Her Savior

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “I actually asked him if I could apply to be his assistant,” I said as I turned away from my father.

  Even with my skills at persuasion, I still couldn’t look him in the eyes when I lied to him.

  “Oh, well that sounds like a nice idea. But I didn’t think you were interested in a business career.”

  “You know I was actually thinking I might go to school and get my MBA or something like that. I mean I could always run a business that interested me, but building a solid background would be helpful before I started something.”

  I’d just given my father the present he’d been dreaming about for years. In one quick moment, I’d said I wanted to be a businesswoman and that I wanted to get a Master’s degree. My father had harped on every single one of us children about the importance of a graduate degree in the current marketplace. Of course, none of my brothers had probably even heard him. I had heard him but never actually considered a degree in business.

  “What did Jason say about you working for him?” my father said excitedly as he put his spatula down and focused on me for a minute.

  “Oh, he said it wouldn’t work. He didn’t think you’d be okay with it. You know, since you two are working together and all. It’s okay, I’m sure I can get experience somewhere else.”

  “So, before you said you still didn’t know what you wanted, was that because he said no to you? And you are giving up on the idea?”

  “Yeah, he wasn’t all that nice about it. I don’t think he has many women working with him. He’s probably one of those guys who doesn’t think a woman can understand his business. He implied he was interviewing mostly men who were in college for business degrees.”

  It was a lie, a blatant lie. Jason had never said a single thing to me about women and their ability to do his job. But my father was a huge proponent of women and always told me I could literally be anything I wanted. I was manipulating him and molding him so he would go to bat for me with Jason. It was horrible, and I even felt a little bad about the lie, but if I got to work with Jason, it was all going to be worth it.

  “Really? He said that? I’ve known Jason for a while. He never struck me as that type of a guy.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ll check out some other companies. It’s no big deal. It was just an idea so I could get some experience and references to apply to school.”

  “Let me talk to him. I’ve got a meeting with him in a couple of days. I’ll see if I have any pull with him and this assistant position.”

  “Oh, Daddy, don’t make a big deal out of it.”

  “It’s no big deal. Maybe he’s got someone already lined up. I’ll just check in with him.”

  “Thanks, Daddy,” I said as I gave him a big hug.

  “This is really exciting, Anna. I think you’d make a great businesswoman. You’re such a smart young lady,” my father said as he held me tightly.

  “I hope your deal works out well, and you get to retire.”

  “It’s not just retiring. I really could use the payout money, and I want to know that the company is going to thrive. I’ve worked my whole life helping to build this organization. I’m not just the CFO—I’m like a father to the people who work there. I have to make sure they are taken care of before I leave. I can’t leave them a company that would sell off the pieces and fire the staff.”

  That was my father. He wanted to retire, but his first family was so important to him that he was going to stick around and make sure they were alright. When I was younger, I could have gotten myself pretty worked up over my father pledging his allegiance to his work family, but I was old enough to understand there was nothing I could change about my father at this point in his life.

  Chapter 3

  Jason

  “It’s finally the big day, dude. Are you excited?” Kevin said as he stood in the doorway to my office.

  “Contract day is always my favorite. Everyone is hyped up on adrenaline and trying to negotiate what they want. I feel like I can practically touch the tension with my hands.”

  Signing a contract to go into business with another company was huge. We were basically buying out The Cook, Sparser, and Conner Building Company debts. If things went poorly, we could go bankrupt in a matter of months. But if our business expertise and knowledge of the current markets worked in our favor, then we could turn this company around and walk away with millions of dollars in our pockets. It was worth the gamble.

  The truth was that any one of our business deals could have bankrupted us. It was only because of our team of employees that researched the market and did an in—depth analysis of the company that we were able to make the deals we did. I couldn’t have made all the decisions myself, and neither could Kevin, so our team worked together and trusted each other’s opinions.

  If one employee came to me and said a company was a bad purchase, I trusted them enough to make sure we researched and analyzed what their concern was. With Edward Cook’s company, the biggest concern was their lack of diversification. They dealt with high—rise buildings almost exclusively. This meant that they weren’t able to expand outside of the Chicago area at all unless they wanted to push other large building organizations out of the cities they claimed as their own. This was a possible option for the company, but Kevin and I saw another possible option as well. Our vision was to stay local but expand into other commercial buildings.

  A rename of the company was also in order. Cook, Sparser, and Conner Building Company was long and confusing. Although people in the high—rise business knew who they were, no one else did. My goal was to add a few different divisions for a housing group, a warehouse group, etc. and use their expertise to continue building in the Illinois area. It was going to take a lot of work. We were going to have to hire a huge marketing team and probably bid on thousands of upcoming jobs, but it was possible to turn this company around, and I knew it.

  “Edward Cook is here to see you,” the front desk secretary said over the speaker on my desk.

  “He’s probably here to shoot you for feeling up his daughter’s butt.” Kevin laughed as he left and went to his office.

