Dean held his hands up. “No one will get turned away. You will forward the request to either myself or Starr and we will assign it accordingly. Look we’re not trying to take annual events away from you.” He glanced at Starr again. “We’re just aware that these nonprofits are very easy to get, especially in December, therefore we haven’t been working as hard to get those profitable ones on our calendar. And that is where we need our focus to be this season.”
A few more simultaneous call outs and mumbled chatter began before Starr appeared to become frustrated and spoke. “If anyone has a problem they’d like to bring up, then maybe we can separately discuss if this is the right place for you.”
Silence instantly filled the room. Finally, Dean thanked everyone in a softer voice to counteract the mood, and promised a follow up meeting in the weeks to come.
I walked back to my desk. A few folks had gathered around cubicles, whispering away. I was still too new to join any one of them. Not that I could say much anyway. Dean and Starr made a great point and the fact that people frowned at it as if they’d just canceled prom night, told me I wasn’t at Brightman anymore. Where we were all professionals. And thrived at a good challenge.
I sat at my desk for barely a second before seeing Starr stride into the elevator with her coat.
It was rare for Dean to be in his office alone. And given his recent speech, I needed to have a few words with my new boss. His demands were of little concern to me since Ineverhad a problem landing a deal. Butsomethingwas up that he wasn’t quite sharing. And that was a big problem for me.
After losing my job at a week’s notice, the last thing I needed was secrecy if the company was in trouble. Which Dean failed to mention when he offered me a position here.
Before even giving myself a moment to think about how to approach this, I was at his door. “Dean?” His elbow was resting on his desk and he rubbed his forehead.
His eyes shot to me. “Elle, not a good time,” he mumbled.
I didn’t assume it was. But to hell if that was going to stop me. His firm was clearly facing a downturn and after what I’d just been through, I was supposed to just ignore that?
“You know, Dean,” I started after letting myself into the office and closing the door behind me. “I wish I could have said ‘not a good time’ when I lost my job before reaching retirement, but life doesn’t always work that way.” I shrugged with my palms pointed up, and gave a polite grin.
For a moment, Dean seemed as though he was going to throw me theI don’t know what you’re talking aboutcard, but when I shot him my cold glare that I knew Dean remembered from when we argued over who got to keep the booking at Conrad Ballroom, he blew out a strong breath and stood.
Dean’s eyes flashed outside the glass walls just before he pointed to the chair in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
I didn’t intend on having a full sit-down discussion, but followed his instruction and planted my butt on one of the chairs, silently wondering if I should have just kept my mouth shut.
But as Ron Brightman would tell you, you’d think I was running the place the way I’d always interfere with business management.
Dean dropped back down into his chair and started shuffling paper on his desk, frowning at them and mumbling quietly. “I’m making it look like we’re discussing a project, so please play along.” He shot me a look and then pointedly glanced outside his glassed-in office where certain staff members may be prone to notice a non-project-related conversation.
“Elle, I know how Brightman used to operate. His entire staff had a quota. And not just on the jobs his staff pitched and accepted, but also in the ones he made his employeesturn down.”
That was true. Ron was solely focused on being the lead in the industry by turning down mediocre parties so that his talented staff only worked on high profile events.
I didn’t show any sign off agreement and waited for more.
“He was a man who cared more about the name he made for himself rather than the numbers,” Dean continued.
I raised a brow and shrugged since I found no fault in that. “I guess that would be an accurate description of my old boss, yes.”
“Well, we don’t work that way here. We don’t have quotas, we accept every job no matter how small or who the client is. And while Starr and I may not have money to throw away like Brightman did, we’ve done everything we could to get to be the third best in the city,” he paused and took a breath, probably because he realized he was raising his voice.
“I want you to know that none of what I said in there affects you. Your capabilities are highly valued here, and while no one else might appreciate your history in the industry, I do.”
“Thanks, but I’m not concerned about what I’m able to bring; I’m more curious about what you think you’re accomplishing by changing expectations on your team and not giving them a reason why.”
He leaned back in his chair; clearly not expecting to be challenged and glared at me as though I were an intern implying I should be put up for vice president. “Your concern is appreciated,” he finally stated. “If there’s nothing else, I need to prepare for a meeting.” He straightened in his chair, adjusting his jacket.
I stood, accepting my current position—as the nobody I apparently was—and walked out.
10
SCOTT
“I haveto hand it to you, Weston, I thought you’d bail on Levy—and what’s her name’s thing by now. But you’re darn set on bailing them out instead,” Donovan said that Friday afternoon at Smith’s Hotel bar around the corner from Hayes Enterprises. It was an end of the week ritual for us ever since I became a senior executive at H.E. Mainly it was Hayes’ way of winding down and talking about the week’s biggest wins and deals.And it was something we continued long after I left his firm.
With the way the man treated me, you’d have thought he never had children. But he did. He and Elaine had three successful children. Though neither wanted any part of real estate capitalism or anything else Hayes Enterprises did. After his two older daughters went to med school, he held out hope for his son, who was the youngest. Alfred ended up moving to L.A. two years ago to become a filmmaker.
