Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

"Mommy? What's a N-turn?"

"IN-tern, honey. It's someone who works for the experience instead of for money."

"Oh," her daughter said. "Why do you need 'sperience?"

"Well, so mommy can get a good job making lots of money."

"Oh. Why don't you do a job now and make lots of money?"

"Um, because Mommy doesn't have any experience," she patiently explained hoping the tautology was lost on her four-year old daughter, Peyton.

The answer seemed to satisfy her for the moment and lately it seemed like that's how Jaydan Kennison lived her entire life—from one moment to the next trying to survive. At 29 she never expected herself to be divorced, working a crappy job at night to pay the bills—bills she juggled every month trying not to ask for extra time on the same one two months in a row—while raising her daughter alone and trying to finish college.

After taking six years off, she was now officially a senior—again—and she had to complete an internship in one of her last two semesters to graduate. It was considered work experience, and even though it was unpaid, it was a requirement to get her bachelor's degree in financial management.

She'd applied to a dozen different companies around the Seattle area during her first semester, and two of them had offered her a slot starting in January right after the winter break. She chose Financial Enterprise, Incorporated, because it was in the perfect location relative to where she lived, went to school, worked, and her mother's apartment which was the drop-off point for Peyton. She would have preferred to work for the other business, but because it was all the way across town, it was simply impractical. It was a much smaller company and that appealed to Jaydan, but there was just no way to make it work. So Enterprise would get her services free of charge 20 hours a week until the end of May while she parented her daughter, took one additional class, and worked as many hours a week as she could get.

"Okay, baby. We're here. You ready to go see Nana?"

"Yes, I'm ready," she said matter-of-factly. Peyton was a very precocious child, but since her father walked out on them last summer, she wasn't the same. She didn't cry or pout, she just seemed...different. Fortunately for Jaydan, her daughter loved spending time with Nana and Jaydan's widowed mother, Denise Archer, loved having her.

"Thanks, Mom. You know how much this means to me, right?" Jaydan said yet again as Peyton ran into the house to find Nana's dog, Millie.

"I'm the one who gets all the benefits from it, honey. Having her here makes me feel young again, and it gives me purpose. But thank you for saying that."

"Peanut? Come back here and give me my kiss!" her mother called out. She heard Peyton tell Millie to 'come' and moments later both her daughter and the Golden Retriever with the wagging tail were at the door.

"Bye, Mommy! I love you! Have a good day at the N-turn place!" Jaydan bent down to give and get a hug big enough to last her until she got home around midnight after school and a six-hour shift waiting tables, then kissed her daughter goodbye.

Denise went outside with Jaydan and closed the door. "Sweetheart? I'm worried about you. How long can you keep this up? You really are burning the candle at both ends since Jeff walked out."

"As long as it takes, Mom," she said. "Hopefully I'll get hired somewhere after I graduate and then I can just work full time." She said it like it was a joke, but it really wasn't all that funny. She'd still be gone at least 50 hours a week including commute time, but new hires tended to have to work longer hours to make a name for themselves so very little would probably change even then in terms of how often she was home. And yet, what choice did she have? Her now ex-husband paid child support, but that did nothing to pay the mortgage, property taxes, car payment, buy groceries, and cover tuition. Jaydan had borrowed heavily to pay for school, both credit cards were nearly maxed out, and what little she'd had in savings would soon be gone. The idea of going out for something as simple as ice cream was out of the question. But she never let on in front of Peyton—or even her mother—that, like her credit cards, her stress level was also nearly maxed out.

"I know it's old fashioned, but you're such a beautiful girl. Do you ever think about, you know, getting married again?"

Jaydan rolled her eyes and said, "Mom? If and when the right guy comes along, we'll see. But there is no way on earth I'd ever marry for money."

"No, not...just for money. But you're so young and pretty. You could easily find a nice guy and if he, you know, happened to have a decent job, and assuming he could accept Peyton as his own, would that be so awful?"

