Chapter 3

Jason

“It’s finally the big day, dude. Are you excited?” Kevin said as he stood in the doorway to my office.

“Contract day is always my favorite. Everyone is hyped up on adrenaline and trying to negotiate what they want. I feel like I can practically touch the tension with my hands.”

Signing a contract to go into business with another company was huge. We were basically buying out The Cook, Sparser, and Conner Building Company debts. If things went poorly, we could go bankrupt in a matter of months. But if our business expertise and knowledge of the current markets worked in our favor, then we could turn this company around and walk away with millions of dollars in our pockets. It was worth the gamble.

The truth was that any one of our business deals could have bankrupted us. It was only because of our team of employees that researched the market and did an in—depth analysis of the company that we were able to make the deals we did. I couldn’t have made all the decisions myself, and neither could Kevin, so our team worked together and trusted each other’s opinions.

If one employee came to me and said a company was a bad purchase, I trusted them enough to make sure we researched and analyzed what their concern was. With Edward Cook’s company, the biggest concern was their lack of diversification. They dealt with high—rise buildings almost exclusively. This meant that they weren’t able to expand outside of the Chicago area at all unless they wanted to push other large building organizations out of the cities they claimed as their own. This was a possible option for the company, but Kevin and I saw another possible option as well. Our vision was to stay local but expand into other commercial buildings.

A rename of the company was also in order. Cook, Sparser, and Conner Building Company was long and confusing. Although people in the high—rise business knew who they were, no one else did. My goal was to add a few different divisions for a housing group, a warehouse group, etc. and use their expertise to continue building in the Illinois area. It was going to take a lot of work. We were going to have to hire a huge marketing team and probably bid on thousands of upcoming jobs, but it was possible to turn this company around, and I knew it.

“Edward Cook is here to see you,” the front desk secretary said over the speaker on my desk.

“He’s probably here to shoot you for feeling up his daughter’s butt.” Kevin laughed as he left and went to his office.

My heart pounded at his words, even though I didn’t believe that was why Edward had come to see me an hour before our meeting. I quickly picked up my messy office by grabbing things and throwing them under my desk. Cleanliness was certainly not something I valued in the workplace.

My small dark office wasn’t exactly the best place to be meeting with Edward, though. I typically preferred to meet new business partners in the large conference room. It had the feel of a thriving company with its fifty-person giant conference table. On the opposite end of the spectrum was my small office with a desk and only one small chair in it. I wasn’t usually at the office and worked from my house or on the road consistently. I’d felt horrible when I had a huge office and was never in it. Kevin spent much more time in the actual office and deserved to be comfortable.

“Jason, sorry for surprising you like this. I just wanted to have a visit with you before everyone arrived,” Edward said as he pressed his chubby hand out to shake mine.

“No problem at all, Edward. I’ll always make time for you,” I shook his hand and held the door for him to come into my office.

Edward looked a little out of breath as he sat down and his breathing labored for a few minutes. He was probably in his sixties, but I had no idea for sure. He still had a full head of hair, and his belly was rounder than it had been only a few years before. I knew he was hoping this deal would work out so he could retire.

“So, I’m a little nervous about this deal and hoped we could talk about one particular issue I have a concern about,” Edward said.

“Of course, what’s up?”

“You know I’ve worked with this company for over twenty years now. I would have retired years ago if I weren’t concerned for our employees and how we could keep the doors open. I just want to make sure we are on the same page about the future here.”

“Edward, I’m here to help your company. Only if I help you guys make money will I make money on this deal.”

“I know, I know, but there’s been some talk about you guys and Green Industries,” Edward said as he maintained eye contact with me.

Crap. I had really hoped that this wasn’t going to come up with Edward and his team. Green Industries was a company we made a deal with two years earlier. The deal was similar to this one, but when we got into the company, we realized it was so poorly run that we had no choice but to sell off the pieces as we tried to recoup our money. Unfortunately, they ended up going out of business, and hundreds were unemployed after that disaster. It wasn’t just our choice though—the Green Industries’ owner had been willing to leave his company as well. I didn’t expect anything like that to happen with Edward’s company.

“Edward, that was a unique situation,” I started to say. “The owner of that company wasn’t interested in working with us to make the changes. He wanted to get the money and run.”

“Oh, I know it was different. I’m just putting it out there that we aren’t interested in that sort of deal, and our employees are really concerned that this will end poorly.”

