Successful Love Book 2

Chapter 24

Next Week
Monday, April 27th
Harper's P.O.V.
Eli left last night for Chicago and Martha is going to watch Olivia until we find a babysitter. I had on this light pink skirt, white sleeveless shirt, gold open toe shoes.
But I was sitting in my office chair at my desk and going over some paperwork and just the normal things when my assistant knocked on my door.
"Harper?" She said
"Yes Em" I said without looking up
"Mr. Patterson would like to see you? And your 2 o'clock said they are going be late." Em said
"Okay and call my 2 o'clock back and tell them to take their time and they can be here at 3 but a little closer to 4 so tell them about 3:15 because it's 2:07 now and I don't know how long this is gonna take with Mr. Patterson" I said
"Right away" Em said closing my door
I close my pen and grab my cup of tea that I was drinking and walked to Mr. Patterson's office.
His secretary Hannah was sitting at her desk working.
"Mr. Patterson called for me" I said she picked up the phone and notified Mr. Patterson that I was here
"He's ready to see you" she said
I walked through the big Mahogany doors and he was sitting at his desk with his glasses on reading a file. He has glass windows behind his desk and you can see downtown Atlanta. His big black desk was in the center of the room and over in the front and to the side was a couch and 2 chairs and he had to leather chairs in front of his desk. There were also boxes all around the office.
"Harper please come sit" he said
Pointing to the chair in front of his desk.
"Can I get you something to drink?" He asked
"No I have my tea" I said lifting up my coffee cup
"Have you thought about my offer?" He asked
"Yes I have thought about it and I consulted my husband about it also." I said
"So what did he think?" He asked
I crossed my legs at the knee
"He said he would support me in whatever decision I made about it." I said
"That's good" he said sitting up in his chair
"Are you sure you don't want to try and find another way?" I asked
"Harper I am 67 years old this is just to show me that I have out grown my time here. I told my wife and she is mad, which is what I expected. She said she wanted us to go to counseling and wanted me to go to rehab. This that I built is yours, my time is up but your time is now. We talked to our kids about the situation and they are upset also but they want me to go to rehab and want me and my wife to go to counseling. So this gives me a peace of mind and this allows me to be open. I don't have to sneak around and making sure I am not stepping on rat traps." He said
"I will assume the position of CEO" I said
"That's wonderful, now I will be packed up and ready to get out of here today. Tell everyone to meet me in the auditorium so we can talk to them and tell them what is going on." He said
"Okay Mr. Patterson" I said standing up and about to walk out
"Harper do me a favor and don't call me Mr. Patterson. I am no longer your boss" he said
"I will Mr. Pa-....Jay" I said walking out of his office
I walked back to my office to tell Emily to cancel my 2 o'clock.
"Em cancel my 2 o'clock and call all departments and tell them this is a mandatory meeting with VP and CEO in the auditorium" I said
"Okay" she said
I went into my office and grabbed my phone and saw that Martha called and I called her back.
"Martha I just saw your call, is something wrong?" I asked hearing Olivia crying in the background
"How long are you gonna be before you get home?" She asked
"It's gonna be maybe another 2 or 3 hours. Why? What's going on?" I asked
"She is out of breast milk" she said
"I should've pumped some into a container. But get one of her very small bottles out of the cabinet right next to the refrigerator, the smallest one. On the shelf right above it should be a can of formula. Get a 1/2 of scoop of that and mix it with 4oz of bottle water and shake it for about 15-20 secs and put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds." I said
"Okay you sure you don't want her to have a big bottle?" She asked
"No because I want to at least keep her on breast milk until about 6 months" I said
"Okay" she replied
"I will be home as soon as possible" I said before hanging up
I went downstairs into the auditorium it was filling up very quickly. I walked on stage where Jay was.
"I hope I am not being rude but can we kind of try and speed this up, because I didn't pump enough milk for my daughter and I kind of need to get home as soon as possible" I said
"Okay we can start now and just let those who haven't came yet come in and they can get filled in" he said
He grabbed the mic and walked up to the front of the stage.
"Good Afternoon everyone" he said
"Good afternoon" we said in unison
"Today is a big day, a day of change and a day of leadership. As many of you know I am stepping down as CEO and Harper Washington is being promoted. But many of your don't know why, I have an addiction to a drug. I betrayed the trust of my wife. My wife and I have moved on from this, she is upset with me but has decided to forgive me and my kids have also.
