I grit my teeth and swallowed hard as I continued to force a smile on my face. I wasn't one to suffer fools particularly well, but I wasn't about to alienate my new boss already. It took me six months to find this job and I planned on holding it at least long enough to replenish my savings.
My boss, Bradley Philips Jr., inherited the company from his father, Bradley Phillips, Sr. five years earlier. It must have killed the old man to leave something he spent years building to such a putz.
"So Joe, do you think you can handle it?" my new boss asked me. I sat across the conference table from him and tried to keep my tone even.
"Well Brad, it's hard to say without knowing the full scope of the project..." I began, but Karl interrupted.
"That sounds like a cop out," he snapped.
Karl was Bradley's Chief Operating Officer. He was probably in his late thirties. He had pale skin and dark hair that was slowly disappearing. He was also short and extremely thin. His gaze never seemed to lock on any one thing for long and he always acted is if he were trying to catch you doing something wrong. It was an interesting personality trait for someone in his role.
I glanced over at Bethany. She was the administrative assistant young Bradley inherited from his father when Bradley senior retired. She sat silently taking notes and I thought I saw her shake her head ever so slightly, but that was the her only reaction. Bethany was an extremely professional woman. She was also the only other competent person in the meeting. It was too bad Bradley limited her role. The rumor was that his father used to rely on her heavily.
"Actually Karl, if you had let me finish, you would have heard me say that I'd be willing to take it on if we built a little more leeway into the contract. I think Herb will go for it, considering the number of unknown variables," I said, still forcing a smile.
"Absolutely not!" Judy, the head of Sales and Marketing nearly yelled. She was a slightly overweight, attractive blond in her early thirties. "It took me three months to get Herb to agree to sign. We can't afford for this deal to go bad!"
"We can't afford to take on another deal that loses money," I replied bluntly. Judy flushed angrily and I sighed to myself again. I wasn't trying to accuse her of making bad deals in the past, but that didn't mean it wasn't true.
"Those deals lost money because of poor implementation! That's why you were hired," she snarled.
"Yes, and these contract modifications will help correct the implementation issues that have plagued this company," I replied, still forcing myself to at least sound calm as I silently cursed my old boss once again for embezzling money and forcing the company out of business.
"I disagree! Besides, Herb will never agree to the changes you want," Judy said confidently.
"Herb is a tough customer, but he can be reasonable if he's approached correctly. If you would just let me give him a call..." I said, but once again was cut off.
"Judy's put a lot of time on this deal. If she thinks Herb won't budge, then I'm inclined to go with her on this one," Brad said.
Herb was a potential client, but I knew him from my old company. Twenty years of doing business with him made me feel pretty confident that he'd accept the adjustments I was suggesting. Of course, it was probably a waste of time trying to convince Brad, Judy and Karl of this, but I had to try.
I argued my point briefly and then Judy spent fifteen minutes in a bit of a rant. After the first few minutes I found it hard to concentrate on what she was saying. Bradley and Karl gave her their full attention. Bethany continued to take notes.
I watched Bethany for a time, wondering what she thought about the issue. The few interactions I had with her gave me the feeling that she understood a hell of a lot about running a company of this type. She certainly knew more than Bradley junior.
As Judy continued to drone on, I caught myself wondering how Bethany would look if she wasn't wearing glasses that were out of style and clothes that were professional, but far too conservative for my liking. I was a bit surprised when I realized that she would probably be quite attractive if she made the effort.
Still, she was a little old for my tastes. I guess she was probably around my age, maybe a little younger than my fifty-three years, but looks could be deceiving.
She was average height with a slim figure. Her eyes were a soft brown and she wore her dirty blond hair up in a bun. I was just trying to picture what her hair would look like if she wore it down when she looked up and caught me watching. I nodded, smiled and turned back to Brad, Karl and Judy.
Judy was showing no signs of letting up so I sighed to myself and let my mind wander again. I found myself wondering if Judy was sleeping with Brad. I didn't normally focus on these types of things, but I couldn't come up with another reason why else would he hire her. Sales had dropped almost fifty percent since she joined the company. Of course, Karl wasn't much better.
'I wondered if Brad sleeps with them both?' I thought and had to suppress a laugh. Brad, Karl and Judy didn't notice, but Bethany looked at me oddly. I just shrugged.
The conversation continued for another half an hour until Bradley ended the meeting with the issue still unresolved. He, Karl and Judy left in a rush. They didn't want to be late for a lunch reservation.
"Well, that's an hour of my life that I'll never get back," I said with a sigh. I was surprised when Bethany smiled. It was a very charming smile. I joined the company a few weeks earlier and up until now, she was always so reserved in my presence.
"I don't think it was wasted," she said. "You were right. I'll talk to Mr. Phillips later and see what I can do."
"You think you can sway him?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. Bethany was far blunter than I expected. I found myself liking her even more.
"Depends on his mood," she replied with a shrug. "He thinks of me as a relic from his father's time, but sometimes he remembers that his father's time was also the glory days of this company."
"I'll buy you lunch if you can pull that off," I promised.
"At the Captain's Table?" she asked, her eyes twinkling. It was one of the more expensive restaurants in the area.
"We'll see," I replied with a smile.
Two days later Brad came in and agreed to at least let me talk to Herb. Judy wasn't happy about it and became down right nasty when I came back from Herb with a signed contract that contained most of the changes I requested.
"So, about that lunch," Bethany said after hearing the news.
"How does Tuesday at noon sound?" I laughed.
"Sounds good to me," she replied.
Tuesday came and I showed up at Bethany's desk promptly at noon. She was in with Bradley and after fifteen minutes I left her a note to call me when she was free. It was nearly one thirty when she came by.
"I'm sorry about that," she said with a frown. "I had to take notes while Mr. Phillips met with the COO and the Sales and Marketing VP. They scheduled a luncheon meeting and didn't bother to inform me earlier."
Bethany was always professional, but I noticed that she didn't use Karl or Judy's names whenever she could avoid it. It was probably a subconscious reaction. I felt pretty confident assuming she liked them about as much as I did.
"That's okay," I said. Bethany smiled.
"Can we reschedule?" she asked.
"Hey, you had your chance," I teased. Her smile turned into a laugh. It was the first time I heard her laugh and I found that not only was it pleasant sounding, but it was contagious as well. It also caused me to reevaluate my estimate of her age down a few years.
