The Arrangement | Book 2 | Completed

38

As we walk into the upstairs meeting room, Melissa and Clarissa are both already inside and sitting at the end of the large rectangle table. Evan smiles when he enters the room and immediately goes over and sits next to Clarissa. Frailey and I sit at the opposite end of the table facing the others.

"Thank you for showing up." I tell everyone with a small laugh. "I know stuff like this can be kind of annoying but it's not often that we have everyone together in the same city." I tell them.

"Yeah, we're always running away from this place." Frailey tells them with a laugh.

"I don't want to take up too much of your time, so we'll just get right into everything. First, I want to introduce everyone to Evan Maksimov. He has been my apprentice for the last month. He has done an amazing job at everything and really holding the fort down for me. This last month has been pretty hectic, but hopefully it's all coming together now." I say. I glance over at Melissa briefly and see her giving me a small smile. Instead of returning it, I continue to ramble on.

"Anyways, we were very lucky to have Evan with us. We're going to really miss him here when he leaves." I say sadly.

"It's been amazing. I have honestly learned so much being in this company. Even more so than what I've learned at my own. I will most definitely never forget about this trip." He tells me. Frailey raises an imaginary glass to Evan's speech.

"To those of you who haven't really met him, you will be able to spend the rest of this week with him. Sadly, this week is his last week with us. He needs to go back to Russia to continue his life there. So, things are going to be a little bit different. Instead of pushing our holiday party to after New Year's, we will be having it this week. With that being said, the holiday party will clearly be held here in the office instead of at the venue we always have it at." I tell them.

"How are we going to pull together a holiday party that quickly?" Melissa asks me, seemingly confused by this change in events.

"Well, it won't be easy. We'll need to figure out how to clear out the space and also make it not feel like a work event?" I say.

"Good luck with that." Frailey huffs. He's right, though. Usually, no one wants to attend these kind of events. Who would? It's work.

"Well, we need to find a caterer as well as figure out what awards we will be giving." I tell everyone. "Clarissa and Evan, can I put you guys in charge of catering?" I ask.

"I know absolutely nothing about hosting a holiday party, but I think we can swing it." Evan says.

"Great. Frailey and I can take care of awards and preparing the other giveaways. Melissa, can you and some of the others in Financing work out the layout of everything? We can all kind of help with decorations. I'm thinking we can just throw some candles on the tables and call it good." I say.

"You know I'm going to go all out for decorations." Melissa smiles.

"I was hoping you would." I say with a small smile. Frailey lets out an awkward cough and then interjects the conversation.

"Well, I will definitely get started on those awards. Maybe we can get Daniel and my dad to make a video or something so we can project it for everyone else." Frailey offers.

"I actually think my parents will be there, but we can definitely get your dad on Skype or something. I think that would be nice. We need to address the raises given for this year and new projects." I tell everyone. "We are going to be pairing with Mr.Yokan in his new startup company. As some of you might know, Mr.Yokan has invested in and created many of the most successful startup companies in New York and LA. His most recent project is in app development and wants to place companies in Florida, Colorado, LA, Portland, and in New York. These will be smaller companies unlike his usual approach, but I believe that this company is going in the right direction. So, Frailey and I made the executive decision to move forward with Mr. Yokan in this journey. Hopefully everything goes well. We'll be sending some of our team out to work side by side Mr. Yokan and his company. This is really exciting for Fain&Frailey, and we will be announcing this for the first time as well as who will be leading this team during the project at the holiday party. So, it's important that we explain that while it is not a mandatory event, it is highly encouraged."

"That's so amazing! I've read up on Mr. Yokan. He's one of the highest paid executives in his industry." Clarissa exclaims.

"I've actually heard of him before. He's pretty well known and envied over in Russia." Evan tells us.

"That's honestly about it for this meeting. Unless Frailey has anything else to add." I say, turning to Kyler.

"Actually, we do have some news over at the other office. As you all know, it was previously Matty and I that kept that building up and running. Well, our parents have decided to kind of step back in this company and let us run the show. That being said, it is a bit hard to run that building on my own. Thankfully, Melissa and some of the others were able to come out to Vancouver to lend me a hand, but they have their own duties here in Seattle. If any of you know of someone highly qualified for this position, I am opening up a number of positions in my building. I am needing a Chief Operation Officer to help over in HR and also someone to help my Chief Financial Officer. These are positions that we have never had before, but Matty and I can't be in the same place all the time so a lot of help is needed right now." Frailey tells us.

"I'm sure I can find a qualified CFO that is capable of handling the responsibilities that come with this job. I'll send you an email of potential candidates." Melissa says, jotting something on her notebook.

"That's awesome. Unless you guys have anything you would like to add, I think we're pretty much done here." Frailey says.

When no one speaks, Frailey and I stand up from our seats and dismiss the others.

"Mel, can you stay behind for a second?" I ask as the others are about to leave.

"Uhm..." She says, looking out the door where Clarissa stands, giving her a shrug and slipping out of the door. "Sure. Do you need me to close the door?" She asks nervously.

"Yeah, if you would." I say. When she closes the door, I let out a sigh and lean against the meeting table.

"You okay?" She asks.

"No." I admit. "I fucking miss you, Mel. I miss you and I miss the way that we used to be. I want things to be how they used to be. I'm sorry for everything that happened. I know it's difficult to understand and I would like to be able to explain it more tonight. Well actually, I want to explain it more...now. Like, I want to go on home and just sit and talk with you for a little while." I say. I didn't think I would be saying all of this right now, but seeing her during the meeting brought back feelings that I didn't even know I still had. I still have these feelings. I think that in a way, I always will.

"I don't know, Matty. We still have work that needs to be done here." She sighs.

"I know, and I know that's important. Clearly, it's important. But, this is important too. I want to just talk with you and see that we can figure out. Maybe we're still broken up, but there are just a number of things that need to be discussed and I would like to do that sooner rather than later." I explain.

"Okay. Yeah, okay." She sighs, finally giving in.

"I'll meet you at the house?" I say.

"Yeah, I'll meet you over there. Let me just get all of my stuff together." She says.

"Okay. I'll see you soon." I say as we leave the office. As I watch her walk down the hallway and into the elevator, I begin to wonder if this is a good idea or just another loop in our ongoing, toxic cycle.