“Should I book it, Mr. Smith?” Suzy asks me as I stare at my computer, waiting for a response from Exlon, the company we’re trying to acquire.

“Give me a little longer.”

She walks off, and I pick up the phone, calling my contact at the company to see if we’ve gotten a response. There is no answer, and I’m pissed off to be dicked around so badly. I call my dad’s office to see if they’ve heard anything.

His receptionist patches me through, and I ask him raking my fingers through my hair, “What if I don’t close the deal?”

“Then I don’t think you’re ready to run this company.” I pace across my office, pissed, that again it’s coming down to one deal. “We need this deal, Merritt, more than we’ve ever needed to close a deal before.”

“That’s what you always fuckin’ say,” I scoff at him. “It’s like you’re changing your mind and giving me a task that’s unrealistic. You know as well as I do that we aren’t going to come to terms with them. They want way too much money.”

“Merritt, you’re not looking at the bigger picture. This is how we’ve gotten to be as big as we are. I don’t have much time left here, and you know it. You’ve gotta prove to me you can steer this company into the future.”

“I’m ready, and you know I am. I’ve been working my ass off for you, I got the Serranos back, and this week alone, I’ve acquired ten new sites with prime oil ready for us to begin drilling.”

“Closing the Exlon deal will be like acquiring a million new sites, so if you want this company, then close the fucking deal.”

Looking at my own reflection in the glass window of my office, I could go off on him for so many reasons. It’s always something else when it comes to him, another reason to stall or another hoop to jump through. He always says, “You know my time is coming…” But when? I just hope in the end it’ll all be worth it.

Hanging up on him, I buzz Suzy and tell her, “Book it.”

“Yes, sir,” she tells me, and I hang up, hating that I have to call Quinn and tell her that I’m not coming to Denver this weekend. But what other choice do I have? He’s leaving me with none, like always.

Closing my office door, I dial her number, and she answers on the first ring.

“The flowers are gorgeous.”

“You got them?” I ask, almost forgetting that I had Suzy send them to her.

“I did, just now. They are sitting on my desk, and now my office smells like a garden. I can’t wait for you to see them, I’ll bring them home tonight.”

“About that…I won’t make it after all. I do have to go to Cali.”

“Okay,” she sounds understanding, not the response I’d expected. I guess I don’t really know what I was expecting.

“You sure?”

“Of course, I know how much your work means to you. I’ll catch up on some TV and see you next weekend.”

* * *

Glaring at my father as he sits next to me during our lunch with the Exlon execs, I’m pissed he showed up. This was supposed to be all me, my chance to prove I was ready to run the company, and now here he is.

“Can I get another?” I ask the waiter, pointing to my drink.

I haven’t said much of anything this entire time, my dad being the center of attention like always.

“Haven’t you had enough?” he asks me, leaning over, and I finish the rest of the drink in front of me not answering him.

My phone vibrates, and I pull it out, I’m here, where are you? Quinn texts me.

What the fuck?

Like here-here? How is that possible? Looking at my phone, the screen becomes blurry. Fuck, I drank a lot. I text her back. Where?

Cali, your hotel. Probably shouldn’t have given me access to your calendar. But I brought the sash.

Now anxious to leave and take out some of my pent-up frustrations the way I love to most, I ask the question of the hour, “So let’s be honest.” The group of six men, my father included, all look at me. I clear my throat and try not to sound so drunk. “What’s it gonna take to close the deal?”

One of the men leans forward, resting his elbows on the table and says to me, “I think about a half million more.”

“What about a partnership?” I offer, knowing…I have to close the deal. He didn’t say we had to be the sole owner, just to close it.

The men all seem intrigued. My father, on the other hand, is suddenly tense. “What did you have in mind?”

“Let us take over your leases for one year, with the option to buy at the end of the term. It’ll give you the cash you need from going bankrupt, and it’ll give us the oil we need to produce revenue.”

The men seem to all be considering it, and my father says, “As CEO, I’m sorry, but I’m only looking to purchase your company, one hundred percent.”

“A half million more,” their CEO says, and then they stand, shaking our hands before leaving the table. My father, as usual, ruined the negotiations.

“What the hell was that, Merritt?” he scolds me.

“You told me to close the deal, so I was closing it.”

“I told you I wanted to acquire them.”

“Sure, but you didn’t say how. And a lease-to-buy option is a good one. We’d have revenues coming in next month. Which is way faster than the process of purchasing them is going to be. You know with lawyers and paperwork, it’ll at least be a year, and what, are you gonna stay until that’s done too?”

He doesn’t answer me, and I walk away from my dad. He’s pissed and hot on my heels. “You don’t have the authority to make those decisions,” he says.

“Of course I don’t, ‘cause had I come here alone like I’d planned, I’d have the deal closed, but without the authority to do it.”

Walking up to my hotel, my dad walks off not saying anything else. I hope he feels fuckin’ stupid for shooting down my idea, ‘cause he’s gotta know it’s brilliant and the best way to acquire one of the largest commercial oil producing companies.

My thoughts are cut short as I spot Quinn, as gorgeous as ever, sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby. She’s really here, and I have no clue how I got so goddamn lucky. But this shit day just turned completely around.