Chapter 41Annie
Chapter 41
Annie
MARCH | Balance: $45,397
It was my second coffee date of the day. When I sent Marcie an SOS text the night before requesting coffee, she responded all-too-eagerly, ready to get out of her newborn rut.
I flagged Marcie down when she entered the café with the Markham smile and hugged her when we got in line to order. I complimented her out-of-the-house pants, though the real thing to note was how good she looked for a semi-new mom. Her deep brown skin glowed, despite the bags under her eyes to indicate the real toll of sleepless nights. She was sporting a new short haircut.
“I spent the baby’s whole nap doing this hair. You’d better appreciate that,” she said, patting her freshly pressed bob.
“It looks amazing,” I said. “I love the chic mom cut. Motherhood looks good on you.”
“Keep going, please,” she laughed, then sobered. “You, on the other hand, look like you’ve seen some hell. What’s going on?”
I confessed everything as we sat with our drinks: that I really had been with Nick that whole time, his mistake, and my suspension. If there was one person I felt I could be honest with at work, it was her. She’d trusted me with her job while she was on leave, after all.
Her facial expressions didn’t give much away while I spilled it all out. When I finished, she leaned back from the table and took a pensive sip of her cappuccino.
“This is quite a pickle you’ve put yourself in, Annie Markham. So what are we going to do about it?”
“Well, I have two choices. I can tell the truth and probably get fired, or I can deny that Nick and I were ever involved and hope I get to keep it.”
A slow smile curved her lips. “And what if we work on a third option?”
* * *
Marcie and I sat in the waiting room at work, which felt very strange. Retha gave me a wink and slid me a Diet Coke across the counter when we checked in. I popped the top and took a fortifying sip, exchanging a nervous glance with Marcie.
“What if this backfires?”
“Then we do our own thing,” she said. “We have the power here. It’s their choice.”
We were supposed to speak at the impromptu board meeting at one, and it was five after. I sent Nick a text in the morning and told him I’d made a decision, and that I’d see him after his game that night. My phone lit up and I checked it.
Nick Oberbeck
Don’t do anything rash. I have an idea
“Ladies, they’re ready for you.”
What did Nick mean? It didn’t matter, because Marcie and I were moving ahead with our plan. We’d stayed up late at her kitchen table, working through our proposal. She was a partner and thus had more sway than me. We also made a lot of phone calls to support our Plan B.
Bill greeted us surprisingly cordially, giving Marcie a hug and asking about the baby. Dev cooed over her pictures, showing us some shots from when he and Priya had taken a camping trip recently. A look around the table showed the other two partners, Allan and Tomas. They specialized in men’s basketball, so I didn’t interact with them as much. Marcie was the sole female on the board, something that felt intimidating in the moment.
“So, Marcie, what merited you coming back from leave to call an emergency board meeting?” Bill asked.
“Annie, want to kick us off?” Marcie asked.
I pulled the folder out of my bag and took a deep breath. “I wanted to address your concerns about my professionalism with all of you head-on. I’ve spoken to Mr. Oberbeck, and he confirmed that Paxton Marshall’s story about the hazing was false. However, it is true that I’ve been involved with Nick since the fall.”
Dev looked bored, glancing at Bill. “Bill, I don’t see why this is newsworthy. I don’t care what Annie does in her spare time.”
I almost passed out from that statement alone. “You . . . don’t?”
“No. I saw you two at dinner that night. I’m not stupid. But I also don’t care. I assume you’re adult enough to not funnel all endorsement deals to him because you want him to get paid more, no?”
“Um, no, that’s correct,” I said. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“That could be exactly what she’s doing, Dev,” Bill objected. “What if the tables were turned? I can’t be dating female athletes. It’d be a scandal!”
“Because you’re married,” Tomas chimed in.
“I admit it’s not great,” Allan added. “But can’t we just shuffle the deck again? Have Marcie take him when she gets back?”
“Actually,” Marcie said, “I’d like to discuss what’s going to happen when I get back.”
“Go on,” Bill said.
“I think it’s time that we supported our women athletes in the same way that we support the men. Miss Markham and I would like to work more closely with female athletes, but the compensation opportunities are lower there. In an effort to close the compensation gap, we’d like to have a division of Athlore dedicated to female athletes, and have it supplemented by the male division.”