“I can’t guarantee our deal is going to be successful. Of course, we put our money behind you guys, and we will do everything possible to ensure a profitable business will arise. But it’s in our contract that we can suggest selling off pieces of the company if it is the most lucrative and savvy business move. It isn’t what I expect for your company, though.”

Edward looked extremely annoyed with me and what I’d just said. In fact, his face turned beet red as he processed for a minute before responding to me. I admired that in him, and any business person – taking a minute to really think about something was always useful and could prevent a huge blow up over something small. “That wasn’t the answer I was looking for,” he said. “I have to say it’s a little disappointing.”

“Edward, I can’t promise you’ll like everything I have to say, but I will be honest with you. I can promise you that much.”

“That’s not going to be much consolation if my employees end up laid off,” he retorted.

“No, it wouldn’t be.”

“I need to go talk to my business partners before the meeting. Thank you for your honesty,” Edward said as he got up and stormed out of the office.

That hadn’t gone at all like I’d hoped it would have. I waited for Edward to get on the elevator and hurried down to Kevin’s office.

As I waited for Kevin to get off the phone, my face must have told him that something was wrong. He hurried and said goodbye to the salesman he was on the phone with and gave me his undivided attention. “What did you do?”

“Me? Why does it have to be my fault?” I laughed nervously.

“Because it is always your fault.”

It was a true statement, I couldn’t exactly argue with Kevin about it. Most of the time, it was something I said or did that caused trouble in our business. Kevin was the laid back, quiet one who never seemed to put his foot in his mouth at all.

“Okay, so he brought up Green Industries…”

“No,” Kevin put his head in his hands and then plopped it down onto his desk. “Please tell me you didn’t blow up at him?”

“I didn’t blow up at all. I was calm and not defensive. But I may have told him we had the right to break his company up if we wanted to.”

“No, you did not!”

“I said it nicely. I just meant that we would do whatever was best for the company and everyone who was financially involved.”

“Where did he go? Did he pull out of the deal? I can go talk to him.”

“He’s not pulling out of the deal. He will be back for the meeting. Edward just said he had to go talk to his partners.”

“Damn it, Jason. You have to think about others’ feelings sometimes. He’s been part of this company for years, and he’s already afraid about this deal. You’ve just scared him even more. This isn’t a high school popularity contest. You don’t have to put him in his place. Damn, I wish I had been in the room with you.”

“Well, you weren’t. So, I guess we will have to go from here.”

As much as I loved Kevin as a friend and a business partner, he sometimes turned more into an angry father than an equal partner. Of course, I didn’t purposely upset Edward. I was simply being truthful with him.

“So how did you leave it?”

“He’s still coming to the meeting. I’m sure they will be really defensive, though. Let’s bring the whole team in on the meeting to show we have the numbers.”

“No, I think it’s enough having you and me and the lawyers.”

“Whatever you think,” I agreed.

“Jason, this deal could bankrupt us if it goes wrong. You understand this, right? It’s not like we can throw everything into this company and keep going. We have to make this work, or we need to step out now. Tell me you can be dedicated to this. Please tell me you understand the gravity of it?”

“Of course, I do. I don’t want to be groveling for employment any more than you do. I’ll be more accommodating in the meeting, I promise.”

I knew, just as well as Kevin did, this was an important deal. I could see that my direct approach with Edward might not have been the best, even though I honestly didn’t think it was all that bad. But business deals weren’t just about money, they were about people. I had once backed out of a deal simply because the owner of the company consistently refused to say, ‘bless you’ to his employees. I’d witnessed it a dozen times in our interactions together before the deal, and in the final boardroom I sneezed to see his reaction and got nothing. It was obvious the owner was too self-absorbed, or at least in my opinion he was, so I backed out.

“Okay, let’s take some time to center ourselves, and I’ll meet you in the boardroom. We need to close this deal.”

“I got it. No worries here,” I said as I left Kevin to stew about how our meeting was going to go.

By the time everyone started to arrive, I had gotten myself a little nervous too. Although I had no worries about myself if I happened to fall on hard times, I did worry about my son. Clyde was only five, and he needed me more than ever. His whole world was wrapped up in me, and I certainly couldn’t dislodge the norms that he had just become accustomed to. He’d already been through so much since his mom decided to run off with that musician. I simply couldn’t put him through anything else.

