WAKING UP WITH THE CEO

CHAPTER 9

Then, she slipped past her mother while Martha was still making some small talk with Jeremy and entered the house. She went straight to the living room, where she found John sprawled in the recliner, remote in hand, flipping through the sports channels.

“Hey, big guy!” Annalise called him.

John looked at her and got up from the recliner. As he did that, he smiled broadly at Annalise and then held out his arms. She hugged him, then took a few steps and looked at her best friend.

“I am so happy to see you here… But you should be in Georgia. You have a big game tomorrow.”

“Martha is very important to me, you know that. I simply had to be here for her birthday. My teammates had my back, and the coach allowed me to stay behind for a day. Tomorrow morning, I must join them in Atlanta or face his wrath,” John replied.

“This sounds quite exhausting…”

“Nah, I’m good… I also wanted to see you. It’s been a while...”

“A couple of weeks,” she added in a sweet voice.

Annalise glanced back to make sure they were still alone in the room and then talked to John in a lower tone.

“Listen, I really need to talk to you about something. It’s very important. Can we meet later, or do you have other plans?”

“None… For you, I’m free as a bird, little darling.”

“Good… Great…” Annalise said slowly and nodded.

His eyes narrowed, and John’s expression became serious.

“What’s up, Anna? What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”

“I promise you it’s nothing bad. I have a favor to ask, and I would rather not get into it in front of everyone.”

John frowned now.

“Is everything alright with you, Anna? Are you in some kind of trouble again? Do I need to hit, torture, and kill someone?”

Annalise rolled her eyes.

“You’re too valuable to go to prison. And your team needs you to win the 11th MLS title. Besides, I have Bran and Jer, more than willing to cover this part,” she said, smiling.

“Anna, I mean it…”

She looked at John with a serious gaze and calmed him down.

“Everything is alright, I promise. I just want to talk to you about a project I have in mind… Something quite interesting.”

“Okay, sweetie… You’re so mysterious… Well, even if you’ve got me curious, I guess I can wait until later.”

John came close to her and put his hands on her shoulders.

“I will see you back at your place. We’ll have dinner and talk.”

“Perfect. Thank you,” Annalise replied, and she quickly pulled back when her mother and brothers entered the living room.

Lunch was a lively affair. Her brothers squabbled and joked endlessly while her mother looked on indulgently. Annalise absorbed every word her brothers were saying since having both boys home was such a wonderful but rare occasion.

After the table had been cleared, they all moved to the porch to have the cake and the coffee there. Annalise looked at her mother’s expression while Martha was talking to her adored boys. She was ecstatic. She couldn’t have asked for a better present than to have her kids home, with her, at least for a few hours.

Brandon was talking about some interesting projects at work and about his life with Alicia, while Jeremy was sharing funny anecdotes about his life in the trenches of the political battlefield. He was quite excited to work for a young politician, filled with new ideas and projects regarding the future of the country.

Even John told stories about the last game his team won. He even scored two of the four points. His tone surprised her. John sounded so proud of his teammates. And he was so enthusiastic about the bond created between them during the last year.

“My boys…” Martha said, smiling, looking at all three of them. “You are my pride and joy.”

‘My boys… My pride and joy…’

In front of such words filled with so much appreciation, Annalise felt a bit out of place.

THEY were Martha’s pride and joy…

She was not included in their little club. Annalise kept looking at them in silence, smiling slightly. She knew her mother cared for her, but not in the way she cared for Brandon and Jeremy… or even for John.

Martha was barely tolerating her.

Yes, this was the right way to explain their mother-daughter relationship. Since she was little, Martha has always encouraged her to be the perfect girl, to sit straight and speak in the right manner. There was little mention of going to college, building a career, and being a strong, independent woman.

So, if Annalise was doing great in school, coming home with straight A’s, she would hear a very dry and harsh ‘this is why I’m sending you to school’. What she won’t hear is Martha encouraging her to do better, to be better.

After a while, Annalise stopped expecting her mother’s approval. Even if Martha didn’t want to hear about it, Annalise was now more determined than ever to go to college. Maybe in New York, since Jeremy was studying there.

Annalise graduated at the top of her class. There were four colleges interested in having her: NYU, UCLA, UT Austin, and Stanford. It was a dream come true for Annalise… a dream cut short by her mother’s behavior.

‘I agree to let you go to college, but it has to be somewhere around here so that I can have you home every day.’

For Martha, ‘here’ meant Anaheim. Not even Jeremy’s words or Brandon’s begging helped. She didn’t change her mind.

Well, it was better than nothing.

So, Annalise went to CalUMS (California University of Management and Science) and joined their advertising class program. She got her degree and, a few months after graduation, against her mother’s advice, Annalise moved to San Francisco and started working there.

Joining one of the greatest advertising agencies in the city was like touching the sky with a finger. There was so much work to do and so many projects to follow, but Annalise was having a blast. The money was good and there was also the possibility of getting a promotion.

Everything was perfect. Every single part of her existence was finally going in the right direction until… Until the s**t hit the fan and her life, as she knew it up until that point, went downhill.