Chapter 53

Jay

“Cappuccino, sir?” Jessica greeted Jay at his office.

“Macchiato, please,” he corrected her order, which caught her by surprise.

In all the years she’d worked for him, her boss had never differed from his standard order, but that was before he had spent two days with Kasey, sharing everything—including her favorite morning beverage.

“Coming right up,” she quickly reacted before scurrying off to the kitchen.

Jay spent the first hour of his day responding to emails and answering messages Jessica had taken before he arrived. There were a lot of press contacts, seeking comment on the sale of his company, and he wanted to spin it as publicity for his new venture. Before he could begin bragging about Kasey’s idea, he wanted to talk things over with Anthony Greenbrier, the head of the accounting division at Passions Publishing.

Jessica ordered a few dishes from Shi Ket, a popular fine dining Chinese restaurant, so that Jay could have a working lunch with his top accountant.

“The company sounds promising,” Anthony smiled, using his chopsticks to carry a pale dumpling to his lips.

“Don’t bullshit me, Anthony,” Jay pushed on, wanting to know his accountant’s true thoughts.

“I’m serious. This is a new and innovative way to satisfy clients, and it’s more than anyone else is offering. I think it’s brilliant.”

“But?” Jay asked the inevitable. There was something his accountant wasn’t saying, and it was the reason he’d invited him to lunch in the first place.

“It’s going to cost you.”

There, he’d finally said it. Jay knew it would not be a cheap investment, but he was certain it would pay off in the long-run. He’d thought about it intently before concluding that he would be willing to put up his own capital, something he had never done before in business. It was completely against the industry norms, but it didn’t matter to him. Jay was confident in Kasey’s idea.

“No, that won’t be necessary,” Anthony assured him, when he offered to provide the capital. “There are more than enough liquid assets to provide the cash we’ll need. I’ve already developed a few scenarios for cutbacks, because I figured there was an elaborate strategy behind selling one of the houses.” Anthony smiled, impressed by his boss.

Jay didn’t share the real reason behind the sale to Renee. Instead, he enjoyed his lunch with Anthony, going over more details while enjoying a variety of dishes.

After the meeting, Jay went back to his computer, continuing to make his way through the mountain of emails he’d incurred by taking the weekend off—something he never did. Kasey was making him enjoy home more than work—a new feeling for the man who arrived early and stayed late every day.

Every few minutes, he glanced at his watch counting down the hours until he could see her. Jay had made it clear that Kasey could work from home as often as she wanted, hoping to provide the same level of freedom that Renee had once boasted about giving her. But in the back of his mind, he hoped she found a reason to come into the office every day, because he loved seeing her.

“Got a minute?”

Jay looked up to see Mitchell in his doorway wearing a nervous smile. He waved his good friend in, and watched as he sat in his normal leather loveseat.

“What’s going on?” Jay asked.

“I heard about your meeting with Anthony,” he answered.

Jay wondered if he felt left out by the exclusion. Typically, Mitchell would be the one to speak with the accounting team about projects and associated budgets, but on this new venture, Jay wanted to be the point man.

As important as it was for him to reclaim his top spot in the industry, it meant more to him to see Kasey’s idea succeed. He smiled thinking about how happy she would be to watch the business flourish, and knew he wanted that more than anything. Seeing Kasey smile was a treat, but being the one responsible was even better.

“Oh yeah. I just needed to fine tune some details,” Jay hoped to downplay the meeting, not wanting Mitchell to be offended. He didn’t want any tension between him and his best friend, but lately that seemed unavoidable.

“He sent the proposals out for possible budgetary solutions,” Mitchell held a folder in his hand.

“Oh, did he?” Jay asked. He’d already seen the projections, but he wasn’t aware Mitchell received a copy as well.

“I really thought it was going to cost more than this,” Mitchell admitted.

“What’d you think?”

“I don’t know, man. You know I’m not the best with change. You’re the innovator, not me. But I can now see how beneficial this will all be. It seems like we can come out even better,” Mitchell fought the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Mitch, it’s going to be alright, trust me. Kasey’s idea is brilliant, we have nothing to worry about.”

Jay didn’t fight his smile, and Mitchell matched his grin as the two finally released all the frustration they’d been carrying regarding Jay’s impromptu decision to sell off a large portion of their shared company.

“I knew you would only bring her on if she was valuable, and I never doubted that, Jay. It was just the shock of it,” Mitchell began, but Jay tried to interrupt him with a wave of his hand.

“No! I need to say this. I was wrong, Jay. And I’ll be apologizing to Kasey too. She’s come back not only with her remarkable talent, but with a plan to take us back to the top. I know she’s going to be everything we need.”

Jay smiled, identifying the sincerity in his friend’s eyes. He was remorseful for his behavior, although Jay didn’t think it was necessary. Mitchell was supposed to be the cautious one in the partnership, so he expected nothing less than skepticism.

He was even more excited to think of Kasey’s reaction to Mitchell’s apology. His friend had come around, finally understanding Kasey’s plan, and it made Jay proud.

What Mitchell didn’t know was that Kasey was more than an improvement for Passions Publishing. She improved Jay as a man, and he took all the professional improvements as a bonus.

“Let’s have a drink,” Jay announced, walking to the bar in the corner of his office.

He didn’t want Mitchell to feel bad about his past behavior, so he poured each of them a small glass of whiskey to lighten the mood.

“I want you to find the building for the new company,” Jay explained.

“You know I can handle that,” Mitchell smiled, grateful for inclusion in the new company after his initial apprehension.

The two friends drank together, catching up on all they’d missed in each other’s lives. Mitchell had thought Jay was still upset with him, since he hadn’t called to take him up on his offer for golfing. He was relieved and happy to learn that Jay had spent the weekend with Kasey.

After settling their differences and getting back on the same page with the company they loved, Mitchell left Jay’s office so he could return to his never ending inbox.

After a rollercoaster month, Jay finally felt his life getting back on track. Kasey was happy, and growing more and more comfortable with him. Renee was out of his hair, struggling to run a company larger than she could handle. And the new company would be launching in a matter of days. Everything was looking up in such a short time. There was nothing that could knock his positivity.

When he finally finished combing through his emails, Jay left the office a little earlier than normal. Kasey had told him she would be meeting with an author, but the two had plans for afterwards. He left the office with a mental countdown, looking forward to the moment he could reunite with her beautiful face.

“See you later, Jessica,” Jay smiled on his way out the office.

The staff was working away, everything back to normal. He waved to groups of employees huddled around cubicles, staring at computers and sharing ideas. They would soon learn about the new direction of the company, and Jay couldn’t wait to see their reactions.