Page 45 of Beyond Expectations
I turned to him, and by his gentle nod, I knew he understood how I felt. I had never been one to show my emotions openly. Many might see me as selfish, cold, or unloving, but it was how I dealt with things. He knew I couldn’t process everything that I had just heard.
Giving him a nod back, I reached for the door and left.
My plan to drink myself to sleep wasn’t working. I was halfway through my bottle of Delamain de Voyage, hoping to feel numb and make everything that had happened disappear. I wanted to be in a black abyss. But instead, with each glass, my temper grew.
I was angry at my father. Angry that this was happening to him. His whole life had been dedicated to family. His eye for business helped us grow and prosper tremendously. We’d always been a well-known and prosperous family, but after my father took over the company following my grandfather’s death, he worked and pushed us to stay at the top. And I’d been trained to do the same, eventually. But I never expected it to happen like this. I knew my life was about to change substantially, and everything that was expected of me would now be coming to fruition much sooner than I could have ever expected.
My father was expecting me to take over from him, continue to prosper, and drive the company into the ever-changing markets, but that always seemed like such a faraway thought. He always took me under his wing and let me make mistakes when needed, allowing me to learn and grow from them. He never held a grudge or condemned me for actions and decisions made in the office.
For the past eight years, he had given me a large amount of the company to run myself. But he was always there should I need his advice or guidance.
His leaving was never meant to happen so soon.
He was only sixty-nine, for fuck’s sake.
How could this be happening?
What was my mother going to do? How was she going to cope? Losing Dad was going to destroy her.
How was Kara going to manage this? She always struggled when something terrible happened, even when we were kids. And then there was Heather. Unlike Kara, she never hid her sorrow or worries. She wore every emotion on her sleeve. She was always quieter and more subdued than Kara.
We were never a super affectionate family growing up, but one thing I remembered was how, at dinner times, we would all be together, and Father would check in with everyone. It became our routine. Everyone would give him a run down on how their days were, whether it was things that happened at school, or my sisters complaining and gossiping about their group of friends.
And even though my mother usually sat back nursing a glass of wine, she always filled in anything important that we’d forgotten to mention. Or reminding Father of which functions they had to attend that week or appointments he needed to remember. They worked together as a team. Between the two of them, they managed to have it all—do it all.
It was only when I was older and working myself, did I realize just how well he balanced his work and family life. We were never an afterthought. I had no idea how he managed it. How was I ever meant to live up to that? The thought that I was expected to fill his shoes made me feel physically sick.
I retrieved my phone off the table and tried to call Serena again. I had called more than forty times since leaving my parents’ house. I left dozens of messages. Why wasn’t the one person I needed to see right now not answering? Why wouldn’t she hear me out?
It felt like the walls were closing in on me.
Feeling dazed, I reached for the decanter and poured myself another drink.
***
It had been ten days since I last saw Serena and found out my father was dying. I had continued my attempts to call her every day. Each time, it rang through to her voicemail. Most of the time, I wouldn’t leave a message. However, when I’d call her in the evening after I’d drowned my sorrows, I often felt the need to leave one. They varied from please answer, hear me out, what Verity said was a complete mistake, and God dammit. Why won’t you answer? I did nothing wrong!
I knew I was becoming desperate. The previous week, we’d had two meetings with her firm about issues with the takeover. Both times, she had sent her associates. There was another meeting scheduled for today, and unlike the other two, the heads of finance, legal, and PR were also attending. I knew that compared to the others, this one was more important. I desperately hoped that she would attend this one. Surely, it was too important for her to miss? But deep down in my gut, I knew she was hurt. And despite me knowing the truth, she, however, didn’t and instead thought I was a liar and a cheat. But it wasn’t the truth.
Our meeting was scheduled for 4:30, but I had already found myself sitting ready and waiting in the boardroom from 4:00. I made Charlotte re-arrange the last appointment I had lined up for the day in the fruitless hope that she would show up. I needed time. Time to explain. Time to talk. It was time to make her want me again because I knew I needed her.
The door opened, and Mike from Legal, Daniel from PR, and Tim from Finance walked in. They were all busy talking about the two new interns who had started working in finance that day. Instead of listing the attributes they brought to the company, Tim tried debating which was better, blonde or brunette. The other two were happily engaged in this ridiculous conversation, and their voices were already setting my teeth on edge. They were shocked to find me seated at the head of the table, waiting for the meeting to start. I gave them a stern look, and they shut up. Charlotte entered, handing everyone the notes for the meeting, and in an attempt to block the other guys out, I put my head down to skim through the file in front of me.
It wasn’t until I registered the sounds of stilettos clicking that I looked up and saw Serena walk around to the far side of the table.
My body reacted instantly as my eyes fell upon her. I drank in the very sight of her. She wore a gray top, with a short black blazer. It wasn’t until she walked out from behind that I saw she had on a black leather pencil skirt. She was even more beautiful than I remembered. If that was even possible, but it wasn’t her body I missed the most. It was how she made me feel. She made me happy. I liked who I was when I was around her. She made me feel free and even gave me hope that I could change the narrative of my life. She was someone I could turn to who I could open up to.
She conducted most of the meeting, giving updates on progress and the offers that some owners were putting forward and pointing out issues we faced that no one from PR or Legal had brought up yet.
The meeting lasted almost forty minutes, and she avoided eye contact with me. Whenever I asked a question or directed the conversation towards her, she either looked down at her notes or spoke generally to the other people at the table.
I was not going to put up with this anymore. I’d tried to talk to her, reaching out and getting her to give me a chance, and she had given me nothing. I had to take a chance. I didn’t care anymore.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Ms. Parker has given us much work to get on with. I think it’s best if you all go and get on with it, especially Mike and Tim. And let’s not make it a habit of letting others find gaps in your work.”
“Yes, sir.”
They all got up and left the boardroom with obvious embarrassment etched across their faces.
