Chapter Twenty-Six. Rowan
TWENTY-SIX
Rowan
“Put the phone down.”
Rhett’s eyes flash up to meet Holden’s, but he holds tight to his cell and doesn’t comply with Holden’s command.
“I’m busy,” Rhett states. “This meeting wasn’t on my schedule for the day, so you’ll have to excuse me if I’m busy with things that were.”
Holden’s chuckle echoes around the conference room where several other managers, including Chad, sit and listen in on this first meeting with both co-CEOs in effect.
“Rowan?” Holden says. “Please continue.”
“As I was saying, in our quest to diversify suppliers and mitigate as many outside factors as possible, it’s pertinent that we pull each and every trade in for meetings over the next few weeks.
We’ve previously run our business with them on handshakes and how things used to be, but I’ve had Legal draw up new contracts with what is expected of both parties in this partnership. ”
“Impressive and telling,” Holden murmurs.
“Telling?” Rhett asks.
“Yes. Telling as in why weren’t you doing this before?
” Holden states with a smile that challenges Rhett to say the smart-ass comment we can all see sitting on his tongue.
“Because here’s what is going to happen.
You are going to be in every single meeting with Rowan when it comes to our suppliers.
You are going to shake hands and cosign each and every contract with them.
Then when that’s done, you will both prepare a proposal for me as to what you think we can do here at TinSpirits to improve not only our customer experience, but also the day-to-day of our staff. ”
“Do you want this written or in a PowerPoint?” I ask.
“Christ, quit kissing his ass,” Rhett says, rolling his eyes, and then meets Holden stare for stare. “We get it. You’re in charge. Everyone knows. Stop pounding your chest.”
Holden leans back in his chair and studies my brother, well aware that what he says next might shape the future of how our employees view him.
His smile is sharp. “I gave you my ask. I’ll make sure it’s put on your schedule so you have no excuses.”
“I’ll get to it when I can,” Rhett says flippantly as he picks up his phone. Chad meets my eyes across the table and for the first time in a long time, I can sense he’s not too happy with my brother and how he’s acting. “I have way more important things to do.”
Holden leans forward and takes Rhett’s phone like he’s a teenager. Rhett protests but then stops when it seems, for the first time, he notices everyone else at the table around us.
“All of those things I asked are more than important to the success of this company. If you question otherwise, I’ll gladly go line by line over last year’s detailed P&L in a company-wide meeting.
That detail will show everyone how you squandered and sometimes outright downvoted perks and raises for our employees while quietly taking those budgeted funds to enrich yourself.
Then again, you’re the politician, right?
That’s how things are supposed to be done? ”
Rhett’s jaw clenches. “So that’s how this is going to go, huh?”
“How it goes is up to you,” Holden says and slides Rhett’s phone back across the table. “This business comes first. Then your newfound political aspirations. If you can’t do both, I’m sure Rowan can more than handle the role.”
“You’ll get your proposal and I’ll be in the meetings,” he says.
“I knew we’d see eye to eye on this.”
“Is this over?” Rhett asks and stands up. Chad starts to also, but thinks better of it after a quick glance at Holden.
“For now. Yes. But this will be a weekly meeting. Make sure to be here and next time, leave your shitty attitude at the door.” Holden’s voice is ice-cold toward my brother but when he turns to address the rest of the room, his smile warms. “Thank you for your patience. I’m sorry you had to see that but as you can all attest, change for many of us can be … hard. Moving forward…”
Holden continues his meeting with the managers and explaining the new corporate structure outlined in my contract.
I can feel the weight of Chad’s stare on me, but my thoughts keep going back to yesterday. To the man speaking and how very different the corporate version is from the one who carried me to my bed and held me all night long.
The same man who bought me a congratulatory succulent because it was strong and could weather a storm.
The same man who just looked over at me, met my eyes, and made my heart tumble a little further in my chest.