Page 8 of The Boss's Triplet Surprise

Finally, he left the office. He considered taking the long way home, perhaps cutting through one of Chicago’s leafy parks, but the thought of emails to answer and invoices to look over beckoned him home. The rest of the weekend went by in a blur of work. On Sunday afternoon, Dan carved out a bit of time to work on his girlfriend problem, but he wasn’t able to come up with any solutions. The clock was ticking. Richard would expect to meet this wonderful girlfriend soon, and Dan was no closer to finding one.

Monday, he spent the morning in meetings before heading back to his office for his appointment with Leah. She was wearing a pair of slacks and a cream-colored blouse, her hair pulled back in a clip. She looked lovely and professional, but Dan couldn’t help thinking of how gorgeous she’d looked in that sundress on Saturday. He’d never seen her like that before and it was hard to forget.

“Hi, Dan.” Leah smiled at him, and Dan noticed a small dimple in the corner of her mouth on only one side. Her green eyes looked bright beneath her round glasses.

“Good afternoon.” Dan gestured for her to enter. “Thank you for agreeing to work on this once more.”

“My pleasure.” Leah slid into the seat across the table. “Shall we run through it once to start?”

“Sounds good.” Dan opened Leah’s presentation and cued it up to the first slide. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Good morning, everyone. I’m Dan Marley, CEO of RMA Pharmaceuticals. Joining me here today is Leah Adams, the head researcher of our newest fertility drug, Forenal.”

“Thank you all for having us today.” Leah smiled as though she were already in front of an audience. “Today, we’ll begin with a quick introduction to Forenal: its structure, effects, and possible prescriptive uses. Then we’ll open the floor for any questions from you. Forenal is primarily composed of…”

Leah continued with her description of the drug. It was a bit technical for Dan, whose background was more managerial than scientific, but he was able to follow for the most part. Yet, as Leah spoke the words they’d rehearsed so many times, Dan found his thoughts drifting. As excited as he was about Forenal, and several other promising drugs the company had created recently, Dan knew that it wouldn’t mean anything without his father’s approval. If Richard refused to recognize Dan’s successes and insisted on Dan becoming a family man before he could inherit the business, Dan would never achieve the success he craved, no matter how well any given drug performed on the market.

“Dan?”

Dan started and glanced at Leah, who was looking at him expectantly. It must have been his turn to continue the presentation.

“I’m so sorry, Leah. I’m a little distracted today.”

“I’ve noticed.” Leah raised her eyebrows. “Is everything all right?”

“Yes, of course. Please, set me up again.”

Yet Leah didn’t dive back into the presentation. Instead, she tilted her head slightly and looked at him. He had the unsettling feeling that she could see right through him.

“You know, I’d be happy to come back another time if you have other concerns. Though we probably know the presentation well enough without having to practice again.”

Dan sighed. “You’re probably right that we know it well enough. I really do apologize if it seems like I’m elsewhere today.”

“What are you thinking about?” Leah’s cheeks tinged slightly red just after she asked the question, which Dan found endearing from such a confident woman.

“Just… the future.”

“I think about the future too.” Leah gave a little shrug. “Well, more accurately, I worry about it. Especially lately. I think that’s normal. Is there something specific on your mind?”

Dan wasn’t about to tell Leah the details of what was going on with his father, but he still wanted to talk to her. She had that effect on him.

“I’m just having a bit of a disagreement with my father. Nothing that I can’t fix, but it’s a little harder than I expected it to be.”

“I get that.” Leah smiled slightly. “I know that I should be a lot more relaxed in my thirties, but I still feel like a lost little girl when I fight with my parents. Not that I fight with them as often anymore.”

“I wish that were the case for me. I almost feel that I disagree with my parents even more than when I was a teenager. When I was younger, I was sure they knew best, but the older I get, the more I wonder. My father, especially, is just so old-fashioned sometimes. I worry that he’s out of touch with the needs of the business world.”

“Hmm.” Leah looked thoughtful. “That must be difficult.”

“A bit.” Dan hesitated. “You mentioned that you worry about the future too.”

“Oh.” Leah blushed more deeply now. “It’s nothing, really.”

“No, you listened to me. Maybe I can lend an ear to you.”

“It’s just that, with my current project ending, I’ve found myself asking a lot of questions about my next step. For a long time, my career has been my top priority. And that’s been great, don’t get me wrong. But a successful professional life isn’t all I want.”

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