Bill rubbed his lips together and dropped his chin to his chest. “This is a noble cause, Marcie, but it doesn’t make financial sense.”
“With all due respect,” I started, fully knowing that the phrase usually incurs no respect whatsoever, “if we’re ever going to have a world where women are paid equally to men, we need to set an example ourselves. We’d also hope to recruit more female agents to give more visibility to women in the industry. This could be great for PR and for sports on the whole.”
“Do you have some numbers for us to look at?” Dev asked.
“I do,” I said, distributing some papers I’d spent the morning printing.
“How are we paying for this?” Bill asked. “Where does the money come from?”
“We have investors,” Marcie said with a grin. “From some of our current clients. But they would also have a hand in recruiting, so they’d get a cut. We’d be taking on the finest athletes, driving up their pay and thereby raising the industry standard.”
“And what happens if I don’t agree? You have to have a unanimous vote for something like this,” Bill said.
“Then you can accept my and Miss Markham’s resignation,” Marcie said, her demeanor soft but confident.
Heat flared in Bill’s cheeks. “You won’t be able to get any clients. The non-compete—”
“Applies to this immediate geographic area. But I’m still well-connected in Tennessee and have someone at the ready to file the business license there.” It was a bit of a balk. I’d called Roger the night before with my tail between my legs, asking him for a favor. He agreed that he owed me one, and said he’d register the business in Tennessee if we needed it. He also offered to back us. So had Guy and Kitty.
Bill tossed the projections on the table, disgusted. “Marcie, why are you aligning with her? She’s been sleeping around with a client half her age. If I did the same—”
I bristled. “Nick is young, but he’s not thirteen, Bill.”
Marcie put a hand out to stop me from running my mouth.
“Miss Markham is excellent at what she does,” Marcie said plainly.
“She lost a major new prospect!” Bill cried.
“Big deal,” Dev said. “We all lose them sometimes. Would you rather Annie and Marcie be our competition or on our team?”
I felt unbelievably gassed up by how much Dev was going to bat for me. I had no idea he cared enough.
“How do we know she’s not going to do this again?” Bill said.
I didn’t love them talking like I wasn’t there, but Marcie gave me a calming glance. “Everyone in this room knows that Miss Markham mixing business and pleasure isn’t great, but it shouldn’t be a reason to lose a fantastic asset. To lose both of us, Bill. I’d like to make Annie partner here and move ahead with this initiative. We’re giving you, and the rest of the partners, first right of refusal before we make our own moves.”
“It’s not first right of refusal. It’s an ultimatum!” Bill said.
At that moment, the door to the conference room swung open. There stood Nick, panting in a suit with Retha on his heels.
“He just came back here,” Retha said, looking bewildered.
“Hi, Nick,” Dev said with a chuckle.
Nick looked over all of us, cleared his throat, and pulled a crumpled paper out of his pocket. He unraveled it, giving me a quick glance before he launched into reading it aloud.
“Hello, Mr. Anderson, everyone. I wanted to talk to you about your concerns over Paxton Marshall and Annie Markham. I, uh,” he held up the paper, “wrote it down so I made sure I said it right.”
“This is turning into a circus,” Bill muttered.
“Let’s hear it,” Dev said, clearly amused by the whole scene. I, on the other hand, was ready to melt into a puddle and slide out the door.
Nick ran a hand through his hair, wiping his palm on the front of his suit pants. “It has come to my attention that I was accused of hazing Paxton Marshall and making him say despicable things about Miss Markham. Those allegations are not true. Paxton Marshall is a little prick,” he swallowed hard and took a steeling breath while the other partners tittered around the table, “Paxton Marshall made unspeakably rude comments about Miss Markham, and I held him accountable for what he said. If anything, I lost Annie the client. It’s not her fault.”
He blew out a breath and flipped over his page. “I also heard that there were allegations that Miss Markham and I enjoyed an inappropriate relationship. While I may harbor feelings for Miss Markham, she is a consummate professional and did not engage with me. If anyone has been unprofessional, it’s been me. Please do not fire her on my account, as she did nothing wrong.”
