I looked over at the framed photo on my desk. It was of her and Victoria, back when Vic was just a toothless, bruised-knee little kid. We were at the park, and I snapped this shot when they weren’t paying attention. Erin had her arms draped around our daughter and Vic was acting like she wanted to get away, but they both had huge grins on their faces. I smiled, felt a twisting sort of pain in my gut, and then my phone rang, and I pulled myself away from the heart-wrenching memory and saw the name of Vic’s school appear on the screen.
Oh no.
Just as I was about to answer, however, my office phone rang as well. I hesitated, staring at both my cell and my work phone, and if I weren’t so stressed out, I would’ve laughed at the irony of having such a decision placed before me.
My work, or my child?
Really, it was not a difficult decision at all.
I ignored my work phone, picked up the call on my cell, and tried not to sound too panicked as I said, “Yes, hello, this is Jonah Hollis. What’s wrong?”
Chapter Three
Kat
It was obvious, from the moment the elevator doors closed, and I started my ascent to the 6th floor, that Jonah Hollis did not in fact recognize me.
There seemed to be a hint of something, a gleam in his eye when he saw me, and for a moment I thought maybe he did, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking. Either way, I would find out when we got lunch together.
Speaking of, I had mixed emotions regarding our little date.
When my dad texted me about it this morning, I was excited. I thought it would be fun to show off a little in front of Jonah. I knew I looked good that day; that had been my entire goal that morning—as it is most mornings—and a part of me was thrilled to have some one-on-one time with Jonah before we dove right into our respective work lives.
Then again, as the morning dragged on, and I met more people in the office, I started to get thedistinctimpression that my dad may or may not have been fully upfront with me in regard to this job and why it had been offered to me. Thankfully, I got a chance to ask my dad about it half an hour before I was supposed to meet Jonah down in the lobby for lunch. I was in my office, still trying to settle into the new space, when my dad poked his head in and smiled at me.
“There she is. Looking like she’s been here all along!” He clapped his hands together as he walked through the door. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to see my baby girl working at the family business. I’ve waited for this day for I don’t know how long.”
I stood up and went to hug him. “Hi Dad,” I said. “I didn’t know you were still around.”
He shrugged. “Don’t judge me. I’m an old man, retired and widowed; I should be allowed to spend a few hours on a Friday morning at the place I called my second home for most of my life.”
I put my hands up in surrender. “No judgment here. It’s your company.” I pointed to the seat on the other side of my desk. The furniture had been left behind by the person who once occupied this office. I was going to have to replace all of it—it was hideous. But for now, it was better than working on the floor.
“It’s really not.” He lowered himself into his seat and I walked around from behind the desk and sat in the chair next to him. “It’s Jonah’s company now. Why do you think we call it SHDC instead of just SDC? It’s Stevens’ andHollis’Development Company these days.”
I made a face. “I’m going to keep calling it SDC; I think it rolls off the tongue better.” I folded my arms. “But speaking of theHin SHDC, I have something I need to ask you, before I go to lunch with Jonah.”
He looked intrigued. “By all means, ask away.”
“Well, do you remember when you called me a couple weeks ago, and said that you really needed me to come in and help the marketing department get whipped into shape?”
“Kat, I know I’m getting up there, but I haven’t lost my memory yet. So yes, I do remember.”
“Right, so then you’ll remember that youalsosaid that Jonah really wanted someone like me to come in and shake things up. Your exact words, I think, were that Jonah was worried about the direction that the company was going, and he wanted to bring in a bunch of bright young people to help steer the ship. To be perfectly frank, you made it seem like the company was in trouble, and that Jonah wasn’t equipped to deal with it all by himself.”
My dad slowly nodded his head up and down as I spoke.
“What is your question, exactly?” he said when I came to the end of my little preamble.
“I guess I’m wondering how much of that was really true…” He looked offended, so I quickly launched into an explanation of all the evidence I’d collected that morning. “Dad, I don’t mean to accuse you of anything, but pretty much everyone I’ve talked to has told me they are very surprised I was hired. They said that Jonah hasn’t been hiring new people for almost a year now, and, to keep with the sailing metaphor, everyone says he runs a very tight, efficient ship. It’s not that people are saying the company is doing great, there definitely seems to be some problems that need to be addressed, but… let’s just say, nobody seems to think of me as this bright young mind who came to save the company.”
“I don’t think I asked you to ‘save the company.’”
I frowned at him. “Dad, just tell me the truth. What’s going on? Why am I here?”
He sighed, lowered his voice, and leaned closer to me. “You’re right. I have been lying. But it’s not you I’ve been lying to. It’s everyone else. Jonah included. And he’s been lying, although mostly to himself.”
I frowned. “Okay, start from the beginning.”