Chapter 5 [Dylan]

I blinked twice, trying to get myself to focus on the woman sitting across from me at the table at a fancy restaurant. After several calls and reminders, my mother finally succeeded in getting me to go on a date with her friend’s daughter.

“I’m Carla,” she batted her eyelashes at me. She had been twenty minutes late to the date and I was one second away from leaving before she finally walked in. “But I’m sure you know that already.”

“I didn’t actually,” I replied. My view was partially blocked by the large handbag she had placed on the table between us. But even then, I could immediately tell that she was not my type.

Her hair was bleached blonde to the point that it was almost fried, and she had slathered an entire pound of makeup on her face. From the way her lips protruded in an exaggerated way, I could already tell that she had gotten some work done on her face.

“Well, sorry to keep you waiting,” she said as she took a small metal tin box out of her gigantic purse. “You know how New York traffic is. Took me forever to find an Uber and I wouldn’t be caught dead taking the subway.”

She pulled out a piece of chewing gum from the tin box and put it in her mouth. When she noticed the confused expression on my face, she laughed.

“My doctor told me to chew gum before every meal,” she explained, “It helps kill your appetite, so you end up eating less.”

“Right,” I awkwardly shifted my gaze as the sound of her smacking her lips together filled up the silence between us.

“Do you want one?” She held out the box to me.

“I think I’m good,” I replied, already dreading how the rest of the evening was going to be.

“Your choice,” she said, quietly putting the box away. “You know, I’ve heard so much about you from your mom. She really loves to talk about you.”

“I wonder what she’s been saying,” I let out a laugh, feeling relieved that there was finally something to talk about.

“She’s painted quite the picture of you, and honestly, you know what? I’m never this direct on a first date but if there’s any truth to what she said, I think I like you already,” she laughed loudly, causing some heads to turn our way.

“My mother likes to make me sound a lot better than I am,” I admitted. “But I don’t really blame her. I’m her only son, after all.”

“I think we have a lot in common,” her eyes lit up and she leaned forward as she said the words.

“Like what?” I observed her from my side of the table. I didn’t want to be so quick to judge, but I could not fathom what the two of us could possibly have in common.

“For starters, I think we have the same taste for the finer things in life,” she explained, flashing the expensive-looking chain she was wearing around her neck.

“Are you a fan of jewelry?” I asked.

“Why, yes. Diamonds only, of course,” she stressed.

“New York isn’t exactly known for its lack of street crime,” I replied. “I would be careful wearing that outdoors.”

“Please, what do you expect me to do instead?” she shrugged. “Wear fake chains? As if. Besides, I’m not too worried. If I end up losing it, I can always call my parents and tell them a sob story about how I got robbed. They’ll send me a new one right away.”

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, racking my brain for a change of topic. I’d never been the type to shy away from money or the fact that I had copious amounts of it, but listening to her made it feel dirty. She showed no class whatsoever. I didn’t want to be associated with that kind of money.

“So, what do you do?” I asked, trying my hardest to sound interested. I had promised my mother that I would go through with the date and the least I could do was find out a little more about her.

“Like... in life?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I had to laugh at how clueless she sounded. “Like… life.”

She tossed her hair and leaned back in her chair. “I like to travel, shop, and you know, just live my life. It’s great.”

“I meant for work,” I replied.

To my surprise, she chuckled loudly. “God, your mom was totally right. You are such a workaholic.”

“Work is all I know,” I told her. “And I like being that way. It keeps me busy. And focused.”

“Hmm,” she replied distractedly and looked at her phone. “We should probably order now. I think the gum has finally killed my appetite.”

I wanted to tell her that this conversation had done something similar for mine, but I held my tongue. After we ordered, I couldn’t help but look down at my watch. Time seemed to be moving incredibly slowly in her company and I couldn’t wait for this evening to be over.

But I knew my mother was going to bombard me with questions and skewer me if she got the slightest sense that I didn’t make enough of an effort.

“Do you have any hobbies?” I tried to engage her again.

“I told you,” She shrugged. “I like traveling, and I like to shop.”

“A hobby is more like a skill. Something that you invest time and effort in getting better at,” I told her.

“Trust me, it takes skill to get on the list for the release of the latest designer bag,” she bragged.

“Have you ever thought of going into design as a profession?” I felt like I was beating a dead horse. “You seem to have a passion for it.”

