Page 10 of The Only Time

She nods her head, thankfully not asking anymore questions. “You have a morning meeting with Adam to go over the staffing analysis for your current project. He wants to get some questions answered before he goes any further. Then you have an eleven o’clock with your team. After lunch you have a meeting with Peter.”

She can’t make eye contact with me when she says the last part. My hands instantly ball into fists as I try to compose myself.

“Why does Peter want a meeting with me?” I say through clenched teeth.

Peter and I generally do our best to avoid any one-on-one contact. We don’t get along, but it’s not something that has ever really been openly acknowledged.

“This is a big acquisition. He said he wants to make sure everything is in order to make sure it is successful.”

Of course he does. While this does fall under his list of responsibilities, we’ve done just fine by me working with the VP of Acquisitions. Today, of all days, he wants to meet with me.

I do my best to suppress my anger under the appearance of indifference. “Fine. I’ll meet with him,” I say with contempt.

She nods at me, not calling me out on the fact that I have no say so in the matter. He’s the COO and while I don’t directly report to him, you don’t get to decline a meeting with him.

After she leaves me, I kick the garbage can under my desk, knocking it over. What the hell is going on with my life? Why does it feel like I’m losing the tight grip of control that I worked so hard for? It’s the only thing that’s kept me together in the last couple of years. That and my hobby, which nobody else knows about. I don’t know why I keep it a secret.

Yes, you do.

I look at the time and know that the next hour will be a bitch to keep my brain occupied until I meet with Ryan. I’m far too pent up to work productively. I might need a night out with the guys to find a woman to bring home. This energy needs to be released somehow.

I manage to get through most of the day, but I’m dreading this moment as I walk into Peter’s corner office.

He’s on the phone but holds up his finger at me to wait for him. I manage to turn around before I roll my eyes. He has pictures hanging all over his office of every important person he has ever met or done business with. It’s a wall to brag about how important he thinks he is. Not a single picture in his office of family members, not evenher.

Goes to show what he thinks is worth bragging about.

I turn around at the sound of the phone being placed on the receiver. Peter stands up and extends his hand. My body cringes at the feeling of his hand on mine.

“Thanks for meeting with me, Eric,” he says as he unbuttons his jacket and sits back down. “I know I’m not your favorite person.”

I feel suddenly weak and vulnerable in the face of his confidence.

“Let’s just focus on the reason for this meeting,” I bite.

“Fair enough,” he agrees.

While he talks logistics, I can’t help but take in the slight belly he seems to have acquired since I last saw him. The man is showing his age of fifty-two. It should make me feel better, but it just seems to create another surge of anger.

Peter walks me through exactly how he wants this acquisition to go, like I’m some kind of fucking moron who doesn’t do this for a living. He also just proves to me how this is all about image for him, and not about making decisions based on what’s best for our company and our employees.

Whether he likes it or not, the employees at this company that we are acquiring know the ins and outs of the business more than we do. I have found that listening to them and doing whatever we can to keep them on board through the transition is beneficial.

He just wants to make it as profitable as possible, whether or not that will work out well for us in the end makes no difference to him.

Instead of voicing my opinion just so he can flex his power over me and shut it down, I nod along so I can get the hell out of here as soon as possible.

By the time the meeting is over, I decide I need to get out of this office. Instead of sticking around, I head home.

All I want to do is head back to my barn to decompress, but when I pull in my driveway I realize that’s not going to happen.

Before I even open my front door I hear the commotion happening inside which doubles in octave once opened. I quickly wonder if I can escape to my barn without anybody realizing that I’m home. All I need to do is sneak into my bedroom and change out of my suit.

“Uncle Eric,” my niece Brielle screams as she runs up to me and wraps her arms around my leg.

She’s one of the only people in my life who can still bring out the softer side of me. Her presence instantly makes me feel better.

I reach down and pick her up. She’s four years old, and the best thing that has happened to our family. She lost her mom to cancer when she was an infant. It was a hard time for all of us. I didn’t think I would see my brother make it out of that situation. Luckily, he met Charlotte who is now pregnant and due in a couple of months. She’s the best mom to Brie and an incredibly supportive wife to Asher.

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