The Boss Project by Vi Keeland

“Does marriage counseling count?”

I nodded. “It does. Are you still actively in therapy?”

“Nope.” He held up his hand to show me a ringless finger. “Happily divorced.”

“How long ago were you divorced?”

“It was finalized about eighteen months ago.”

“And how long did you go to therapy?”

“Six sessions.”

“Oh. Did you not feel like it was working?”

“No, that’s how long it took for my ex to admit she was sleeping with the neighbor.”

“I’m sorry. Are you comfortable talking about your marriage?”

Will shrugged. “It’s not my favorite topic, but sure.”

“Do you mind if I ask if you were having marital problems before she had an affair?”

“I didn’t think so. But apparently we were. I work a lot. Brooke complained about it, but she also liked the lifestyle that came with the type of job I have. I suggested she take up a hobby. So she did: banging the neighbor.”

I smiled sadly. “How many hours a week do you work?”

“I’m usually in the office from seven-to-seven weekdays. Saturdays I work a half day from home.”

“When you go home in the evening, what do you do?”

“Now that I’m single? I play racquetball twice a week. Other than that, I usually order in or pick something up, and read the Journal while I eat. Watch a little TV maybe, answer some emails, do research while I have a drink. I also leave my socks on the floor, the toilet seat up, and snore without getting yelled at.”

“So you work about sixty hours a week in the office, plus another five or six on Saturday. And then you also spend your evenings reading business-related news, doing research, and answering emails, which probably adds another few hours each day. Would it be unreasonable to say you work eighty hours a week?”

Will shrugged. “I love my job. It’s not like I’m miserable doing it.”

“What about the people who report to you? Do they work as much?”

“Some. The good ones anyway.”

“Is it impossible to be good at your job if you only work say, fifty hours a week?”

“I didn’t say that. But this is a career that requires a lot of knowledge—knowledge of the market, trends, individual industries and corporations. And that knowledge changes by the moment.”

“Can you farm out any of the knowledge acquisition and just have someone give you the summary version?”

Will smiled. “That’s what an analyst does. It would be impossible for one person to dig deep into everything. But even just sifting through all of the different sector analysts’ summaries is a job.”

“How long have you been at Crawford Investments?”

“Since day one. Merrick and I have been friends since freshman year of college. We went to Princeton together.”

“I didn’t know that.”

He nodded. “We both worked over at Sterling Capital right out of college. After three years, he was a VP, and I was still an analyst. People don’t make VP in three years anywhere. But Merrick was smarter and worked harder than the guys who owned the place, so they moved him up fast in an attempt to keep him. When he said he was leaving, they offered him a piece of the business. He wasn’t even twenty-five yet.”

“But he didn’t take it?”

Will shook his head. “Nope. Would have been easier on him if he did. But the owners didn’t like Amelia. She worked at Sterling, too. So the two of them went out on their own.”

“Why didn’t they like Amelia?”

“Back then, Merrick said it was because Sterling was a good-old-boys club and women weren’t given the same opportunities. If we talked about it today, he might have a different opinion. Amelia was brilliant but reckless. This is a job you have to have balls for—excuse my French—but there’s such a thing as too big of balls.”

Interesting. “Merrick and I spoke a little about Amelia,” I said. “He seemed to think her departure from Crawford Investments didn’t have an effect on the staff. Would you agree?”

“Merrick spoke to you about Amelia? As in, he said her name?”

My brows drew together. “Yes.”

“Wow. You must be a good shrink. The man hasn’t uttered her name in three years, that I’m aware of.”

“Really? Well, we didn’t get into details, only the fact that she was a partner and that she’d passed away. Often a change in leadership can cause stress among the employees.” I suspected there might’ve been more between Merrick and Amelia than just a business partnership, but it wasn’t my place to ask. “I take it the split wasn’t a friendly one, if he doesn’t speak of her?”

Will nodded. “It didn’t affect the office nearly as much as it did my friend. They were engaged.”

“What happened?” Inappropriate as it was, I couldn’t stop that question from popping out. After I asked, Will’s face changed. A wrinkle formed between his brows and his mouth dipped down.

“It’s not my place to talk about. Let’s just say she annihilated my best friend.”

That didn’t sound good. Of course, it also made me more curious, but I didn’t want to push my professional boundaries any further on his first visit. So I rounded our conversation back to his job. Will seemed open to discussing anything about his work, which was good. And his cooperation went a long way in settling my nerves. I was glad he was my first client of the day.