Page 120 of Rich and Bossy

“Are you all done bickering so we can watch some football?” Paxton’s mom stares down at all of us.

“Yeah, we ready for football with Aunt Hazel!” Both boys climb onto my lap, and now I may have to go buy them everything at the gift shop.

“Hey, what about me?” Paxton glares at them. “I actually played football, you know?”

“Sure you did, Uncle Pax.” Brayden pats him on the shoulder.

John’s dying laughing, along with Poppy.

“You were only good on that field because I ran the perfect five yard slant route.” I stick my tongue out at him.

Paxton’s dad remains stoic as ever, just sitting there, but I know he secretly loves all this.

“Hey, we made it!”

My eyes go wide the second I hear the voice and I turn to Pax. “Huh?” Then I turn back. “Hi Mom! Hi Dad!” And do my best to make it look like I’m wearing a happy surprised face. Not that I don’t love my parents, but Mom can be a bit, annoying, at football games. She likes to talk a lot.

“Hey, sweetie!”

Really, though. I had no idea they were coming. Oh well, it is kind of nice to have everyone together.

“How you handling things without me?” Paxton smirks at John. “You know you can call, if you need expert advice.”

“Pfft!” John laughs. “That’s a good one.”

John is now CEO of Rapid after a major upheaval with the board. Once Paxton’s revelations came to light, the board members who weren’t directly involved with the union-bustingtactics voted to remove the members who were. I’m sure it was all done to cover their asses, but they turned to John to help them save face after Paxton resigned.

I didn’t know John that well, but I’ve grown to love him. We’re kind of like best friends now. Best friends in the way we team up on Paxton to give him endless crap.

John is a good man. Paxton told me what he did when things got really bad, the lengths he went to, to try and protect Paxton, and the fact he asked about me when he found out about us. Cared more about that than what was happening to their company they founded. You cannot buy that kind of loyalty and integrity.

Man, he inherited a mess too. Pax said this challenge has really changed him even more for the better. Things were very rocky at the beginning, with volatile stock prices and big upheavals in management, but John stepped up and created a vision going forward.

So did the union vote. Hands down, that was one of the best days of my life. John has monthly meetings with all the union reps directly, and the stock price is just now back to even, but it’s back to being a company people are proud to work for. I couldn’t believe the amount of changes he was able to make in a year.

I’ve asked Paxton more than once if he misses running his company. He swears he doesn’t, that he’s much happier now than he ever was before. I don’t doubt his happiness—I even catch him whistling around the house sometimes, and John has confided in me over drinks that he would step aside in a heartbeat if Paxton ever wanted to go back, even offers him the job on occasion.

Paxton says he didn’t know how good life could be not working there. He has a seat on the board now, but that’s just a quarterly meeting. He consults with John and managementfrom time to time, and I think that’s enough for him. He absolutely loves getting more time with his nephews.

Over time, I’ve come to understand him better than I did before. It was never about the money, it was just the challenge, to make things better, more efficient. To grow their business as big and as fast as possible. The money was always a result of the company’s growth, never the end goal. The one mistake he said they made was going public too early.

John settles in beside Paxton, while I sit on his other side, each one of us with a nephew in our lap, even though they’re more gigantic every day.

“I guess I should be grateful you have any time for me at all.” John laughs. “Surprised I even recognize you.”

Paxton laughs it off. “Saw you last month. You miss me that much, babe? Why you complaining? We’re at a football game.”

“Yeah, it is actual work running a non-profit.” I side eye John. “We can’t all delegate everything and kick our feet up on our desks.”

John nudges Paxton. “You turn her against me?” He glances over to me. “What’d he promise you to mouth off like this? I’ll double it.”

“You should know by now Hazel makes up her own mind about people. If she thinks you’re a lazy sack of shit, maybe you are.”

Brayden’s eyes go wide. “Uncle Pax, you say a bad word. Aunt Hazel, he say bad word.”

I widen my eyes right at Paxton, nodding. “Yes, he did, didn’t he?” I turn to Paxton. “And I was joking with him and you know that.”

Now I realize the two of them are laughing.

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