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“And we can get press with this?”
“Yes, so long as we’re not competing with a school shooting, or a hurricane.” He then went on to list the reasons he thought it would be newsworthy.
I thanked him and after checking my tie was square, I was ready.
When the elevator doors opened on twenty-seven, I stepped out with confidence. The last time I’d been up here to face Dad, things had not gone well, but then I also hadn’t been prepared. Not so today.
I’d learned early on that preparation was key to success in any negotiation. I’d done a lot of thinking, since Dad's visit Friday evening and his ultimatum to dump Alexa or lose my job. I was as prepared as I was going to get for this showdown.
Anita looked up, a smile crossing her face as she noticed me. “Hi there. We've missed you up here.”
“We?”
“I know I have.”
“It's good to see you too.”
She checked her monitor. “Is he expecting you? I don't have anything on the calendar.”
I stopped next to her desk. “Nope. Is he busy?”
She lifted an eyebrow. “There's nobody in with him at the moment if that's your question. But you might want to try him later.” That meant Dad's mood was sour.
This couldn’t be put off. “I’ll take my chances.” Putting my hand on the door handle and added, “we don’t want to be disturbed.”
Dad looked up when I entered. What started out as either a frown or grim determination shifted to something closer to amusement as the corners of his mouth turned up. He thought he’d won, but the game was just beginning.
I closed the door behind me. “Dad, is now good time to talk?”
He waved me in. “Anytime is a good time talk to my son.”
I closed the door behind me and sat in the leather visitor's chair opposite him. “I'm here to continue our talk from Friday evening.”
Since I hadn't committed to anything, he took the wise choice of merely nodding.
“As you requested, I won’t be spending any time on acquisitions going forward.”
He smiled. “Good.”
“And, I understand how me seeing Alexa is problematic.”
“That girl has quite a mouth on her.”
“That she does,” I agreed. “She has an opinion about a lot of things.”
“I'm glad to see you’ve come to your senses.”
It was time to get to the image discussion. “You want me to continue working on rehabilitating, I think you called it, the company's reputation?”
He shifted forward, placing his elbows on the desk. “Yes. As I see it that's an item that we still need to take care of. I promised the board that we’d work on it.”
“The last time I was here, you mentioned that you thought. Let me rephrase that. You said specifically that the board threatened your job over my fountain incident.” I managed to keep a straight face while calling it an incident.
He nodded, but there was a shift in him, a narrowing of the eyes. “I did.” The mention of his vulnerability to the board unnerved him.
“Is that still a concern?”
“It is.” That validated Noah’s observation.
