“Yes.” He says as he sits down in one of the chairs and places his hands behind his head. I see my dad heading in, so I wait by the door. “Hey sweetie.” He says as he walks in.
“We heard about Bob. What’s going on here?” I ask.
A few of the other sales guys trickle in, so my dad gives me a small smile. “Might as well tell everyone at once.” He motions for me to sit down.
I sit on the opposite side of the room from Sawyer. My dad clears his throat as the last of the sales guys walk in. “Hey everyone, I’m sure you all have heard rumors about Bob. I want to address that first. Yes, Bob is no longer with the company. As far as the why, we don’t need to get into that.”
A few of the guys groan. “C’mon! Spill the details!” One of them shouts.
My dad laughs. “Moving on. We obviously need to fill in for all the work Bob was doing, so we need an interim manager. I brought Blake to the meeting today because she is going to be acting manager of your team for the time being.”
I open my eyes, surprised. I’ve been asking my dad for more responsibility lately, and I have put in enough time to be due for a promotion, but I’m still surprised. In fact, I can tell by his tone that there is definitely a ‘but’ coming. I just can’t for the life of me figure out what it would be.
My dad continues. “Since she will be learning the whole new territory, this will be a joint effort with Sawyer.”
I feel the blood drain from my face, and I whip my eyes over to Sawyer. It’s like he knew what was coming because he was already staring back at me with a satisfied smirk. I turn back to my dad in disbelief. He hates Sawyer even more than I do. How could he do this?
He continues. “Sawyer will be handling the hands-on sales responsibilities and Blake will handle the administrative side. I’m not sure exactly how long we will keep this arrangement, but in the meantime please direct all your questions to them. That’s all. Thanks for coming in. Let’s get back to it.”
The guys start to funnel out of the conference room, but Sawyer doesn’t follow. I feel him approach my chair from behind. I haven’t even stood up yet because I’m in too much shock. He leans down closer. “How cute. We can play mommy and daddy.”
I push my chair back as I stand abruptly. I whip around. “Give me a minute with my dad before I fucking murder you.” I grit out.
He gives me a full blown smile. “Whatever you say boss.”
He turns and walks out the door, so I am left with only my dad. I turn to him and narrow my eyes. “How could you?”
He gives me a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “Hey, don’t think I’m happy about this situation either, but why are you upset? You’ve been asking for this promotion.”
I sag back down into the chair across from him. “Yeah, but that promotion wasn’t supposed to include a side of douchebag.”
My dad raises an eyebrow at me. “You think I wanted to invite him here? He fucking walks in here like he owns the Goddamn company. Sometimes sweetie we have to set aside our pride and do what’s best for business. Prove that you can do that by working with him, and then we can talk about a more long-term solution to the problem.”
“So you’re saying if I can get through this without murdering the man, I’ll get a real promotion?” I ask smugly.
My dad laughs. “You have a deal if you can beat last quarter’s numbers.”
I open my mouth wide. “Beat? We just lost the sales manager. Can’t we at least make it match last quarter?”
My dad grins at me. “Negotiating. I like it.”
I smile back thinking I’m going to get my way, but then my dad adds on. “Sometimes negotiations don’t go your way. Rule number one. Beat last quarter and we’ll talk.”
I make a grumbling noise and stand up. “Fine.”
I walk towards the door, but my dad stops me. “Love you sweetie!” He calls out.
I glance back at him and smile. “Love you too.” I roll my eyes.
I whip back around and take a step forward, but I slam right into someone. “Jesus.” I pull back to Sawyer’s smiling face. “Were you just waiting here the whole time?”
He nods. “Of course. We need to work out custody of our children.”
I roll my eyes as I walk back toward my desk. “How about you continue to be the irresponsible dad who leaves all the real work for the mom, and you can continue to schmooze your way into more sales.”
He smirks. “I knew we could come to an agreement.”
I sit back down at my desk. “I’m going to have Marcy help me get all the accounts organized today. We can talk details tomorrow once I know what I’m dealing with.”