  My heart pounded at his words, even though I didn’t believe that was why Edward had come to see me an hour before our meeting. I quickly picked up my messy office by grabbing things and throwing them under my desk. Cleanliness was certainly not something I valued in the workplace.

  My small dark office wasn’t exactly the best place to be meeting with Edward, though. I typically preferred to meet new business partners in the large conference room. It had the feel of a thriving company with its fifty-person giant conference table. On the opposite end of the spectrum was my small office with a desk and only one small chair in it. I wasn’t usually at the office and worked from my house or on the road consistently. I’d felt horrible when I had a huge office and was never in it. Kevin spent much more time in the actual office and deserved to be comfortable.

  “Jason, sorry for surprising you like this. I just wanted to have a visit with you before everyone arrived,” Edward said as he pressed his chubby hand out to shake mine.

  “No problem at all, Edward. I’ll always make time for you,” I shook his hand and held the door for him to come into my office.

  Edward looked a little out of breath as he sat down and his breathing labored for a few minutes. He was probably in his sixties, but I had no idea for sure. He still had a full head of hair, and his belly was rounder than it had been only a few years before. I knew he was hoping this deal would work out so he could retire.

  “So, I’m a little nervous about this deal and hoped we could talk about one particular issue I have a concern about,” Edward said.

  “Of course, what’s up?”

  “You know I’ve worked with this company for over twenty years now. I would have retired years ago if I weren’t concerned for our employees and how we could keep the doors open. I just want to make sure we are on the same page about the future here.”

  “Edward, I’m here t
o help your company. Only if I help you guys make money will I make money on this deal.”

  “I know, I know, but there’s been some talk about you guys and Green Industries,” Edward said as he maintained eye contact with me.

  Crap. I had really hoped that this wasn’t going to come up with Edward and his team. Green Industries was a company we made a deal with two years earlier. The deal was similar to this one, but when we got into the company, we realized it was so poorly run that we had no choice but to sell off the pieces as we tried to recoup our money. Unfortunately, they ended up going out of business, and hundreds were unemployed after that disaster. It wasn’t just our choice though—the Green Industries’ owner had been willing to leave his company as well. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen with Edward’s company.

  “Edward, that was a unique situation,” I started to say. “The owner of that company wasn’t interested in working with us to make the changes. He wanted to get the money and run.”

  “Oh, I know it was different. I’m just putting it out there that we aren’t interested in that sort of deal, and our employees are really concerned that this will end poorly.”

  “I can’t guarantee our deal is going to be successful. Of course, we put our money behind you guys, and we will do everything possible to ensure a profitable business will arise. But it’s in our contract that we can suggest selling off pieces of the company if it is the most lucrative and savvy business move. It isn’t what I expect for your company, though.”

  Edward looked extremely annoyed with me and what I’d just said. In fact, his face turned beet red as he processed for a minute before responding to me. I admired that in him, and any business person – taking a minute to really think about something was always useful and could prevent a huge blow up over something small. “That wasn’t the answer I was looking for,” he said. “I have to say it’s a little disappointing.”

  “Edward, I can’t promise you’ll like everything I have to say, but I will be honest with you. I can promise you that much.”

  “That’s not going to be much consolation if my employees end up laid off,” he retorted.

  “No, it wouldn’t be.”

  “I need to go talk to my business partners before the meeting. Thank you for your honesty,” Edward said as he got up and stormed out of the office.

  That hadn’t gone at all like I’d hoped it would have. I waited for Edward to get on the elevator and hurried down to Kevin’s office.

  As I waited for Kevin to get off the phone, my face must have told him that something was wrong. He hurried and said goodbye to the salesman he was on the phone with and gave me his undivided attention. “What did you do?”

  “Me? Why does it have to be my fault?” I laughed nervously.

  “Because it is always your fault.”

  It was a true statement, I couldn’t exactly argue with Kevin about it. Most of the time, it was something I said or did that caused trouble in our business. Kevin was the laid back, quiet one who never seemed to put his foot in his mouth at all.

  “Okay, so he brought up Green Industries…”

  “No,” Kevin put his head in his hands and then plopped it down onto his desk. “Please tell me you didn’t blow up at him?”

  “I didn’t blow up at all. I was calm and not defensive. But I may have told him we had the right to break his company up if we wanted to.”

  “No, you did not!”

  “I said it nicely. I just meant that we would do whatever was best for the company and everyone who was financially involved.”

  “Where did he go? Did he pull out of the deal? I can go talk to him.”

  “He’s not pulling out of the deal. He will be back for the meeting. Edward just said he had to go talk to his partners.”

  “Damn it, Jason. You have to think about others’ feelings sometimes. He’s been part of this company for years, and he’s already afraid about this deal. You’ve just scared him even more. This isn’t a high school popularity contest. You don’t have to put him in his place. Damn, I wish I had been in the room with you.”

  “Well, you weren’t. So, I guess we will have to go from here.”