I waited for everyone to get into the meeting before making my way down to the large rectangular room at the end of the hallway. Kevin was already standing outside waiting for me, and our lawyers were inside handing out the proposals. Nothing about this meeting was intended to surprise anyone. We had provided the full proposal ahead of time and were hoping to simply check through each of the items before everyone signed off. Well, that was before I offended the chief financial officer of the company.

“Hello, everyone,” I said with a chipper smile as I went around and shook hands with the other team. Kevin followed right behind me and took a little extra time to chat with each of the people which allowed me some extra time to talk with Edward when I got to him.

“I apologize if I offended you, Edward. Please know that it wasn’t my intention.”

“Thank you for the apology,” he said dryly and then turned back toward his portfolio. “I’ll have a favor to ask of you when this is all done,” he said without turning around to look at me.

I’d known Edward for a few years as my neighbor, and I’d never seen him like this before. I’d obviously stepped into a mess with him, and the contention he felt toward me was palpable by the coldness in his tone. Whatever his favor was, I suddenly felt like I was going to have to say yes to him, no matter what it was.

After shaking hands with the rest of the team, I made my way to one of two chairs at the end of the table. Kevin and I had never felt the need to fight over who led a meeting, and luckily our table was large enough to offer plenty of room for us both to look like a man in charge.

“Thank you all for coming; hopefully, we can get through this quickly and get everyone going before lunch,” Kevin said in his normal upbeat tone.

As he continued to take the lead, it was clear to me I had the back seat for this meeting. It was probably for the best. I didn’t want to cause any more trouble than I already had. I sat back and paged through the proposed deal as Kevin and the lawyers took turns talking about items. Most of the first pages were basics like which companies were involved and how much ownership we would have.

Then, about twenty minutes into the meeting, one of the lawyers read the paragraph that I knew was in there—the paragraph that I dreaded, and the paragraph that I knew Edward Cook was going to hate as well.

“Pursuant to the general purchase agreement, Industrial Management Brothers LLC has the final say in decisions of liquidation,” Steve, our contract lawyer read aloud.

I winced and kept my eyes down as I looked at the document and hoped we would be able to get past that paragraph and move on. Of course, that was not going to happen. And I heard Edward’s boss speak up.

“I think we need to discuss this one,” Marcus Connor, the CEO of their company said. “We can’t have you guys gutting us and selling off the pieces. The whole purpose of this deal is to ensure we are strong enough to stay together and move forward.”

I understood his point, and if I worked for them, I would have felt the same way. But I wasn’t about to agree to keep their company together if we found it was hemorrhaging cash like Green Industries was. Both Kevin and I were businessmen – we had our own company to run, and it wouldn’t help anyone if we went bankrupt at the same time their organization did.

“What is your concern? That we will find a financial reason to dismantle the company?” Kevin asked calmly.

“That you will dismantle it at all,” Edward said as his face turned red again.

“What would you like us to do if things go south and the company is bleeding cash? Should we continue to put our money into a dying company?” I blurted out.

“This company will never be dying if it’s run right,” Edward said as his face got even redder. “Why would you want to partner with us if you think we are a dying company?”

I was about to answer him when Kevin butted in. It was probably a good idea I had a partner who was so cool under pressure because I was about to lose it. Who did Edward think he was? We were trying to help their company. We were saving them from bankruptcy. I would have thought they could understand we had to protect ourselves.

“Okay, okay, let’s cool down for a second. This is a good partnership for everyone involved. Of course, we want your company to thrive, that’s why we are here. You are innovators in the industry, you are respected and admired, and this partnership should start off on a positive note, without negativity.”

Kevin was smooth. Nowhere in his comments did he say we would take that clause out of the contract. Instead, he dazzled them with compliments and distracted them with his quick talking. Before long, the meeting was back on track, and Edward and his team had agreed to wait until the end of the meeting to discuss that issue.

They had seen the document ahead of time. If they had issues, their lawyers had already brought them up and worked out everything. Ninety minutes into the meeting when we had reviewed everything, there was only one issue remaining—the one issue that me and my big mouth had brought up.

For hours, the lawyers talked and hashed out the issue of what to do if the company had to be sold. Finally, well after lunch, they had come to a compromise. I’d sat dutifully quiet while everyone else talked, and it was a relief to have some sort of conclusion.

