I laughed out loud. “It’s Ben for me.”
“We can have a double wedding.”
I grinned at the idea.
“We’ll start our own club…” she offered.
“What kind?” I asked curiously, even though I didn’t care what the club was. I was just happy to have met someone new who seemed cool.
She shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.”
We never did come up with a name, but we did quickly become best friends after that. We went through every phase together, and while we had no interest in boys that first day of school, that changed later as we navigated through heartbreak together with ice cream and rom-coms we’d cry over together. We navigated through other trials and tribulations too, like the divorce of her parents and the pressure I sometimes felt being the daughter of a big-time businessman.
I didn’t talk much about my father with anyone, realizing that people treated me differently. They were too nice, but it seemed artificial, like a sweetener packet on a coffee shop counter. It’s sweet, almost painfully so to the point where it makes your cheeks pucker, but there was something off about it. That was how people were when they found out who my father was, their only interest in getting to know me was getting access to my family’s affluence.
Juliet wasn’t like that, though. She couldn’t care less. I could really be myself with her.
Unfortunately, we drifted apart in college when we went to schools in different states. It was a dumb stroke of luck that over a decade later she ended up living down the hall from me when I moved to New York a few months ago. I had to do a triple-take when I saw her as she was taking out the trash one day, but the band tee and pale blonde hair pulled into a messy bun confirmed it. After we got over the initial shock, we fell back into a rhythm easily, like we had never left high school, except now we could drink wine.
“How hot was he?” asked Juliet, her smirk coming through the phone.
“Mmm, take homecoming king from high school and quadruple it.”
She whistled. “Wow.”
“Too bad he was just as much of a jerk.”
“Aren’t they all?” she muttered.
I adjusted the coffee tray in my hand, carefully balancing it to avoid another fiasco, especially now that I was mostly dry. I looked ahead and saw my building on the corner, towering above the rest, the sunlight reflecting off the blue-hued glass panes stacked atop each other.
“I’m here,” I said, not even trying to hide my nervousness.
“You’ve got this, Gabs. You deserve it. Everyone knows it,” she said confidently.
I wish she were here. I could use her cool confidence to rub off on me.
“Thanks, Jules. I’ll call you later.”
I hung up the phone and slid it into my purse before swiftly walking into the building, the door already held open by thedoorman. I nodded and said a quick thank you before breezing past security. Being the daughter of Penn Harold meant I didn’t need to show an identification badge, which I was thankful for as I nervously clutched the coffee carrier in my hands.
I tapped my aching foot against the black tile floor of the elevator as I watched the numbers go up, up, up on the screen above my head. Why the hell was I so nervous? Juliet was right. Ididdeserve this. I worked hard for this. I just wished I wasn’t covered in dried coffee stains when I accepted my father’s promotion.
The elevator doors opened and I walked onto the expansive floor. I headed toward my father’s office and peeked inside, but his desk was empty.
“Good morning, Gabriella,” said his assistant cheerfully from behind me where she sat perched at her own desk.
“Hey, Bernice. Where is he?” I asked, nodding toward my father’s empty office.
“Conference room.” She smiled, tossing her thumb in its direction.
“Already?” I asked, trying to hide my panic as my eyes darted down the hall.
“You know how he is. Always early. Always eager.”
No truer words had been spoken. It’s probably one of the reasons why my father got where he was. Even though I was thirty minutes early, even after this morning’s coffee disaster, I was still somehow late.
“Thanks,” I said, walking toward the large room. Through the glass walls, I could see my father at the head of the table that was already surrounded by men in suits. The board members.
