“Well, I don’t want to be a secret. I’m going to need you to tell him, if you don’t want me to do it.”
She scoffed. “You’re infuriating, do you know that?”
“Why? Because I don’t let you control everything?”
“Yes, actually.”
“It’s a trade-off. You got to control a lot of things in your marriage, but he made you do the heavy lifting. He wasn’t honest, he wasn’t proactive. That’s not what I want. But that means you aren’t in charge of everything.”
Her cheeks heated. Damn him. His bossy streak was hot, even if it shouldn’t be. But he was right. She had been that woman who had taken care of all the details. Who had been married to somebody so passive that he’d let her find the things he’d been buying his mistress rather than have a conversation with her.
“Are you telling me this is a partnership, and I don’t get to be in charge of everything?”
“I’m afraid so.” He kissed her forehead. “But you also don’t have to do everything by yourself.” He pulled away from her and smiled. “Now, give ’em hell.”
She kissed Zach, then walked out to the driveway and put Soraya and Nora on a group call after.
“How would you both like to earn a little bit of extra money?”
“Money?” Nora asked.
“Yes. I’m letting Jonathan know about the change in business ownership today.”
“Oh!” Nora crowed.
“And there’s going to need to be some overhauling,” she continued. “I might want a mural. And I love the way your house was decorated, Soraya. Perhaps you might like to do a little bit of design work.”
“But I’ve never done that,” Soraya said.
“It seems like the right day to learn. I’m about to storm the office, and you agreed to help with storming.”
“Yes.” Nora sounded ecstatic.
“Should I swing by and pick you guys up?”
“Hell yeah!”
“Yes,” Soraya added.
When they arrived at the offices, Daisy pushed open the double doors, went right past reception, and straight into the open-plan workspace. Jonathan’s office was at the end of the room. There was a slight ripple throughout the five or so desks in the space when she came in.
Veronica, one of Jonathan’s coworkers, stood up. “Daisy. Jonathan is actually in a meeting.”
“Well, he’s about to be in another one.”
“No, I ... You don’t understand, he’s busy.”
“He’s not too busy to talk to the new majority owner of the company.”
With that, Veronica backed way off.
With Nora and Soraya flanking her, Daisy strode straight through the office building. “I think we need a lovely sitting area over there,” she said. “Don’t you think so, Soraya?”
“Oh yes.” Soraya walked quickly to keep pace.
“And there.” Daisy pointed at the big blank wall at the back. “A mural, I think, Nora. To really express the mission statement of this company. The natural beauty of the surroundings. Family. This is a family business, after all.”
The door to Jonathan’s office opened, and he emerged a moment later, looking somewhat wild eyed, and Daisy smiled, suspecting Veronica had messaged him.
