The Struggles of Being a Teenage Wife

Chapter 5

It's Saturday, the last one of the summer. I haven't painted or drawn in a while, and it's making me feel dull. 

I take out my sheets of watercolor paper and my very old box of paints. One of the sheets was already painted on: a field of roses, all sorts of colors, but there's a daisy, sticking out, and a single sunflower sticking out too. Those are the only different flowers in the field. The background was a wash of colors, making it look like sunrise. The beginning of a day. 

I saw this in a dream the night I signed the inheritance paperwork for Remlor; I was walking through the field, but I was coughing and wheezing because of my allergies from the roses. I ran towards the daisy and sunflower, and I don't remember if my allergies got better, but for some reason I reached towards the sunflower. When I picked it up, it crumbled in my hands. I don't remember the rest; I decided not to draw the crumbling part, it didn't sit well with me. 

I prop my legs up on the other chair on the balcony. It's still early in the morning so there's a fresh breeze, not too much sun, and an overall calmness. I'm enjoying it while it lasts before the traffic starts kicking in on the streets below. 

I've been CEO of Remlor for all of three days, and I still don't understand how I got here. 

That day I wanted everything to go smoothly. The first impression of me becoming the CEO had to be good, especially if everyone was going to accept an almost seventeen-year old. Not that my age makes me incapable, I beg to differ,  but it's still a big change. Not to mention I am the first woman in power at the company, everyone else before has been a man. Go figure. 

When we got to Remlor, there were reporters and photographers crowding the glass entrance doors. The security team was blocking them, but I could barely see Margaret, the receptionist, jittering inside. I looked to Zach. 

"We're not just going to try to go through them, right?" 

He pursed his lips. "I don't think so, we need to get in through the back." He turned the car around before anyone could see and drove towards the back entrance. I remember going in this way with my father on occasion. Meanwhile, I called Margaret to receive us in the back. I smiled at the sound of her voice, I didn't realize how much I missed her, too. 

The smell of office and innovation surrounded me as I stepped inside. Margaret was lamenting with Zach and I about our fathers, but that she was so happy to see us here, together. I snapped out of my daze at her last word. Together? She doesn't think--she must mean together as in he and I are standing together? 

"Margaret, we need to set up a staff wide meeting, we have some news," Zach said carefully. She nodded, and scurried away to her desk. 

We stood in the hallway waiting for the elevator. Portrait photos were placed precisely on the wall behind us, of all the past CEOs and CFOs. The most recent one was of just John Taylor and Will Collins. Now would we have to add another to keep up tradition? Of me and Zach?

The realization that they're really gone hit, and I couldn't handle it. 

"Emma, are you ok?"

No, I am not ok! I hyperventilated, and I didn't think I could show my flushed face in front of the board. 

"If this is too much for you, all you have to do is sign the papers, and I can handle everything from here on out. It's ok." He embraced me suddenly, and my heart began to beat faster instead of relaxing. We were in the elevator now, and all I could think about was how I was going to be able to match up to their years of experience, Zach's experience, how could I, barely a high school graduate, compete with the elite? Well that, and the fact that Zach was now stroking my hair and letting me slowly calm down on his shoulder.