Page 71 of Insufferable Boss

"Our relationship has always been strained. More than anything, it was always based on performance, and that wasn't good for anybody. But when I left college and joined the company, and I was able to perform well, we never ran out of things to talk about concerning the business, at least. And naturally, this extended to other personal topics from time to time, but nothing too deep."

My thoughts drifted away to the man that I had revered and was incredibly fond of, and for the first time in a long while, as I thought of him, I felt something of warmth come into my heart. I really did miss him, but I had never been able to take his loss as anything but tragic. He hadn't suffered for too long with his illness, but in my selfishness to have him here, I had always wished he had, if it meant that he could remain longer. But now... I was beginning to truly live in a world where he wasn't around, and as I stared at the gorgeous woman before me, who was also lost in thought about her own father, I suspected, I could trace one of the reasons why.

"Do you ever think that our fathers wanted to pit us against each other by giving us all equal equity of the company?" she asked suddenly. It wasn't a strange question to me at all, but the fact that it was coming from her felt particularly funny to me, so I couldn't help but laugh.

"What is it?" she asked as she handed me a plate.

"It's something that I've thought about," I said. "But in a different light."

"How so?" she asked as she handed over another plate and began to cook a second steak.

I watched her, wondering if I could reveal this bit to her. She was a competitor, I was certain, but I didn't think she was antagonistic enough to always want to be in the spotlight, or else she would have been gunning for my position in one form or another from day one.

"I know he gave us all an equal share to level out the playing field for sure. What I'm just not sure of is how many people he wants remaining."

At this, she stopped and turned to stare at me.

"Oh shit," she said, and I smiled.

"Yeah. This is some kind of game."

"Yes," she replied.

"At first, I was somewhat upset about it, but not anymore. Playing favorites would have definitely caused even more strife than we are currently dealing with."

"You're right," she said in a contemplative tone. "I wonder, though, if they did this long before either of them even thought about dying or with some hint of it in mind."

"What do you mean?" I asked, almost certain of what she was getting at but still not completely sure.

She met my gaze.

"Do you think they were going to step back beforehand and enjoy watching us fight to the death for it?"

I smiled.

"I considered this at one point, but now I know that it wasn't the case at all."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think they just did it to give us all a chance, including you."

"Including me?" She stopped briefly to look at me.

"Sure. He knew you had your own thing going and that you probably had no interest in the future to join Standard Rock, but there was always a possibility that you would. He used to talk to me about it from time to time."

Her eyes widened as she heard this.

"He did?"

"But he mentioned it so casually that it was easy to miss. But now that you're here, and in retrospect, a lot of things seem much clearer."

"Yeah," she said, growing silent. I returned to the counter and took one of the filled plates with me.

"Was he sure I was going to join the company?" she asked without looking back.

"From what I know, no," I replied. "He just mentioned it from time to time. The things you were doing with your company and the divisions he would have loved for you to take over and handle in this company."

She returned her attention to what she was doing, while I pulled out my phone to check the last batch of emails for the day.

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