Chapter 4 - New Boss
I rushed around the apartment, collecting all the stuff I needed for work. It was 7:30, and my bus would be at the stop at 7:45. So I had 15mins to have something to eat and walk to the bus stop.
I grabbed a protein bar and turned off all the lights. When I opened my door, there sat my air mattress, pillows, blankets and sheets. On top of that, there was a little note.
“Thank you so much for these. The makeshift bed came in handy. Blake”
Well, at least he returned them. I put the stuff inside and ran to the stop. Just in time to catch the bus.
I need to get myself a car.
I settled into my seat and watched the city pass by. I calmed my nerves and went through all the stuff in my mind getting myself ready for the meetings.
The Cooper and Co building stood at its towering heights between all the other skyscrapers. My office on the 15th floor was security access only. I cleared myself through all the checks and got in the lift. My day hadn’t started the way it regularly does. Usually, I’m more prepared and not so much on edge. But today, I had this dreadful feeling. I wouldn’t say I liked this feeling. I just wanted this day to be over with, honestly.
I walked through the halls and greeted everyone. My office was right at the back. Just as I got to my door, my PA Lilly turned up.
“Ma’am, you’re here,” she said in her little pitchy voice.
“Nah, Lilly, my ghost is here to haunt you”, I joked and walked into my office.
“Funny! But the CEO is here before you, which had me thinking you’re never late and if you were coming in today.”
“Lilly Hunny, you think Mr Cooper would come all this way, and I wouldn’t turn up to work?” I asked her.
“Well, ma’am, actually it’s not Mr Cooper who’s here”, she replied quietly.
“What?” I looked at her to spit it out.
“Well, it turns out it’s his grandson. Apparently, he is here for a few weeks, so you don’t have to stress about giving him all the reports today. Tony said that Jnr Cooper wants to catch up with everyone and see what you do and stuff. He will spend a few weeks just seeing how things are going.” She said
I worked my ass off the whole of last week getting reports finalised and sorted only to find out today I didn’t even need to. I was furious. They could have at least said that Mr Cooper’s grandson was coming instead, and this was happening. Lilly could sense my anger building.
“Rosy, calm down. It’s okay. I’ll get you some coffee. Just relax.” She quickly backed out of the office. I sat on my chair and started to calm myself down.
Right on cue, Tony, the General Managers PA, walked in.
“Oh, you’re here, good. I assume you’ve heard the news about who’s here?” He asked and took a step back when he saw my face.
“Yes, I know you were expecting Mr Cooper and had done all this prep, but it’s not a waste of work. You can still share all that info, just not today. Today is all about meeting and greeting” he was trying to cheer me up.
Lilly came back with my coffee “oh Ewww, you’ve got a fly in here. Shush fly shush! Don’t annoy my boss!” She said as she pushed Tony out of my office.
“Boss, it’s okay. He will still go through all your reports. But, at least you get to meet him today, and trust me, from what I just saw, he is worth meeting” Lilly suggestive wiggled her eyebrows.
“Really, Lilly, keep it in your pants!” I said, laughing.
At 10, we made our way to the board meeting room. All the managers and their assistants were there. There were some snacks on the table, and everyone was mingling and talking amongst themselves. I spotted my little friend in the corner. Kaitlin Rover. At 5ft 4, she was a time bomb. The girl didn’t have a filter and didn’t take shit from anyone. She was in HR and did employment stuff. Kaitlin and I became friends when I was an intern here. I wasn’t as close to her as I was to Taylor, but I knew I could rely on her.
As soon as she saw me, she came bolting towards me.
“Have you heard?” She asked.
“About what? The knock your pants off, grandson?” I said, annoyed.
“Girl, you need to get laid. I keep telling you this. You work too much, and that’s why you like this. Maybe we can get knock your pants off, grandson, to fix that, huh?” She said, laughing.
Just then, the whole room went quiet. Patrick, our General Manager, walked in. Behind him was a young guy in a grey suit, a stylish grey suit with a blue tie. As I made my way up, my eyes landed on a set of very familiar pair of blue eyes. It was Blake. Blake was standing next to Patrick, smiling at everyone. He shook a few people’s hands and then went back to his place.
“Welcome, everyone. Thank you all so much for being here this morning. I know many of you were expecting My Dwayne Cooper; however, we have someone not too far from him. It’s my pleasure to introduce Mr Blake Cooper. He is Mr Dwayne Cooper’s grandson. It is a pleasure to have you here, Blake, and we are looking forward to working with you.” So said Patrick, and everyone clapped. I stood still in a place, totally shocked.
I didn’t know how to react. We sat in Blake’s apartment two nights ago talking about me working here, and he did not say a word about him being the CEO I was talking about.
The clapping stopped, and Kaitlin shoved me a little. No one noticed that I had zoned out.
“Thank you, everyone. It’s an honour to be here. Grandad always raves about all the work you guys do and how amazing it is. I think out of all the branches he has. You are his favourites. It’s going to be great working with you all and getting to know the amazing work each one of you does. Thank you,” he said smoothly, and everyone clapped again.
I just stood still. My brain had stopped working and couldn’t register anything happening. I felt a little sick. Here I was having thoughts about this guy, and it turns out he is as bad as the rest of them. I knew something terrible was going to happen today. This is why I had that dreadful feeling all morning.
As I was lost in my thoughts, Kaitlin shoved me again, and I looked up to see Blake standing and talking to James, the finance assistant. He was standing next to Kaitlin, which meant I would be next in line to speak to him. FUCK!
I was so paralysed in my thoughts that I didn’t even know what to do, and before I could react, he moved on to Kaitlin.
“Mr Cooper, so nice to meet you. Hi, I’m Kaitlin Rover. I work in HR. So boring jobs,” she said and laughed.