Jaydan was an attractive woman. That wasn't in dispute. At 5' 4" and maybe 105 pounds, she was small but not petite. Her husband had asked her numerous times to enhance her full-B breasts, but she knew that anything bigger would look out of place on a woman her size. Thankfully, she'd managed to fend him off and couldn't happier she had.

She had the perfect face for shorter hair and wore hers above the ears in a very feminine, very smooth style. When she'd had the money, she loved to bleach it blonde, but that was another luxury she could no longer afford so it had returned to its very dark-brown natural color. She loved the blonde look that went so well with her bright blue eyes and very white smile, but she knew she looked just at attractive with her natural color.

She also knew her mother meant well, but right now wasn't the time for this discussion. She had to be at Enterprise in forty-five minutes and that meant catching the bus in ten. Yes, she could drive, but traffic was gawd-awful bad and that was additional stress she just didn't need. If she missed the bus, she'd be late for orientation on her very first day; not the way someone looking for a future in financial management wanted to start out.

"Mom, I've gotta run. We'll talk some other time, okay?" She hugged her mother and thanked her again, then briskly walked the two blocks in the cold, raw air to the bus stop and waited. Two minutes later she was on her way to start the internship she should have completed six years ago.

Enterprise was an up-and-coming business that had expanded so rapidly it had had to relocated twice in the last five years. It now took up two full floors of a twenty-story glass-enclosed building in downtown Seattle where Enterprise leased the 7th and 8th floors.

Jaydan managed to slide inside the elevator going up before the doors closed and she was just able to turn around without bumping into anyone else. When the bell rang indicating they were at the 7th floor, she excused herself and stepped out into the brightly-tiled, very modern looking office space where with the company logo was staring her in the face. She looked both directions and noticed what appeared to be a reception desk to her left and headed that way.

She saw a woman about her age behind the desk who was talking on the phone. Jaydan waited until she was done before saying, "Hi, this is my first day and I was wondering...."

"Oh, you're the new executive assistant. Mr. Hardaway will be glad to see you. Let me just give him a call and...."

"Sorry. No, I'm...I'm an intern."

"Oh. I see," the other woman said not sure what to make of someone her age interning.

"That means she belongs to me, Renee," Jaydan heard a voice say from behind her. She turned around and saw another woman who was maybe 35 smiling at her.

"I'm Sharon Cummings. You must be Jaydan. Everyone else is in the conference room so follow me and we'll get started with orientation."

Jaydan didn't even get a chance to say hello. She just followed Sharon down the hall and into a large room with a huge table surrounded by comfortable-looking leather chairs. "Please have a seat and we'll get going."

Jaydan did just that then scanned the other interns, and with the exception of the lone male, they all looked to be between 20-22, the age she should be.

Sharon had everyone quickly introduce themselves and as she'd assumed, the other four people were all seniors at the University of Washington. There were three women and one young man who looked more like he was maybe 17 than 20. All three of the females were not only young but attractive, as well. No one was beautiful and no objective observer would have argued that Jaydan wasn't by far the most attractive of the four.

They spent about 45 minutes filling out paperwork and waiting for their access badges to be made. Only then did they learn there assignments.

"Kathy Reynolds? You'll be working for Ms. Martinez in marketing. Jennifer Ammon? You're being assigned to Mr. Anthony Davidson in advertising. Timothy Green? You're going to with Ms. Marilyn Kingman in accounting. And—oh...Jaydan Kennison. Very interesting. You're going to be working for our CFO, Mr. Royce Jones." She lowered her clipboard and said, "He can a bit um...anal...sometimes." She realized how that sounded then said, "That didn't come out right. Let's just say he's the CFO for a reason. He's incredibly um...detail-oriented." She gave out the last assignment then let them know she'd be taking each one to meet their 'principal', the person to whom they would be solely responsible while at Enterprise.

Jaydan realized she was going to be the last one taken to meet her new boss as she watched one new intern after the other get up and disappear down the hall. She was all alone when the door opened and a rather attractive man of about 35, dressed in a polo shirt and jeans, opened the door.

