Sweet Love - Mia Kayla Page 0,14

said. “We miss you at the company. We really want you back.”

I smiled down at the woman who used to set up a scavenger hunt around the office for my brother and me when we were younger.

“They need me back at Financial State Bank pretty soon.” My voice was polite, respectful.

In a way, these people who had worked for this company for so long were the ones who had raised me.

A long mahogany table sliced the boardroom horizontally, and chairs surrounded all sides. But as people filed in, they occupied the chairs backed up against the wall. Some people preferred to stand while other people preferred to sit, and most of the people seated at the center table were VP level or above.

As more and more workers filed in, thoughts raced in my head. I’d been here before but in front of a different company, not in front of my family’s company. As sales decreased and expenses stay the same, soon, profit margins would dwindle down to where layoffs were needed. A sinking feeling hit the pit of my stomach, and I thought of Elise, Logan, Jenny, and many others I knew closely at Colby’s. I didn’t want to do that. Lay people off, people I knew, people who had watched me grow up. My father didn’t want to do that. He’d raised this company from the ground up, working nonstop, my mother right alongside him. If anything, these people had seen my father more than Kyle and I had.

There were multigenerational employees, such as Casey, where her father had been the head of quality and assurance before her. My father might not have known all of the factory workers, but here, at corporate, he knew them all by name.

Even though I didn’t want this to be personal, it was. Those companies that I tore apart for Financial State were nameless faces, but everyone in this room knew me by my first name and vice versa.

It’d kill him to fire any of them, and my stomach churned at the thought of if we’d have to come to that.

Alyssa and Casey were the last to enter the room, Casey laughing, as always. They staggered in, and beside them, Charlie strolled in, smiling. Her dimples were set deep in her cheeks, her most endearing quality. It was almost childlike, but when you took her all in, you knew she was no child. She was all woman with her slim waist and the nice curvature of her ass.

I cleared my throat and swallowed. Yeah, can’t go there.

Casey and Alyssa made their way to their regular spots at the table, but Charlie backed up against the wall.

Casey swept her hands over to the seat next to her, but Charlie adamantly shook her head and inched further away, almost at the corner, as though she didn’t want to be seen.

“Charlie, get over here,” Casey hissed.

My father peered up at Charlie as the room quieted to a hush. With one look, she meandered to the seat.

And then my father started his spiel. “As we close out this quarter, I want to personally thank each and every one of you for all you do. For all your hard work, day in and day out. I’m so very proud of this team and where you’ve taken Colby’s.”

I stood, stone-faced, thinking of when I had been younger and how many times I’d wished he’d said he was proud of me, proud of what I’d done in school or how I’d made it to varsity football when I was only a sophomore. I’d never once heard that from my parents’ mouths. I’d been a good kid—gotten good grades, excelled in sports—but just once, I’d wished I had been acknowledged for my hard work.

My father knocked on the table twice. “And despite the talks about canceling the company party this year, it will still be on.”

All of the muscles in my back tightened. We’d discussed this. We couldn’t afford a big holiday party at the Ritz again. Didn’t he understand that this company was not doing well? That every single dollar counted?

“But Grace and I will host it at our home this year.”

When his eyes made it my way, I relaxed, just a tad.

“It won’t be a grand event, as it has been in the past, but we’ll be all together to celebrate our accomplishments. Since it will be at our house, you can bring your families.”

He motioned to me at the far end of the room, beckoning me forward, and