“Kaitlin, you do the most important job. Finding good people to work for our company is very important, so hats off to you,” Blake said smoothly, and they both had a little laugh.
I shuffled a little, trying to move away, maybe. This made Kaitlin more aware of me, and so she turned to face me.
“Mr Cooper, this is Rosy! If you think what I do is important, trust me, she’s why this company is doing so well. She’s the Sales and Marketing Manager. She’s so good at her job!” She said with glee and looked at me with the biggest smile.
Shit, she threw me under the bus!
“Ummm, hi..” is all I could say.
Blake extended his hand for me to shake. “Rosy, it’s nice to meet you again,” he said with a bit of smirk. So he wasn’t afraid to tell people we had met already. Okay then!
“Same here, Blake. I didn’t realise of all places; this is where I would see you again.” I replied and shook his hand.
“Wait, you guys have met before?” Kaitlin sounded shocked.
“Yeah, he lives in the apartment opposite mine and Taylor’s. Moved in on Saturday.” I said casually.
“Well, isn’t that just convenient” she replied with a smirk.
Before I could say anything further, Patrick came and interrupted us. “Blake, come I do would like you to meet the rest of our finance team”.
“Sure thing Patrick. Kaitlin, it was nice meeting you and Rosy. I will see you again soon. I want to know more about how you’ve managed to grow our sales and marketing team. Excuse me, ladies,” and with that, he walked away.
I right on cue; Kaitlin turned towards me and gave me this cheeky stare.
“Spill the beans, Missy!” She smiled.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her to the lift so we could go to my office and talk a little more privately.
Two cups of coffee, and 3 hours later, Kaitlin and I sat there analysing Blake’s weekend actions. Finally, we could figure out why he was so interested in knowing about me if he would avoid me after.
As we pounded on this more, there was a knock on my door. The door opened, and Lilly poked her head in.
“Rosy, are you busy?”
“Nah, just having a chat with Kaitlin. Why, what’s up?” I asked.
“Well, Mr Cooper has asked for you. He has finished catching up with Patrick and the finance team. He now wants to have a catch up with you if you aren’t busy?” She replied, and like the excellent PA she was, she gave me an out if I didn’t want to see Blake.
“Yeah, okay. I can’t avoid him forever. Did he say if he needs me to bring anything with me?” I sighed.
“Umm, I did ask him that, and his reply was, and I quote “, an empty stomach and an open mind” “she said quietly like she was scared of how I would react to this.
I could feel Kaitlin’s gaze on me, waiting for my reaction. I didn’t know how to react to that. What was with these mind games?
“Okay then. Tell Blake I will be in his office in 10mins” I said and started to get up to put my cup away.
“Okay, I will let him know,” Lilly said as she walked out, closing the door behind her.
“Umm, what the hell is going on?” Kaitlin said immediately.
I started to fix my skirt and walked over to the wall mirror to fix my lipstick. Whatever he was up to, he was still my boss. So I had to be professional and ethical.
“I don’t know. I guess I’m about to find out why he avoided me all weekend. I’ll see you later,” I replied to her and walked out, leaving a very shocked Kaitlin.
Blake was currently occupying his grandfather’s office. Mr D Cooper had a permanent office in every building he owned. Blake had even mentioned this on Friday night. Mr Cooper said he liked his office as he felt more comfortable telling people off in an environment he was happy in.
The walk to his office was nerve-wracking. I didn’t want to see him, yet I did want answers. Was this going to be awkward? Are we going to be professional about this?
I knocked on the door. “Come in”
I opened the door and walked in. Blake was sitting on the couch with files open in front of him. He was vigorously turning pages and had a face that looked like he was trying to solve a puzzle.
“Blake... I mean, Mr Cooper?” I said quietly.
He looked up, and his face changed. “Rosy, come in. Close the door behind you, please.” He said and started closing files and got up.
“You asked to see me?” I asked.
“Yes, I did. Thank you for coming. Please just call me Blake. Mr Cooper makes me feel old like that old man of mine,” he replied and walked towards the back of the office where there was a table set up for us with plastic bags on it.
“Hungry?” He asked as he started pulling out takeaway containers from the bags. They were from the Chinese place we ordered food from on Friday night.
“Do you have meetings with everyone with food?” I asked.
“No, actually, I don’t. However, when I want to apologise to someone and also have a meeting with them, then yes, I do” he laughed a little.
“Apologies for what?” I played dumb.
“Please sit.” He pulled out a chair and motioned me to sit.
He was trying, and giving him the benefit of the doubt was important. So I walked over and sat down.
He sat down across from me and put a BBQ pork stir fry container in front of me. He remembered what I liked. I smirked a little.
“Rosy, I’m sorry”, he started. “I know you must be wondering why I didn’t tell you who I was and why I avoided you.”
“Well, I would like to know the first part more than the second, but carry on,” I said and carried on eating.
“Well, I needed information, and I feared me telling you who I was would defer you from telling me exactly how you felt about this place. I wanted the truth, the truth about the company. Honestly, pops had said you’d be the right person to give me the info I needed, but I didn’t realise you’d end up living across the hall from me. My intention wasn’t to hurt or upset you.”
He seemed very sincere about this, and I wanted to believe him.
“Why do you wanna know my thoughts about this company? It’s yours. Shouldn’t you already know what’s happening in it?” I asked.
“Well, it’s not that easy. Right now, I really can’t tell you much. All I can say is I’m sorry. I’m here for a reason, and in the process, I hurt you, which wasn’t my intention”. He hung his head.
I picked up the other container of food, opened it and put it in front of him. He looked up at me.
“I’m sure we can start over again.” I smiled at him.
“I would like that”...