Chapter Twenty-Nine
Jake
Kristen stuck her head into my office. “You called me?”
“Uh, yes,” I said. “Just give me a second.”
I turned to Denver and smiled. “Other than that, everything looks good?”
“Everything looks excellent,” Denver nodded. “You’re doing a good job, Jake.”
“About that… I wanted to call in a meeting with the board soon,” I said, as Kristen walked into the room and shut the door. She hovered in the background, conscious not to make a sound.
“A meeting with the board?” Denver repeated. “Is it about the Shanghai deal?”
“No,” I said. “It’s personal.”
He frowned. “Personal?” It seemed he had a habit of repeating everything I said.
“Yes,” I nodded, struggling to keep the impatience from my voice.
“You’re not resigning, are you?” he asked. I was gratified to hear a little note of panic in his voice.
“Not exactly,” I said, enjoying making him squirm.
“Not exactly?” he repeated again.
He was a mousy man with a large mustache that was obviously groomed. He looked more like a cartoon character than a real person. He had been on the board for almost eleven years now and was one of the few board members who made the attempt to give me personal visits. I wasn’t sure if it was genuine concern or just random check-ups, but I had stopped caring about that a while ago.
“I just want to discuss a few things about my schedule and my workload.”
“You want more money?” he asked immediately.
“That’s not what I want to talk about,” I said. “Though if the board were to decide I deserved an increase in salary, I wouldn’t say no.”
“How urgent is this personal meeting of yours?” he asked, looking a little worried.
“How about we try and schedule it in for next week?”
Denver’s eyebrows hit the ceiling. I knew that getting all the members of the board together was a difficult thing to do. Which was why I had asked that the meeting be scheduled within a week. I figured that then it would happen within a month or two at least.
“Next week?” Denver said, repeating my last few words again. “That is impossible.”
“Make is possible,” I said pleasantly.
“Joseph is in China till the seventeenth, and Jonathan is in Mexico for another month…”
“Well, inform everyone and see when the closest possible available date for everyone is, okay?”
Denver sighed tiredly. “Fine… I’ll let you know.”
“Excellent,” I nodded.
“I’ll take my leave then,” he said as he stood up.
I walked him to the door, and Kristen opened it for him. He gave her an appreciative smile that bordered on creepy and then left.
“Do you think they’ll be cooperative?” Kristen asked.