Page 99 of One Bossy Date
“Good to be here, sir.”
“Please, let me make introductions.”
We’d arrived at the Humphries Properties offices a bit early: myself as Windham Construction’s CEO, my mom as the board representative, Andrea Johnson as strategist, and Dax as a marketing consultant for the time being, until he’d officially made up his mind.
It had been two days since Christmas Eve with Zoe. Waking with her on Christmas morning had felt natural. Something had changed that night, but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I was glad she didn’t either. She had rushed off to spend the holiday with her gran, and I’d gone to my mother’s to spend the day with her and the evening with Dax.
Charles Humphries led us into the boardroom where there were another three men chatting near the large window overlooking Manhattan. We followed Charles to greet them, Andrea, Dax, and my mom giving me the conversational lead as CEO.
“These are my sons, Oliver and Miles.”
I stepped forward, shaking their hands respectively. “Good to meet you.”
They both nodded with smiles.
“Same to you, man,” Miles said cheerfully.
“It’s a pleasure,” Oliver said in a more professional tone.
Charles continued, “And this is Damon Copeland, who might as well be my third son.”
Everyone chuckled, and I remained quiet while greeting him, so as to wait for an explanation.
“Oliver is my eldest, he’s the CFO of the company. Miles is the COO, and Damon, who is my son-in-law, is our CTO.”
I nodded with understanding. “I see. A real family business.”
“You have no idea,” Miles said, rolling his eyes but laughing off the joke.
I smiled, then turned to Mother, Dax, and Andrea to make their introductions. Once they were introduced, I continued the pleasantries. “Well, I’d like to thank you all for being here during your holiday. But before we start—didn’t one of you recently have a baby?”
“Yes, it was Miles,” Charles said with a proud expression, putting a hand on his son’s shoulder.
Miles grinned, looking humbled. I took him as the more playful son because Oliver only spoke when necessary but otherwise stood by with a polite smile. He seemed to be the calm, responsible kind. Damon, on the other hand, refrained from jokes and quietly made his way to the table, taking a seat.
“Congratulations.”
“Thanks, man.”
With the pleasantries now over, I got to business. “I’ll just set up my laptop for the presentation before we start.”
“Yeah, no rush,” Miles said. “We’ll wait for the others from our team to arrive, and Gretchen will bring in some refreshments soon, then we’re good to go.”
While Charles was the CEO, it felt to me that Miles might be running this meeting as the COO. I wondered if Charles would perhaps be handing over the reins soon.
Once a few more members from Humphries Properties arrived, it was time to shine.
“Ladies and gentleman, I give you the future of New York construction.”
* * *
Just over an hour later, I thanked everyone for their time and closed my presentation.
Before ending, I opened the floor for discussion, at which point Dax had the opportunity to add his ideas and answer questions about the marketing side of things. The Humphries party, Damon included, all appeared impressed. I was glad they seemed to be on our wavelength, agreeing wholeheartedly with my stance on green construction. Everyone smiled, gave positive comments, and stood up, stretching their legs, and packing their things.
“Well, that was certainly impressive, Anders,” Miles said, standing next to me with his hands in his pockets—indicating a more casual conversation.
“Thanks, Miles.”