It was what I’d been sent hereto do.
Sure, we could pretend I was “assessing,” but the truth was that even though technically we’d been hired by all three Sturm siblings, Duke Sturm and the board brought in Davidson and Partners for one reason: to get this company ready to go public.
My promotion and more depended on making sure it happened. No matter what Julia Ortiz’s luscious ass and full mouth did to me, there was too much riding on this for me to fuck it up. There was just too much depending on this for the firm and for me to let my head get turned by a woman who looked like she could barely stand the sight of me. The only sensible thing to do was to focus on my work and keep my thoughts as far away from Julia’s curves as possible.
I looked at my monitor and saw there were two new emails. One was from Julia, probably to arrange times for me to go see the programs. Instead of opening it like I was dying to, I ignored it. Nothing good could come of giving in to my urges when it came to this woman. Instead I clicked on the email from Tariq Ozuna, one of my team members, who was usually distracting in ways that wouldn’t get me fired. It was a forwarded evite and the subject line was “Gotham Exiles Club.” It looked like it was for some kind of happy hour.
The title of the meetup was a little extra, but I could use a drink and some time with people who took the edge off the homesickness I’d been feeling since I’d been in Dallas. Before I got a chance to look at the link to the event, I heard the staccato of killer heels coming down the hallway to my office, and prepared for the incoming barrage of “y’alls” and “sweethearts” headed my way.
“Oh, Muffy, he’s still here.”
As soon as I heard the Southern drawl of two of my new bosses, I turned my chair around to face them. Mitzy and Muffy, two-thirds of the Sturm empire.
“Ladies, how can I help you?” I stood up to greet them as they made their way into my office. I didn’t have to fake a friendly smile with Mitzy and Muffy. Even though they were not on board with the plan to go public, they’d been nothing but kind to me.
I extended a hand to the leather club chairs in front of my desk. “Please take a seat.” Without a word, they both sat down, their movements almost identical. I showed my teeth in what I hoped was a smile and smothered any thoughts related to Julia, happy hours, or anything that could interfere with me getting this job done.
“Thanks goodness we caught you. We just wanted to check on a couple of things now that you’ve connected with Gail at the foundation.” I could tell they were going with the “kill ’em with kindness” tactic. I didn’t doubt they were sincere, but they were also going way out of their way for these check-ins, when nothing had happened yet. But between them and their asshole brother, I’d pick them any day.
“Anything you need,” I said, with a dip of my head, smile still very much firmly in place.
Mitzy and Muffy were an interesting pair. They were both “bachelorettes” in their mid-fifties, and nothing about these two women could ever be called average. For one, they were always wearing clothes I’d only ever seen in high-fashion magazines. But what made everything just a bit on the surreal side was that they almost always dressed in different shades of thesamecolor. Mitzy always wore skirts and dresses, hair styled in a short bob that reminded me of that famous fashion lady who ran the Met Gala. Muffy on the other hand went for bespoke pantsuits, her silver hair cut in a no-nonsense crew cut.
Today was apparently blue day. Mitzy was wearing a long skirt in like ten shades of dark blue, and a denim top, and Muffy was in one of her trademark pantsuits, this one navy. I tried not to stare for too long, and waited for them to get on with whatever it was they were here for. So far they seemed set on bringing me over to their side. I would be staying on whatever side got me a promotion and back to New York City at the end of this job.
“Did things go well with the program director?”
The twitch in my eye at the mere mention of Julia was going to be a real fucking problem. “Things went well. We have to hammer out the details, but I should be able to get a sense for the work the foundation does. Mind you, I am not the last word on any on this.” I tried to smooth out any trace of an edge in my voice as I spoke. I could stay on task without being rude. And besides, though the twins and I could’ve been from different planets, I liked them.
I appreciated how invested they were in their company and their people. It was clear Mitzy and Muffy felt a lot of pride in the fact that Sturm’s was a family-owned business; they took that “family” thing seriously. From the first day, they’d been worried about how I was getting on and made sure I got everything my team needed. I was a New Yorker and by nature assumed anyone being nice was up to something, but my spidey senses kept telling me these two were the real deal.
I cleared my throat as they both waited for me to get to the point. “We make recommendations, the board and you decide what stays and what goes.”
“Right.” Muffy rolled her eyes as she crossed her legs into a pose identical to her sister. “We just wanted to make sure things were on track. We know you’re thankfully not in Duke’s pockets.”
I swallowed hard at that. I wasn’t in anyone’s pockets, that was true, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have me by the balls.
Mitzy nodded at what her sister had said and gave me an angelic smile that rivaled the one my two-year-old niece gave me when she wanted a treat. “We also wanted to hear if Phil talked to you about that little thing he seems so worried about.” She said “Phil” like she’d just bitten into something sour, and I couldn’t say I blamed her.
As far as I could tell Phil Brentwood, their CFO, was a bully with a short fuse. “The little thing” was his hard-on for doing away with anything that could put the IPO plans in jeopardy. He couldn’t care less about the foundation and would be thrilled to see it shut down.
My stomach roiled as it hit me, again, the shitty position I was in. I had the people who hired me pulling me in two different directions. No matter what my team and I ended up recommending, one side wasn’t going to be happy. And again I reminded myself the only thing I was here to do was get that IPO off the ground, not make friends in Dallas high society.
Despite the stress I was feeling, I had to smile at the twins. They looked so innocent waiting for me to spill my guts. They could play the “we’re just clueless Southern belles,” but these two were sharks. Sturm’s was already a big name when they took over after their father died fifteen years ago. But since then, the twins had done for Sturm’s what Marc Jacobs did for Louis Vuitton. They turned it into a brand that people associated with luxury, but made it accessible. Sturm’s commitment to social justice causes was one of the things that made it appealing to millennials.
Their foundation—which the twins had tripled in size since they took over—had supported hundreds of first-generation college students. And recently they’d sponsored multiple LGBT+ and PoC political candidates to run for office. Those efforts made them unique in the world of high-end retail, and the twins were right to want to protect that side of their business.
“I’ve spoken to Phil,” I confirmed, and waited for whatever it was they were actually here to say.
Muffy spoke this time and, like her sister, she was treating me with kid gloves. “Rocco, we have appreciated how you’ve come into the company and worked on getting to know all the players. That is one of the reasons we agreed to work with your firm. You have a reputation of really trying to understand the culture and values of the businesses you’re working with.”
She was right. The way Davidson’s worked was by immersing ourselves in the company before we made a single suggestion. The firm built rapport and gained the trust of the company and staff first, so the sometimes-drastic adjustments that needed to be made before a public offering could go smoothly.
It sounded a lot more heartwarming than it was. It was all calculated and strategic and we were not actually supposed to start liking the people we were working for. We just needed to get them malleable enough to achieve our goals.
Part of that was reassuring them their priorities were being considered. “Of course. I know your foundation programs are important, which is why I’m taking the time to see them myself.”
And the fact that Julia will be my guide has nothing to do with my motives.
