Chapter 2: first day.
776 Words
Marcus Webb arrived at Amelia's office at eleven fourteen,he was the kind of man who made you feel like you were already behind before he finished his first sentence.
He arrived with a tablet under one arm and the energy of someone who considered punctuality a personality flaw in others but a flexible concept for himself.
“Rossi," he said.
" And you must be Webb?” she said back.
Something shifted in his expression, he gave a little smirk.
He sat down across from her and put the tablet on the desk between them.
“Sixty seconds,” he said. “Then you get your first assignment"
" This floor runs three active acquisition pipelines, you support the senior team financial modeling,due diligence,and market analysis. You do not present to MR Henderson and you don't email Henderson” he looked at her flatly. " Last junior analyst who thought he could skip that step spent the entire week packing"
Amelia said nothing,she has learned a long time ago that silence made people show you more of themselves than questions did.
“Where did you study?" Marcus asked.
" University of Miami,top of my class” Amelia replied.
" Everyone here was top of their class" he said without cruelty.
“What else?"
" Two years of meridian finance before the restructure,two internships before that. I know how to find what is buried in numbers” Amelia said proudly.
Marcus looked at her for a moment that lasted slightly longer than assessment.
" Meridian restructured eighteen months ago” he said slowly
" Yes,” she replied immediately.
“So…” Marcus did not finish the sentence, the question was the same one everyone asked when they looked at her resume. What has she been doing since? The answer was what she never gave out loud.
Marcus slid the tablet across the desk
“Orlando acquisition. Full financial profile, revenue trends, liability exposure,market positioning,anything irregular.” He stood up.
" Thursday morning.”
" Wednesday night,” Amelia said.
Marcus stopped at the door.
“I'll believe it when I see it," he said bluntly and left.
Amelia sat alone in her office and looked at the Orlando file on the tablet screen and felt a mixture of determination and exhaustion. She breathed out a sigh and got to work.
BUZZ BUZZ.
Amelia's phone buzzed at seven-nineteen. Her mother's name lit up her phone screen.
Amelia stared at It for two full rings. She picked up the phone.
" Mamma.”
“You didn't call.” Elena Rossi said immediately. “Your first day Amelia, you didn't call.”
" I was working mamma,I just finished”
" Working.” Her mother said the words like she was turning it over.
“Mamma…” Amelia grumbled.
Amelia looked around her empty office,the Orlando file still open on her screen
" Mamma,it's serious work,” Amelia said carefully.
“Your father….”Elena stopped.
" He would have been so…" Elena's voice cracked on the last word.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't mean too….” Elena paused.
" Don't apologise,mamma” Amelia said softly.
" I just…” Elena had a shaky breath on the other end of the line. " Some days it's fine, you know? Some days I think okay,we are okay,we are managing and then other days I think about him sitting at that table with his papers and his coffee,going cold because he always forgets to drink it.” her voice broke again. “And I just miss him so much Amelia, I miss him so much. It still doesn't feel real."
Amelia pressed her hand flat on her desk, she didn't want to have a teary eye. “I know, I know mamma,me too" her voice came out steadier than she felt.
“Come Sunday.." Elena said finally.
" I'll make his sauce just as he taught me”
Amelia closed her eyes.
"I'll be there”
" Good,” Elena said.
" He was proud of you, you know that..”
Amelia sat for a long moment after the call ended with her phone face down on the desk and her hands still pressed flat against the surface like she needed something solid to hold onto, and her desk was the only thing available.
Amelia picked up her bag and walked towards the elevator.
She pressed the button, the door did not open.
Chad Henderson walked out around the corner and stopped walking the moment he saw her. He looked at her the way a man looks at something he already knows.
Amelia stared at him with conflicted eyes….
- Writer
