Adam and Amy sat down – a little too close to be just colleagues. “I figured as you couldn’t come to us to sign the contracts, I’d come here. They’ve been signed by myself and my brother. We just need your signature now, Frank. What do you say?”
Frank leaned on his desk. “Let me apologise to you in person for not being able to make it to New York.”
“Oh, no problem. Have you recovered from your accident?”
“Yeah, I got away with just a few cuts and bruises – no real damage. I wonder whether I’ll be so lucky after my collision with Quinlan Brothers.”
Adam gestured to Amy. “Ms Carter will verify that everything’s above board. We mean you no harm.”
Frank transferred his gaze to her. “Well, Amy?”
She crossed her legs and smoothed down her pencil skirt. “Things will remain the same for six months. And then there will be redundancies.”
Frank’s expression remained blank. “I don’t recall that rather huge detail in our original negotiations, Adam?”
“You’ve got a great ops director in Amy, Frank. She’s a company woman through and through. Dylan and I were hoping to hide the six-month clause from you, but Amy discovered it. And now she’s forcing us to be completely honest.”
“Well, you should’ve been completely honest straight from the start.” Frank sighed and shook his head. “I’m not happy about this.”
Adam waved his hand dismissively. “We’ll aim for damage limitation.”
“Damage limitation? These are people with homes; families.”
“I know. We’re giving them a six-month head start. I’m sorry this is happening, but it’s business. We have shareholders to satisfy. Ms Carter’s role will be one of the first to go and she’s aware of this. But look, she’s still here, negotiating for your company when she could just walk away. We guarantee that the expert technical staff will be retained. But the back-of-house staff, they’ve gotta go. I’m sorry, Frank.”
“Are you, Adam?”
Adam shrugged. “Sure.”
Frank nodded knowingly. “Well, I guess it’s that or a hostile takeover. You leave me no choice. Who’s coming over to head the merger, by the way?”
“My brother,” Adam said.
Amy’s head whipped around and she glared at him. She’d assumed that Adam would be moving here so they could be together. How was this romance going to work if he was in America and she was in London?
Adam gazed tenderly at her, the hard businessman act falling away. “I want you to come and live in New York with me. Will you?”
“What? And do what?”
He grinned. “Have a sabbatical. Do some painting. Whatever you want.”
She frowned. “Are you firing me?”
“No. You’re welcome to stay in your current role for six months – you can head up the merger on our side of the pond. But I want you there with me, Amy. I really do.”
She turned back to face Frank and smirked. “I’ll think about it.”
Adam chuckled. “Alright. But I did hear what you shouted in the shower thi
s morning, so I assume you won’t be thinking too long.”
She blushed and glanced down at her lap. “Shall we talk about this later?”
Adam grinned. “Sure.” He turned to face Frank. “Will you sign, Frank? We’ll make sure we fully compensate any employees we need to lose. You have my word.”
“Can you vouch for Mr Quinlan’s word, Amy?”
She smiled. “He’s been pretty true to it so far. Yes I can.”