Christian
After dinner was served and eaten, Grandma finally decided the small talk was over. While we ate, Margret and Meredith made small jabs at Raylynn all night. Helen made a few herself while Charles constantly tried to steer all conversation away from his personal life.
"I'll be honest with you, Charles, I called you to this dinner tonight because I'd done my research on your company and I wanted to bring you in as a vendor. My search didn't include your personal. That's why I invited you to dinner."
I watched as Charles and his family perk at Grandma's statement.
"That was before, however. Now I'm wishing I had dug into your personal life and realized you were related to Raylynn."
"Everything she's told you is a lie!" Margret and Helen shouted at the same time.
"Raylynn hasn't told me anything. My grandson and I were there, at your house, the night you threw her things outside and told her she wasn't welcomed in your home anymore."
"What?" Charles asked, his complexion changing, he looked sick.
"We were told it was done on your order." I informed him.
Charles shook his head adamantly.
"Your wife and daughters said it was because the life you was beginning to be hard to maintain. My research tells me that at least that was true. Since you married Helen you've been losing business-"
"Lies!" Helen shouted and then realized who she was talking to, Grandma. "I apologize but someone has been spreading lies." She glared at Raylynn who was staring down at her plate.
"Keep your eyes to yourself." I roared at her.
Charles released a huge sigh. "So where does this leave us?"
"Daddy, did we not get the deal?" Margret asked in a sickly sweet voice.
"I'm leaving the decision up to Raylynn." Grandma announced to everyone's shock. Even Raylynn couldn't believe it.
Raylynn finally looked up from her plate and stared at Grandma. "But, Grandma, why would you leave such an important decision to me?"
"My dear, You are a larger part of this family and your feelings matter. If you don't think you can work with them or that they aren't what's best for this company, then I'll value your decision and find another vendor." Grandma said as she held and squeezed Raylynn's hand.
Meredith let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Great! Raylynn, tell her we can have the deal. We're your family."
"Nuh uh! Raylynn is our family!" Crispin shouted at Meredith.
"She's Charles' daughter so she'll do the right thing." Helen said.
"Kick you to the curb like you did her?" I interjected.
Helen, Margret, and Meredith paled.
"Whatever the decision, make the choice based on how you really feel." Charles said sadly.
"I-I." Raylynn stuttered. Then looked at me.
I took her hand under the table and gave it a squeeze. "Do what's right for you, baby."
Raylynn nodded and cleared her throat. "I want time to make my decision, Grandma."
Grandma agreed. "That's fine, my dear, I don't actually need a decision until next year.
A sigh of relief left both sides of the table. Raylynn stood and then so did the rest of the table. "I'll be in touch over the course of the year and conduct interviews and meetings. It was nice seeing you all again." Raylynn pulled me out of the room behind her and the rest of the family followed. When the shock wore off, Charles' family was right behind us.
Raylynn
"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Chris asked me for the third time today.
"Yes. I've done my research and thoroughly. My father is a talented business but Helen is his weakness. I have to do the personal interviews to ensure that things have changed in regards her involvement in the business. Besides, I have my family and the love of my life backing me up. What could go wrong." I winked.
Chris kissed my lips and shook his head. "If you say so."
"I do."
At that point, Crispin and Christopher walked in.
"Raylynn, I'm ready! I thought of good questions to ask after we ask the questions you gave us." Crispin was excited.
"Who's first on the roster?" Christopher asked.
"Meredith is first followed by Margret. Two weeks from now we will be interviewing Helen and a week after that, my father."
"So three months of research. Based on that alone could you come up with a decision?"
I shook my head. "On paper my father is good but he's been losing business for a reason. I haven't exactly found the reason but I've been told it's because Helen interferes with deals. But even then, people could just be saying that because they don't like her. None of the business' that cut away from Copepli has commented. Too much loyalty to my father."
"That's not a bad thing." Chris said.
"It's not but loyalty doesn't mean much when those loyal to you won't do business with you."
"You're right." Christopher agreed.
Should we go over how we want the interview process to go?" I asked.
Chris and Christopher laughed.
"This is your interview, baby."
"I know but I'm asking for you advice, you guys have experience with this, I don't."
"Then yes. Let's go over the questions and how you want them asked."
An hour later, my temporary secretary came in and announced Meredith had arrived.
Meredith walked in meekly and unsure. "Hello."
"Have a seat, Ms. Johnson."
Meredith sat. "Please, call me Meredith."
"No thank you." Christopher answered.
Meredith looked dejected.
"How are you?" Crispin asked.
Meredith perked a little. "Good. It's nice to see you again, Crispin."
"Thank you and that's good to hear." Crispin repled.
He was being so professional that I wanted to squeeze him. I looked away from Crispin and addressed Meredith. "Let's get started, shall we?"
"I'll start with the questions. What do you think is a strength and what is a weakness of Copepli?" Chris asked.
"We're a company that values our customers and employees alike. A weakness would be that we don't value our own family as well." Meredith answered and looked to me.
Chris marked her reply and Crispin went next. "Why don't you value family?" That wasn't the question he was supposed to ask but it was a good one. One I wanted to hear the answer to as well.
"Well, I don't really know. I think it's because we're greedy. We want to get ahead so bad that we don't care who we have to step on or hurt to get there." Meredith looked down as she answered.
I looked up from my paper and realized these questions weren't going to get me the answers I really wanted to hear but I kept quiet until my turn and let Christopher take his turn next. "Copepli is failing, any reasons as to why that you can think of?" Apparently I wasn't the only one going off script.
"My mother likes control but she's intrusive and will do anything make sure everything goes the way she wants it to. Unfortunately, she's the only one that thinks her plans will work."
The questioning continued but we steered more towards personal questions about Meredith herself. As it turned out, she now held my position as personal servant to everyone because I was gone. When she left, I checked the time and saw that we only had 15 minutes until Margret was due to arrive for her interview. Everyone took a ten minute break and came back to the room to wait.
Ten minutes later, Margret being five minutes late, I called the temp and asked about Margret's arrival or phone calls from her. The secretary confirmed that Margret was not here and did not phone to say she was running late.
I took a deep breathe. "Dinner and a movie on me?" I questioned as I stood.
"You don't want to wait?" Crispin asked.
"This is a tactic, Crispin. I think she and Helen want to push that they have the power by making us wait for them, that's not going to happen so let's go eat." I looked at my watch. "If Margret makes it here in the next 20 minutes, we'll reschedule, if not, that's a strike against Copepli."
Everyone nodded and walked out of the room with me. Business hours concluded at 6pm and it was already 5:08pm. Chris informed the temp that she was to inform he or I when Margret arrived and if it was at or after 6pm that she was to inform her that she missed her chance.
The temp made the note and away we went.
Your welcome @Donnicia lol