The Boss Lady

The Meeting Of All Meetings

It was the new year and I had called the few men that had given me their cards. We had lunches and some of them wanted to meet at their offices. I had told them that a law firm and a hotel or two, were not the end goal for me. I had made sure to mention that I had bigger dreams and a lot of them laughed entertaining the idea for my sake.

I didn't feel that I was being taken seriously by most of them. So, imagine my shock when I got a call one day from Edwardo. He said that he wanted to meet me at his office. Deciding not to be stubborn, I had decided I wanted to hear what he had to say.

That's how I ended up sitting in his waiting room with his secretary staring me down. I smiled over at her and she eyed me. Sounded about right.

The phone rang and she picked it up stood up walking out from behind her desk. "Mr. King will see you now," She said walking passed me to his office before I even had the chance to stand up. She swayed side to side, looking back at me, and raising her eyebrow as I lagged behind.

I entered the room and Edwardo smiled ushering me in and as the door behind me closed said "Katherine, it's good to see you again," while leaning back in his chair as I went to sit in one of the seats in front of his desk. His office was massive, windows everywhere, it was what I could only imagine having.

"I wasn't expecting to hear from you," I said getting straight to the point. He laughed and leaned forward. He was literally the older version of James up close. His eye with years of experience and exhaustion behind them.

"Patrick tells me you have a drive about you," He said and I shifted in my seat. Patrick just talked away it seemed.

"I appreciate that he said that," I said smiling. Edwardo picked up a small trinket on his desk and started to fidget with it.

"You know, I saw you, that day at the bar," He said leaning back again.

"You ignored me?" I asked confused. If he saw me he could've at least said a simple sorry, can't talk, or something.

"No, I waited to see how far you would go," He said and I stared at him in utter confusion.

"How far I would go to do what?" I asked my eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.

He cleared his throat and said "Katherine, I need someone to take my position,"

"How does this involve me?" I asked. Didn't he have two sons?

"I want you to take my position and run my company, well companies," He said and my eyes went wide, so wide that I didn't think they'd go back to normal.

"Yo-you want me to what, I think you may be confused I'm re-" I began

"No, I want you to take my position and I'm not going crazy. There is a fire in your eyes, Katherine, the same fire that was in someone's eyes I knew many years ago," He said, his tone serious.

"You have sons," I said knowing I was far from the best option or even the most logical one at that.

"They don't have what it takes, I know my boys," He said laughing.

"What makes you think that I do," I said in almost a whisper, challenging him with my eyes.

"Because you're me, but with boobs," He said bluntly. I should've been offended, should've stormed right out of there, but he was probably right. "Listen, I'm not saying take over tomorrow, probably not even next year, all I am saying is to think about it," He said smiling at me.

I nodded my head, standing up. I did have a lot to think about. I turned around, getting ready to walk away when he stopped me "Your mother, I was sorry to hear about her passing," He said and I turned around smiling and nodding my head. She had passed away years ago now, I didn't even know that he knew her though. "I never told you my last name, how did you know?" I asked confused.

"You look just like her," He said smiling with what I'm sure was many untold stories behind his eyes. Maybe one day I'd find out those stories.

"Thank you," I said standing there and staring at him. "For everything," I added.

"Don't thank me until you've decided what you want," He said and quickly added "You'll know when you have to make your final decision" I left confused about the last thing he had said and I walked out of the office.

I knew that I wanted this, every fiber of my being wanted this. This was the goal. I just hadn't expected it to just be handed to me and I wasn't one-hundred percent sure I was okay with that. I had a plan and preferred to stick to my plans. But I knew damn well an opportunity like this would never present itself again, especially for someone like me. Someone who it seemed had to constantly prove that she could do things just as good as the men could.

I walked out onto the busy streets and walked passed couples holding hands, teenagers kissing, and people heading to work. I was passing a diner when I saw a father and son having lunch. I always wondered who my own father was, my mother, deciding to raise me as a single mother. She never told me who he was and when I asked she would say "He offered me a large sum of money to take care of it, Katherine I told him to shove it, and that you were all mine. He tried coming back and I told him it was too late,"

I hadn't realized how long I was just standing in front of the diner staring at the pair, in my own memories. It suddenly started to rain and that threw me back into reality. "Ahhh," I said to myself and started to run towards my car. I had left that office knowing one thing today, I would never come in contact with someone who believed in me to that extent again.