“The deal’s all wrapped up. But I think we ought to keep this one confidential for a bit.” Jonathan grinned broadly and nodded at Willow. “As we discussed before, I don’t think we want to do a loud splash with this deal. It might be better to let this one slide under the business trade magazines without an announcement. Less hype. Less competition.”
“All right. Good.”
Libertad? Where had I heard that name before? The party in Savannah. Jonathan and Max had argued about something called Libertad.
I could either sit quiet or I could find out what was so interesting it set the two men off against each other. I felt compelled to step in again. I cleared my throat and looked around the conference table. “Excuse me.”
“Yes, Ellice?” Nate said.
“The Libertad deal. I’m not familiar with that one and I didn’t see any background materials in the packet you sent out with today’s agenda.” I smiled and eyed Jonathan, hoping to appeal to him directly.
“Oh, sorry, Ellice. I should have mentioned it,” Jonathan said, adjusting his glasses and flashing a grin at me. “Michael and I buttoned this one up already. There’s not much for you to do. I might need you to draft a few contracts. I’ll let you know what needs to be done later.”
White male privilege was alive and kicking between Max’s refusal to work with me and Jonathan’s attempt to dismiss me.
“It seems to be a pretty big deal and I have zero information on—”
“I said I’ve got this covered.” Jonathan brushed me off like he was flicking a piece of lint from his jacket. “Nothing to worry about on this one, Ellice. Michael and his outside lawyer went through this deal with a fine-tooth comb. Like Nate said, we don’t make a move up here without Legal’s blessing. Nate, I can get Ellice up to speed off-line.” Jonathan’s smile melted into a tightened jaw as he stared back at me.
Nate raised a hand in Jonathan’s direction, silencing him. “You good with that, Ellice?”
I scoped the room for a sympathetic face. Every eye was on me. But I was on my own. “Sure. That’s fine. And, Jonathan, perhaps you can get me access to Michael’s emails while you’re getting me up to speed.” I smiled at him to soften the dig.
Jonathan’s nostrils flared and I thought I spotted a hint of a vein sprouting through the center of his forehead. “Uh . . . sure.”
Nate offered me a wink and a slight smile. “All right then, let’s move on.”
At the end of the meeting, I spotted Max patting Jonathan on the back and smiling at him. Apparently, they’d patched things up since Nate’s party. Or maybe they were congratulating each other on successfully shutting down the lone Black woman in the executive suite. Jonathan eased over to Willow and the two of them huddled together in a conversation. I began gathering my things.
Max walked around the conference table and stood beside me. “Ellice, can I speak with you for a minute?” he asked quietly.
I decided his banjo twang was a lot more palatable when he lowered his voice. “Sure.”
“I just want you to know that I’m not the enemy here. I care about Houghton and most especially Nate. His little experiment to do things different is fine by me, but I hope it doesn’t go awry.”
“What do you mean ‘his little experiment’？” I knew exactly what he meant, and his comment slithered under my skin, spiking my blood pressure and my ire. This was the second time for his racist nonsense.
“Just make sure you know what you’re doing when you’re advising folks up here. Michael was always careful to look at all sides of an issue.”
“I think I’m far better equipped to give advice about the protesters. More so than Michael or anyone else on this floor. If you’ve got a problem with my advice, perhaps you should take that up with Nate.”
He scowled. “Like I said, make sure you know what you’re doing. Now that you’re up here, you wouldn’t want to do anything to mess that up, huh? It might be a pretty long and ugly drop back down to Eighteen.”
I matched his scowl. “Is that a threat or are you genuinely concerned about my career?”
Max walked off without another word.
“Ellice, can I speak with you for a minute?” Nate asked.
Willow and Jonathan stopped chatting midsentence and stared at Nate.
“I’d like to take a look at your new office,” Nate said as he smiled back at Jonathan and Willow.
*