Not Fake for Long by Weston Parker
22
KEIRA
Damian grinned when I walked up to my cubicle on Monday morning. He was dressed as immaculately as ever in a slate-gray suit with a white button-down shirt, his shoes polished and shining. He looked freshly shaven, his goatee perfectly shaped.
While I was used to seeing him looking like a million bucks, there was always an extra sparkle about him on days when we had a big meeting. Frowning as I mentally combed through our calendar for the day, I came up empty.
As far as I knew, we didn’t have anything exciting going on. Damian didn’t usually wait for me at my desk, though, so something on our schedule had to have changed.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I let my purse slide off my shoulder, setting it down next to my computer. “Or have you decided to be my welcoming committee every morning from now on? That would be amazing.”
His pearly white teeth flashed when he smiled. “If this meeting goes well, I’m the celebratory committee.”
“What meeting?” I frowned, hitting the button to switch my computer on. “I feel like I’ve forgotten about something. We didn’t have anything big scheduled for today.”
“Oh, we do.” He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face him. “I didn’t tell you about it before because I needed to see if I could swing it, but you and I have a meeting with Donny.”
My jaw went slack and my heart started racing. “Donny? As in the Donny? The training supervisor?”
“That’s the one,” he replied cheerfully. “Your big boss. The decision-maker.”
“What decisions are we asking him to make?” My voice was cautious. I didn’t know what to think about a surprise meeting with the big boss of the training division. “Is it good or bad?”
“If it goes according to plan, it’s very good.” Damian released me to take a step back, then shook his arm as he lifted it to check his watch. “Let’s get in there. He only has a few minutes free for us.”
He opened his hand and gave an elegant wave toward Donny’s office. “Are you ready?”
I smoothed out my skirt and redid the button on my jacket. Nerves bombarded me, my hands shaking slightly as I lowered them back to my sides. “As ready as I’m going to be. Are you going to give me any hints about what we’re going in there for?”
“You’ll find out in a few,” he said, the beginnings of a smug smile on his face. “I think you’re going to be very happy with it, though. So happy that you might even want to be my welcoming committee for the rest of the year. A welcoming committee every morning with coffee and a pastry.”
I glanced at him. “Coffee and a pastry, huh? What are you planning on doing? Recommending that I graduate out of the training program?”
When he didn’t say anything, my eyes became huge and my mouth dried up. I slammed to a dead stop, blinking rapidly as I stared at the back of his head. Realizing I wasn’t next to him anymore, he turned with a satisfied gleam dancing in his dark eyes.
“Don’t put the cart in front of the horses,” he said. “It’s only a recommendation. He doesn’t have to take it, but if we don’t get in there, I’m not even going to be able to make it.”
“Right.” I swallowed past all the lumps in my throat. “Let’s go then.”
My mind raced as I followed him to Donny’s assistant. She told us to have a seat in the small waiting area just off his office, and I couldn’t get my knee to stop bouncing once we were sitting down.
Becoming a fully-fledged stockbroker was a huge deal. I hadn’t been expecting this to happen for at least another few months, and now that the day was here, I couldn’t quite get my head wrapped around the implications.
My heart nearly leaped out of my chest when the door to Donny’s office opened and the red-faced man himself appeared. The training supervisor always looked pissed off and was built like a linebacker. The combination of those two things—plus the fact that he held my future in his hands—made him one of the most intimidating human beings on earth for me to have to face.
Damian, on the other hand, didn’t appear to be ruffled by him in the least. He stood up and extended his hand with a pleasant smile on his face. “Donny, thank you for agreeing to meet with us on such short notice.”
Donny pumped his hand so hard I was afraid it might fall off, but again, Damian didn’t seem fazed at all. “You were very insistent. Let’s go get this over with, shall we?”
“We shall,” Damian replied, motioning for me to precede him.
It didn’t escape my notice that the boss hadn’t even looked my way, which didn’t bode well. But I was here with Damian and the meeting was really between the two of them. If my understanding about the process was correct, Damian hadn’t even needed to bring me. They could’ve decided my fate without me even knowing the meeting was taking place.
The nerves got worse when we walked into Donny’s office. It was an expansive space, the biggest on the training floor. The walls were covered in screens, whiteboards, and graphs. There was an entire wall dedicated to my group of trainees, with our pictures stuck up above reams of information about our performance.
