Now, Please(13)

He laughed. “I’m an experienced hunt and pecker, to this day. I tried the traditional approach, but it felt like selling out.”

I glanced at my computer as an email came in. It was Hunter, scheduling me for a meeting in two weeks. I sighed, opening the email and reading about an entirely new subject. Which meant, after this weekend, I’d have a whole new set of urgent requests from my fearless leader to deal with.

“What is it?” Bruce asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Oh.” I pointed at my screen in a show-and-tell moment, even though he couldn’t see it. “While I am here, I’m trying to help keep Hunter’s schedule in line, and he’s sitting in a lecture somewhere, planning completely unrelated meetings weeks in advance about topics he’s never discussed with me. It keeps me on my toes.”

“And…pardon me again for intruding, because I am a nosy bastard, but you don’t seem overly put out. You like working for him?”

I scanned the email and shook my head. I’d have to start looking at budgets. What a pain.

“No?”

I started, remembering what I was supposed to be doing. Bruce was staring at me with a calculating gaze.

“Sorry.” I got my mind back on track. “Yes, I do. It was tough at first because he’s so focused, but once you get to know him, he’s a great boss.” I told Bruce about the company perks that Hunter constantly fought the board for, and our ability to buy clothes on his dime. I also told him about the car service and buying lunch whenever we felt we needed it. When I was done, I returned to my computer in a nonchalant sort of way. I was a terrible salesperson. The best thing I could do was state the facts and feign indifference, otherwise Bruce would know I was trying to push Hunter’s awesomeness.

“He buys your clothes…” Bruce glanced at my faded hoodie.

“Not this.” I pinched my sweatshirt with a sheepish smile. “I got to dress like normal today. I wasn’t supposed to see anyone I knew. Or…you know…that knew who I was. He buys the stuff I wear to the office. Or like tonight, dresses to events. His driver gets a suit. Things like that.”

“Ah.” Bruce was still looking at me with that calculating gaze.

I stared back. “Don’t judge. It’s like playing dress-up. Girls like this sort of thing.”

A grin worked at his lips. He threw up his hands in surrender. “I’m not judging. It’s like a uniform.”

“Exactly.” I gave a decisive nod. “A uniform that the boss has to pick out because I have absolutely no fashion sense.”

“Oh, I don’t know, that sweatshirt is a pretty popular style…”

I glanced down at my chest, trying to look busy and important. “I know what the poor kids are wearing, yes. I’ve got that down pat.”

Bruce leaned back and looked around him. “Hunter represents one of three companies that are trying to buy me out.”

“Oh? And why are you selling?”

“Another Nosy Parker.” Bruce’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s gotten too big for me. I work all the time. My wife is pissed, I don’t see my kids anymore—it’s no life.”

“I wouldn’t know. I work a lot precisely because I have no life.”

This time, his eyes sparkled with humor. “You will one day. And when you do, you’ll realize the important things in life aren’t money and the office.”

“Can you, maybe, take a step back in your duties? That way you could still hang on to it…”

I grimaced. I’d said it before I could run it through my filter. It was the opposite of what I was going for.

“I tried. That’s what I was supposed to be doing this year. But I was distracted all the time, wanting to be in the office when I wasn’t, having to clean up messes—it wasn’t working. I’m too old for it now. Time to pass the torch.”

I nodded in understanding, looking at the table. “Sucks.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So you have three business guys breathing down your neck.”

Bruce closed his computer with a click. I thought I’d just ended the conversation, but instead, he leaned his elbows on the table and looked over at the lagoon. “Exactly. One mammoth company, and two large companies. Hunter has the deepest pockets, but he’s…the job. He’s a bright kid, I’ll give him that, but he doesn’t have the years of experience the others do.”

“Even those with experience have to answer to their company’s board members. Really, the winner is who can push their ideas past the stockholders.”