Page 14 of Size King

“You’ll be able to proudly back me again soon, I promise.”

“But,” Howard says forcefully, “if your revenue should start drastically dropping, or if your stock should continue to dip and dwindle, there will be some on this board that will seek your removal as CEO.”

“I understand, but our numbers are not low at all right now,” I say. “Where are these fears coming from?”

“Our stock has been dipping slowly but steadily over the past two years, Aiden,” Howard says. “With these scandals now out there and so publicly discussed, it doesn’t look good, son.”

“I own this company, so if you feel inclined to remove me as CEO, go ahead,” I say without a care. “I’ve been through rough patches before, and I’ll get through this one, too. If you can’t trust in me right now, trust in Kate Harly.”

“You got lucky with that move donating the learning tablets,” Howard pettily remarks. “We all know just what kind of shit numbers those were pulling before your generous gifts to the children. That idea is too good to have just been yours. My guess is either Adam had a hand in it or this trustworthy Kate Harly. Fix this whole mess, Aiden. If you aren’t a sexual pervert, prove it. We don’t have a lot of time.”

* * *

After lunch,well after the board meeting has concluded, I decide to call Kate to see if she can come in for work-related matters.

She is still bad about answering the phone, so I resort to texting:

“Hey Kate, can you come in for a couple of hours this afternoon so we can discuss what’s next on the agenda? Thank you.”

It isn’t long before I receive a text message reply from Kate:

“I’m sorry, I can’t come in today. I’ve got meetings all day at the agency and won’t be able to give you a good rundown just yet.”

She writes another text quickly after that one that reads:“But I can come in next week? Could I come in on Monday?”

“That works. Thank you, Kate.”

“You’re welcome, Aiden.”

“How are you feeling about everything that happened last night?” I text.

“I feel terrific.” Then, she adds: “I really enjoyed myself, and I had a lot of fun with you. I’ll never forget it.”

“I didn’t put pressure on you in any way, did I?” I text Kate.

“Not at all. I’m not Sarah. I’m not going to treat you the way she did. You don’t have to be afraid that I’m going to turn on you.”

“I do have to be afraid of you turning me on, though.”

“Oh my,”she replies.

“I’m not sure we can keep doing what we did last night,” she continues. “It is fun, but it is wrong. We had our night, and now we should do things right.”

“I agree,” I text back, lying with every letter I type.

Doing things right, to me, mean picking up right where Kate and I left things that night. Although I don’t text or call her again for the rest of the day, she is still with me. I still can’t get her out of my head, and I know that resisting her is going to be impossible. As far as I’m concerned, I think maybe fate brought us together.

6

Kate

I’ve been planning on having lunch with my best friend all week. We keep playing phone tag with each other, scheduling and rescheduling. Finally, on my first weekend since starting my new job, I’m able to enjoy a nice lunch with just about the only person in the world that understands me.

My BFF is Lily Thomson. We have been roommates together all the way back to our freshman year of college. We were the same age, getting the same education, and we had most of the same interests and hobbies. We are practically tailor-made to be best friends, and we’ve been inseparable ever since we were eighteen.

Lily is always there for me, and I think that I’m always there for her when she needs me. We needed a lot of assurances in the beginning of our college years, and we were always a support system for the other. She helped me through most of my bouts with self-doubt and fear early on to help keep me on track with trying to achieve my goals and dreams. While I can safely say that I can hold my own now, I couldn’t always say it during the beginning, and neither could Lily.

We meet at a small diner in Manhattan that we’ve been wanting to try for months. We gush over each other’s outfits—we’re each wearing colorful dresses—for several minutes before we can even tell our waitress what we want to drink.