“What brings you ladies out this fine morning?” I asked between mouthfuls of yummy goodness.
“We are special guests at your meeting today,” Brook informed me.
Brook had taken an interest in my businesses. She’d come up with the idea of expanding our talent management, PR services, and investment management businesses into a combined wealth management offering. Brook had introduced that to her grandmother, who had then become our first client. I hoped she would let us know what she thought today and how we could improve our offerings.
“I’m eager to hear how everything is going for you,” I said to Grace.
“It’s gone well. I’ll save the details for the meeting,” she said.
Ava told Grace that my grandmother was acting as the mayor of our town, and the three of them talked about what Grandma was doing. That gave Brook and me a chance to speak.
“Halle said she would be in today for your party.”
“She and her mom are staying with us. She said you promised her … stuff,” she said cryptically so the big ears sitting next to us wouldn’t hear.
“What ‘stuff’?” Ava asked.
Brook had opened her big mouth, so I wasn’t about to bail her out. She should have known that the three of them had ‘mom ears’ and would pick up on what she was saying to me. My girlfriend looked at me for help, and I put on my best little angel face.
“I think David called it bow-chicka-bow-wow,” my grandmother said to toss me back into the middle of it.
“Hey!” I complained. “What’s the Dawson Rule?”
“There is no ‘Dawson Rule,’” Grandma Dawson shot back.
“Well … there should be,” I said as I glared at her like a put-out teen.
“Is this young man corrupting my granddaughter?” Grace asked with a mock scowl.
“Oh, Honey, don’t get me started. My youngest was a little Casanova when he was David’s age. From what I gather, my grandsons take after him.”
Where was my mom when I needed her? Then again, I probably didn’t want her involved in a conversation like this. I knew my dad and uncle would be no help.
“This one,” Grace said, pointing at Ava, “caused most of these gray hairs.”
“Mother,” Ava warned.
“Oh, really? Do tell,” Brook said, digging for dirt.
Brook and I got lucky because it turned into telling stories about my dad and uncle and Grace’s kids. I smiled as my girlfriend and I made mental notes of some of the trouble they got into. By the time we finished eating, I had figured I had a couple new ‘get out of jail free’ cards in my back pocket.
◊◊◊
I groaned when Caryn handed me the agenda, and I saw that they had allotted three hours for the business overview. I was afraid this was three hours I would never get back.
In my gut, I knew that I should really be involved in all this, but I just couldn’t seem to get excited about it. This was something that should be happening later in my life. Right now, I had too much going on. And a big chunk of the stuff in which I was involved had nothing to do with just being a kid in high school.
This was a reminder that people relied on what I did and the money I earned, and that’s an uncomfortable burden for a high-schooler. If a lot of the people in the room hadn’t been my family, I might have bailed.
“I asked all of you here today not just to do a year-end review of all the businesses but because I’ve been approached with an unexpected offer. Just so you all know, Rob and I haven’t discussed this with David. We didn’t because he asked us not to bother him with the business,” Caryn said, which caused some good-natured chuckles from everyone.
It sounded like I might have said that one too many times. Caryn could have her fun. Payback might be headed her way.
“That, and,” she continued, “we just received this offer two days ago. The real reason was that we’ve been requested to allow the person making the offer to make their pitch to David and the board directly. Rob suggested that we include everyone involved in the day-to-day management so they could hear this too.”
That would explain why Kent had been asked to fly in. He effectively ran my talent management company with Frank’s oversight. Frank was a managing partner of our PR firm, while Jack and Bev Mass ran our business’s investment arm.
Megan handed everyone an organizational chart of all the businesses for a reference. Then Grace Davenport stepped up to the front of the room, and Caryn introduced her. She took a moment to go over her credentials as the driving force behind many successful retail and home-goods brands. Grace had made their parent company one of the fastest-growing companies in the ’90s. It had made Brook’s family very wealthy.
If Grace had a proposal for me, I had to listen. This woman was a legend in the business world, even if she had recently relinquished control of her company to her management team.
