Page 63 of Love.V2
We’d been stuck in this office for most of the afternoon, and I could practicallyfeelthe emails flooding my inbox. Now that I was spending my evenings with Tess instead of alone in my hotel room, juggling my roles—and workloads—at two different companies had become considerably harder.
But it was worth it. Tess’s face this morning, her giggling shriek as I swept her into my lap…it made the escalating tension easier to bear.
Old habits died hard, and part of me knew I’d never fully leave my workaholic ways in the past. I’d been conditioned this way, nearly from birth, by my father, then by Henry. Strive. Succeed. Push.
But losing Tess had made me realize I could do all those things and still have a life outside of work. I had to, or I’d go insane. I had to, or I’d lose her all over again.
Speaking of…
“I’m serious. Ask your questions now, because as soon as the clock hits five, I’m out of here.” In fact, I’d be speed-walking to the elevators. I hadn’t seen Tess much all day, and I didn’t like the way she’d run out earlier.
Danny scoffed, shaking his head even as he grinned. “You really have changed, man. Thriving. Meanwhile, Henry’s still stomping around the office, mad as a bear that his next-in-line flew the coop.”
A pang of guilt sliced through my chest. “I know. But Tess loves it here and”—I looked around the room at the bright orange and signature purples—“it’s a special place.”
Danny glanced around too, with a more critical eye at the riot of color. “Whatever you say, man. But…you should know, Henry is still talking about shutting it down.” He lowered his voice as he delivered the mother lode of bad news.
Surely not…
“He said if we got the Botto account, he’d give me another year to triple revenue.” Jinx was small but mighty—emphasis on small. Eric had been happy to pick and choose his clients and grow the agency at a moderate pace, but Henry didn’t do moderate anything.
On paper, the mandate from Worther’s CEO had been simple: Triple profits and you can have Jinx. Show me you can still make money all the way up in Chicago, and I’ll hand over the C-suite title you’ve been working for your whole life. Oh, and your girl, too.
In reality, it was more complicated than that. Bagging the Botto account would help, but it wouldn’t get us all the way there. Sure, there was room to stretch the Jinx team’s workload, but I’d vowed to myselfI wouldn’t push as hard. I’d learned my lesson—I couldn’t burn myself out at work, and I couldn’t expect others to do the same, either.
I needed a creative solution to meet Henry’s expectations, and I still hadn’t quite figured out the plan. But it shouldn’t have mattered. I had time. Or at least, I was supposed to.
“He wants the prodigal son back. You haven’t lost any accounts from your Worther roster, but they haven’t grown, either. Our close rate is down across the board. He’s used to seeing numbers go up, not stay flat. He’s freaking.”
“Worther can weather a few months of flatline as the new team gets in place.” The team I’d hand-picked to replace me and who I delegated practically everything to these days. It had taken hiring four people to manage my workload.
No wonder Tess had left me. I’d been drowning and hadn’t even known it.
“True, but he’s not happy with how this acquisition has gone, either.” Danny gestured around, and my heart nearly stopped.
“Jinx is profitable, too. Where is this coming from?”
“Sure, it’s profitable, but it’s all getting put back into Jinx. Henry wants to see returns sooner, rather than later. Especially if he feels like the Worther bottom line needs a boost. He’s started running the numbers on closing up shop. Might get a better return if he can absorb Jinx’s clients into other Worther offices and funnel the revenue directly back to us.”
My gut clenched. He wouldn’t. Hecouldn’t. Of course, my mentor hadn’t been happy at my change, but he’d promised me.
“What happens to the people here? The staff that makes this place profitable to begin with?”What happens to Tess?
Danny grimaced and, to his credit, looked uncomfortable when he replied. “Maybe they take jobs in some of our other boutique brands, or at Worther? Maybe they just…”
The words he didn’t say ballooned, stretching and contorting into a tangible thing.
Tess might be out of a job. Or, maybe, she’d get shoehorned back into a position at the mega-corp she’d left in the first place. I wasn’t sure which was the best and which was the worst-case scenario. Tess had done good work at Worther, but it had taken her soul away, one day at a time.
“I won’t let that happen,” I vowed.
“That’ll come down to you and Henry. You know you coming up here ruined all of his plans. Listen, you didn’t hear all this from me, alright?” He sighed and closed his laptop. “Just know, you might want to get a little more aggressive about closing some deals around here. I figured you deserved a heads-up.”
“Thanks, man,” I mumbled through numb lips.We’d had a deal. He wouldn’t just close this place down. We’d shook on it.
“Least I could do. I know why you’re really out here, and it has nothing to do with a profit margin.”
I grunted in agreement, and Danny smiled.
