2. Oscar
Oscar
Jubilee was my favorite night of the year.
It was the only night where everyone in the company, from the college kid answering phones at the front desk to my executive team, was in the same room, dressed the same, eating the same food.
No hierarchy, no corner offices, no org chart.
Just the people who built something together, celebrating their hard work.
The company might have my name on it, but to me, we were family. I made a point of talking to everyone. Not a handshake-and-move-on circuit. Actually talking.
I found John Gillespie from our acquisitions team near the entrance, deep in conversation with his wife, Sarah.
John had closed three deals this quarter that I wasn't sure were closeable, and I told him so. His wife smiled at him with pride and looked at me as though she had been waiting for someone to notice all of John’s hard work.
I made a mental note to give Marcus more visibility in the new year.
Two of our project managers, Diane and Rob, were arguing good-naturedly near the appetizer table about whose team had the better quarter.
They'd been having this argument for six years.
I settled it the way I always did, by telling them both they were wrong, that the real answer was the accounting department, and watching them immediately unite against me instead. It worked every time.
Near the far end of the bar, I found Tommy Briggs, who had been with us the full twenty-two years. He was nursing the one drink he’d allow himself. Events like these weren’t Tommy’s thing. I knew he was already itching to leave, but he knew how important I felt it was for everyone to attend.
"Tommy."
"Mr. Harding."
"How many times…”
"At least one more, Mr. Harding,” he said with a grin.
I laughed. It was the same exchange we had every year. "How's the knee?"
"Doctors say I need to take it easier." He shrugged. "Doctors say a lot of things."
"Listen to the doctors, Tommy."
"Yes, sir."
I moved on, stopping twice more, making my way around the bar, before Adam caught up with me.
Adam Santiago and I met back in college, more than twenty-five years ago.
He was taller than me by a couple of inches, making his six-foot-five frame stand out.
Adam had more grey than I did, but we looked enough alike that people usually thought we were brothers.
He was also my Executive Vice President.
“I know you don’t want to talk business tonight, but Ocean City is a problem,” he said.
“They still didn’t approve the plans? Wait, no, don’t answer that. It wouldn’t be a problem if they had. Regardless, it’s a problem that can wait until Monday.” I motioned for the bartender. “Whiskey, neat.”
“There’s a reason why I’m bringing it up. I think we need some of that magic from when we started the company.”
“Magic? I think you’re exaggerating.”
“Oscar, you have to admit that those are the best floor plans and exterior designs we've ever made. They’re why we’re here today.”
I took a sip from the glass the bartender set in front of me and savored the aged notes of the whiskey. Adam was right. Those were some of our best designs. We even still used some of them. But I thought of that period of time as lightning. There was nothing we could do to get it to strike twice.
“Monday, Adam. Tonight is about celebrating, not about problems.”
“Where’s Ruby? I want to say hello.”
“Oh, she’s around here somewhere.” I turned from the bar and started to search the room for her.
Ruby chose Cipriani Wall Street when we first came up with the idea to celebrate our company wins annually.
She loved how elegant the room was with its marble floors, Grecian columns, and soaring coffered ceilings.
It took me a moment to find her. She was standing near the far end of the room, close to a tall column I knew she would want to lean against, but wouldn’t.
She had a glass of something in her hand that I knew would go untouched.
She was looking out at the crowded room with an expression I recognized.
It was the one she got when she was somewhere else entirely in her head.
She looked beautiful. The black dress, the way her hair fell, everything. I noticed, even if I didn't say so. I always noticed.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her. It brought me back to that night, twenty-three years ago, the first time I couldn’t stop staring at her.
* * *
The bar had no name worth remembering, but it was somewhere in the East Village, down a half-flight of stairs, with sticky floors and a DJ who played whatever he wanted. Adam had insisted on it, the way Adam always insisted on things, with complete confidence that he was right.
"Trust me," he said. "Best people-watching in the city."
He wasn't wrong.
