In memory of Clifford, the office remained closed until the Monday following the funeral. Arthur called a staff meeting first thing Monday morning and his employees gathered in the board room.
"As we all know this company experienced a great loss last week," Arthur began. "While Clifford's contribution to this corporation can never be replaced, I know he would want us to move forward.
"On that note, I am very proud of how well all of you stepped up to run the company while we were out of the office and I commend all of you for your efforts. After reviewing last week's work, I have decided to announce a promotion."
The room grow suddenly tense as everyone eagerly awaited Mr. Townsend's announcement. Amanda and Hector both turned to a confident looking Andrew, Amanda with a proud smile and Hector with a venomous glare.
"Congratulations, Lawrence," Arthur spoke at last. "You've done a great job this past week as a junior executive and I'm sure you'll continue to do so."
Andrew's face fell as Hector's lit up and Arthur concluded the meeting. Amanda paused to comfort Andrew and quietly assure him that it would be his turn next time. On his way out of the board room, Andrew offered Lawrence a stiff congratulations and tried to ignore Hector's smug look.
As the others filed out, Hector happily congratulated Lawrence. "You're on your way now, buddy. I told you if you stuck with me you'd go to the top."
Lawrence nodded, skeptically, before following Hector out of the office.
"Eileen!" Hector called out, pleasantly surprised as he saw the young woman standing at the other end of the hallway.
Lawrence, who was close behind him, nearly froze when he heard her name, but quickly pulled himself together. When he saw Hector greet Eileen with a kiss on the cheek he wanted to turn and walk the other way, but it was too late. She'd already seen him.
"Hi, Lawrence," Eileen greeted him
"Hello," Lawrence replied without slowing his step. Before he could walk past the couple, Hector stopped him.
"Where are you running off to in such a hurry?" he asked and then turned to Eileen. "He thinks he has to be all business now that your dad promoted him to Junior Executive."
"He did?" Eileen smiled brightly at Lawrence. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," Lawrence replied, looking away. He quickly excused himself and headed back to the mailroom for his belongings.
"So what brings you by?" Hector asked Eileen once they were alone.
"I just stopped in to talk to my father." Before Hector could ask her what about, she excused herself and headed towards her father's office.
"Hi, Daddy," Eileen greeted her father with a hug.
"Hello, dear. To what do I owe this visit?"
Eileen grinned. "Can't a girl just drop by to visit her dad and see how he's doing?" she asked, avoiding the topic she came to discuss. "So how's work?"
"Work's fine," he answered with a sigh. "but there are a lot of things that need to be settled now that Clifford is gone."
Eileen nodded solemnly. "Have you decided who is going to take over as vice president?"
Arthur sighed. "I don't know. I'm not sure I can think about that right now. It's too soon."
"But what about your plans to retire? I know you're looking spending some time in the mountains."
"My plans will have to wait," Arthur replied. "The business is more important right now. And was hoping that I could see that you were settled too before I retire."
"Oh, Daddy," Eileen rolled her eyes, but Arthur didn't seem to notice.
"What are your plans? Have you picked a field of study yet?"
Eileen hesitated and said nonchalantly, "Not yet. Sometimes I wonder if I'm wasting my time in school," she said warily, testing his reaction.
"You shouldn't ever think that," he replied. "You don't realize how fortunate you are to be getting a good education. This isn't about a boy is it? You aren't thinking of getting married before you finish school, are you?
"No, Daddy."
"Because I would like nothing better than to see you graduate and then find yourself a good husband."
"I'm not ready to get married," Eileen objected. "I haven't found the right guy yet anyway."
"You've been spending a lot of time with young Hector lately."
"He's alright," she shrugged. "I like Hector. He's fun to spend time with, but I'm not crazy about him."
"He might be good for you," he hinted. This time her skeptical reaction didn't go by unnoticed. "It might be good for you to start thinking more seriously about your future."
"Oh daddy, don't worry about me."
Can't help it sweetheart. It's my job. Now, I appreciate that you would drop by just to check on your old man, but are you sure there isn't something else you wanted to talk to me about?"
"No," she lied. "I just happened to pass by on my way out to do some shopping and I started thinking about Lucy and her dad . . .Maybe I'll give her a call when I get home."
"I think that would be a nice idea."
"Do you have any ideas for dinner tonight?" Lucy asked Craig over brunch. "I have to run some errands this afternoon, so I thought I'd get some groceries while I was out."
"Oh," Craig cleared his throat. "I won't be here for dinner. I've already made plans to meet James tonight."
"Oh, sure," Lucy said feeling suddenly embarrassed. "I shouldn't have assumed."
A moment of awkward silence passed before Craig continued. "Lucy, we need to talk." He looked up from his meal to Lucy. When he noticed the petrified look on her face he quickly continued. "Staying here this past week has been great, but it can't go on forever. I know you're still grieving, but we both have to go on with our lives eventually."
"I will," she promised him. "I'm just not sure I'm ready yet."
"I understand," Craig said carefully, then paused before continuing. "When James called me last night he said that he got a gig for us out of town. We're going to be gone all next week, maybe longer."
Lucy shrugged off her disappointment. "That's fine, of course you've got work you need to do. You have to get back to your music."
"And you've got to get back to your life too. You've already missed a week of classes. If you fall too far behind you'll miss your chance to go to medical school."
"I don't think there's much chance of me going to med school now anyway," Lucy admitted.
"What are you talking about? You can't give up becoming a doctor. It's your dream."
"Well, sometimes dreams have to change." She sighed. "I still want to be a doctor, but I don't think I can make the time for it. With my father gone, I have to manage the house, keep the country club running, and look after my father's part of the business. I can't do it all by myself. Something has to go and maybe college should be it."
"I know it's a lot to handle, but can't you get someone to help you? Your father had a business partner, he can take care of the company. Couldn't you hire someone to help out with the rest? I don't want to see you give up on your dream so easily."
Lucy smiled weakly at him. "I'll think about it."
"I hope you do," he said seriously. "I'll come over after dinner, ok?"
"All right," Lucy said with a smile as Craig hugged her goodbye before heading out.
Back at the Stuart-Townsend Corporation, Arthur dropped by Lawrence's cubicle to see how he was doing in his new position.
"Everything's fine, sir."
"I expected it would be," Arthur replied. "The main reason I stopped by is to invite you to have lunch with me, to celebrate the promotion."
"That would be great."
As soon as Lawrence finished up what he was working on, he and Mr. Townsend took a cab to one of the finer restaurants downtown.
"Lawrence," Arthur began over lunch. "I'd like to know what your plans for the future are. Where do you see yourself going?"
Lawrence cleared his throat. "Well, I'm not really sure. Until I started here, I didn't think I would have much of a future."
"Well, you do now," Arthur replied. "I've been very impressed with the work you've done in the short time you worked for me, but I'm afraid you won't get much farther in the business without some serious training and I would like to see you get ahead. How would you feel about taking some business courses, in the evening after work?"
"I would like that very much, but-"
"Don't worry about the money, if that's a problem," Arthur interrupted. "The company will foot your tuition.
"Well, then yes. Thank you," Lawrence replied gratefully before sealing the deal with a vigorous handshake. "Thank you."
No comments:
Post a Comment