"I don't know, Tyler," I expressed as I passed the mashed potatoes across to him. "He seems kinda like a dick."
"Look," he said. "He's a multimillionaire, right? So what does he need to do with all that money?"
"Keep it flowing," asked Lynn quickly before digging into her pie.
"Exactly right," her father said, pointing at her with a fork full of green beans. "He buys real estate, puts an idea in there, makes a bunch of jobs, pays them well, and moves on to the next idea to put in the next building. He's not a schmuck so much as a guy that doesn't have time to fuck around while moving a lot of money."
"Ok that I get," I replied as I tried not to stare at Lynn savoring the fifth bite in her mouth. "I guess I just don't agree with some of his leadership decisions. Plus I don't know that I feel good about taking our new hire that far out so soon. She can do the job remotely from here."
_ _ _ _
I had gotten my wish. I asked for a secretary, and within a week I was doing interviews. I saw Lynn's name come across my morning list and I almost didn't have to do one. I knew I'd hire her and I knew it would be her because Tyler trained her for high school journalism and she was in college for Business Management and Accounting. There were plenty of other really good candidates, but they lacked a serious quality that I looked for in everyone on my team: a desire to stay and grow with us. I knew that if she was applying she wanted to grow to take over the company. Add that in with already knowing her, her experience, and a handful of other facts and it was really just a matter of going through the steps.
"Go home, Lynn," I insisted. "I'll finish up here and be right behind you."
"You sure," she asked. "I can run these down the hall real quick and get you outta here with enough time to shower before cooking."
"No," I insisted. "You went above and beyond today and you still have your second draft to start for Mrs. Moore's class. Jordan has been helping all week so a lot of the food is already done."
"Alright, Mr. B," she sighed. She picked up my sticky pad, wrote a note, and ripped it off. "Don't forget to stop and see John today. I picked up a card and a preroll to take to him."
"You're awesome," I said as I tapped a packet of papers to align and ready them for a paperclip. Lynn set my pad back in the pencil holder, picked up her gear, and left the office.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Stacy," she said to my top editor before closing the door.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Lynn," he replied as the door closed. He looked back at me. "Betta watch out. That girl gonna be runnin' this place someday."
"She just started, man," I replied as I heard my phone ding. "She hasn't even seen us on a bad day, yet."
"Fair point," he chuckled. "Butchu know she got it. Don't know why you didn't hire her to start with. Coulda saved us a lot of trouble with Tracy."
"She wanted girls and Goth music when we hired Tracy, not a job," I said flatly as I picked up my phone and unlocked it. It was a black and white picture of Lynn from her nose down just outside my office door. Her mouth was open and her tongue was out. The sticky note she held up to her cheek said -don't take too long at John's place, Daddy-. "She sure do got it tho, Stacy."
"Mmhmm. You know what I'm talkin' 'bout." I raised my eyebrow at him. "You ain't careful she gon' have all us runnin' errands and gettin' HER coffee."
"Heh, you might be right about that," I chuckled as I locked my phone. "She's a smart girl. Knows her audience. Real go-getter."
"Mhmm," he said again. "Aight bro I'm out."
"Cool man," I said happily. "You two coming over?"
"Naw," he said as he picked up his gear and turned to me. "He wants shrimp so we goin' to Red Lobster and doin' movie night."
"Right on, man," we fist-bumped. "Thanks for coming in today. Give him my love and enjoy the rest of your Thanksgiving."
"You too, bro," he nodded. "See you tomorrow."
Stacy left the office, I finished up, locked up, and was right behind him. After making sure old man John was fed, smoked, and his oxygen was still working I headed home.
I walked in the front door and was immediately greeted by the hot smell of well-seasoned meat just waiting to be finished and devoured. This was NOT good.
Tyler and his plus one were flying in from Atlanta. Jordan was out fixing a crisis with one of her companies. Jessica had 3 on-campus classes all at buildings across town from each other. Erika was coming in late after being with her folks on Thanksgiving. Stacy and his other weren't coming. And the rest of the partners were out of state with family.
