A week later we signed, and I drove to the Hamptons the next day to tell Marsha Ford, Zoe’s grandma.
“I’m so sorry, Marsha, there just wasn’t any budget to hire a General Manager, and I wasn’t able to turn things around.”
There seemed to have been money issues for a while, but I wasn’t able to make sense of the books.The accountant who had been with the company for a long time, Harold, left soon after Anthony died.
“Was it really that bad when Anthony died?”she gasped, hearing about it for the first time.
I kept it from her after she lost her husband and then her son only a few years apart.Like me, she’d married into the family and was proud of the stores and what the men had created.
I nodded.
“Anthony never said a word.”Marsha shook her head and looked out across the ocean.“His grandfather and father ran a tight ship.Why didn’t Anthony tell us he was having trouble?”
That was the million-dollar question.
“He never told me, either.I’m sure he had a plan, but his life was taken,” I said, not really believing it.
I loved my husband, but something didn’t seem right.
How could it have got so bad?
But what did I know?
I’d spent a year trying to fix it, but I had a marketing degree I’d done very little with and had then been focused on raising Zoe.I was ill-prepared.
A week after our first meeting, I’d returned to the OCP offices and yet again, Drew had stirred sexual feelings in me that were both arousing and unwelcome.
“Would you like me to turn down the air, Ms.Ford?”Drew had asked when I removed my jacket, using the incorrect title as he’d done a few times.
“Mrs.,” I reminded him.
He didn’t respond.Instead, his lips twitched, and I realized he was playing with me, like a cat with a mouse.
“That brings us to clause twenty-five B,” Lawyer number one said.“Ms.Ford—”
“It’sMrs.Ford.Please ensure the contracts reflect my correct married status,” I snapped.
Drew took a slow sip of water.
I did the same with far less composure, sloshing it down my front and causing my blouse to become see-through.
I’d wanted to scream.
“That was my error,” Drew shared.“I thought you were unmarried.Eligible.”
“Eligible for what?”I snapped once more, while the men shared humored looks.“For goodness sakes, I’m a widow.”
That shut them up.
But Drew wasn’t at all perturbed by my response and remained watching my every move.
“So, back to clause twenty-five, Mrs.Ford.Obsidian Partners require you to stay on as a consultant for three months during the transition of the Open Leaf business.”
I’d been made aware of this via my own legal team.“Yes.”
I agreed because the generous salary would contribute to my living costs and the ten percent holding I retained would hopefully allow me to keep the penthouse.
But not for long.