“Mr. Cook, does this sound like the best option financially?” Kevin asked.

“If Marcus is alright with it, I am alright with it. At least we will have to vote on the final sale.”

“I’m good. I think if we have all five parties involved, then we will always have the majority, so nothing to worry about. To be honest, I thought we were going to have to fold this year, and I’m excited about this teamwork we have going on here,” Marcus said to try and bring everyone back onto the same side. “Let’s sign this thing, and I’d like to have Harley and Cook sign last. It will be good to close on a positive.”

It took all my willpower not to roll my eyes at Marcus and his idea of a bonding moment. I didn’t know how I was going to be able to look Edward in the eyes again and not think about this meeting and his willingness to throw everything away because he thought I was the kind of guy who would try and lie to him. He had actually been pissed off at me because I’d told the truth. It was ridiculous. But I was a team player, and after a whole day of hashing things out, I was happy to finally have some sort of solution. This was a clause we would likely never use, as our goals were the same, and we all wanted to make money.

“Sorry about earlier,” I said as I shook Edward’s hand after it was my turn to sign the document.

Everyone was up and mulling around the room visiting with one another, and it was just Edward and me at the head of the table. As much as I hated how he had treated me, we had a business to run together, and I happened to live right next door to the man so we couldn’t argue forever.

“My daughter Anna is looking for a job or an internship before she heads to college. With the turmoil going on with my company, it just doesn’t seem best for her to come work with me. I heard you were looking for an assistant?”

My heart flipped at the mention of Anna, and a tingling sensation rushed through my body. How did he know about my assistant position? Why was he asking me to hire Anna? My mind raced as I tried to figure out a way to say no to him without sounding like an ass or telling him just how seductive his daughter was. “Um, actually, I’m not sure I’ll be hiring someone—it’s kind of me just being lazy,” I said as I tried not to look him in the eyes.

“Anna is a really hard worker. She got straight A’s in school, and I’m really excited to see her finally taking an interested in something. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but she’s a bit of a wild child. As her father, this is exciting for me to see her showing some initiative.”

“Your daughter is looking for a job?” Kevin said as he joined our conversation.

“Yes, I heard Jason was looking for an assistant and thought it might be a good place for her to start. You wouldn’t have to pay her; she could do it as an internship or learning experience. Plus, let’s be honest here—I’d feel better knowing I had an ally on your team, and it would be doing me a huge favor,” Edward said as he talked to Kevin.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Kevin responded in his fake excited voice. “She’s hired. I’m sure she and Jason will get along great. Let’s say a three-month internship, and of course, we will pay her,” Kevin shook Edward’s hand before I could even gather my jaw from off the ground.

“Well then, it’s decided,” Edward said with the first smile I’d seen on his face all day. “She’ll come tomorrow so you all can work the details out. Thanks to both of you, and I’m sorry we had that scuffle earlier. This company is my baby, and I was just a little nervous, but all is well now.”

“Thanks to you, Edward, and congratulations on our deal. I can’t wait to see what we build together,” Kevin said and walked Edward out as everyone else was leaving.

I literally couldn’t find the words I wanted to say to Kevin. I stood in the same spot at the end of the conference table and waited for everyone to leave before I finally was able to piece together some sort of coherent sentence. “What have you done?” I asked Kevin.

“Oh, come on. She’ll be some eye candy to look at, and it made the old man happy. Just go with it.”

“You don’t understand, Kevin. This girl isn’t like normal women, at least not to me. I can’t work with her. I can’t have her around here every day.”

“Too late, you’re going to have to keep your sausage in your pants and deal with it. I’m not going to have this deal falling apart because you can’t get along with a twenty-year-old blonde. That’s ridiculous.”

“I can get along with her just fine, that’s the issue here.”

“It’s done, and you’re taking one for the team. Did you see how happy he was?”

“Yeah, he did look excited,” I admitted.

“Just avoid her. Give your list of jobs to her via email and have one of the secretaries check in with her as needed. I mean if you play your cards right, you could have life pretty easy with her around doing all your little jobs.”

Logically what Kevin was saying made sense. The problem was that just thinking about Anna made me hard. I couldn’t imagine being able to concentrate on work at all with her anywhere near me. This was going to be an exercise in resisting temptation, and I’d never done well with that.