back. “Go on. What are you after?”
“Can’t I buy my favorite PA a box of candy?”
“Your only PA. This might be a good time to remind you I could really do with an assistant?”
“Okay. Book a slot this afternoon, and we’ll talk about it. How’s my schedule today?”
Without looking, she reeled off a list of appointments, the first one only an hour away. “I’ve left you some time to catch up on your email, like you asked. Did you have a good trip? Was the conference useful?”
“Yes and yes. I’ll make a start, but first I want you do a little job for me.”
“Don’t tell me you want to cancel your meetings?”
“Nah.” I handed her Kate’s business card. “When you get five minutes, get me a profile on this company, please. It’s not urgent.” ComCo sounded familiar. I’d come across them somewhere else, but couldn’t remember where.
Marcus teased me about Cassie, saying he wanted to entice her away to his office. In his words, she was heaven to look at and brilliant at her job . She was engaged, as far as I knew. She wore a diamond on her ring finger but never mentioned her fiancé. She was happy to work long hours, do all kinds of dull jobs, and generally make my life easier. I paid her generously, and we worked well together.
My thoughts bounced back to Kate. Cassie would soon have some information on ComCo. Then maybe I could engineer a meeting? On business grounds, of course. The devil on my shoulder wanted me to call Kate. I had her number, after all. I could simply phone, and say… What? Hey, remember me? I’m the guy you promised to meet for dinner and then ran out on. Nope, wasn’t going to happen.
I already acted out of character with her and had no intention of making more of a fool of myself. More information was needed, and then I’d decide what to do.
It took effort to concentrate on the page full of emails waiting for me, but I worked through them, pausing only to thank Cassie for the coffee she fetched.
I’d worked for my father’s company since my fourteenth birthday, spending every holiday and most weekends learning the business from the ground up. By the time I was eighteen, I’d interned in all the major divisions, as well as spending weeks in the overseas offices. I never thought about a career anywhere else, and now I ran the European arm of TM-Tech, and for the most part, was happy in my role.
It truly was a family company. Marcus worked for us too. He was currently engaged in developing the European market, and I hadn’t seen him for weeks. It’d be good to catch up with him.
The morning flew by. Cassie stuck her head around my door before lunch and announced she had some papers for me, if there was time to go through them. I waved her in, and she settled into the seat across from me.
“I’ve got invoices that need your signature, a couple of contracts to be counter-signed, some meetings I have to schedule, and the portfolio on ComCo.”
That got my attention. “Let’s do ComCo first. That was quick by the way.”
“They’re an IT reseller. UK-only at the moment, but hustling for a bigger share of the market. Mergers and Acquisitions have them on their database, and they supplied me with this initial report. If you’re looking for more, let me know, and I’ll carry on digging.”
It wasn’t unusual for the M&A division to carry data on other companies. TM-Tech constantly acquired other businesses, and we had multiple options on the go at once. That was almost certainly where I’d heard the name.
I flicked through the thin dossier, while Cassie recounted the main facts—customer reach; number of employees; profitability; position in the marketplace.
“They’ve submitted a bid for the data-center-expansion project,” she continued, “and they’ve been selected as a potential supplier.”
My mind leapt with the possibilities. “Find out if we’re doing a site visit, please. I may tag along.”
Cassie didn’t miss a beat.
“Can’t I buy my favorite PA a box of candy?”
“Your only PA. This might be a good time to remind you I could really do with an assistant?”
“Okay. Book a slot this afternoon, and we’ll talk about it. How’s my schedule today?”
Without looking, she reeled off a list of appointments, the first one only an hour away. “I’ve left you some time to catch up on your email, like you asked. Did you have a good trip? Was the conference useful?”
“Yes and yes. I’ll make a start, but first I want you do a little job for me.”
“Don’t tell me you want to cancel your meetings?”
“Nah.” I handed her Kate’s business card. “When you get five minutes, get me a profile on this company, please. It’s not urgent.” ComCo sounded familiar. I’d come across them somewhere else, but couldn’t remember where.
Marcus teased me about Cassie, saying he wanted to entice her away to his office. In his words, she was heaven to look at and brilliant at her job . She was engaged, as far as I knew. She wore a diamond on her ring finger but never mentioned her fiancé. She was happy to work long hours, do all kinds of dull jobs, and generally make my life easier. I paid her generously, and we worked well together.
My thoughts bounced back to Kate. Cassie would soon have some information on ComCo. Then maybe I could engineer a meeting? On business grounds, of course. The devil on my shoulder wanted me to call Kate. I had her number, after all. I could simply phone, and say… What? Hey, remember me? I’m the guy you promised to meet for dinner and then ran out on. Nope, wasn’t going to happen.
I already acted out of character with her and had no intention of making more of a fool of myself. More information was needed, and then I’d decide what to do.
It took effort to concentrate on the page full of emails waiting for me, but I worked through them, pausing only to thank Cassie for the coffee she fetched.
I’d worked for my father’s company since my fourteenth birthday, spending every holiday and most weekends learning the business from the ground up. By the time I was eighteen, I’d interned in all the major divisions, as well as spending weeks in the overseas offices. I never thought about a career anywhere else, and now I ran the European arm of TM-Tech, and for the most part, was happy in my role.
It truly was a family company. Marcus worked for us too. He was currently engaged in developing the European market, and I hadn’t seen him for weeks. It’d be good to catch up with him.
The morning flew by. Cassie stuck her head around my door before lunch and announced she had some papers for me, if there was time to go through them. I waved her in, and she settled into the seat across from me.
“I’ve got invoices that need your signature, a couple of contracts to be counter-signed, some meetings I have to schedule, and the portfolio on ComCo.”
That got my attention. “Let’s do ComCo first. That was quick by the way.”
“They’re an IT reseller. UK-only at the moment, but hustling for a bigger share of the market. Mergers and Acquisitions have them on their database, and they supplied me with this initial report. If you’re looking for more, let me know, and I’ll carry on digging.”
It wasn’t unusual for the M&A division to carry data on other companies. TM-Tech constantly acquired other businesses, and we had multiple options on the go at once. That was almost certainly where I’d heard the name.
I flicked through the thin dossier, while Cassie recounted the main facts—customer reach; number of employees; profitability; position in the marketplace.
“They’ve submitted a bid for the data-center-expansion project,” she continued, “and they’ve been selected as a potential supplier.”
My mind leapt with the possibilities. “Find out if we’re doing a site visit, please. I may tag along.”
Cassie didn’t miss a beat.
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