I propped my forehead on my fingers. Silence fell across the room as Nick folded the paper and shoved it back in his pocket.
Dev started a slow clap, to which Nick gave a relieved grin, then realized it might be a joke and sobered.
“I guess I’ll just . . . go,” he said, gesturing to the door.
“By all means, stay,” Bill grumbled.
“That was really sweet, but it’s the opposite of what Annie told us,” Allan said.
“Annie, what?” Nick blurted. “No. You need this job. Don’t do this for me.”
I giggled, my face on fire. He was being so adorable but also a little stupid for blowing his own cover immediately. “We’ve got it figured out, bub.”
“Do you ever,” Bill said, massaging his temple.
“What’s the plan?” Nick asked.
“Mr. Oberbeck?” Marcie said. “We’re kind of in the middle of a meeting here.”
“Oh, right. You can tell me later,” he said, smiling brightly. “I’ll go.”
Nick slinked to the door and just before he closed it, he waved at me one last time.
I closed my eyes, smoothing my skirt and trying to regain my composure. “I am . . . so sorry about that,” I said, completely mortified.
“Aw, Annie, he loves you,” Dev teased. He’d really made a 180 during this meeting, showing that 1) he was a bro in the best way and had been a bro for some time by keeping my relationship with Nick quiet, 2) he had a sense of humor he’d been withholding, and 3) most importantly, he didn’t hate me.
“Jesus,” I muttered. Why does it matter if I went to law school and passed the bar and signed multi-million-dollar deals and helped my dad with finances when the guy I loved could come in and make me look like a lovesick fool in front of all my colleagues?
“He just poured his whole heart out for you, Annie! Give the kid a break,” Marcie cackled. “But back to the point. My fellow partners in Athlore, we can’t stop these two kids from falling in love, but we can make a new direction for this company that will actually do some good in this world. What do you say?”
“I need to study the projections, but on the surface, it doesn’t seem bad,” Dev said. “Bill? Allan? Tomas?”
“Maybe let’s all vote on it by the end of the week?” Tomas suggested.
“Fine by me,” Allan said.
“Bill?” Marcie prodded.
“Yeah, fine,” Bill conceded.
“And Annie can get back to work tomorrow first thing?” Marcie asked.
“Wait, she hasn’t been working?” Allan asked.
“I suspended her while I investigated the Paxton Marshall allegations,” Bill said.
Tomas rolled his eyes. “She lost one potential lead, Bill. Big deal. Can we all get back to work now? Annie included?”
“I vote yes,” Dev said. “Send us the presentation, Annie, and we’ll get back to you by Friday about the new division.”
“You’d better if you want to keep me,” Marcie huffed.
“You would issue an ultimatum,” Dev joked.
Marcie grinned. “That’s why I’m so good at this. Now I’m going to get back to my baby and let this one get back to hers,” she said with a wink to me.
Marcie and I strode out of the conference room with our heads high and waited until we got outside to hug and celebrate. “Looks like someone’s waiting for you,” she sang as we pulled apart.
And there was Nick, leaning against the bumper of my car with a worried look.
“Did I ruin it?” he asked. “I’m so sorry, Annie. I wanted to fix it and make sure you still had a job. I didn’t want to give you up, but I’d do whatever you needed.”
I threw my arms around his neck and pressed myself into him. “You didn’t ruin it. You did make for a very interesting sideshow though.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, closing my waist in his hands and bringing his face down to mine.
“Not every day that I get grand gestured in a work meeting,” I said, raising my eyebrows.
“That was Mikey’s idea. Or my idea, and he egged me on. You weren’t supposed to be there for that part, but I had to roll with it. Sorry if I embarrassed you.”
I giggled. “You totally did, but it was sweet.” I blinked, looking up into those color-shifting green eyes. “I love you, Nick.”
“I love you, Annie. So much. I’ve loved you for so long, angel. I hope this was all worth it.”
“Trust me when I say it is. It’s scary, but it’s worth it.”
Life was about to change in a big way, but that was a conversation for another time. For that moment, the most important thing was the person in my arms. Our lips met in a rush, his warmth mingling with the California sun shining down on us. He lifted me so my feet dangled, and I kicked one heel up as I got lost in the sweetest, purest heart I’d ever known.