"Shit it's cold!"
I looked at Ivory, jumping between her feet as she rushed to the car.
"You should have brought a jacket." I told her. We were near the ocean, there was always going to be a chilly breeze. Ivory looked over her shoulder, throwing me a scathing look.
What? Don't people generally wear jacket when they were cold?
Ivory was quiet the rest of the car ride, which was fine as I was trying to think of a plan for Jesse and I. His phone call was still playing in my head and I was bothered by what he said.
This tender was incredibly important and I was going to do everything possible to make sure we got it.
When we got home I went straight to the office, calling Jesse who was always on speed dial.
"Yes Darius?" He answered on the first ring.
"Continue screen sharing." I told him as I put him on speaker as I logged into my computer. I placed my jacket, folded neatly on the table next to me and took my belt off chucking it on top of it.
A part of me was tired, and I probably should go to bed like Ivory seeing that it was late at night, but the other parts of me wanted to have a plan ready for the press conference. How were we, the Quarts enterprise group, going to substantially deliver on a price that was worthy.
The other companies may be lying about their numbers, but we would never.
"Do no matter how much we decrease our base costs, even if we negotiate better credit terms with our suppliers, we will still be having a 25% more material cost than them."
"We aren't going to decrease our base costs because that means less quality which is dangerous. We always use the number one out there Jesse, it's the safest for everyone."
"But you could save six million by using a 75% mix product rather than a pure 100% mix."
"No." I shook my head, "Just do what I say. We keep premium quality." I said irritated. I would never consider doing anything that wasn't the number one in service and quality.
"Alright, Darius I'll give you a call back after alright." Jesse managed to get in before the line went dead.
I looked at the time, I had been on the phone for another hour, and we still hadn't moved any further than I would like with this contract.
I still needed a plan on how to get the other 25% of dad's voting shares to agree. Jesse's idea of not having my father present was initially a great thought, but there was no way he was not going to be present at that meeting.
Jesse's second idea was to ask Ivory, but I didn't like that option. I was still waiting for his research regarding the praetorship controls, where I could avoid having Ivory in my business, I would prefer that.
* * *
I looked at the blob of pasta in front of me and then looked up at Ivory.
"Did you make this?" I asked. Surely not, it looked like someone accidentally spilled pasta into tomato soup.
I took another mouthful, just to confirm that it wasn't my taste that was off. Nope, it was definitely the pasta. Perhaps I should have made something. I was just having a browse when she offered to cook but that was definitely not her strong suit.
"Yeah why?" she asked, her bowl untouched.
How do I put this. It tasted like salty tomatoes, and the pasta was raw. I rubbed the back of my head, not sure how to tell her not to eat her serve. Almost like a god send, my phone rang and I excused myself.
"Speak." I told Jesse as I closed the study door behind me, "What's the latest."
Sometimes I considered firing Jesse, because he was always the bearer of bad news. I groaned as I sunk into the lounge chair as he told me new numbers of how much voting power we needed for the change. This was not good, this was not good at all.
After I finished the phone conversation, I went outside to see Ivory sitting on the couch nibbling on something.
She looked up mid chew, "What was the phone?" she asked, her face contorted like she had never heard of a phone before, as she slowly whispered the word, "Phone right?"
"Work." I said as she slouched in the couch, barely listening as she nodded. She flipped through more channels, her eyes narrowing at the TV and I wondered what the TV did to deserve a glare like that.
She signed, tilting her head and I looked at the time. Clearly she couldn't see anything she liked to watch, especially with the way her nose would wrinkle every time she landed on a channel only to change it again.
Her lips kept moving every few minutes, muttering something softly to herself but I could pick up the words horrible, stupid, dumb, as she kept flicking channels.
Maybe she wanted to go watch a movie?
Just like she was reading my mine, she asked, "Do you want to go watch a movie?"
I looked a my watch again, Jesse was meant to send me an email in ten minutes, but I guess that could wait. "Sure," I said shrugging my shoulder.
Her face lighting up like I just promised her a million dollars and she yelled something incoherent at me as she rushed up stairs. I grabbed my phone looking at the local movie theatre, it was a small threat which meant the movies on there were very old.
I watched as she bounced down the stairs, an excitement on her face that was lacking the last hour so I didn't bother telling her that she wasn't going to like the movie.
She looked nice being happy like that.
In fact she seemed to be in a good mood since she wanted to walk to the theatre, at least this time she wore a thick coat, wrapping it around her as she chatted away about something. About the weather apparently, I wasn't sure what was so beautiful about it but she seemed to be enjoying the fresh air.
At least she was in a much better mood than after the boat trip.
My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out, a message from Jesse but I had to reply later as we walked into the movie theatre.
"We're that way," she said going down an aisle and I followed her as she held onto the tickets for dear life, bending to check the seat number before confirming.
I didn't think it mattered where we sat, the theatre was pretty much empty with heaps of seats available. I shrugged off my coat, placing it neatly on the arm rest before sitting down.
Ivory slouched in her chair again, her brown eyes wide with anticipation of the film and I couldn't help but smile when her face contorted into a frown when someone sat down in front of her.
She sat up straighter, which was much better for her back.
I was going to offer her my seat, but then someone even taller sat in front of me. The move theatre chairs were always built on an incline, so she should still be able to see the movie.
When the lights got dimmer her face relaxed and I didn't think it bothered her anymore as she started looking at the movie. I had remembered watching this movie when I was younger, it was always on the TV and I had a good memory that I could probably recite it line for line from watching it once.
"Is it over?" Ivory asked next to me yawning, and I realised that she had fallen asleep.
"No interval break," I said as she got up excusing herself.
Maybe she wasn't enjoying it. I grabbed my phone as the lights came on for the ten minute break, looking up if there were other things to do near by here. She looked just as bored as she was at home, her nose all crinkled up with distaste at the movie.
I grabbed my phone from my pocket, looking at the twenty missed calls and thirty five messaged from Jesse.
Couldn't that man do anything without needing my approval every time. I looked at the email he had drafted and sent to me for approval.
I replied back saying it was fine to send, when I heard something from next to me.
"Try it, I'm sure she won't notice she's too busy sleeping."
I didn't have to look up to notice a group of young kids sitting further down the aisle in my peripheral vision, all chatting about something. Were they talking about Ivory?
They went back to staring something on the phone screen, perhaps it wasn't about her.
Ivory walked past them, plopping into the seat next to me shrugging her jacket off, "lines are the bane of my existence," she told me rolling her eyes as she settled into the seat, this time slouching.
"Do you want to go-," the loud announcement asked everyone to get back to their seats as the light dimmed, and I turned around facing the theatre, it was too late to get up and go elsewhere now.
I quickly texted Jesse to check his emails, placing my phone in my pocket when I realised Ivory was moving closer towards me.
First I thought maybe she was going to fall asleep again, but then I could see her casting a look at the teenage boys next to her.
I looked at them through my peripheral vision, unsure of what was happening but form the way her face was scrunching up, I could tell it was something she didn't like. Their conversation came back to my mind, and I wondered perhaps did it have something to do with her after all.
I stretched my arm, casually draping it past her seat, as I turned my head meeting a brown pair of eyes glaring at me. I raised my eyebrows at the kids, did they have something to say?
They turned around facing the movie, I thought so.
All I needed was five minutes with their pictures for me to know who their parents were. I didn't need to make that threat as they didn't look towards her again.
I looked down at Ivory as she nestled into the crook of the arm, her eyes shut.
I guess she didn't like this movie after all.
Hope you enjoyed it! New chapter coming soon. Follow me on Instagram: imsooverpolice. I impulse adopted a puppy during this coronavirus outbreak HELP