I was three weeks into a temp job filing documents for a law firm. Adam was doing something in finance that he made sound more impressive than it was. We were twenty-two years old, just out of college, and we thought we were on the verge of something, though neither of us knew what it was.
That was when I saw her.
She was standing at the edge of the small dance floor with a friend, watching people dance as she laughed at something her friend said.
She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, as if she planned a night at home, but ended up here instead.
As she laughed, her hair fell onto her face.
She pushed the hair back behind her ear and then looked in my direction.
Time stood still.
"Go talk to her," Adam said.
"I'm thinking about it."
"You've been thinking about it for ten minutes. Go."
I went. Adam came with me, because that was also something Adam did.
The song that was playing when we walked over ended before I got two sentences out, and then something slower came on. If I believed in luck, I would’ve thought I got lucky.
“Hi, do you want to dance?" I asked her.
She looked at me for a moment, like she was making a calculation, and then she said, "Sure."
Her name was Ruby. She had just finished her architecture degree and was about to start an internship to complete it. Her face lit up every time she spoke about it.
When the song ended, I didn't want to stop talking to her.
"Can I get you a drink?" I asked.
"Sure," she said. "I'll have a Coke."
"And?"
She looked at me, confused. "And ice?"
"That's it? Just a Coke?"
"Yup." She smiled. "I'm driving tonight. And I don't really drink anyway."
I turned back to the bar and ordered two Cokes. Adam caught my eye over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. I ignored him.
We talked so much that we lost track of time. We closed the bar that night.
* * *
I turned back to the bar and called over the bartender. "Can I get a Coke?"
Adam looked at me.
"What?" I said.
"Nothing." He was smiling.
"Don't."
"I didn't say a word."
I picked up the Coke and turned from the bar.
Ruby had moved from the column, but she didn’t get far.
She was talking to Olivia, Adam's wife, near one of the high-top tables at the edge of the room.
She was laughing at something Olivia said, and the expression on her face was different from the one I'd seen just before, lighter.
Adam and I crossed the room toward them.
"There she is," Adam said.
Ruby looked up. A half smile flickered across her face when she saw me, but then she looked at Adam, and the corners of her mouth tugged up further, spreading her smile over her entire face.
"Adam." She hugged him. "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages."
"You look wonderful, Ruby.”
"You're sweet." She said it simply, without deflecting, the way she always did with Adam.
“How’s Jeremy doing at Pratt?”
“Great! I’m so proud of him, even though I’m constantly checking on him. I can’t help myself,” she said with a laugh.
“He’s a good kid, but I know how it is. Olivia was ready to move into Jenna’s dorm when she first went to college.”
“Oh, stop,” Olivia said as she playfully swatted Adam’s arm. “I wasn’t that bad. But trust me, Ruby, it gets better.”
“A Coke. With ice,” I said, as I handed Ruby the beverage.
She put the untouched champagne glass she was holding onto a nearby table, and took the glass from me with a smile.
“Listen, Ruby,” Adam said. “I know the big guy here doesn’t want anyone talking work tonight, but I could really use your help.”
“Come on, Adam. All I ask is for one night where we’re not talking about work,” I said.
“I know that, but Ruby doesn’t work with us anymore, and I think she can help with Ocean City.” Adam’s voice was full of frustration.
“Fine,” I said, sighing. “Why do you think Ruby, of all people, can help?”
I looked from Adam to Ruby. Ruby’s eyes flashed briefly before she looked away.
Adam clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes at me before turning his back to me and facing Ruby.
“I don’t know if you’ve given any thought to coming back to work now that Jeremy is in college, but I could really use your help,” he said to Ruby. “If Oscar wasn’t being such a stubborn pain in the ass, he would acknowledge that we’re close to losing this contract.”
“I can’t,” Ruby said, her voice barely audible.
“I know you can,” Adam said. “I’ll come by tomorrow afternoon and tell you about the project.
You designed everything for our first project, and those floor plans are so good we’re still using them.
I think if you looked at this project, you could really help.
You have the eye they need. Just hear me out. That’s all I ask. What do you think?”