“Not unless you call huntin’ deer and wild rabbit up in the Blue Ridge Mountains a safari.” Nate laughed.
I gave a half smile. So Nate was another crusty old white guy, living out his colonial fantasies by shooting up some poor animals out in the wilderness for sport.
“C’mon, Ellice,” he said, dropping onto the sofa beneath the painting. “Let’s take a load off.”
I sat in the chair across from him. Nate was pleasant enough. Even so, I was cautious. Before this conversation, I would have bet my mortgage payment that Nate couldn’t pick me out of a precinct lineup.
A few seconds later, Willow Somerville strolled into Nate’s office without a knock or an announcement. “Good afternoon, Ellice,” she said in a sugar-and-syrup southern accent that reminded me of mint juleps and ladies catching the vapors on plantation porches. She wore a bloodred St. John knit sheath and looked the quintessential modern-day southern belle—blond and bone-thin. The rumor mill went into overdrive right after Nate plucked her, a relatively new and unknown middle manager, and appointed her head of HR for the entire organization. She took a seat beside Nate on the sofa, sitting on the edge, feet tucked together like a beauty pageant contestant waiting her turn to give her speech for solving world peace. The two of them were giving me what Vera used to call “a shit-eating grin.” A smile of the insincere.
Something was up. My guess: HR was here to act as a witness to my termination. Somehow, they found out about me and Michael. Now Michael was dead, and I would be fired. Fear slinked down my spine.
Nate was the first to speak. “I thought it might be a good idea to have Willow join us.” Willow nodded, the same uncomfortable grin still planted across her face. All I could think was, Where will I go now? I’d followed Michael here to Houghton three years ago after the fiasco at the law firm.
Nate stared out the window for a beat, then turned back to me. “I don’t have to tell you how hard Michael’s death has hit us. Something awful like this doesn’t leave anybody unscathed, least of all the folks who worked with him. It’s been a bear up here, too.” I could feel my left eye twitch. I gazed down at my notepad.
Nate continued, “Board members are calling and asking for details I can’t give ’em. Sayles was family, but they’re more concerned about how it all looks. It’s irksome. The worst thing in the world is a board member with too much time on his hands, huh?” I looked back at him and smiled at his joke.
Nate smoothed his mustache, his brows pinched together in confusion. The room went silent. If he was going to fire me, I wished he would just get on with it already. I glanced at Willow. For the first time since entering the office, her expression changed. She gave a side-eye of concern at Nate.
“Now, where was I?” Nate said.
Willow glanced at me, then back at Nate. “I believe you were just about to discuss the changes in the Legal Department,” she said.
“Yes . . . oh yes!” Nate piped up. “That’s right. Ellice, I want you to head up the Legal Department. I’d like you to replace Michael as Houghton’s executive vice president and general counsel.”
My jaw went slack with surprise.
“You’ll be an easy approval for the board of directors,” Nate continued, “And don’t worry. I’ll make sure we maintain Michael’s precedent for paying you handsomely. We’ll give you a thirty-five percent pay raise. You’ll get bonus, car allowance, club memberships. All the perks that go along with the job. Isn’t that right, Willow?”
“Absolutely!” she replied.
I couldn’t breathe. My quick and dirty math meant this raise would put me in a stratospheric pay range for attorneys and executives at Houghton. Here was the promotion I’d been craving, along with a huge salary to boot.
I just didn’t expect it to come about this way.
“But why . . . I mean . . . why me?” I could hear my voice quivering slightly. “I just assumed Walter Graves or one of the other attorneys who’ve been here longer would be—”
Nate beamed. “Why not? You’re certainly qualified. I know you would have been Michael’s first pick. Did he ever tell you the story behind his hiring you?”
“Uh, I’m not sure I know what story you’re referring to.” I couldn’t imagine Michael sharing the details of our relationship or how I came to work for him here at the company. Michael was pretty private. We both were.
“Michael was convinced you were the right person to work under him in the Legal Department. He said you were smart, and you didn’t mind a lil’ hard work. Hell, Michael all but told me he’d quit if I didn’t give him authorization for a salary variance to hire you.”