Chapter 44

Carl Bradshaw was pacing the lobby when Phil emerged from the elevator.

“About time,” he said. “OK, Suit Boy, here’s the deal. I thought we could messenger over the proposal but the CEO wants a face-to-face. I don’t have time to change so you and Nikki will have to represent us. For God’s sake let her do the talking. There is a lot riding on this.”

“Seriously?” Phil asked before he could stop himself. “You’re sending someone with a seventh-grade vocabulary to meet with the CEO of a company? Wow!”

“She’ll be fine,” the guy insisted. “Just keep your mouth shut and let her handle it.”

“I will say nary a word,” Phil said.

Nikki walked across the lobby wearing a tight miniskirt and a white blouse that gaped at her breasts. Her prominent nipples made it evident that she hadn’t brought a bra, either. Nikki’s makeup looked like it was put on with a paint roller. Phil grabbed his briefcase and opened the door for her.

“Did you drive?” she asked, tottering on five-inch stiletto heels.

“Why?” Phil asked.

“So we don’t have to take a cab!” Nikki replied as if it were obvious.

“Do I get mileage?” Phil asked. “I mean, I’m not driving you 50 miles and paying for it myself.”

“It’s just downtown,” Nikki huffed. “God, Dad is so lucky I have a date tonight or he would have been left with you to do this.”

“Yep,” Phil said, tongue in cheek. “He sure is a lucky SOB. I’m parked in the employee lot.”

“Go get the car and pick me up,” Nikki ordered.

Phil nodded. He contemplated just getting in his car and going the fuck home. He would strangle his mother the next time he saw her. Instead he drove around and pulled up in front of Nikki Bradshaw. She, as Hailey had two months earlier, looked at his car with disgust.

“You can walk for all I give a shit,” Phil said. “Now either get in or call a cab.”

“Ugh!” Nikki huffed.

“Where are we going?” Phil wondered.

“Downtown,” Nikki replied petulantly.

“Yeah, I got that,” Phil said. “Downtown encompasses about 10 square miles. I think we need to be a little more precise if we want to get there.”

“The Barton Building,” Nikki answered. She was stunned when the driver burst out in laughter.

“Oh, shit,” he said. “You guys got me good! I thought all the stuff with the bubble gum and navel jewelry was real. Thank God! I wasn’t planning to come back tomorrow and I was going to have a real long chat with Sam when he returned.”

“What are you talking about?” Nikki asked irritably. “What stuff with the bubble gum? What’s wrong with a pierced belly button?”

“We’re really going to the Barton Building?” he asked. “You are seriously going to present a proposal to the CEO of Barton Holdings and ask for money from them? You’re not putting me on? This is real?”

“Of course it’s real,” Nikki said. “Are you a lunatic?”

“I must be,” Phil muttered. “This is going to be a fucking disaster!”

“Just shut up and let me do the talking,” Nikki insisted. “This is another meeting Sam set up. We’d just have a courier deliver our proposal. This guy wants a face-to-face.”

“Guy?” Phil asked. “I thought you were meeting with the CEO.”

“I am,” Nikki replied.

“It’s a woman,” Phil told her.

“No way,” Nikki said.

“I can assure you that the CEO of Barton Holdings is a woman,” Phil said. “Elizabeth Barton.”

“Oh,” Nikki said, looking down at her tight skirt and the blouse that displayed her burgeoning bosom.

“Yeah,” Phil said. “That’s why I asked. This is a certified train wreck and I am going to stand there and watch it happen. Hell, I might take a video and pass it around the office tomorrow.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Nikki hissed. “I’ll be fine – and I’ll make sure today is your last day.”

“Uh-huh,” Phil said. “At least until your grandpa gets back and kicks you and your dad to the curb for what you’ve done to his company. Look, this is a huge waste of time. Barton is not going to invest. I will bet my next paycheck against a wad of your used chewing gum that she will not agree to fund anything you propose. Let’s just cut our losses and go back before you ruin any credibility Waterford might have with Barton Holdings.”

“Just drive and keep your trap closed,” Nikki ordered. Phil couldn’t seem to wipe the grin off his face no matter how hard he tried.

Phil didn’t recognize the guard at the desk so no one recognized him in the lobby.

“Good afternoon,” Nikki said. “I’m Nikki Bradshaw of Bradshaw Development. I have an appointment with your CEO, Miss Barton.”

