Page 11 of Rebel

I shut the closet door and gave him a nod. “Women too. Keeping your word isn’t just a man thing.”

Before he could respond, I heard a meow from what I thought was his tool bag. “Do you have a cat ringtone on your phone?”

He smirked at me. “No, I brought Katy Purry. I’m fostering her and she gets anxious when I leave her all alone.”

Ignoring that, I said, “Follow me, please. I’ve drafted out a contract I want you to look over.” When the cat meowed again, I felt the need to state the obvious, “You know you can’t take your cat out on jobs, right? That wouldn’t be professional.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of that. I’ve got other plans for Miss Purry.”

We walked into my office, and I sat down behind the desk. Benny took one of the two empty seats in front of my desk and put his cat carrier on the other.

I didn’t really know what to make of this man who brought his cat to iron out the details of a professional partnership agreement. It seemed out of the realm of possibility that this could be construed as normal in his world. If Zoe and her husband hadn’t vouched for him, I would have turned the handsome bastard away at the first meow. By the way he was smirking all over the place, I was almost certain that he had some trick up his sleeve. I just couldn’t imagine what it could be.

I slid the rough draft of our agreement over the desk for him to read along as I explained each part. He picked it up and started reading, so I quickly launched into the speech I had prepared.

“The first part of the agreement stipulates that we’ll keep both of our businesses separate. Livingstone Electrical has beenin business for over thirty years. Until very recently we were well respected in Griffinsford. I intend to do everything humanly possible to get our family business back on track.”

“Do you even have the authority to speak on behalf of Livingstone Electrical? How do I know your parents won’t blindside me further down the line by refusing to follow this nice partnership agreement you’ve sketched out for us today?”

This guy was smart, way smarter than he looked. I’d have to give him that. But I was smart enough to have solved that problem over the weekend.

I pulled out a notarized copy of the power of attorney my parents signed for the business appointing me to act in their stead moving forward. “Since I’m their only heir, in addition to having their express permission to make whatever decisions I see fit to get the business back on track, I stand to inherit the business in the unfortunate event of their death.”

“Shit,” he responded sounding a little shocked. “You talk about your parents dying with the kind of casual ease that someone with a cold heart would.”

My mouth dropped open because he wasn’t the only one shocked by this conversation. “I love my parents dearly. Don’t ever make the mistake of thinking that because I can discuss their death that I’m not dreading that with every fiber of my being.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right. I recently lost my mom and can tell you right now that I sorely underestimated the gaping hole losing a parent leaves behind.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. I truly am. However, it’s probably best if we keep our conversation professional today.”

His eyebrows flew up again. “Sure, Ms. Livingstone. Whatever you say.”

“Look Benny, I’m not trying to be rude.”

“You can call me Mr. Ross. You were the one who said to keep things professional. Let’s move on. We’ve got this whole partnership agreement to get through and you’ve got employees coming in soon.”

“I texted everyone and asked them to come in at ten this morning. But you’re right. We’d best get through this material.” Taking a second to catch my breath, I felt anxiety twisting in my gut. This man had a way of catching me off guard and putting me on the defensive. I couldn’t let him get to me. I had to overlook his prickly personality and make this work.

I glanced up at him as I rearranged the papers on my desk. He was wiggling his finger in front of the cat carrier, tapping the cat’s feet.

Getting back on task, I picked up where I left off. “Mr. Ross, if you’d like to read over the first section. It deals with the structuring of our partnership. You keep your own clients, and so does Livingstone Electrical. All the calls that come in through our company line belong to my family’s business.”

He took the piece of paper and gave it a cursory glance, but didn’t look up or seem interested in asking questions, so I continued, “If you forward the calls from your business line to me, I’ll answer using your business name and those clients will obviously belong to you exclusively. I’ll keep your electronicappointment book, which you can sign into at any point to maintain an awareness of your workflow. I can flag which clients are yours, invoice them whatever your going rate is per hour, and forward that money to your business account immediately.”

“That all sounds fine,” he commented. “I’ll give you as much notice as possible when I need a day off. Obviously, if emergencies come up, we’ll have to reschedule jobs.”

“I understand completely. If you jump down to the next paragraph, I’ve built in some consequences for poaching each other’s clients. There’s a penalty of twenty-five percent on top of whatever was billed.”

A smile ghosted across his face. “It’s weird that you felt you needed a consequence. I would have gone with a verbal agreement and mutual trust on that one.”

“I prefer something a little more tangible. Plus, I thought you’d appreciate that clause because I’m the one taking all the incoming calls, which puts you at distinct disadvantage. In any event, I’ll keep track of when your taxes are due and calculate what you need to pay based on the income you generated for your business. And I’ll keep track of all the information you need in order to file your taxes at the end of the year. You can use my tax specialist. I’ll be happy to send your information alongside my own but I’m not paying for that. I’ll forward you his invoice and you’ll need to pay that on your own.”

“It looks like you’ve thought of everything. I saw that you outlined all my responsibilities as well. You wrote that this is a front-facing position, dealing directly with customers. I’m to give estimates, source and pick up my own supplies, complete jobs in a timely manner and communicate with you about whatwork was done, so you can bill for it. I’m not going to read it all out loud because it’s a fairly comprehensive list.”

“It’s all pretty standard. Did you note the hourly rate our company is willing to pay?”

“Yeah, that seems generous enough. The issue for me is that you want me to keep two separate travel logs. I don’t see that as necessary.”

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