Chapter Eighteen
Ben
“GOOD MORNING, MR. O’LEARY,” an older gentleman greeted Ben as he made his way into the office. He hated the formality of being addressed by his last name, but older employees demanded the formal structure, so he allowed it. Many of the younger employees simply called him Ben, and he was fine with that as well. There weren’t many CEOs at his level going by their first names, but Ben liked to be an anomaly.
“Morning. What’s on the docket for the day, Rachel?” He greeted his friend and assistant as he approached his office. As usual, she was moving between two desks, with a headset on her head and a stack of papers in her hand.
“Good morning! How was your night?” She quizzed him, right on his heels as he moved into his office.
“Great. What are those?” Glancing over his shoulder, he struggled to get a peek at the paperwork she was holding.
“The contracts for next spring’s line and the designs for this year’s Christmas costumes,” she smiled, carefully placing the sheets on Ben’s desk.
“When are these going into production?” Looking over an elf costume designed for a golden retriever, he asked the question almost automatically. Each year, the designers would have to go back and forth with updates of the design until Ben was full satisfied. No costume, toy, or accessory could ever be completed without Ben’s signature of approval.
“If those are approved, I think they will begin next week,” Rachel answered, flipping through a book for confirmation.
“Yeah. Let’s get these going,” Ben announced, bending to sign his name on the print out before moving on to the next sheet of paper.
One by one, he moved from one task to the next, adding his signature and giving notes for Rachel to deliver to the coordinating team
s. He was very involved with his business and enjoyed these morning catch-ups, it was the only way he could stay involved with everything.
“That should be enough for now. Is there anything else you wanted to discuss?” Rachel asked, as she gathered the sheets of paper, carefully tucking them away in a folder.
“When is my first meeting?” He glanced at his watch to see it was just after eight.
It was a late morning for Ben, but after a late-night workout session, which was much needed to burn off some tension, he slept in a little later than usual. He felt like a new, lighter version of himself after his date with Katherine. She helped him relax and live in the moment. When they were together, he wasn’t thinking about designs or business meetings. She was all that mattered, and she didn’t even know about his business.
“Not until nine. I thought you had a gym appointment this morning,” Rachel explained, as she walked out of the office.
“It’s okay,” he assured her as Rachel stopped and held one finger in the air.
“Good morning. Mr. O’Leary’s office. How can I help you?” She answered an incoming call in a voice even cheerier than her normal tone.
“Oh, hi, Will,” she giggled his name, her cheeks blushing rapidly. Glancing at Ben, she smiled before heading out of his office. “Let me see if he’s free,” she looked back to Ben who quickly nodded before lifting his own receiver.
“Will!” He called over the line to his friend. Rachel was scampering outside the door, dropping the stack of papers onto her desk as she fell into her seat dramatically.
Ben laughed to himself, seeing how worked up she got every time she talked to Will. They were his two oldest friends and their attraction to each other was obvious to everyone but the two of them.
“Mr. CEO! How everything going down there?”
“I’m hanging tough. Are you saving the world?” Ben teased. He always poked fun at Will’s humanitarian efforts, because through his charities, he figured he would one day solve all problems.
“One event at a time,” Will joked back.
It was the new way of activism, collecting up all the wealthy people you knew and getting them to donate some of their money to the causes you cared about most. Will had a plethora of organizations he worked with, and Ben was one of the main donors to each charity.
“You were supposed to call me with the details to your next event,” Ben reminded him of their agreement over lunch a few days prior.
“What do you think I’m doing now?” He quipped and the two chuckled in unison. “It’s this Saturday, and it’s going to be black tie. I’ll make sure Rachel gets all the details. Speaking of which, are you bringing her?” Will asked, trying to sound casual.
Occasionally, Ben would bring Rachel to events as his ‘plus one,’ because he never liked parading his women in the spotlight. When he dated someone, it was private and he tried to keep it under wraps for the most part. Katherine was different. He found himself wanting to do everything with her, and so he took a different approach with Will’s charity event.
“No, I think I’m going to bring a date instead,” Ben replied.
Whenever he brought Rachel to events, Will would volunteer to show her around and then Ben would never see her again anyway. He wanted to push his old friend to make the move he had been putting off for years.