The guard looked at her and then Phil before picking up the phone and dialing. One of the mid-level actuaries spotted Phil across the lobby and waved. Nikki assumed the guy was waving at her and gave him a scowl in return.

“Phil,” the guy said, ignoring Nikki. “Good to see you. Is this your girlfriend?”

“I am not his girlfriend!” Nikki hissed.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Phil confirmed. In a lower voice he added, “Thank God!”

The guy laughed aloud.

“What brings you here?” the man asked. “I heard you were at some IT company.”

“We have an appointment with the CEO,” Nikki said, the self-importance just oozing from her pores.

“Gee, that’s nice,” the man said, looking at Phil questioningly. Phil gave a slight shake of his head and the guy laughed again. “Well, Phil, tell your mom I said hi.”

“Yeah,” Phil said. “I’ll do that.”

“Excuse me, Miss,” the guard said. “There is no appointment listed for Bradshaw Development.”

“Oh, it’s under Waterford & Waterford,” Nikki said airily. “It won’t be Bradshaw for a few months yet.”

The guard picked up the phone again and spoke into it.

“You’ll need to sign in and show identification,” the guard said.

“ID?” Nikki asked. “I didn’t bring any.”

“Good thing we weren’t in an accident, isn’t it?” Phil muttered. He fished his wallet out and handed over a card that identified him. “Perhaps you can just use my ID. I promise I won’t let her run with scissors or anything.”

The man looked at the ID and back up at Phil. He recognized the name as one who was to be given access to the building at any time of the day or night.

“I think that will be fine, Sir,” the guard said. He cast a curious glance at Nikki before returning his gaze to the CEO’s only child.

“Don’t ask,” Phil said, shaking his head.

“No, Sir, Mr. Warner,” the man agreed. He handed a plastic Visitor’s card across the counter. “Uh, do you need this?”

Phil had a keycard to access the upper floors but it took it anyway. He hoped he could avoid Bonnie long enough for his mother to get an unfettered glimpse at the future of Waterford & Waterford.

He couldn’t be that lucky.

“Hello, Phil,” Bonita Nejara said when he exited the elevator. “Your Mom is tied up and she has a meeting in just a few minutes. Hailey is free if you’re here to see her.”

“I’m afraid we’re the two o’clock meeting,” Phil said with clear chagrin. He gestured to his side where Nikki stood. She glanced at the nameplate beside the door and then at the guy next to her. She had heard the guard call him Mr. Warner. Just as she was about to speak a side door opened and a beautiful blonde who looked like the quintessential young professional came out.

“You came to visit me on my first day!” Hailey said. “Bonnie, did I tell you I had the greatest boyfriend in the world?”

“I knew it already,” Bonnie agreed.

“I actually didn’t come to visit with you,” Phil said. “I’m here as part of the delegation from Waterford & Waterford.”

“If they think sending Beth’s son is going to free up money for that albatross they are stupider than I thought,” Hailey said. “Your Mom and I had a good laugh over their proposal this morning. The only reason she wanted a face-to-face was to see the look on Sam Waterford’s face. She thought she knew the man. Boy was she pissed.”

“Uh, Sam’s wife is ill and he’s been attending to her for the past few weeks,” Phil said. “The company is being run by a man named Carl Bradshaw.”

“Run into the ground, you mean,” Hailey said. “Your Mom thinks Barton will be able to pick Waterford’s carcass clean of assets for pennies on the dollar before the end of the quarter. Don’t worry, though, Baby. I’ll be looking for an assistant by then. I’ll give you a good going over to see if you’re qualified.”

She looked up to see Phil’s face contorted in a grimace.

“Sorry,” she said. “I just missed you today. I’ll tone it down before the meeting. Where are the rest of them? Surely they didn’t send just you.”

Phil tilted his had in Nikki’s direction. She was still standing open-mouthed and staring at the nameplate on the door.

“Hailey Warren, allow me to introduce you to Nikki Bradshaw,” Phil said as smoothly as he could before decided to say fuck it and just get the evisceration over with. “I’m not sure of her father’s title because I have been relegated to the basement. They had no idea of who my mother is. I was selected apparently for the sole reason of owning a tie and jacket. Miss Bradshaw, I’m certain, had a large part in crafting the proposal that brought so much levity to the hallowed halls of Barton Holdings – because I suspect her father drank his dinner last night and it carried over to breakfast this morning.

