Page 17 of February

Dale Musgrave clearly didn’t want her to be introduced to everyone in the office yet. That meant the people working here likely had no idea that the company was about to be sold. While Monica understood why business owners didn’t share that information prematurely, she generally found that the more transparent they were with their employees, the better the overall process went for everyone.

“I’ll introduce you to our daughter as well. Bridgette?” He said the name a little louder than the sentence before it.

Monica turned, following his gaze, and caught sight of a young woman with auburn hair around her shoulders that had a slight frizz to it, something she could empathize with. The green eyes were aimed right at her in a glare.

“Bridgette,” he repeated.

“Yeah?” the woman said as she took a few steps toward Monica and was clearly hesitant about having to do it.

“This is Monica Arnette.”

“Monica is fine.” Monica held out her hand for Bridgette to shake.

Bridgette’s nose crinkled up at something as she took Monica’s hand, shook it hard, and then pulled back immediately.

“Oh, it’s not me,” Monica said, realizing. “I mean… I stepped in something right outside.” She pointed behind her as if Bridgette and Dale could see the pile of horse crap from here. “I stepped in horse manure. I tried to…”

Dale laughed and said, “Well, welcome to New Orleans.”

Bridgette didn’t laugh, though. She just kept on glaring.

CHAPTER 5

“She just walks in and sets up in the conference room like she owns the place,” Bridgette said as she took a drink.

“Who?” Kyle asked, sitting down next to Melinda, her girlfriend.

“This woman who wants to buy Bridgette’s company,” Melinda said before she leaned over and kissed her. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Kyle replied. “And someone’s trying to buy your company?”

“It’s a whole thing,” Bridgette replied as she picked up a chip from their shared nacho platter and took a bite.

“How was work?” Melinda asked Kyle.

“Fine. I finished translating the article and sent it off.”

“So, you’re free for the rest of the night?” Melinda asked her.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

Bridgette watched as the waiter approached to see what Kyle wanted to drink. Kyle ordered, and Bridgette looked at how her best friend in the world looked at her new girlfriend as if she hadn’t seen the woman in years when they’d woken up together that morning. Bridgette wanted that for herself as well, more than anything. She always had. She wrote the cards that talked about it and drew the images that, at times, appeared on the cards, too. She had been doing it since she graduated from college and had planned on doing that until she retired whileshe also took over more of a leadership role at the company that her parents were now thinking about selling out from under her, leaving her with no professional future for the first time in her entire life.

“So, the company?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah. Her name is Monica. She’s a total type A, New Yorker, one of those uppity types, and definitely a pain in the ass.”

“Didn’t you spend all of maybe five minutes with her?” Melinda asked.

“Yes, because she was late. She said the weather prevented her from flying down yesterday, but she was still over an hour late for the meeting my parents had scheduled with her people because, yes, she has people. She probably has two assistants, like Miranda Priestly, because she thinks she’s that important.”

“Have you tried talking to your parents about the company being sold?” Jill asked as she placed her phone back on the table and picked up a chip covered in cheese and sour cream.

“I tried.” Bridgette sighed. “They told me it was our best option. I even asked my mom if I could look at the books and see if I could come up with something myself, but she said we’d all be doing that as part of this vetting process for the sale. I get this vibe from them that they’re maybe embarrassed to show me the numbers or something.”

“Could be,” Melinda replied. “You’re their kid, and they were going to hand you the keys to the business, but now, they can’t.”

The waiter brought over Kyle’s drink and set it down.

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