Stepping off the elevator, I had electricity in my gait, excited to show Ox all I’d accomplished. He’d be a hard sell. Even though he was my big brother he was still as strict as ever when it came to the business. I wasn’t sure what he’d do with the information I was presenting, but Ox was a good boss as much as he was a good brother. He’d find something suitable for me, I was sure of it.
And who knew, maybe I’d get to move to the social media department and start my own campaign. Maybe I’d get tasked on a certain division of product and get to specialize in my preferred area. Maybe I’d get to lead my own…
I shook myself out of that last thought before I let my head get too big for my station. I was only going into his office to present my baseline, not to make any big waves. I would have to be happy with whatever he came up with from there.
And I would be. Or, Iwould’vebeen if I ever got that far, but on the way up to the top floor I was intercepted by Grace.
Grace Ulburn was the very serious, very annoying Lead Operations Manager for Fernandez Inc, my family’s company. She handled efficiencies here. Basically, she was every manager’s manager. She made sure every division was operating at a frequency fit for my brother’s standards. Her entire job was to know everyone else’s job inside and out. Meaning, her main day-to-day consisted of popping around corners and making sure you knew your place.
She was dry, to the point, and mean. She was a miniature Ox, and that’s probably why he’d hired her since lately he was spending less time at the business after getting married. Nowadays, he went home when it was still light outside and took lunch breaks to meet my sister-in-law Clem in the city instead of working every hour he could.
So while Grace was scary, with her dark stares and power suits, she was needed. At least to help my brother out.
She also had impeccable timing.
Exiting the elevator, I thought I’d be able to walk right into Ox’s office. I normally let myself into his big steel door with no qualms. His assistant, Ursula had been with the company a long time and knew Ox never said no to family. No one came up to the top floor anyway. Mátti, my other brother and the second son in our family, might’ve if he’d ever considered the Vice President position he was promised. And sometimes Melissa snuck up here to work in peace and quiet, but otherwise, Ox enjoyed his solitude.
This time, as I neared Ursula’s desk outside Ox’s closed office door, I was stopped by her holding out both hands in a stop motion.Weird.
“Look at you, honey. You look all ready for the science fair,” Ursula said in the polite voice she always kept.
Ursula Weathers was a short dark woman in her mid-fifties with a gray bun that was always tucked at her nape and a soft cardiganthat was always buttoned to the hollow of her throat. She was sweet as can be, but she also meant business and was willing to do almost anything for her boss. Ox said she was one of the best assistants he’d ever had and she was valued highly around here.
She also seemed to think of me as the equivalent of a middle schooler heading to her favorite teacher’s classroom, apparently.
“Hey, Urse,” I said. I set my load down beside her desk and rose to my full height to adjust my clothes. I was nervous. Which was ridiculous, because I was just going in to talk to my brother. But this had to be perfect. And it would be. I was ready. “Ox is in there, right?”
I started my way toward the door before she even answered. I knew he was in there and I was determined to get this done. But those hands were thrown out in front of her again in a frantic wave. “Hold on, hun!”
“What?” I halted. “He’s in a meeting?”
“Not quite. But Mrs. Fernandez is in there,” she said.
“Amá?”
Urse opened her mouth to speak, but it wasn’t her voice that snapped across the room.
“Ms. Fernandez! Is it not well past the time of your weekly development meetingdownstairs?” the voice, belonging to none other than Grace herself, asked.
Darn!
I was less than thrilled to be running into her. On top of her usual no nonsense behavior, I was sure she hated my guts. I wasn’t too fond of her either, though I tried not to show it as I turned to face her.
“Good morning, Grace.”
“Morning, Alta. Now, about that meeting?” She closed the last few feet between us and took a power stance in her power suit. Arms crossed, hip out, heeled foot tapping. “You’re needed.”
“Actually, I don’t really do much in those meetings, so I was just going to show Ox something,” I said, trying to side step her.
She stepped with me, reassembled her power stance, and glared. “Alta, your brother is busy. He doesnothave time for family reunions during work.”
And there we go. At least once a day Grace couldn’t help herself from commenting on the fact that Ox was the CEO and also happened to be my brother. Apparently, it was an egregious insult to be related to anyone in this business, or maybe it was just whenIwas the one related to him. Because from what I’d seen, Lis had never once gotten a comment like that one from anyone.
I swallowed down my first instinct to feel sorry for myself and tried again. “Grace, he’s just in there with my mom. It’ll only be a minute.”
“Actually, he’s in there with his wife, and he’s requested not to be bothered for the morning,” she said, looking down on me.The only thing she knew how to do.
“Oh,” for the first time that morning I felt some of the steam leave me. Looking down at my materials I resisted the urge to kick the ground dejectedly. Bending, I started to gather my stuff. “Okay, I’ll grab him later then.”