“Can we not talk about boring things anymore?” she whined. “Your mom said that you’re looking to settle down soon. I think that is a shared interest we have in common.”

I was taken aback by her boldness.

“You met me twenty minutes ago and you’re talking about settling down?” Alarm bells began to sound in my head.

“Why wait?” she giggled, twirling a bleached lock of hair around her finger. “I mean, I’m young and attractive, and you look like a guy who can appreciate that. I think we would make a good pair.”

At that point, I gave up on trying to save the date. I couldn’t believe that my own mother thought I would be compatible with someone like her. She seemed entirely too vapid and self-absorbed.

“I would hold off on those plans,” I said, trying to let her down gently.

Immediately, I could tell that I had offended her by the look on her face. It seemed like she wasn’t used to people rejecting her.

“I’m a ten,” she exclaimed, a whole other edge to her voice. “You’ll be missing out.”

“I’m used to being out of the loop,” I shrugged. “Work takes up enough of my time to never worry about that.”

Her strategy didn’t work, and I could see on her face that she was finally realizing that the date wasn’t going to go her way.

“I could take care of you,” she said, but her words were insincere. “I’m sure that heading up such a big company must take its toll on you.”

“My company is like my significant other,” I replied flatly. “It’s the most demanding relationship in my life.”

She folded her arms across her chest in a huff. Luckily, the waiter brought our food at that exact moment, so the conversation was cut short. He laid the food out in front of us. I was about to dig into my plate when I noticed Carla glaring at her food.

“What is this?” she asked angrily. “I asked for a salad without any olives and there are olives in here!”

The waiter rushed back to our table, having heard her shrieking across the floor. “I’m sorry, ma’am. There must have been an oversight. I’ll get your food replaced right away.”

But Carla wasn’t having it. Her generally pretty demeanor turned dark and ugly, her brows knotted tightly.

“No, I demand to see the chef. He needs to come out here and apologize in person. How do you expect to run this establishment when you make stupid mistakes like this?” she fumed.

Carla was talking loud enough that the other people in the restaurant had begun to take notice. I could feel several eyes peering at us from all over.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” I tried stepping in, feeling embarrassed. “No need to make such a big scene.”

She shot daggers at me. “You’re supposed to be on my side. I demand to see the chef right now!”

That was it. The date was effectively over.

“Carla, I think it’s time you go home,” I told her, getting up from my seat.

I left a sizeable tip for the waiter, along with more than enough cash to settle the bill and apologized to the waiter for the inconvenience. As I walked away, I could hear her calling after me.

“Dylan! You can’t just leave me here like this,” she pleaded.

But it was too late. There was no way I was ever going back in there with her again.

“What a disaster,” I muttered to myself as I got back into my car.

Time was the most important asset to me, and I couldn’t believe that I had just wasted the last hour talking to someone who was about as interesting as watching paint dry. Just then, my phone rang. As I dug it out of my pocket, I sent up a silent prayer that it was work.

“Dylan,” a familiar voice greeted me over the other end of the line. It belonged to one my few closest friends, Garrett. “You free this evening?”

My heart sank a little. I was ready to go and debrief in my office for the rest of the night. But Garret was a close second, I supposed.

“Actually, my evening just opened up,” I sighed. “What’s on your mind?”

“Come over to my place,” he suggested. “We’ll knock out a couple of beers.”

After the evening I had, I could really use quality time with a friend to wash the taste of that messy date out of my mouth. I promptly agreed and told my driver to head to Garrett’s house. A few minutes later, I was sitting in his living room with a beer in my hand, while he guffawed with laughter while I replayed the date for him.

“Wow,” he chuckled. “She sounds like a piece of work.”

“I’m assuming she’s used to being spoiled rotten and hasn’t worked a day in her life,” I groaned.

“Well, it’s safe to say there won’t be a second date,” he nudged me playfully.

“Not a chance,” I replied. “She’s just not someone I can see myself being with.”

“I’ve always wondered what kind of girls you’re into,” Garrett mused. “I don’t think I’ve seen you have a serious girlfriend since… Well, you know it’s been a while.”

“I think it’s perfectly fine to have standards,” I explained myself. “I want someone who has as much drive as me. Simply being hot doesn’t cut it anymore. I want a girl who has a sense of ambition. It’s attractive.”

