Page 4 of A Matter of Time
I launched A Matter of Time just over a year earlier, but it had been brewing in my head for a long time before that. I always planned to run my own business so I studied business management at college, but when I graduated, I still hadn’t decided exactly what kind of business I wanted to get into. I needed something I felt passionate about to make it a success, but the products and services I looked into didn’t excite me nearly as much as the business of business itself. Organizing, prioritizing, and making each minute count; those were my passions, and after thinking it over for a while, I realized there was no reason I couldn’t makethatmy business.
All over the state, there were people with great ideas who didn’t know how to use their time effectively. I could help them with that, and with my guidance, they could truly make their businesses bloom.
My brother, Dex, said it came down to me enjoying the chance to tell people what to do, but that only accounted for part of it. I truly got a thrill out of making a difference, out of seeing people put my suggestions into practice and seeing the success that came out of that.
Up until that point, I had been relying on word of mouth to get my name out there. Friends recommended me at first, and when those clients were satisfied, they recommended me to their acquaintances too. Work had been steady for the past year, but I still hoped to get one big breakout job, one that would launch me to the next level, and as I stood in the sleek downtown office building, I had a feeling I had found it.
Houston had hundreds of oil and oil-related businesses and Barnly Oil was a brand-new startup with an excellent pedigree. The owner and CEO was the son of one of Texas’ most successful oilfield suppliers, and he also happened to be a good friend of the real estate manager whose business I had transformed a couple of months ago. When Jason hired his management team, he mentioned to that friend that he wanted to get them set up properly right from the start so he wouldn’t have to unteach any bad habits later on, and his friend had recommended me.
Jason hired me for a whole month on a consultancy basis, to work with each of his executives as a team and one-on-one, and that morning would be my initial presentation to them, a chance to start everything off on the right foot.
If it went well, Jason could spread the word to other businesses in the oil industry, and I might be able to expand my business, to hire more people just like me, and make it the success I had dreamed of.
Ireallywanted it to go well.
I hadn’t been provided with the names of the rest of the team and with the company being so new, that the information hadn’t been made public yet, so I didn’t know exactly what the other members of the team were like. However, Jason was young and ambitious, and male, of course, and based on the overall demographics of executives within the oil business, I assumed most of the others were men too. For that reason, I made sure I looked as good as I could that morning. Men paid more attention to women they found attractive; sexist, maybe, but also true, and a fact that I intended to take advantage of. I wanted to have them eating out of the palm of my hand and ready to do everything I told them to do.
“Ms Callahan?” The voice came from a young, pretty woman in a white blouse and red skirt, with dark brown hair and a bright, white smile. She was probably around the same age as me, in her early 20s. “I’m Marianne, Mr Barnly’s assistant. Please, come with me.”
I would have bet any money on the fact that he’d have a young, pretty assistant. So far, it seemed my assumptions about the business were spot-on.
“Have you known Mr Barnly for long?” I asked her as we got into the elevator together.
Marianne shook her head. “I just started last week. Everything’s still pretty new.”
I expected that too, and it pleased me to know I was on the right track. The plan I’d put together should be perfect.
“He’s really nice,” she offered without me having to ask. “They all are. I had a few qualms about working in an office full of men, but so far, they've all been completely appropriate.”
That didn’t seem like a particularly high bar to clear. If anyone ever dared to be anything less than appropriate with me, they would live to regret it.
The elevator stopped on the 8thfloor and we exited into a hallway with several different companies all sharing the same floor. I took a mental note of some of the other business names as we walked past them so I could look them up later and see if they needed my help too. At the end of the hall, we reached the door marked Barnly Oil, where Marianne scanned her employee card and held the door open for me.
Inside, the office space formed a large rectangle with offices around the outside and an open-plan meeting and work station area in the middle. The hum of voices drifted out to us from some of the offices, but no one could be seen from where we stood. The work day hadn’t officially started yet.
A larger meeting room took up the left wall, and Marianne led me into it. “You can get set up in here. The team will all be in by nine o’clock. Can I get you a coffee or anything?”
“Yes, please. Black.”
Left on my own, I took a closer look around the room. Ten chairs were arranged around the table, but only six people made up the executive team, so I took four of the chairs away so that they would have no choice but to sit close to the front and close to me. That would help make sure I had their undivided attention. After getting my laptop and projector set up, I pulled out my neatly organized handout folders, placing one at each chair along with my personalized pens. These were my favourite little marketing tools. Every time my clients used them, I wanted them to remember me and how much my training had helped them.
The coffee Marianne brought me quickly disappeared as I got everything set up just right, and I still had fifteen minutes before my scheduled start time. Perfect timing, as usual, and just enough time for me to take a quick trip to the restroom before the attendees started to arrive.
When I returned to the main office, Marianne had sat down at a desk outside what must be Jason Barnly’s office with its door closed. She told me where to find the restroom, back down the hallway towards the elevator, and I quickly slipped out and made my way there. It appeared to be one door that led to both the men’s and women’s, so I pushed it open firmly as I approached, and pushed it directly into the foot of the man standing on the other side, on his way out.
“I’m sorry,” I quickly apologized as he muttered a curse under his breath, his head bowed to look down at his foot in his black leather shoes.
He didn’t have a suit jacket on, but his pressed white shirt and tie still projected an air of professionalism while giving the impression of a rather firm and attractive body, I couldn’t help noticing. Just because I had my business hat on didn’t make me blind.
But when he raised his head, my stomach dropped in surprise and confusion.
“Cam? What are you doing here?”
I hadn’t seen my ex-boyfriend since the night of Dex’s wedding, since I slapped him across his face, and I certainly hadn’t expected to run into him in that building of all places, on a morning when I definitely needed to be at the top of my game.
His usual smirk spread across his face as he took me in. “Well, hey there, Sugar. I’d say it was good to see you, if you hadn’t just tried to break my toe.”
“I didn’t…” I started to protest before taking a breath. He wanted to rile me up, as he always did, and I didn’t need that. Arguing with him wouldn’t do me any good, especially since I was at fault. I could take responsibility for this. “I didn’t see you there and I should have opened the door more slowly.”