"Hey, there. I don't recognize you. Are you new here?" he asked in a very friendly tone.

"Yes. This is my first day. I'm waiting for Sharon to show me where to go."

"Sharon? She takes care of our interns." He looked at her for a couple of seconds then asked, "You're an intern?"

Jaydan was already paranoid about her age and she didn't anyone making snarky comments about it. Not wanting to offend anyone—especially on the first day—she smiled politely and said, "I took a few years off when my daughter was born so I'm a little behind the power curve."

"Oh. Okay. So...where is Sharon taking you??

"I guess I'm working for the CFO."

"Oh. The CFO. Did she tell you anything about him?" he asked letting the door close and sounding very serious.

"Well...only that he can be somewhat concerned about details."

The man laughed and said, "That's not the way she said it, is it?" he asked smiling at her.

Jaydan smiled back and said, "Don't say anything, okay? Sharon used the word 'anal' to describe him."

"Yeah. That's Royce all right," he said with a laugh. "Come on. My office is right by his. I'll introduce you."

Jaydan was concerned about going without Sharon's knowledge and hesitated. "It's okay. Sharon won't mind. We're good friends. Come on."

Jaydan reluctantly got up and let the man open the door for her. She thanked him then waited for him to lead her in the right direction. She was amazed how every single person they passed said good morning or hello with most people calling him by his first name—Brandon.

"You're very popular around here," she said as another person cheerily said good morning.

"Enterprise is like a family, Jaydan. We do our best not to be the dysfunctional type."

She laughed politely as he tapped on a door that was open and said, "Royce? I've got someone here you need to meet."

He stood up and walked around his desk and looked at Jaydan somewhat coldly. "Who is she?" he asked.

"She's your new intern. I thought I'd bring her by on my way back to the office."

Just then Jaydan heard Sharon's voice. "Oh, there she is." Brandon and the CFO turned around and saw a very embarrassed-looking Sharon. Mr. Hardaway. Good morning, sir. I see you met one of our new interns. I'm sorry I...."

"Don't be silly, Sharon. I was headed this way so it only made sense. We've got it from here. Thanks, though. Oh, and again—please, please call me Brandon."

"Yes, sir," she said lowering her head before excusing herself.

Royce could see the confusion on Jaydan's face. "Brandon is our CEO."

Jaydan's eyes got very wide and she was unaware her jaw fell open. "Oh, my goodness. I had no idea. You're Brandon Hardaway?" she croaked.

"In the flesh," he said gregariously. "I guess I'm kind of the father figure of the family around here. Royce would be the grumpy old uncle."

Royce didn't smile at his boss's humor. "Someone needs be serious around here. The way you burn through cash Brandon, you might want to consider trying it sometime."

Brandon leaned over to Jaydan and said, "I've never been able to get that stick out of his ass. Maybe you'll have better luck." He smiled broadly, welcomed her on board, then excused himself.

Jaydan was now face-to-face with the anal CFO who evidently had a stick up his butt. She was feeling very intimidated as he seemed to tower over her. He had to be around 6'2" and seemed to be near 40 although she couldn't be sure. He still hadn't smiled but she already knew he was otherwise a very good-looking man. He was wearing a very expensive suit, had amazingly good hair, beautiful hazel eyes, and what? Model-like looks? Maybe not that hot, but he was definitely a very attractive man. The CEO was cute, but the CFO was a no-kidding hottie—who never smiled. Lastly, she noticed a gold wedding band on his left ring finger as she became aware he was speaking to her.

"Are you with me?" he asked.

"Oh, yes. Sorry. I'm listening."

"Royce didn't tell me your last name."

"Right. It's Kennison."

"Very well. Ms. Kennison, you'll be working in here," he said showing her a very small office inside his. She had a desk, a phone, a shredder, and a small copy machine behind her. In the middle of the desk was a large Mac desktop. "Did they give you a password yet?" he asked.

"Yes," she said.

"That's just for the network. You'll need your own to access your account when it comes up."