“Hmm, well good luck finding that,” he said, taking a sip out of his beer. “I assume most people would just be intimidated by you.”

“Not everyone.” My mind immediately trailed back to Kathy. My conversations with her had been interesting. Every time I tried to outwit her, she would immediately counter back with something better.

“Oh yeah? Then where is she?” Garrett turned his attention towards the football match on the TV. “What a goal!”

Although we had moved on from the topic of women, I still found myself thinking about Kathy. It had been a surprise to me when I walked into work the other day to find her there. I felt a tinge of disappointment at the fact that there would be no more dates since she was my employee now. Mixing business with pleasure was never a good idea.

I leaned back into the sofa and tried to focus my attention on the TV. My love life would have to wait for now.

∞∞∞

It was one of those stressful, fully packed days at the office. I walked out of the boardroom after my fifth meeting of the day and found my secretary waiting for me in my office with another tall stack of papers to go through.

“Mr. Johnson will be on the call with you in twenty minutes,” she told me as I began to sign the papers in front of me.

I stopped what I was doing and looked at her.

“What? The Johnson Associates meeting was scheduled for today?” my voice got considerably louder.

She shrunk back a little, wringing her hands together. “Yes, I sent you a memo about it last week.”

“You should’ve reminded me. Mr. Johnson is our biggest investor, and it’s pivotal that the meeting goes off without a hitch,” I replied, exasperated.

When it came time for the meeting, I sat in front of my laptop camera while the screen lit up.

“Dylan, so good to see you again,” Mr. Johnson greeted me in his usual stern tone.

I plastered a smile on my face. “It’s my pleasure, as always.”

“I just wanted to get an update on how the latest project is going,” he said, cutting right to the chase.

“My team is hard at work. So far, all the simulations that we’ve run have been a success. We have a lot of faith in the process,” I answered confidently.

“That’s fine, but do you have an estimated date of delivery?” he asked, the scowl on his face getting deeper.

“By our estimates, the project should be completed within the next three weeks,” I nodded.

“Three weeks?” Mr. Johnson blustered. “Dylan, you know how important time frames are for us. Three weeks is just too long.”

I pursed my lips, biting back what I really wanted to tell him. Once I was sure nothing offensive would come out of my mouth, I dared to open it.

“I understand, Mr. Johnson. But to ensure that the end result is of the highest standard, we really need this time,” my tone was painfully professional.

“No, that’s still far too long. Make sure that you have the project ready in one week. If not, I’m afraid we’re going to have to pull our investment,” he warned.

“… Of course, we’ll have it ready in one week,” I said, feeling the heat rising the back of my neck.

“Good! I always knew that we could count on you and your company.” The video chat box disappeared as Mr. Johnson ended the call without signing off.

I let out a loud groan and rang my secretary.

“Please set up an urgent meeting with all the employees working on the project for Johnson Associates in the next ten minutes,” I told her.

“I’ll get right on it.”

I braced myself for the meeting. I considered myself to be a fair boss. It was true that I had high expectations from my team, but I never gave them more work than they could handle. But now, with the new deadline looming over my head, I knew that I was going to have to play hardball.

“Is everything alright?” Kevin was the first person to speak up when the team had gathered in the meeting room. “What’s the urgency about?”

“The deadline for the Johnson Associates project has been moved,” I announced, scanning the faces of employees in the room. “It’s now due next Friday and we need to start picking up pace.”

Their reactions were as I’d expected.

“Next Friday?”

“That’s too soon.”

“Boss, how do you expect us to complete three weeks’ worth of work in one?” Kevin scoffed. Other employees nodded in agreement, but I noticed that Kathy was silent the entire time.

“I’m sure you knew this was a high-pressure position when you signed up for it,” I replied flatly. “And this is one of those times where you’ll have to figure it out for yourself.”

“Is there no way you can get the investor to give us an extension?” Kevin seemed adamant about not letting it go.

“If any of you think this is too much for you to handle, you already know where the HR department is. You are free to resign anytime,” I said, and a chilling silence fell over the room.

I knew I was being a hard ***, but it was the only way we would meet the deadline.

“I expect all of you to cooperate and do your best to get this done on time,” I concluded, before starting out the door.

Behind me, I heard Kathy’s voice. Timid, but audible above the buzz of disgruntled chatter I’d left in my wake.

“You have nothing to worry about.”

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