hands. At least she was, until she realized she was no longer alone. She saw me and I could see her walls go up.”
“I thought this was the story of how you fell in love,” Dylan asked in an effort to move the conversation along. It certainly didn’t feel as if that was where the tale was leading and he had a full day of meetings to get to. Even if he wasn’t going to get his promotion, he still needed to do his job and telling love stories was not the way he needed to spend his day.
“It is. I introduced myself, a bit nervously, and that seemed to put her at ease. It wasn’t until I told her that I greatly admired her father that the smile fell away. She told me that she didn’t. Apparently he was practically a stranger to her, never there for her and never at home. In fact, her displeasure at dinner had been because he was finally home for a meal and she was forced to share that time with all of us. “
Though he was talking about the love of his life being displeased with him, Talbot was smiling to himself as he spoke. It was as if he was full of pride at the reaction that she had to his words.
“I was floored. I hadn’t even considered that men like him might not be adored by their families. In her frustration, she let it all out, how little she saw him and how bitterly she resented him. She told me she couldn’t wait to have her own family one day. She told me she would never marry a man like her father, who put work before his family. All she wanted was someone to love her and her children more than anything in the world.”
“That sounds like a rather d
emanding request.” Dylan knew that it might not have been the right thing to say to his boss about the man’s wife, but the words just slipped out.
“If anyone else had told me that, I would have thought the same thing. Seeing the look in her eyes as she said it, though, changed everything. In that moment, all I wanted was to be the man she needed in her life. She was a woman who deserved to be put above all else.”
“How did you convince her of that?”
“It wasn’t easy. She could feel a connection from those first moments. That was a blessing. It was the only thing that made her even consider that I might be telling the truth when I said I could be the man for her. It took weeks of asking to even get her to go out with me. Once she did, though, there was no looking back for either one of us. “
“Does she resent you for not keeping your word?”
“In what way have I not kept my word?”
“Well, you are a CEO just like her father was.”
Talbot narrowed his eyes in annoyance. It was clear that there was something that he wanted Dylan to be taking from this story that was lost on him.
“No, my love for her keeps me from being the kind of man her father was. That is what I am trying to tell you.”
It still seemed odd that the man thought he had gotten ahead by putting something other than business first. Still, for the first time, Dylan began to wonder what it would feel like to have a partner like that in his life. He had felt so alone for so long that it was hard to imagine having someone that he could put above everything else. He tried to shake off the thought, but he felt an ache in his chest at the thought of it.
“So you see, I find it hard to pass this job along to you in good conscience. I would be hurting you and all those in your life. Men who put their careers above the people in their lives will never be happy and they are destined to hurt those who mean the most to them.”