“I advised Miss Bradshaw as gently as I could – and then as directly as I could – about what would transpire here but she insisted she had it handled. Therefore, I am going to do as I was instructed: Shut up and let her deal with you.”

Hailey looked around Phil and then grabbed him by the lapels and planted a kiss squarely on his lips.

“Every day you bring me a present that makes me love you more,” she said. “If you will excuse me, I will alert Mrs. Warner that the representatives from Waterford & Waterford are here.”

“Oh, fuck,” Nikki said when Hailey disappeared back into her office. “I have to get out of here!”

She was still frantically pushing the elevator button when Beth opened her door and stood in the entryway to her office. Phil stood mutely and looked at her. She wore a look of sadness and dismay.

“The elevator will not come to the executive floors without a keycard unless we call for it,” Beth said. “Miss Bradshaw, I believe we have a meeting scheduled. Please come in. I promise this won’t take long. Mr. Warner, I understand you will not be a contributor to this meeting. Is that correct?”

“I haven’t been briefed on the proposal, Ma’am,” Phil answered.

“Very well, I’d still like you’d to observe so nothing that said is distorted when retold,” Beth stated.

Nikki looked like a rat trapped in a maze as she searched frantically for a way out. She glanced down the hallway, back at Elizabeth Barton-Warner and then down the hallway again.

“Mom,” Phil said, “she really is just a pawn in all of this. The guy I’m working for said she’s only been there a week. Her father dragged her in to serve as his assistant and she’s in over her head. Hell, he’s in over his head and he’s standing on her shoulders. She’s here for the same reason I am. She had relatively appropriate clothing available on short notice.”

Elizabeth pursed her lips and took a deep breath.

“Very well,” she said. “Miss Bradshaw, please come into my office. If nothing else you can relay to your father what is lacking in his proposal. I understand my personal assistant has given you the unvarnished truth. I apologize for that lack of etiquette and I will discuss it with her – at length – later. We can, however, perhaps aid you in creating a proposal that will permit Mr. Waterford to return to a company that is still viable when his crisis has passed.”

Nikki still stood unmoving.

“It will be OK,” Phil assured her. “You have my word that everything will be done with courtesy and professionalism from here on out.”

Nikki Bradshaw practically ran from the room after Beth Warren had given her chapter and verse on the inadequacy of Bradshaw Development’s funding proposal. Her eyes had filled with tears by the time Phil slid his keycard through the reader to bring the elevator to the top floor.

“He fucking set me up!” Nikki seethed. “That asshole! I’m going to kill him. No! Fuck that. I quit.”

She waited until they’d cleared the lobby before she asked Phil for his phone. She burst into tears before Phil could fish his phone from his suit jacket. They had to cross the street anyway so instead of leading her to the parking garage beneath the building he produced a second keycard and ushered her through.

Nikki didn’t stop crying until the elevator stopped on the top floor.

“Where are we?” she asked as Phil ushered her inside.

“My apartment,” Phil said. “Take a few minutes to pull yourself together before you call back into work. Why don’t you go into the bathroom and wash your face. I’ll get you some clothes you can change into. You don’t want to get makeup on your blouse. You have a date tonight.”

Molly saw him standing in the foyer and came from her bedroom. For once she was fully dressed. Phil wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed.

“Don’t you look handsome in your suit!” she said in her lilting tone. She lifted her lips and kissed him softly.

“Oh, a guest!” she said. Her eyes widened when she saw the wreck of a girl in front of her.

“This is Nikki Bradshaw,” Phil said. “We work together. Nikki, come on. I’ll show you where you can wash up.”

She nodded numbly and followed Phil down the hallway. He pulled out a T-shirt and the smallest pair of shorts he owned. He knew better than to appropriate clothing from Hailey – not for the woman who had spent most of the day belittling Hailey’s boyfriend.

“I thought the one at Barton was your girlfriend,” Nikki said.

“She is,” Phil answered as he handed the clothing through the door.

“But the redhead kissed you,” Nikki pointed out, unbuttoning her blouse.

“She’s just an affectionate friend,” Phil answered, noticing that Nikki had no intention of closing the door before the grand unveiling. He turned and walked away before her bare breasts came into view.

“Do I even want to ask?” Molly inquired. “Oh, shit, of course I do. Why in the world would you bring a tramp back here? You knew one of us would be here! If you wanted a piece of strange, you only had to point at one of us.”