I’ve worked for Graham Morgan for a few years, and I recognized when his wheels were turning. And they were definitely turning.
“Are you sure about that? That she didn’t think her idea was solid enough for a deal.”
“Graham, she was packing her presentation up when I returned to the conference room. She was shocked that you were interested. It was frustrating to get her to understand that the partnership is for a chain of coffee shops instead of just one.”
“Perhaps we can turn my wife’s new pet project into something bigger. Can you get Eric to come in?”
Tilting my head, I tried to see where he was going with this, “Eric?”
“Think about it. Jurnee’s idea is to place coffee shops into office buildings. Eric is moving from apartment buildings into office real estate, right?”
“He has been talking about for a while, but it’s a tough market,” I replied, guarded.
“What if we use the coffee shops as an in? We look for buildings we’d want to purchase, place a coffee shop and slowly use that as an in?”
“I’m starting to see where you’re going. I’ll get a hold of Eric and see what he thinks. Do you want to absorb his business in the process?”
He patted me on the shoulder, “Let’s not pretend that you aren’t the one backing that company. I don’t want to take over his company, but I do want in. Work with Jurnee. Lock her down, and I want those first few coffee shops’ opening dates within a year. Soraya said that Jurnee is only planning on being in the city for a few weeks–”
“What?”
Graham started to laugh at my outburst and started walking down the hallway. “Maybe Soraya isn’t insane after all.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Jurnee’s waiting for you. You better get in there.”
I stopped in the restroom to give myself a few minutes to wrap my head around what just transpired. Graham wants into the commercial real estate arm of Eric’s business. “Interesting.”
Opening the door of the conference room, Jurnee looked up from her phone and smile.
Shit.
8
Anderson
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I know that you dislike it when people are late.”
She started to glare at me for my reference to the first time we met, but caught herself.
Smiling, she replied, “I understand you had a ‘boys’ weekend, so I anticipated you being a little slow to start.”
The smirk on her face should have irritated me, but instead, I chuckled. “I’m guessing you and Martin had a chat over breakfast.”
“He’s very nice. He said he loves working for you.”
That caught me off guard. Martin had been a temp working for Alan, another executive at Morgan, when I started with the company. After the employee on leave returned, Alan suggested Martin assist me until I found someone permanently. I found him competent and liked that he was always at work before I came into the office. It wasn’t long before I offered him a permanent position.
“Does that surprise you?”
Pulling the documents out of one of the folders, I asked, “Does what surprise me?”
“That Martin likes working for you. You made a face when I said it.”
“I haven’t ever given it a thought. He’s here when I arrive in the morning, and he does his job. It’s a job.” I replied, thinking that was the end.
Jurnee crossed her arms, “Do you like your job?”
“Yes.” Her question made me look up at her. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here.”
“So, you enjoy your job, but you don’t think about whether your assistant is happy in their job. Huh.”
“Okay, Jurnee. What does ‘huh’ mean?”
“Nothing. Shall we get started?”
“I think you should tell me what you meant by ‘huh’ and, then, we can get started.”
“It’s just interesting that you ensure that you like your job, but don’t worry about whether someone that works for you is happy.” She stared down at the legal pad that sat on the table in front of her.
“What were you doing at the restaurant the other day?”
The surprise on her face told me that I was entering a place she wasn’t prepared to talk about.
“We had a blind date.”
“I was not there on a blind date, Jurnee. I was there for a meeting that happened to be a no show.”
The color drained from her face as she started to rub her thumb over the nail of her first finger. When she noticed that I was watching, she intertwined her fingers and placed them softly on the legal pad.
“What are you trying to say?” Her question came out