my own stupid fantasies were only that, my own shit, and Julia was not fulfilling some unspoken wish by hooking up with me.
I needed to stop this shit. I needed to leave her alone, because what was my end game here anyway? There was no future for us. There wasn’t even a present. Not if we both wanted to keep our jobs.
“I hope all that thinking is going to how you’re going to make our IPO the most successful one your firm has done to date.”
I managed to suppress a groan as I turned around. It seemed like Phil had finally arrived. At least dealing with him would be a certain way to stop thinking about Julia.
I extended my hand to him and tried my best not to sneer.
“How are you doing, Phil? Did you have a good Thanksgiving?”
He was standing next to a very pretty brunette who seemed weirdly familiar as he answered.
“We did. Listen, I need to meet with you first thing on Monday.”
This guy had no fucking manners. Could he at least introduce us before he started giving me orders?
Before I could do it myself, the young woman clicked her tongue and extended her hand to me. “Phil, you didn’t even ask him how his holiday was.” Her tone was disapproving and she rolled her eyes at me, almost saying, “Can you believe this guy?”
“I’m Caroline. My dad is an old friend of the twins.”
“Rocco. Nice to meet you, Caroline.”
She dipped her head and then looked up at me appreciatively. I knew her from somewhere, but before I could ask from where, Phil barged in on the conversation again.
“The twins are feeling pretty solid about their position with the board and I think they want to put the decision on the agenda for right after Christmas.”
Was this guy really shit talking these women in their own house?
“The company regulation calls for all new decisions on budgeting to be made before the new year, and the more time they have the more they will be able to do to convince the board that funding these programs again is a good move. We need to vote before they get more people on their side.” He shook his head, as if the twins were asking the board to set money on fire.
I took a moment to answer because if I said what I was thinking to this asshole I could kiss that promotion goodbye.
He took my silence as an invitation to continue and moved closer to me. Caroline took that as a cue to find something else to do, waving at me as she moved on to talk with a couple a few feet from us.
“We need to figure out a way to put an end to this bullshit plan. If we keep sinking this money into their new feel-good project, we’re going to hurt our numbers for investors. Not to mention this crazy fucking idea of providing child care for the single-parent employees and the ones making less than $32K.”
As far as I could tell, both of those things could be done without much issue, but why was this guy talking business right now? I just kept my mouth shut and nodded, it was my job to listen to Phil, and I had a feeling him thinking we were on the same page was a good thing.
“Those two.” His lips pursed like he’d bitten a lemon when he looked over at the twins, who were holding court by the pool. “Want to make this company into some sort of socialist commune.”
I turned my head to the side, trying once again to not snap at him, because I’d seen the payroll and knew his salary was very close to half a million dollars and the bonus check he got each year had six figures. Greedy little fucker.
I worked for him though. At least I did while I was here. My boss at Davidson’s had been very clear, I answered to the board, and the liaison to the board was Phil. I had to assess the state of the company and make an objective recommendation regarding the IPO. I had no business championing the foundation’s programs. Except that now I knew what those programs did for the families, the way Sturm’s took care of their employees, of their community. Those were big reasons why Sturm’s was so special. Take all that away and you lost the magic. Not everything was always about the bottom line.