Chapter 10

Cassie

When I first got back home and started working at the company, the days flew by. I was excited about learning everything I could about the business and thinking about my future working there. Lately, though, the days felt like they were going by at a glacial pace, especially when I had something to look forward to on the weekend. Scott had pretty much told me I was going out with him on Friday night, and though normally that show of masculinity would make me cringe, with him it was sexy, and I couldn’t resist it. Until then, I had to make my way through the backward-spinning clock that was mounted in my father’s office.

I was starting to feel like I was going out of my mind. The normal draw of my parents’ huge house, the pool, the maids, and the shopping was not interesting me anymore. I would go home, eat dinner, and then hide away in my room, pretending like I was exhausted from a day at work. In reality, I was lying there staring at the ceiling, thinking about Scott and the time we had spent together. I didn’t want a distraction, but it looked like I had walked straight into one without any thought on the matter at all. And worst of all, I wasn’t regretting it in the least, not one little bit. In fact, I found myself wishing it was even more available.

I wanted to spend more time with Scott, to have the freedom to have him around me whenever I wanted. I wanted to take the summer and spend it with him instead of that dusty worksite. But that wasn’t an option both because I had to finish my internship and because he had to go to work. He didn’t have the luxury of being a financially free college student like I had for several years. He didn’t know what it was like not to worry about bills or having anything he wanted or needed, but I did, and it kind of made me feel bad. I hadn’t ever thought about it until I met him, but my eyes were starting to open, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

I had never dated anyone seriously, and the few guys I went out with did not make me want to go out with them again. I spent my whole life around pompous rich guys. The last thing I wanted to do was date one, but that seemed to be the only kind of guy to pay me any attention, except Scott. I was really turned on by the fact that we had this secret little fling going on. Everything that happened was between the two of us, and no one else had any say in it, at least for the time being. It was completely between us, and the sneaking around felt naughty but in a good way, a way that made me hot in places I didn’t know could get that way.

At the same time, though, I was under a lot of pressure to be the woman my father expected me to be. His expectations were tough, and they included finding a man who was of the same caliber as him in both stature and financial stability. There was no crazy arranged marriage or anything, but for my father to be okay with me dating someone, they would have to pass a lot of rigorous checkpoints in my father’s mind—checkpoints that a man like Scott couldn’t stand up to. That wasn’t fair, but it was the way it was. I was scared about what might happen if my father found out I was seeing Scott. Chances were he would not be too happy about it.

“You ready for the meeting?” my father said, poking his head into his office door. “We’re all ready to go.”

“Yeah,” I said, gathering my things and heading out to the conference room.

I sat down in the chair next to my father and pulled out my notebook, figuring I would try to look interested in what was going on. Sitting in that meeting was miserable, though. Everyone in the room was the typical corporate asshole I was starting to hate more and more every day. I had never noticed it before I met Scott, but I was surrounded by men like that, and I would have to sit through meetings with them the entire summer during my internship with the company. My dad wanted me to attend every meeting they had, especially the ones involving the engineers. He wanted me to understand every aspect of the company. When I graduated college, I would be working with the engineers since that was what my degree was in. When my father finally retired, I would end up being the owner and CEO of the company.

The main purpose of my internship was for the engineering side of things, but my father thought it would be the perfect time to see the whole of the company. That was why he put me with a foreman and not with the engineers. I still did some stuff with them, but he was hell-bent on making sure I could handle and understand every aspect of the company. My mind, though, was nowhere near where it needed to be to meet his expectations. The engineers at the meeting started discussing future plans for the company, and I completely blanked out. Instead of focusing on what they were saying, my mind was completely devoted to Scott.

I was meeting him at the bar the next night, but I was hoping we would do something other than just getting hammered. Of course I was interested in going back to his place, but part of me wanted to spend some normal time with him too. My mind went through all the possible things we could end up doing, and I was so focused on those thoughts that I hadn’t even heard my father asking me a question in the middle of the meeting.

“Cassie,” he said, smiling at the others awkwardly.

“What? Oh, I’m sorry,” I said, snapping out of my trance.

“It looks like someone has been working a little too hard out there on the site.” He laughed, everyone else joining in. “That’s what we do here, though; we work until our brains shut down.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “What did you ask?”

“I asked how the plans were coming along and if we had made up any of the time we lost last week?”

“Things are looking really good out there,” I said. “All the safety regulations are up to par. There are few blind spots on the site, but we are still at zero for the number of injuries for this project. As far as the timeline, thanks to the allotted overtime and a couple extra-hard-working guys out there, we have managed to get back the whole day we were behind. Right now, we are sitting even-keeled going into the second half of the second month of the project.”

“Excellent,” my father said.

He went on with the meeting, and I made sure I paid attention for the rest of it. The worst thing I could do was make my father look bad, especially when everyone knew I was the future of the company. I needed to get through the day and use my off time for daydreaming, which was easier said than done. When everyone left the conference room, my dad walked over and put his hand on my shoulder, looking at me with concern.

“You all right?” he said. “You were incredibly distracted during the meeting.”

“Yeah,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “I didn’t sleep well last night for some reason. My head has been foggy all day, and I can’t seem to kick it.”

“We all have days like those,” he said. “You aren’t used to putting in these long days in the hot sun. I’m sure this weekend you can go relax by the pool, get some good rest, and come back Monday refreshed and ready to go.”

“I’m sure that will do the trick.” I smiled, thinking about Scott.

“How about you and I go grab some lunch before you head out to the site?”

“That sounds great,” I said. “I’m starving.”

We headed out to the restaurant, taking my father’s limo. I sat across from him in the car, staring out the window as he took a phone call. My mind went directly back to Scott, and it stayed there until we pulled up in front of the restaurant. We went inside and had a seat at my father’s usual table. I ordered a water and a salad for lunch, and my father did the same, only his drink of choice was a glass of whiskey. I was half-tempted to order one too, but I wasn’t sure how he would react, so I stuck with the water. It probably wouldn’t have been a good idea to drink before going onto the site anyway. During lunch, my father took several phone calls like usual. There were a couple from the residential site and the others from projects that were currently in the planning stages.

“I agree,” he said pleasantly. “Bill, you are doing a fantastic job, and I trust your judgment when it comes to the crew. If they aren’t pulling their weight, and you have given them ample chances to, which knowing you, you have gone above and beyond, then let them go.”

I smiled at my dad, thankful he was having a good conversation with Bill. He liked that man and he trusted him, which was more than I could say for most of the people my father worked with. He kept most everyone in the company at arm’s length and took care of most issues personally.

“Great, Bill,” he said. “Hey, I’ll give you a call later on. I have a call coming in from the New Brunswick project.”

“Hello?” he said, switching lines. “Tell me you have the signature. What do you fucking mean you didn’t get it? What did I hire you to do? Not sit around on your ass and let things slip through your fingers.”

I looked around the room, slightly embarrassed by my father’s tone. After all these years, though, I was used to him blowing up on people over the phone. If you weren’t someone inside his inner circle and you screwed up, you were going to get it, and get it good. No matter how used to it I was, though, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of reaction my father would have if he found out about Scott and me. Scott would not handle this side of my father very well, and it wouldn’t be fair to him to have to handle that. My father was a difficult man at times, and the only reason I saw the softer side more than not was because I was his little girl. He had more patience with me than the entire company combined, but that didn’t mean it would transfer over to Scott if he found out we were seeing each other.

I sat there holding my hands tightly in my lap, listening to my father lose it on the guy on the other line. I couldn’t let that happen to Scott. I already cared too much about him and what we had. Maybe the best thing I could do was not show up at the bar Friday night. It might just save his job and his future.