Page 90 of A Bossy Surprise

“So what? You’re not even going to fight back?”

“Do you think I want to do this? This is a big decision and I don’t want to make it from a place of ego and emotion.”

“Well, what about me? What about everyone else who works here?”

“I haven’t made my final decision, but if I do decide to sell or strip the company for parts, it’ll suck for everyone who works here, but they’ll just get new jobs. I’ll do whatever I can to help that along.”

“It won’t be so easy for everyone to get another job. I’ve only been the head of the news division here for two months. What does it look like if this news house fails while I’m at the helm of the news department? I will never live that down.”

“Relax, it’s not that dire.”

My head rears back as if I’ve just been punched in the face. “Wow, so it’s only your professional reputation that matters?”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m just saying that forging a way for you out of the wreckage of GNN would be easier to do for you than it would be for me, and like I said, I’ll help you get another position.”

“You won’t be able to get me a position like this one. Who would want to hire me to lead news when I have such little leadership experience?”

“So what do you want me to do? Go to war with my father just because it’ll be inconvenient for you to find another job?”

“I’ve worked really hard to get to where I am. Why are you making it sound like I’m being selfish?”

“Because you are. There’s a lot at stake for me too.”

“What did you think this was going to be like? Did you think it was going to be a walk in the park? You were always going to struggle and have to fight when you took on GNN. If you decide to stay on, I can guarantee that within a year or so this will seem like small beans. You can’t just let your father walk all over you.”

“It’s more complicated than that.” He turns away from me.

“Is it really? You’ve only been here for two months and you’ve already turned the company around. Maybe your father doesn’tsee this place as profitable, but that’s only because he doesn’t know what’s going on here. He does not see you on a daily basis spinning yarn into gold.”

“He doesn’t need to see how I work. All he needs are hard facts on paper. He needs to know that we’re making money.”

“I don’t know specifics about the company’s finances, but I do know we’re making money. We are making more now than we’ve ever made.”

“Well, it’s not enough.”

I fold my arms and look down at him. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but you need to snap out of this. This defeatist attitude is not a good look on you.”

“Just stop, Kayla. I’m not being defeatist. I’m being realistic.”

I laugh. “Realistic? This is you being realistic? Your daddy orders you to give up the first thing you’ve truly cared about and you’re going to do it. That’s being realistic?”

“I haven’t decided what I’m going to do yet. I thought I was discussing it with my girlfriend, and I really don’t need you to beat me down about it.”

“I’m sorry if I’m being a little harsh, and you’re probably right, a lot of it has to do with me worrying about my future. However, I am also coming down on you this hard because you’re being silly.”

“Well, I don’t think I am. Sometimes in life, you have to retreat so you can live to fight another day. If this ends poorly, it could be years, maybe even a decade, before I get another opportunity like this.”

“I can’t believe I’m having to explain this to you. You are a business person,” I say it slowly. “In business you take risks. Even if you take on your father and lose, at least you will have fought. He might not say it, but in that scenario, he will be proud of you. He will respect you, and so will the other members of the board.”

“I don’t know…”

“What? Do you think you’ll earn respect by rolling over at the first sign of adversity?”

He shakes his head. “Listen, can we continue this conversation some other time? I have a wicked headache, and none of this is doing anything to help make it go away.”

I sigh. “Fine….but at the risk of sounding selfish again, I just want to say that this is what I’ve spent my entire life working toward. It might be messed up of me to ask you to take that into consideration when you make your decision, but I’m asking anyway.”

At my words he looks like a man who is burning on the inside, and I’m sure he probably is.