I feel like a new man Monday morning as I get ready for work. The shackles that constrained me? I’ve released them. I no longer feel the need to play by the rules. I’m going to proudly have Roxy on my arm. Let the whole world see that I’m the luckiest man in all the world.

Of course, I’m still going to do my best to uphold decorum at work and keep it professional, but I’m not going to deny anything if I’m approached about it. It’s my business what I do when I’m not at work, and there’s no way I’m going to let anyone dictate anything to me. If Corporate wants to throw a piss party about it, let them.

I finish buttoning up my shirt, the classic blue with white collar, and tighten my tie before I get my coat and leave my room. I pause in the hallway, admitting to myself that I’m not looking forward to going to Sophie’s room after the other night. We haven’t talked much since. Sunday had about three words, and Sophie only came out of her room when it was time to get takeout. She wouldn’t even let me cook her breakfast but instead took a couple of packets of Pop Tarts into her room.

I try her doorknob, but it’s locked. I lean my head forward and almost rest it against the wood. I want to bang on the door, demanding she let me in. We’ve been lucky. We haven’t had anything like this happen before. Instead, I remember what Roxy told me, and I take a deep breath. Knocking softly, I force myself to talk normally. “Sophie? Time to get ready for school.”

Her door opens so quickly that I don’t even have time to lower my hand. “Already am,” she says sullenly, brushing past me as I take a stunned half step back. She stalks down the hallway, and I follow her into the kitchen, watching as she half slings her backpack onto the table.

“So what would you like . . .”

“Not hungry,” she says before I can set my coat aside and grab a skillet. “Already had a Pop Tart.”

I can’t lie, her words really sting. I’ve cooked her breakfast every morning that I’ve been home for as long as I can remember. Now, she’s eating goddamn Pop Tarts, of all things. But at least she’s talking.

“Okay,” I say, mixing up a meal replacement smoothie of my own. It’s green and tastes like I’m licking the inside of a lawnmower, but it’s quick. Just as I choke down the last of the gloop, Sophie crosses her arms over her chest.

“Can we go?”

I grab my jacket, fishing out a breath mint as we go downstairs. On the way to school, she’s silent, staring out the window as the city rolls by. Finally, when we’re about a half mile away from school and stopped at a red light, I can’t take it anymore. “Look, I’m sorry about what happened. And you’re right, I’m not Dad, but I can’t allow you to break the rules or the law, no matter how much that makes you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” she says quietly, still looking out the window.

I snort. “Sure have been acting like it. We’ve always been close.”

Sophie turns, looking at me, and I see the same stubbornness that I swear must run in our family. “I just didn’t think it was fair. Jax is not a bad guy.”

I could argue the point. “It might be true,” I say, “but the fact that he’s going out with a minor and thought it was okay to bring you to a club says he doesn’t think.”

“Jake—”

“Hang on, I’m not done,” I say quietly as the light turns green. “Sophie, I’m only going to say this once, and I don’t have a lot of time. First, I love you. I’m kind of learning as we go on, so I’m nowhere near perfect. But I know guys like this Jax. Maybe he does care about you. But if he does, then he should care enough not to be doing the things he did. He should respect you. Don’t settle for a guy who won’t.”

Sophie says nothing. I pull up in front of her school and look over at her. “I’m on your side in this. I know I’ve been lax and haven’t been paying attention to you. I promise I’ll do better.”

“Right,” she says sarcastically. Shit, most of my talk didn’t get through to her. “Have a nice day at work.” She gets out and shuts the door hard, just short of slamming it.

I sigh. With all the good things going on, I guess everything in life can’t be perfect.

* * *

“And that's how I’m going to bring the Franklin division back to profitability within two quarters,” I say. It feels a little strange to be doing a presentation when most of the board of directors aren’t even in the room. “By shifting focus toward the emerging biotech markets and out of the old markets, things are going to turn around.”

“What about layoffs?” one of the members asks. They don’t have the power they used to have, but they still have advisory and speaking rights in meetings like this.

“Thanks for asking,” I reply. I hit the button on my laser pointer and continue. “I’ve spoken with the union representative for the non-salaried employees, as well with various senior management. By limiting new hires and encouraging an accelerated retirement program for workers who are reaching that age, Franklin will reach appropriate manpower levels within one fiscal year. We might need to shift some workers to different departments and trim a little fat, but our losses should be less than 1% of employees, and even with severance packages, we’ll reach all of our transition goals.

