New CEO

CHAPTER 3

We stopped to pick Beaufort up from the doggy hotel he had been housed in for the past few days. Beaufort was Mr.  Black's Mastiff. Once we arrive at my apartment I tell Adam about the house and having to meet my new boss on Monday. I don't make any mention about owning any part of the company.  I need time to let it sink in.  I don't know what it all means, how can someone like me understand or be expected to understand what it all means. It just makes me dizzy thinking about it. I don't go into too much detail but tell him its Mr. Black's son who will be taking over.

"Your boss had a son?" He asked surprised.

"Yes. Last time he saw him he was five years old."

"Geez, when was this? Your boss was old, the son must be old too." He says this and jumps out of my way one second too late. My hand slaps his arm.

"Sorry, Al." He smiles apologetically as he rubs his arm.

"His son shouldn't be much older than us, twenty nine I believe. His mother had taken him to live outside the country with her family because Mr. Black worked too much and was never around."

"The man was wealthy, why didn't he just work a bit less?"

"He was just coming up then I guess. It was around that time that he had the National Bank built downtown. Before that he had just been buying and selling real state. It was his first major project and look where that got him."

"Yeah but at what cost? The man lost his family. His wife, his son and most importantly, his son lost the opportunity to get to know his father." He says.

That last statement really made me think. I knew what that was like. I didn't know my father either.

"Mr. Black didn't like to talk about it much." I reply. "He once told me he tried contacting them several times throughout the years but his wife would evade him and his son eventually grew to hate him and wanted nothing to do with him."

"Sounds like there's more to that story Al."

"How so?"

"Why would his wife evade him if she wanted him to spend time with them instead of working all the time. It doesn't make sense. Al, if your dad tried contacting you after years and tried it repeatedly, would you hate him just because?"

"Well, my dad died... no. I mean, I don't think so."

"Exactly."

Hmm, maybe Adam was right, there had to be more to this story. It couldn't have been that simple. No one could hate their parent just because. I was pretty curious now but would never get my answer. Mr. Black was dead now and his son didn't know me, I couldn't very well ask him. Besides did it really matter? Probably not, Damien was on his way to take over his father's company and many other assets.

Surely he would take his father's place as Chairman of Black Financial Group's Executive Committee which oversees all of the business operations of Black Financial Group, Black Texas Financial, B Commercial Properties, Black Development, Black Grand Resorts, and Black Insurance Services.

"Some part of him must have forgiven his father, otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to come down to San Diego so quickly." I say, now even more curious than before.
Mr. Black asked in his will that I help his son forgive him, but if he was already forgiven then there wasn't all that much there for me to do except share Mr. Black's story with his son. That should be easy enough. Piece of cake!

*****************************************

Adam and I spent our last few hours together watching episodes from The Walking Dead marathon but soon enough Beaufort started whining, he needed to be let out.

"Its so nice to be out for a stroll in the cool evening, just what I needed to clear my mind."

Adam smiled at me and wrapped his arm around me.

"Glad I could be here for you Al, I'm sorry I have to go back so soon."

"I know, you have work to get back to but I really do appreciate you coming down to be with me through this difficult time."

I really meant it. Having Adam here with me was helping me so much more than he knew. I was all alone here, my mom had moved back to Chicago where she was from in order to care for my grandmother.

Adam hugged me close and held me there for a moment. The light scent of his cologne infiltrated my senses and there it was, that feeling of total calmness. As if it all just melted away, he had the ability to do that to me with his warm embrace.
The goosebumps the cool air left behind as it kissed my skin were gone. The overwhelming feeling of emptiness and sorrow that had taken a hold of me these last few days, disappeared. I had lost a father figure in my life but at this exact moment, I knew everything  would be okay.

"How do you do that?" I ask, looking up at him with tears in my eyes.

"Do what?" A puzzled look on his face.

"You always make it all better with your hugs. Nobody hugs like you."

"How many people do you go around hugging young lady?" He smiles big as he says this.

"Just you, actually."

He hugs me even tighter and delivers a warm kiss to my forehead.

"You're the best Al, someday a lucky guy is going to sweep you off your feet and you won't think the same way about my hugs as you do now."

I guess this wasn't that day and he wasn't so lucky of a guy. I had just been Friend Zoned.  I had always secretly loved Adam but he could never see me as anything more than his little sister. Beaufort seemed to have sensed how hard and fast my heart dropped for he started tugging on his leash and broke Adam's embrace.

Better luck next time, Al. I chastised myself. Adam will be gone in a few hours then you can go back to being alone to sulk in your sorrow and misery.

"Why so quiet Al?" Adam asked when we got to the apartment.

"Did I say something wrong? You weren't this quiet before."

Did he really not get it, couldn't he see I was in love with him? Well I wasn't about to spew my heart out at him now, after he basically told me he wasn't interested in me. No way was I going to be one if those girls who moped around over some guy who doesn't feel for them what they feel for him. No, not this girl. Not anymore at least.

"I'm fine. Just tired and we have to get up in a couple of hours to get you to the airport, is all." I say, rather unconvincingly but he doesn't notice.

"You don't have to get up to take me, I can call a cab. I know you need your rest before you go back to work."

"Its fine, really. I want to take you." Not really, I hated seeing him leave but a las, Adam had work to get back to and I needed rest before my big day on Monday.