“Brilliant, right? He also asked me to pass along his card.” He reached into his pocket and handed it to her. She accepted it gingerly with shaking fingers, remembering the first time Taylor had tried to give her his business card. “He said to come see him if you have any questions or concerns about the process, and he let me know that he’d be in touch with you personally.”
Sam stared down at the card, mentally tracing his name.
“I’m very excited about this future endeavor,” he said, rising to his feet again.
She stood, forcing a smile. While she was confused as to what Taylor hoped to gain from this whole thing, this was actually a huge deal for Mr. Harper, and she couldn’t help but be happy for him. “As you should be, this is huge.”
“I have you to thank for this,” he said, shaking her hand. “Well, you and Mr. Jennings. He said it was your impassioned speech you gave him the other night about saving my company that ultimately changed his mind about liquidating it and reassigning my employees.”
“It was nothing.” Actually, I had no idea about it at all. “I’m happy Harper Enterprises will live to see another day, sir.”
“Me too.” He pushed the chair back into place. “I better go tell Martha. She’ll be so happy.”
The smile on her face was real, despite the ache inside her—ugh, she’d have to talk to him, now that he bought Harper Enterprises. “I bet. We’ll talk later.”
He waved and walked away while she sat at her desk, staring at the tiny piece of rectangular card stock. She tapped her fingers on her thighs, debating the best course of action. An email? A text? A short, professional phone call? Email. Definitely email. She pulled her keyboard out, fully intending to take the coward’s way out of speaking to him.
Dear Mr. Jennings,
It has come to my attention that you used my plan to save Mr. Harper’s company without my consent—
She backspaced that whole sentence.
Dear Mr. Jennings,
Thank you for your attention to the Harper Enterprises case, and your unwanted help—
Again. Delete.
Dear Taylor,
I love you. I miss you. Fuck you.
She aggressively deleted that one.
“Sam!” her boss, Jessica, called, waving at her excitedly.
Sam jumped out of her skin, quickly closed the email, and stood with a racing heart. She’d never seen her stalwart boss so…so…happy. “Yes—?”
“I just got off the phone with Mr. Jennings from Jennings Consolidations. When he called me at home this weekend, I almost hung up on him, but when he informed me that he was buying Harper Enterprises and asked for permission to contact you with any questions pertaining to your business plan, I could have kissed the man. What a great move, for us and Mr. Harper.”
“I—” Sam started.
“Mr. Harper was certainly pleased with the end results. With Mr. Jennings’s financial backing and expertise, hopefully this works, and we will be able to convince him to help more companies stay solvent or accept a buyout, whichever is best for them.”
Her heart picked up
speed, because she was right. It was a huge move for everyone.
“I even got him to agree to consider more cases such as Mr. Harper’s in the future,” Jessica said in a rush. “I’d like you to be his personal contact in all of this. If we catch his interest with another company, you can draft the reports, since he liked your style so much.”
Sam swallowed hard. “Uh…”
“He said he attended a few galas and got some backers over the weekend, but he wants to go to the Mertz Fundraiser tomorrow evening to make an official announcement. I told him I wouldn’t miss it for the world, but I thought it would be a good idea for you to go, too, to help represent us in this new endeavor. Mr. Jennings wasn’t sure you’d be able to make it, but I told him I couldn’t imagine you missing it. The color scheme is red. You have something red to wear, right?”
She forced a smile, not really seeing any way around this. Either she could admit she didn’t want to go because she’d slept with their new friend, and ruin her chances at helping people, or she would have to come up with another believable reason not to—AKA lie.
And she didn’t like lying.