My Sister's Keeper: Book One

Art of Negotiating

I woke up at 8 in the morning to pack my clothes for my trip to Texas. I called Cynthia to make sure to notify me of any meetings while I was away. As I zipped up my luggage, I thought about hiring Roberto Artinez to replace Lillian. He seemed genuinely determined about it. He even complimented my intelligence without knowing.

After getting fully dressed and styling my curly hair, I made my way into the kitchen to finish pouring my coffee. As I picked up my cup to sip, I heard a few muffled barks inside my laundry room that was on the right side of the kitchen. I opened the door and my fluffy little Cairn Terrier raced out of the little room, fussing at me. Jason always had an attitude whenever I left his water bowl with no ice in it.  

"Awe, mommy left your bowl with no ice...let me get you some real quick before I go to the beauty parlor." I cooed and opened the freezer and took out a tray of ice and placed the ice in his doggy bowl. As he licked his ice water, I grabbed my handbag and headed outside.

I lived in a fairly good neighborhood. It was a nice little two-bedroom townhouse with a nice backyard for Jason, and I made the extra bedroom into an office since nobody ever came over to sleep, except Keisha, but I allowed her to take my bed whenever she came. After getting my natural hair washed and styled into a well-defined twist-out (type of hairstyle that naturals do) at the parlor I stopped by work to see how Mr. Artinez was holding up as the new employee, plus to offer him some pointers. 

I walked up to his cubicle and noticed how hard he was working, answering calls, and allowing his confidence and intelligence to flow through his voice into the telephone. I smiled and tapped on his shoulder as he placed the phone down. He spun around and smiled, before standing up to his full height. "Hello Miss Lawrence, I just wanted to thank you for hiring me to work in the estate division, I do not take it lightly and I will not let you down," he assured me. 

I smiled at him.

 "Oh, you're welcome Mr. Artinez, I just came by to see how you were getting along, is everything alright, any questions?" I asked. 

 "Oh no complaints here, everything is going well, I believe we'll be able to convince the farm owners to sell us their 100+ acres of property, but my question is, would it be okay if I had your...contact number, just because I could keep you up to date with what was going on down here, while you're gone?" he asked, and I was actually thinking of giving it to him until I remembered my secretary was going to keep me up to date already. 

"Aww, sorry that's sweet of you, but my secretary already has that covered, but thank you anyway," I said, patting his broad shoulder. 

He blushed as he smiled.

I knew Keisha would have pinched me by now and taken the number for me.

"Well see you later then, I hope you have a safe flight," he said. I smiled back at him. "Thanks, you have a good day, and don't neglect to talk to my secretary or Mr. Renell if you need help, I really feel like we made a good decision in hiring you and I know you'll get promoted here in no time," I admitted.