“And you don’t see anything wrong with that?”
“Their political nature of how other countries handle their own people and their wages are not our concern,” he said. “But think of it this way, these people might not have a job otherwise.”
“You think because these people live in a different place they shouldn’t be awarded the same kind of luxuries as us?” I was a bit irritated.
“Look, Nathan, I’m not here for a political debate or a class in morality, that’s your forte,” he said. “You ultimately make the choices that include those things. I am here to tell you what the most lucrative path for the company is.”
“You are here to advise on the best path,” I replied, trying to get him to listen the fuck up. I knew what I was talking about. Period. “The most lucrative is not always the best.”
“You’re right,” he sighed, handing me another file. He needed to hear me out, but for some damn reason, he was having a really hard time with that. “So, I did a breakdown if we took current assets and revenues and planned it out for expansion. It would take three times as long, and that is only if the stockholders agreed to that financial burden.”
“Thanks,” I said breathing deeply and letting the breath out slowly. “I’ll look these over and get back to you.”
“Alright,” he said standing up. “Drinks tonight at that bar in Exposé?”
“Sure,” I replied staring at the outsourcing numbers though I would have rather been just about anywhere else.. “Come grab me at the end of the day.”
I spent the rest of the day in and out of meetings, reviewing different material for the outsourcing options, and sitting at my desk thinking. I did a lot of thinking in that chair over the years, but I had to be honest, it was the first time that thinking was interrupted with the vision of a woman running through my mind. I wanted to call her and ask her to come over that night, but I didn’t want to smother her. I needed to keep at least a bit of business mindedness to myself. It was bad enough that I wasn’t doing my regular evening reviews anymore, I couldn’t spend time at work thinking about Ruby.
The end of the day came rather fast, and when Chris came to my office, I was more than ready to get out of there. I had been trudging through the day, and my mind was prepared to relax and have a drink. There were so many decisions to be made, yet I had no idea how to do it. It was times like those that I wished I had someone to go home and talk to about everything. Someone that wasn’t directly connected to the company. Maybe one day, but for the time being, I went to the bar with Chris and ordered myself a tall glass of whiskey.
Exposé was always relatively busy but for a Tuesday it seemed a little more crowded than anticipated. I assumed that everyone else had a day at the office like I did, and didn’t blame them for showing up at the bar. Chris and I sat there, and while he was scoping out the women, I was staring up at the television that was on mute, thinking about the last time I had sat there. Ruby had been so beautiful when I walked in the doors, and I did not expect in any way for her to be the woman she turned out to be. I took a sip of my whiskey and sighed.
“Hey man,” Chris said nodding his head down the bar. “Look at those two. Come on. Let’s make a move.”
Before I could protest, he was up from his chair and sitting down next to the blonde on the end. I sighed and moved with him, sitting down next to the brunette. Chris immediately started spitting his normal game, and of course, the blonde fell all over herself for him. I was busy staring up at the screen and didn’t even notice the brunette leaned in.
“So, what do you do?” she whispered in a sensual voice. It was a little overkill but most women that were aggressive enough to start the game were the ones that were willing to end it. She was ballsy, but I wasn’t sure I was in the mood. I had a tone of shit on my mind, and she wasn’t my type. Not that I’d fully checked her out.
“Finance,” I said with little interest.
“He’s modest,” Chris laughed. “He owns Pope Financial.”
“Ohh,” she said flirtatiously, reaching her hand over and brushing mine. “Do you like being the big boss?”
“Yeah,” I chuckled pulling my hand back and standing. “If you’ll excuse me.”
I glanced over at Chris who gave me a wild look, not understanding why I just blew this chick off. She was sexy as hell, the typical girl I’d end up on the 3rd floor with, but I had zero interest in her. As soon as her hand touched mine, Ruby flashed through my mind, and instantly I wanted to be with her instead. I took my drink and wandered around the club, trying to wrap my head around what happened. I didn’t know why I would turn down a woman for one that I had spent very little time with, but all I could think about was Ruby with her beautiful eyes and contagious spirit. Regardless of the walls I had built up, how I felt about relationships, and all the things I had told myself through the years, I wanted to see Ruby again, and my brain wasn’t going to let me out of it until I did.
Things were going a way I never thought they would, but for some reason, I didn’t care at all. In reality, I welcomed the change. A woman like Ruby didn’t come around often, and I needed to make sure I didn’t screw this one up.
Chapter Twelve
Ruby
Walking through the halls of NYU gave me flashbacks of my time in college. Sure, this place was way quieter than I remembered, but the smells and sounds were just the same. You could hear the instructors inside the rooms, the acoustics boosting their voices and echoing it throughout the room. The smell of textbooks, desperation, and tears lingered in the air, as it did in most colleges. Students were walking around and making their way to the courtyard, and banners hung everywhere for the events on campus. It made me miss my college days when the only worry I had was getting to class on time and scoring good enough grades to make my parents satisfied. The classes were always easy to me, but my mind was wrapped around whatever protest the groups I belonged to were planning. I had been a leader for as long as I remembered but never put myself in that position. I was always pushed there, and before I knew it, everyone was looking to me for guidance.
I took a left and quietly opened Lisa’s room, making sure the door didn’t slam shut. I crept along the back and took a seat in the back-row nodding at Lisa as she smiled up at me. I loved watching her work, she loved her job. She had always been a teacher, even when we were kids. She loved to share her knowledge with me, but the way she looked at causes and protests drove me nuts. I was sure I had never met anyone more down the middle of the road than Lisa. She always scientifically broke down every cause and looked at the pros and the cons. The thing was, she never came to a concise decision on whether something was bad or not. She just accepted that all situations were split, which was not the truth in my eyes. I loved her though, her sensibility kept me grounded more than once, especially since I had a way of becoming extremely passionate about the causes I was working for. Just when my feet were about to lift off the ground, she would reach out and remind me that I had to be more level-headed for anyone to listen to what I was saying and in a way, she was right.
When the class was over, I sat there watching the students pack up the
ir backpacks and begin to head out of the classroom. Lisa turned off the projector and wiped the boards, gathering her things and sighing. It was Wednesday, which meant she taught three classes that day, and I knew she was more than exhausted. On top of that, she had her other faculty duties to attend to that included a huge research project the college had received funding for her to head up. She was my hero when it came to dedication and work ethic. I stood up and met her at the top of the stairs, throwing my arm around her shoulder.
“One class down,” she sighed. “Two to go.”
“You got this,” I said. “Let’s go refuel.”
“I’m starving,” she groaned. “Let’s go to the Thai place across the street. I can’t be gone too long, I have to check in on my research students.”