Jonah
The men stood up together and taking their cue we all did. Mr. Lorring held his hand out for me to shake as he took two steps to be closer to where I was standing. His grip was firm and his eyes were trying to intimidate me even though the rest of his face showed his happiness with what my team had presented. He made small talk about the weather as I walked with him till the elevator. His company's business was important to us and it was important that he be pleased for us to still be in business with him. When he arrived his face was determined to speak only to Dad or David and he was displeased when he saw me greet him. He began by comparing how Richard, David and Dad were the greatest and I may not compare. His parting words were with hidden praise and a hint of pride.
"That was a relief" Marc exhaled once the elevator had moved and I looked at him in agreement "I'll get the proposal ready by tomorrow" he promises as we walk back into the office "The new hires start today, your Dad or David usually give them a welcome speech sort of thing. David did till last year"
"I'm no good at public speaking. Check if Luke is free to do it, if not , they'll survive without a speech" I open the door of my cabin and Marc follows me in with Martha trailing behind him. "Martha I really can't take more meetings today" I say to her before she begins what she has to say, taking my seat.
"The new hires start today" she says looking between Marc and me.
"Yeah, I'm no good at speeches" I huff opening up my laptop. "Is that all?"
"If I could speak to you alone?" she asks nervously and looks at Marc. She looked worried. I signal Marc to get out and he does promising the delivery of the proposal again and shuts the door behind him. I look at her giving her my attention. "I wanted you to look at the list" she places a sheet of paper in front of me on my desk with a name highlighted. I look up at her.
"I knew that"
"Your father called and asked if you'd be visiting him soon?" she takes away the paper.
"I'll drive to Rawley this weekend. I'll give him a call later tonight" I promise and she smiles softly and leaves my cabin closing the door behind her. Martha was my father's secretary and when he broke his hip and stepped down four years ago, she became mine. I don't ever remember a time that Martha wasn't in our life. She was their first employee and was then in charge of all the secretaries in the office till Dad stepped down and David did too last year. Almost like it was her duty, she started taking care of Luke and I. Luke found a secretary soon enough to help him but I apparently was deemed a pain in the ass by the last secretary I had four years ago and since then I depended on Martha.
The files had piled up on my desk this week with all the meetings we had had with Lorring Inc. 'You want to clear your desk every Friday so you can come back on Monday to a new week and would have enjoyed the weekend with your family' Dad would say to me when I began working here and before he broke his hip. There's a knock on my door after almost an hour and I look up to see the Head of HR, Sienna smiling bright. Behind her stood a small group of people smiling wide behind her. "The new hires are here and usually David gives them a talk, he did last year as well" she points at them and I stand up. "Don't mind if we come in" she smiles. I look through the glass at Martha annoyed that she let them in and she shrugs and walks away from her desk.
"Please" I gesture for her to enter with them trailing behind. They all greet me and I look at the last to enter. She nervously looks up at me and looks away almost immediately. "I'm not very good at speeches but... welcome to Reed, Rover and Rivers and we hope you love it here" I say as calmly as possible. My eyes dart back to her and she fidgets and looks down at her feet.
"These are our new hires in Business Development" Sienna says "This is Martin Siegler, Dylan Hastings, Boyd Newers, Lara Manning, Jane Roberts and Alex Paige" . Dad had forced her to join the company after the old company she worked for went belly up and she put up a fight. She said she would do it on her own terms. Here she was. "Thank you for the time" Sienna smiles. Sienna leads them out of my cabin. Her grey eyes catch mine quick before she follows Sienna out.
