Downgrading Miss CEO

Chapter 12

The minute I stepped foot onto my floor, Allison greeted immediately with a fire of questions. "How was it? How was he? Is he cute? What does he do? Are you meeting him again? Oh my gosh... Do you think he could be the one?"

"Oh come on Ali,' said I as I sat down in my chair and opened my mail on my computer. "I've spent only thirty minutes with the guy. How should I know if he could be the one? He was okay though, turns out to be the guy who spills coffee on me whenever he gets the chance, but other than that he seems like a good guy. And that is all I am willing to share for now. Besides the fact I am not willing to share more, I don't have the time to share more. I have to go and meet with my mom and sister. Anything I missed during lunch? Anything I should know or take care of before I go?"

I quickly took a cardigan from my coat rack in the office, one that I keep around for emergencies, to cover up a bit. It would make the date-worthy outfit a bit more suitable for business and meeting family. While I was rearranging my bag, leaving needless items behind in the office, Allison updated me. "You didn't miss all that much. However, they need you to sign some documents for the new resort Hawaii. They need your permission to start the constructions. They said it was urgent, and they want it signed as soon as possible."

"Sure, I'll look into those papers once I get back. Now I should go and meet my mom and sister. Please, if there is something that needs my immediate attention, just call me on my cell and I will take care of it from there."

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"Sorry I'm late, there was some paperwork that needed my attention. But I am here now." I bent down to press a kiss on my mother's cheek and then did the same to Ava before I sat down in my seat. My mother's head immediately turned in my direction. By the look of her face, the intensity in her eyes and the slight movement of her mouth indicated she was about to overwhelm me with a wave of questions, most likely whether I've found someone interesting and appropriate.

"So, Ava tell me, how's Andrew? You two seemed to hit it off the other night? Good for you, he seems like he's a good guy. And speaking about that, I know both of you are dying to ask how my search for Mr Right is going, but I have to disappoint you. I am afraid I just haven't found him yet."

My mom's uneasiness was given away by her twisting her thumbs and fiddling with the hem of her skirt. Luckily for me, Ava was just her normal and confident self. "Don't worry Lucy, you will be just fine. For all you know you might bump into a handsome stranger somewhere on your way home. You can't let this week of setbacks hold you back. You deserve to run Harrington Inc., we all know that. Just see the engagement and eventually the wedding and honeymoon as a well-deserved vacation. You just have to find someone who you'd like to go with"

The waiter came to our table and took our orders. My mom and sister clearly were hungry as they both ordered themselves a club-sandwich with extra fries, while I just ordered myself a salad. As the waiter walked away, my mom started gossiping all the dirt she had picked up on either at the hairdressers, the club or her little book club. I tried my best to listen, act like I was actually interested in what she had to say and even comment or pitch in from time to time, but all my focus, or what little was left of it, was gone once my phone started to vibrate in my lap.

Julian:

Just figured you might actually need my number to call me and set up another date ;).

I felt my cheeks slightly burning up by his direct and forward comment. What was he doing to me? This shouldn't be happening so easy? I was a twenty-six-year woman for crying out loud, this shouldn't affect me in the way it did. From the corner of my eye, I saw Ava raising her eyebrow at me, letting me know she saw what was happening to me. Fortunately, this little scene completely skipped my mother's notice as she was still vividly telling about how Dorothy's daughter was caught having sex with her college professor, who happened to be an old college friend of her father. And here I thought my life was a mess.

My mom kept chattering on about all little things that were somehow blown out of their proportions, just because it was people from the upper-class, and I couldn't listen to it anymore. "So, did either of you see Chris lately? I was with him just before we had that delightful dinner the other night. His nurse, Rachel, said he was doing good. There wasn't any progress, but he hasn't deteriorated either. That's something right?"

All of a sudden my hand was held by my mom. "Honey, we may have to accept he's never going to get better. We need to start thinking about letting him go."

This could not be true. Letting him go? That was their solution? I jerked back my hand. "Letting him go? Are you suggesting we take him off life support? That we kill him? Are you kidding me? Did dad put you up to this? We can't do this! We can give up on him! I won't give up on him!"

Not knowing what came over me, I grabbed my stuff and stormed out of the restaurant. This just couldn't be happening. I walked, or rather bolted, to Central Park, carefully dodging all pedestrians along the way. Once there, I sat down on a bench overlooking the water. The water and trees sending off a beautiful vibe of serenity. I sat there for quite some time, just watching other people relax and having fun. Why couldn't my life be a little simpler?

The buzzing of my phone interrupted my thoughts. I picked it up to see what was going on and noticed I had a new message, it was from Allison. A message from Allison wasn't anything new or exciting. But it was at this moment that I was reminded of the text message I received from Julian, earlier this afternoon. She thought back to the short amount of time spent with him. A short amount of time in which she felt like her true self, a short amount time in which the cold-hearted businesswoman was gone.

Unfortunately, those feelings of comfort and normality were cut off by the thought of her father and grandfather's wishes. A guy like Julian would never be good enough according to their standards. To please them, I would have to marry one of the eligible bachelors with their own company in the same field of business, so that the companies could merge and she could be benched. Deep down, I knew that this marriage scam was just to have the company lead by a man. It was their way to bench me and have me do some more feminine stuff, like raising the future CEO of Harrington Inc.

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