  As much as I loved Kevin as a friend and a business partner, he sometimes turned more into an angry father than an equal partner. Of course, I didn’t purposely upset Edward. I was simply being truthful with him.

  “So how did you leave it?”

  “He’s still coming to the meeting. I’m sure they will be really defensive, though. Let’s bring the whole team in on the meeting to show we have the numbers.”

  “No, I think it’s enough having you and me and the lawyers.”

  “Whatever you think,” I agreed.

  “Jason, this deal could bankrupt us if it goes wrong. You understand this, right? It’s not like we can throw everything into this company and keep going. We have to make this work, or we need to step out now. Tell me you can be dedicated to this. Please tell me you understand the gravity of it?”

  “Of course, I do. I don’t want to be groveling for employment any more than you do. I’ll be more accommodating in the meeting, I promise.”

  I knew, just as well as Kevin did, this was an important deal. I could see that my direct approach with Edward might not have been the best, even though I honestly didn’t think it was all that bad. But business deals weren’t just about money, they were about people. I had once backed out of a deal simply because the owner of the company consistently refused to say, ‘bless you’ to his employees. I’d witnessed it a dozen times in our interactions together before the deal, and in the final boardroom I sneezed to see his reaction and got nothing. It was obvious the owner was too self-absorbed, or at least in my opinion he was, so I backed out.

  “Okay, let’s take some time to center ourselves, and I’ll meet you in the boardroom. We need to close this deal.”

  “I got it. No worries here,” I said as I left Kevin to stew about how our meeting was going to go.

  By the time everyone started to arrive, I had gotten myself a little nervous too. Although I had no worries about myself if I happened to fall on hard times, I did worry about my son. Clyde was only five, and he needed me more than ever. His whole world was wrapped up in me, and I certainly couldn’t dislodge the norms that he had just become accustomed to. He’d already been through so much since his mom decided to run off with that musician. I simply couldn’t put him through anything else.

  I waited for everyone to get into the meeting before making my way down to the large rectangular room at the end of the hallway. Kevin was already standing outside waiting for me, and our lawyers were inside handing out the proposals. Nothing about this meeting was intended to surprise anyone. We had provided the full proposal ahead of time and were hoping to simply check through each of the items before everyone signed off. Well, that was before I offended the chief financial officer of the company.

  “Hello, everyone,” I said with a chipper smile as I went around and shook hands with the other team. Kevin followed right behind me and took a little extra time to chat with each of the people which allowed me some extra time to talk with Edward when I got to him.

  “I apologize if I offended you, Edward. Please know that it wasn’t my intention.”

  “Thank you for the apology,” he said dryly and then turned back toward his portfolio. “I’ll have a favor to ask of you when this is all done,” he said without turning around to look at me.

  I’d known Edward for a few years as my neighbor, and I’d never seen him like this before. I’d obviously stepped into a mess with him, and the contention he felt toward me was palpable by the coldness in his tone. Whatever his favor was, I suddenly felt like I was going to have to say yes to him, no matter what it was.

  After shaking hands with the rest of the team, I made my way to one of two chairs at the end of the table. Kevin and I had never felt the need to fight over who led a meeting, and luckily our table was large enough to offer plenty of room fo
r us both to look like a man in charge.

  “Thank you all for coming; hopefully, we can get through this quickly and get everyone going before lunch,” Kevin said in his normal upbeat tone.

  As he continued to take the lead, it was clear to me I had the back seat for this meeting. It was probably for the best. I didn’t want to cause any more trouble than I already had. I sat back and paged through the proposed deal as Kevin and the lawyers took turns talking about items. Most of the first pages were basics like which companies were involved and how much ownership we would have.

  Then, about twenty minutes into the meeting, one of the lawyers read the paragraph that I knew was in there—the paragraph that I dreaded, and the paragraph that I knew Edward Cook was going to hate as well.

  “Pursuant to the general purchase agreement, Industrial Management Brothers LLC has the final say in decisions of liquidation,” Steve, our contract lawyer read aloud.

  I winced and kept my eyes down as I looked at the document and hoped we would be able to get past that paragraph and move on. Of course, that was not going to happen. And I heard Edward’s boss speak up.

  “I think we need to discuss this one,” Marcus Connor, the CEO of their company said. “We can’t have you guys gutting us and selling off the pieces. The whole purpose of this deal is to ensure we are strong enough to stay together and move forward.”

  I understood his point, and if I worked for them, I would have felt the same way. But I wasn’t about to agree to keep their company together if we found it was hemorrhaging cash like Green Industries was. Both Kevin and I were businessmen – we had our own company to run, and it wouldn’t help anyone if we went bankrupt at the same time their organization did.

  “What is your concern? That we will find a financial reason to dismantle the company?” Kevin asked calmly.

  “That you will dismantle it at all,” Edward said as his face turned red again.

  “What would you like us to do if things go south and the company is bleeding cash? Should we continue to put our money into a dying company?” I blurted out.