“Thanks.”
*
A flood of sunlight saturated Nate’s office with a light and airy feel. Vibrant hues in the artwork seemed to leap from the walls, bouncing off every reflective surface in the room. And the elephant in the picture above his sofa looked as if it would charge right off the wall and into the center of the room.
Nothing was as it seemed.
“Ellice, c’mon in, darlin’。 Can I get ya some coffee, juice?”
“No, thank you. I wanted to talk to about the email you sent this morning. Well . . . I guess I thought you would give me a few days to think about the offer. I mean—”
“Now about that.” Nate leaned back in his chair with a wide smile and placed his feet on his desk. “I really wish we had the benefit of time. But, darlin’， Houghton has a full plate. We need a top lawyer in place ASAP. Willow always tells me I don’t have enough women on the Executive Committee.”
“I understand that. But—”
“Well, what is it? It can’t be the money. What’s your hesitation?”
I stared at Nate for a beat. I was trying to be respectful and find the right words. “It’s a huge task. I just thought I would have a bit of time to think it over.”
“Knock, knock. I don’t mean to interrupt.” I turned to find Willow standing in the door of Nate’s office. “Congratulations, Ellice!”
“Willow, I’m glad you’re here. Ellice seems a little reticent about taking the job.”
Her eyebrows arched in surprise. Willow looked at me and back at Nate before she strutted into the office and stood beside me. “Ellice, you weren’t thinking of turning us down, were you?” she said, her voice an octave higher than normal, asking as if my saying no would be a personal affront to her.
“I guess I just hadn’t expected all this so soon. Michael just died yesterday. I don’t think people have really had time to grieve the loss and now we’re announcing his replacement. I just think all this is moving a little too fast.”
“Well, the company has to continue to operate seamlessly, more so now,” Nate said.
Willow smiled and gently tapped my arm. “As an HR professional, I can tell you, you don’t want to pass up a career move like this. And whether we asked you to serve in an interim capacity or as the permanent replacement, we still need someone in charge. We just thought by moving this along, things could go back to normal as soon as possible.”
Nate removed his feet from his desk and stood. “Listen, from what I hear around the company, you’re the real brains in the Legal Department. Michael just hogged up all the sunshine for it. I know he would have wanted it this way.”
“It’s just . . . I guess I assumed . . .” Suddenly, I was at a loss for words. They had made all sorts of assumptions that I would take the job because they tossed it to me with a big bag of money. How do I explain that maybe I had planned to take the job, but it would have been nice to pretend like I had a say in my own career? Hell, I hadn’t even figured out whether I wanted to work in the same office where someone died. I didn’t believe in ghosts or bad juju, but it was still worth thinking about.
Nate smiled at me. “Take a chance on us up here on Twenty. I think you’re going to enjoy the executive suite.”
Maybe I was being foolish to even think about squandering such a huge opportunity. All my doubts were just that—doubts. Surely I was smart enough to navigate my way up on this floor. Besides, I was tired of watching people half my age and with a quarter of my intellect get promoted. It was my turn now. But I wasn’t stupid, either. I knew this promotion was more about squashing the protests in front of the building. Houghton needed a Black person in their upper ranks. Maybe in the end, we could both get what we really wanted: Houghton could shore up its horrendous reputation and I could use my position to finally convince the company to hire more people of color.
The two of them stood staring at me, optimistic smiles neatly planted on their faces. I smiled back. “I think I’m going to enjoy it, too.”
“Well now, it’s a great day for the Executive Committee,” Willow said, clasping her hands in front of her chest. “As I’ve told Nate before, a company like Houghton could always use another smart woman in its executive ranks.”
Nate chuckled. “See, Ellice. What did I tell ya?”
It felt like all this had been planned long before Nate offered me the job yesterday. But how could that be? Who knew Michael would have committed suicide?