His furniture was simple and functional. A desk in the corner with his computer on it, a conference table, and a couch with two armchairs facing it made up all of it. He walked over to the conference table and took a seat at the head of it, then gestured for us to join him.
Once we were seated, Damian jumped right in. “I’ll cut to the chase since I know you don’t have a lot of time on your hands. As Ms. Piatt’s trainer, I’m of the opinion that she doesn’t need any more guidance. She’s ready to be cut loose from the program.”
Donny’s brows mashed together. “You know I don’t like letting people graduate out early. The program exists for a reason and it’s only once a trainee has completed it successfully that we know we’ve done everything we can. If they fuck up after that, we know it’s on them and not on us.”
“Sure, but I think Keira’s going to be big for the company,” Damian said without skipping a beat. “She and I have been ahead on all the materials almost since the very beginning, and she has, in fact, completed the program successfully. She’s simply ahead of the curve in doing so.”
For the first time, Donny’s gaze drifted over to me. He folded his arms on the table and stared at me in that unnerving way of his. “Is this true, Ms. Piatt? You’ve already completed all the training sessions?”
I nodded curtly, my voice strained when I finally managed to find it. “Yes, sir. I’ve always liked staying ahead.”
“So you rushed through the materials?” He drummed his fingers against the glass tabletop and kept staring me down.
“No, sir,” I said after a beat.
Mentally sliding into my big-girl panties, I realized that this could be a test. If I couldn’t even face the training supervisor with confidence, then they couldn’t be confident in me or my abilities.
“Damian and I simply worked at our own pace,” I said, pulling back my shoulders and sitting up a little straighter. “Every night and almost every weekend since I started here, I’ve been working to get and stay ahead. It’s not because I wanted to rush through or even because I wanted to be recommended for graduating early. I merely made work my priority.”
“Keira is ready, Donny,” Damian added, sitting back with a serious expression on his face. “You know me and you know the standards I hold myself and my trainees to. I don’t often make recommendations like this. Obviously, I’ll still be available for her if she needs me, but I don’t think she will. Like I said, I believe she’s ready.”
Donny finally broke eye contact with me to turn back to his colleague. His fingers drummed against the table again, his head cocked while he thought.
A tense minute later, he nodded slowly and his fingers stilled. “I’m reluctant to agree to this, but if you say she’s ready, then I’m willing to let her go on her own.”
Relief rushed through me and I had an almost overwhelming urge to jump up and break out in a happy dance. I also wanted to whoop and squeal, but I held it all in.
Donny stood up first and he shook my hand. “Congratulations, Keira. We’re happy to have you. Just don’t fuck up, okay?”
“I’ll do my best,” I said, trying not to wince under the strength of his grip.
When he finally let go of my hand, he attacked Damian’s again. My trainer took it like a champ and then let his hand rest on my back as he guided me out of Donny’s office. As soon as the door closed behind us, I whirled around and threw my arms around his neck.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” I murmured into his ear. “You’re the best. I totally owe you coffee and a pastry every morning for the rest of my life.”
He chuckled and squeezed me back before releasing me. “All you need to do is make me proud. Don’t make me regret this recommendation. Donny will never let me hear the end of it.”
“I promise I won’t be the reason why Donny’s on your ass for the rest of time,” I said. “Do you want your first coffee and pastry today?”
“I’m afraid I can’t.” His lips formed a thin line as he switched gears from celebratory back to business. “We’ll do something soon. This definitely calls for a celebration, but I’m afraid my next meeting starts in ten. If I’m done by lunch, I’ll come find you.”
With that, his gaze zeroed in on someone behind me and he took off toward them. Adrenaline coursed through my system. I can’t believe I’ve just graduated out of the training program.
Needing to share the news with someone, I went back to my desk and immediately called my sister. She seemed happy to hear from me and excited for me, but she also sounded distracted.
“I’m so proud of you, Keira,” she said. “I need to talk to you in person, though. Are you free tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, sure.” I sighed. This was the biggest news I’d had in ages, but I had a feeling she didn’t want to see me to celebrate. “I can meet you after work. What’s going on?”
“We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?” She perked up again. “Congratulations, sis. I really am proud of you.”
Without even saying goodbye, she hung up. I stared at my phone with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. All I’d wanted to do was share my good news with her for once, but I should’ve known it wouldn’t be that easy.
It never was with Hailey. She always needed to have the last word and this time, that last word had sucked the joy and excitement right out of one of the biggest moments of my professional life so far.
I should’ve just called Jamie.
