Against all odds

CHAPTER 3

“Yes, understood." It was only 9 a.m. and Rosaria already felt a headache grappling at the seams of her brain. Mr Ford was rushing and pressuring everyone to round up deadlines and meet targets, for a smooth handover to Andres in a couple of weeks. She’d been in his office since 8 o'clock, quickly scrambling down the almost endless list of tasks she “had” to get done before the end of the work day. Looking over her notepad, all she could think about was whether or not to ask him about the security of her position in the company.

“Okay okay okay, what else?”

“I think that’s all sir…”

“Have you put down the Shareholder emails?”

“Yes sir.”

“You know those emails have to be sent to every single one of them before the end of the week.”

“Yes sir.”

“I don’t want our profits to be affected by this switch in any way.”

“Copy that.”

He laughed, and finally relaxed,

“You know Rose, I’m probably going to miss you the most. You-“ he stood up and walked over to the coffee machine, pouring himself a second cup in the two hours, “and this beautiful heavenly coffee-making machine.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. She would miss him a lot too. Mr Ford and his family were some of the biggest supporters ever since her dad died. Her job at the company, random checkups here and there, and a whole lot of emotional and moral support. The two families were very close, so that was a comfort to her. The Fords loved Rose, they were family to her. His wife Cicilia was such a darling too, they had been married for almost thirty years but they were like best friends. It was clear to everyone that they were lifelong partners.

Rosaria fondly remembered times when she first started working at the company and was struggling to find her feet. Mrs Ford would come to the office under the guise of “checking on her husband”, but spent most of the time at Rosaria’s table. Younger Rose looked forward to Mrs Cicilia coming every other day and relied a great deal on her presence at work. Eventually, the visits grew less frequent as Rose grew more confident, but Rosaria could never forget how the Fords had been there for her.

It was also during those bonding times that she found out more about Andres. He had been in boarding school for most of his teenage years, and was rounding up business school in the U.K. She’d only seen him a couple of times when they were younger, and he was always with one friend, relative, or the other. The most memorable thing she remembered about him was at her father’s funeral. He’d come up to her and give her a big white feather. She was confused but she took it from him.

“A white feather means that your dad is watching you. He’s telling you that everything is okay.” They made eye contact and even then she could tell that he had a deeply compassionate soul.

“Thank you, Andres.” He smiled a small smile and walked off.

That was probably the last time they spoke to each other, and she couldn’t even recall what he looked like now. But she kept the white feather because it gave her comfort.

He was the apple of his parent’s eyes, especially his mom, who spoke about him at every interval. He was smart, driven, and successful. He was one of those trust fund babies who got rich off their parents’ money, but he also worked a name for himself. In the UK that is. She’d thought they were going to let him work there and live there, but apparently not.

Rose couldn’t help but internally roll her eyes.

What’s he looking for in the US anyway? Isn’t he happy with his life? Gosh.

But anyway,

“I’ll miss you too Mr Ford. Who am I going to buy coffee machines for every six months now?” He laughed his rich CEO man laughs, “Oh Rose! I didn’t think about that. Damn, and you buy the best coffee machines too.” He laughed again. (Mr. Ford was a happy man, really.)

He was still laughing when Suzie knocked and entered the office. “Good morning Mr. Ford. Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” She gave Mr. Ford a charming smile and shot Rose a disdainful, disapproving eye.

How could she do that at the same time?

“Oh no, no, just Rose here cracking me up as usual. What can I do for you, Suzie?” He sat down with a vibrant smile on his face. Suzie probably thought she was behind that smile.

A highly delusional young lady.

“I just wanted to know if we’re doing any media announcements in anticipation of Andres’ taking over. I want to know if I should get my team to draft any press releases, public statements, anything at all.”

“Hm good question, we definitely need the general public informed, but the retirement and handover process isn’t even halfway done. So maybe let’s wait till Rose is done with all of the official paperwork sending emails and getting the proper approval…then we’re good to go with a media announcement. Sound good?”

“Yes, Mr. Ford. No problem.”

She shot Rose another look and stalked out of the office.

What was her aim here?

Rose looked back at Mr. Ford, silently asking if they were done. “Yes, go get to work. You know to call me if there’s any confusion or you’re stuck right?”

“Yes sir.”

——-

It was 7 pm and Rose and Mr. Ford were the only people left at the office. Gosh, was she tired? She’d been laser-focused on her work for the past three hours. She checked her phone and saw a couple of texts from her family and Steve.

Monica texted, in her usual frantic and dramatic tone, “They approved my application! The interview is this week! I can't wait!” accompanied by a couple of dancing and star and food emojis. She was happy for her sister obviously, this was her first job. The family had yet to settle on who would stay home with her mom. Well the family had settled, and her mom was going to stay home alone, but it wasn’t sitting right with Rose.

Her mom just texted to ask why she was running late, and she explained that she wanted to tick everything off before leaving the office. Rose hated leaving work to the next day or taking work from home. Because nothing got done at home. And the way her schedule looked for the week, she couldn’t afford to keep on carrying over work to the next day. She was really busy.

Suddenly she heard shouting from Mr Ford’s office.

“What do you mean he crashed my car? What was he doing? Not the Benz…WHAT-“

She didn’t even have to strain to hear what he was saying, his entire conversation could probably be heard all over the office. “He’s basically begging for a lawsuit…don’t piss me off Frank, where was the accident? Woah. Who hired this guy?” After a couple more rude statements and more than a couple of curse words, he hung up. Soon after, he opened his door and looked sheepishly at Rose, “Rosaria, if this isn’t too much to ask, could you drop me at home? I’m so sorry, my new dumb driver crashed the car on the way here.”

“That’s no problem, Mr. Ford, I’ll probably be done in about an hour and we can leave. Is he okay?”

“Don’t know, don’t really care. He was texting while driving, that’s what happened. I’m just thinking about my Benz. That’s my first baby, she’s a rare vintage.”

“Um- sorry about your Benz.”

“Thanks, you get it. Also if you don’t mind, tomorrow can you send him a care package or something, we don’t want any bad PR on us right now. Because people always find a way to blame the employer.”

Maybe it’s because it’s almost always the employer that's at fault.

“Not a problem sir. Tomorrow?”

“Yes please, thank you.”

Mr. Ford’s house was about thirty minutes away from the office, on the way there, she played some of her favorite RNB music, but as their small talk died down, he slept off quietly. They pulled up to the front of his family estate and she parked. She tapped him so as not to startle him awake.

“We’re here Mr Ford.” He woke up with a slight jolt, unbuckling his belt and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “Thank you, Rosaria, honestly for everything you do. I know it’s your job, but Jose and Ignacia raised an angel.”

“Wow…thank you so much, Mr. Ford.”

“Of course Rose. I’m sure Andres will love you.” He stepped out of the car and she waited till he entered the house to drive back out.

I hope he likes me too.

Each mile she covered on her way home was a step closer to respite, a promise of a few precious hours of sleep that awaited her. As her home's comforting silhouette came into view, exhaustion clung to her like a second skin, but within those walls, she would find solace in slumber, an oasis in the desert of her day.