“The fact is, we need a strong workforce at Franklin. While cutting the workforce with broad-scale layoffs might have the corporate shareholders happy for the next quarter, we’d be shooting ourselves in the foot if we do. We need to have happy, experienced workers in key positions. We owe it to the employees who stayed with Franklin through this transition to make sure we do everything we can to take care of them. If we do that, they’ll work their asses off for us because they’ll be working their asses off for each other.”

I can see nods and even a few smiles as I continue, and by the end of my presentation, I’ve done what I thought would be the impossible a month ago—make both sides of the Franklin merger happy with the changes we’re going to make. Corporate is happy that I’m turning around a non-profitable division, and the Franklin people are happy I’m not going all slash and burn around here.

There are several more speakers, but I zone them out as I go over my notes. When it’s all over, I’m pulled to the side by Tom Powers as I walk out of the room.

“Jake,” the white-haired man says, clasping a firm hand on my shoulder. Over the past month, we’ve had meetings, as he’s preparing for his retirement and the handing over of Franklin to me. “I’ve never witnessed such fire and passion.”

Falling in love will do that to you, I think to myself. I’m not ashamed to admit it now. I’m in love with Roxy. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about another human being. “Thank you, Tom. I’ll do my best to fill your shoes.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” he says, smiling. “You’ve done a phenomenal job with the division since starting here. But I have to say, I was getting a little bit worried for a second. You stumbled there for a week, and I had doubts, especially with your . . . other business. But you’ve pulled it out remarkably.”

I smile, relieved. “Thank you, sir.”

He grins. “I’m leaving this place in good hands. Thank you, it’s an honor.”

He offers his hand, and I shake it. “It’s an honor for me as well, sir. So I guess I’m still invited to your retirement party on Friday?”

Tom laughs, nodding. The party’s been Elena’s big project this past week other than helping me with this presentation, and she’s even roped herself an assistant, Hannah. “Of course. Just don’t let me see your back while I’ve got the knife for my cake.”

I laugh and head down the hall back to my office. It’s a little after quitting time, and I feel a slight pang in my chest when I don’t see Roxy, but I understand. She’s busy, and she’s gone home. No reason for me to stay either.

I head downstairs and get in my car. It’s early, but I figure I can stop by Club Jasmine on my way home and see how things are going. Nathan’s really enjoyed being hands-on with it, although Andre’s doing a great job as our assistant manager. And of course, Nathan will want to show me the new numbers after Roxy’s most recent performance.

I don’t even get in the door before Nathan’s coming across, grinning ear to ear. “Yo, man, what did I tell you? The exec called. He wants to see Roxy’s show live.”

I stop, a stupid grin on my face. “You serious?”

Nathan nods, laughing. “Hell yeah, man! Looks like we’re gonna have a star on our hands.”

I shake my head and head toward the bar. “That’s amazing. When’s he coming?”

“Two weeks from Saturday,” Nathan says. “Just think about it, Jake. Roxy performing at our club, it’s so going to raise our status to have our own in-house pop star. We gotta get her signed to something ASAP. My God, the money’s going to roll in!”

I’m not sure if I like Nathan’s idea. I get it, he’s thinking about the business, and he doesn’t realize the feelings I’m having for her. If Roxy gets her big chance, I want her to be free to do what she wants. If she’s content with performing on the weekends, even better. “Two weeks? That’s great, man. We’ll have plenty of time to promote it and Roxy will have time to rehearse. She’ll be amazing.”

“Hell, she always is. By the way, is everything going okay with Sophie? I know you were stressing when you two left Saturday night. I still feel like shit that it happened. John and Andre are already going through the door staff, making damn sure we don’t fuck up like that again.”

“She’s better. She’s still sort of pissed at me, but she’s coming around I think. We’re talking some more, and I’m gonna make sure I have some more one on one time with her.”

“Yeah, well, if you need to back off here to do time with her, you do it, okay? I’ll keep the Club on lock for you, Jake.”

I nod, making up my mind. “You know, I think I might do just that. Email me the numbers if you want, but I’m gonna skip tonight.”