I am asking for you all to find it in your heart to forgive me. Forgiveness will give you a peace of mind that is like no other. Here is your new CEO Harper Washington" he said getting everyone to clap
I grabbed the microphone from him after giving him a hug.
"First must I say Mr. Jay Patterson, you will be missed. It was great to serve under you and I wish you were leaving for better circumstances. But it was truly a privilege and an honor to served under you. Can we all please stand and give him a warm ovation?" I said and everyone stood up and clapped for him and Jay bowed to us. Everyone sat down and I waited until they got quiet.
"I have to get home to my baby girl because she ran out of milk. But I myself as a CEO, my door will always be open. I want this to be a professional but open company.
If there are things you would like to change and think they are important come talk to me. Monday morning there will be few things on your desk. A couple of these half sheets, these are for like of there is something you would like to change fill it out and I will look at it. This second one is a full one, this is an evaluation sheet on just your position, if you would like to change it. Now this is a medical form...I know what your saying we are adults or whatever. This is so we know what to do if something occurs.
This red sheet is security information. We will be assigning parking spots, for everyone in the building. There will be a special place for visitors and clients that need to come in. If there is a client that needs access they must have a badge on. You write their names and that they're coming to see you in an email. The security will print out a badge for them. I will explain everything more in depth Monday morning. But everyone have a great weekend and thank you." I said turning off the mic and walked off the stage
I went back to my office and canceled my appointment. I turned everything off and grabbed my things and left to go to my BMW to go home.
Morris P.O.V.
I looked at my once full office, everyone was gone for the day. I was the last one left in the entire building. I walked through each and every floor remembering what this building used to look like. Just the frame, white walls, no offices. I got back up to my old office, I walked around it looking at the sky line remembering when I was a kid and I wanted to be a lawyer.
I studied so hard in school, read law books galore and books in general. I remember starting this company out of a store front. I remember filling out those dreadful loan applications and getting denied twice before I got enough money to buy that place and be able to pay at least 3 employees to get me started. I remember my first employee, I was so hard on her but she was my best lawyer that I had ever had.
But she decided that she wanted to take her talents to a LA office that was paying her almost 3 times the salary I was.
I began to cry to think about what led me to use cocaine. I remember after getting my business off the ground and it becoming more stressful due to us picking up more and more cases. I get rubbing my face and remember having bags big as walnuts under my eyes.
Flashback
I was sitting at my desk working on paperwork and preparing for this divorce case. This was my first very big case as a independent lawyer. I looked at my phone and it was 6:30 pm and I had to get out of here.
I began packing up my things when a knock came to my door.
"Come in" I said
My client Mr. Robertson came in and sat down.
"Hello Morris" he said
"Hi Mr. Robertson how are you?" I asked
"Good, I should be asking you how are you doing?" He said
"Just stressed about this case, company, employees. That's all" I said wiping my eyes once again.
"You look like you haven't been sleeping" he said
"Is it that obvious?" I asked
"Yeah with all the coffee cups around and with those dark circles and bags, yeah it's pretty obvious" he said chuckling
"I wish there was just something that could get me to relax and focus" I said
"That's all you need man?" He asked
"Yes" I said
"Here, this is my gift to you. Try it out tell me how you like it?" He said shaking a little bag of cocaine into my hand before walking out of my office.
I had never used before, I didn't know what to do with it. I guess you sniff it into your nose. That night I went home, into my office and locked the door. I laid it out on my desk and sniffed it.
Flashback Over
Today if I had've known I would be in this predicament now, I would've thought twice about taking that sniff. I am gonna write this note to Harper before I leave I didn't get a chance to say goodbye.
"Dear Harper
Take care of my baby, it's just like your baby needs to fed and needs to be changed. It was an honor and a pleasure to work with you also. Be encouraged and know that in all decisions that you make there is someone behind it. There are 2 keys in here and which one you choose to use, it's your decision if you even choose to at all. I am always here if you need me, you know my number and you know where I live if you need to talk I am always here."
Your Former CEO
Morris Patterson
"P.S.
If your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough"-Unknown
I signed my name under it and put it in an envelope and wrote her name on it. Then I left the keys I had to my store front, and to this building inside the envelope. They are the same exact locks as the store front. I grabbed my last couple of boxes turned the light off and shut the door to one chapter and helped Harper open another to another chapter.