Page 115 of Business Casual

“I’ve had feelings for him this whole time and it never impacted my work. My contract is over in four months and I’m good at what I do. Tre has had double the amount of work that he should, and he has excelled in all areas. His new project is showing great promise for the community as a whole and for Franklin Financial. We haven’t cost you any money. We haven’t neglected our duties. So, our business relationship shouldn’t prevent us from exploring the connection that we have,” I yammered. “I love him.”

Looking between us, he asked, “You’re still under contract for four more months, what happens if you breakup in that time?”

“We won’t,” we said in unison.

Although his brows were knitted, his lip twitched in amusement. “You practiced that or something?” He scrubbed his face with his hands. Picking up the form, he shook his head. “What happens if this ends?” he asked again, a bit rougher in his delivery.

“Nothing happens,” Tre assured him. “Let’s have our meeting and we can talk more about it.”

“Is this”—he held up the paper— “what you wanted to meet with me about?”

Tre rubbed his hands together. “Yes, sir, it is.”

“Then no,” Mr. Franklin replied, giving his son a stern look. “I need to review this before I have a conversation with you about it.” He checked the time on his phone. “Don’t you two have work to do? Or is this too much of a distraction to do what you’re paid to do?”

Tre took a step forward. “Can I at least—”

Mr. Franklin shot his son a look. “The least you could’ve done was follow the rules that protect everything I’ve built, everythingwe’vebuilt.”

“Pop—”

“Do you not remember how something like this almost ruined us? The media spectacle, the financial loss? And with you being an executive and my son, do you know how this will look for the company if you two end badly? Do you think Ryan and Christina thought they were going to break up? People have been looking to discredit us since the beginning. They are always looking for a way to bring us down and if this goes wrong, if this blows up, they’ll say even worse things about you than they did Ryan. He had privilege on his side, and you don’t. If this”—he gestured to us— “goes wrong, the company won’t bounce back from this. You won’t bounce back from this.”

“I swear, if you just read the—” Tre attempted to explain.

“Let me think,” Mr. Franklin interrupted, storming out the door.

*****

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