“I’ll be right here,” he said with a laugh. “You know I don’t let these meter maids run me off.”
“Yes, I do know. I’ve seen the parking fines.”
He chuckled again. I headed inside and upstairs to the tax firm. I was expecting her to be ready, but she was a bit of a firecracker. She could very well stand me up and I really wouldn’t have much recourse. When I walked off the elevator, she was waiting.
“You’re late,” she snapped.
“By two minutes.”
“Would you accept an employee being two minutes late?” she asked.
“No, I wouldn’t.”
I turned and pushed the button for the elevator. We rode downstairs without another word spoken. She was obviously pissed. I didn’t care. We were going to clear the air and hopefully find a way to move forward.
We got to the restaurant and were seated almost immediately. We both ordered sodas. I really wanted a stiff drink, but it was a business lunch. I took a drink and mulled over my words. No matter what I said, she was going to be prickly.
“We need to clear the air,” I said. It sounded like a good phrase in my head. It was a good starting-off point.
“Go for it.”
“We need to come to a mutual understanding,” I started. “We are going to be working together. That’s a fact. I have no doubt in my mind you are competent at your job. I am a competent business owner. We have to work together. I don’t want to lose you.”
“Lose me? Are you threatening my job?”
“Not at all,” I said. “Definitely not. However, we have to be able to support one another when we are in that building. We have to put up a united front. Think of us as the parents to those people. They can’t see us fighting or at odds.”
“You are new to the party,” she shot back. “They don’t know you and what they do know of you isn’t exactly impressive.”
I held up a hand. “Can we just talk about what is really happening here?”
“Oh, please tell me.”
“We have a past,” I started.
She shook her head. “Don’t say it. Do not even go there. What is happening right now has nothing to do with what happened then. Nothing. Zero. Nada. Don’t you dare bring up old history. It’s in the past and I have left it there. I would suggest you do that as well.”
“Fine. Great. Then tell me what your problem is.”
It wasn’t professional, but damn if she didn’t get under my skin. I wanted to know why she disliked me. If it was truly in the past, then there shouldn’t be an issue.
“My problem is you waltz into my firm and start dismantling a successful company,” she shot back. “You don’t know jack about jack and yet you are trying to take it all apart.”
“I’m not trying to dismantle anything,” I defended. “Why would I want to take apart something that is set to make me even richer?”
“I don’t know. You tell me. Our firm has been growing every year. We are doing very well. I don’t know why you think destroying the teamwork and positive working environment is going to help, but it won’t. You are going to destroy it all.”
“No, I won’t,” I said. “I am going to strip down the company and rebuild it better. It has to be better to handle the growth that I am projecting. Yes, you have a great foundation, but there are some flaws. I’m here to fix the flaws. Once we get all the kinks ironed out, we are going to have one hell of a year. We are going to double the business.”
“Newsflash, you can’t double your business if you don’t have employees.”
“Are you suggesting I’m going to fire them?”
She smiled. “No, I’m telling you they are going to quit. They are some of the best in the business and you are pushing them out.”
“I’m not pushing them out,” I said. “I’m raising the bar.”
A waiter came by and took our orders. It was a nice reprieve from the verbal sparring.
“Nash, I hope we can be on a first-name basis,” she said.
“Saige,” I said. “Yes, first names would be preferable.”
“Good. I’m going to tell you something and I hope you can keep an open mind. Shut off that little voice that pipes up and says you are somehow smarter than the rest of the world. I want you to step back and look at the total