He spent several minutes explaining her role which boiled down to essentially being his errand boy. Or...person. She would do word processing and make copies in between taking files around the building, filing documents with the court which Sharon would show her how do the first time, get his coffee, order his lunch, pick up his dry cleaning, arrange his schedule, and the kicker—do pretty much anything else he asked her to do.

He was cold and methodical in his welcome-aboard brief. So much so that when he finally changed tone and asked in an almost caring tone, "So tell me about yourself, Ms. Kennison," it surprised her.

Jaydan was still completely intimidated by his presence. Between his position in the firm, his very business-like appearance and manner, and his incredibly good looks, she felt like she wanted to just melt into the floor and go home.

"Um, well...I'm divorced, have a three-year old daughter named Peyton. I'm finishing my last semester of college at the U-dub (the local way of saying University of Washington which she didn't have to explain to him as he was an alumnus with an MBA) after a six-year break...."

"To raise your daughter?" he asked making an assumption.

"Um...yes. I really believed I'd married the right guy and it would last...."

"Forever?" he said in a kind of wistful tone.

"Well, yes. I never thought he'd leave me for another woman and not even want to see his daughter." She felt silly for sharing those kinds of details and said, "Sorry. That's way off topic."

"No, I'm glad you told me. I know a little something about losing the one you loved. I'm very sorry, Ms. Kennison. You're a beautiful young woman and you deserved better."

When he finished, he actually smiled at her and to say it caught her off guard was an understatement. It took her a second to respond in kind not only because he'd smiled, but because his smile was a perfect fit for the handsome face sporting it.

"Oh, um...thank you, but I don't feel very beautiful these days. Between school and work and raising my daughter, it's pretty...." She was doing it again. "Wow. I'm rambling again. That's embarrassing."

"No need to feel embarrassed. I'm sure Brandon gave you the 'we're a family' speech. He's right, you know. This really is like a family."

He turned to walk away and said, "I'm more like Uncle...Scrooge around here, but Brandon was pretty close in his description of me." He smiled at her again as he walked out and Jaydan sat there having no idea what to do next.

Doing nothing wasn't an option so she sat her purse beside her comfortable office chair then turned on her computer. She successfully logged into the Enterprise network then created a password for her account and tried navigating through a couple of business-specific programs. She then familiarized herself with the copy machine before trying to learn which offices were where by looking at a diagram of the two floors owned by Enterprise. Jayden knew she'd be running around delivering documents or whatever else Mr. Jones needed so it couldn't hurt to have an idea who and what were where.

By the time her head stopped spinning, it was 11am and Mr. Hardaway popped back into the office. Jaydan stood up and said, "Mr. Jones just left, sir. Do you need me to...."

"Actually, I was looking for you, Jaydan. What are you doing for lunch?"

"Lunch? Me? I...I don't know. I hadn't even thought it about that yet."

"Good! Then why don't you join me? I know a little place that makes the best gyros you've ever tasted. Oh, and they also have the best coffee—ever. I know those two things don't really go together, but you've gotta try them. Come on, grab your coat and let's go!"

Unlike Mr. Jones, Mr. Hardaway was friendly, outgoing, and always 'on.' He was the antithesis of button-downed or reserved. She didn't know a lot about him, but she did know his company had expanded very rapidly and was making a ton of money for its clients which meant the CEO was also certainly making a bundle himself.

"Well, I guess I could do that if you're sure."

"Heck, yeah, I'm sure!" he said. "You don't want to hang around here with Mr. Stuffy Pants during lunch. Trust me on that one!"

"I...I guess not," she said as she reached for her coat.

"That wasn't a suggestion, Jaydan. I was stating a fact. Royce can be—bore-ring!"

Just then, she saw Mr. Jones walk back in and Jaydan once again wanted to melt into the floor.

"Poisoning the well early, are we, Brandon?" Jones said. "Oh, and you're not wasting any time hitting on the pretty new intern, either, I see."

"Hitting on her? Give me a break! Everybody's gotta eat, right?"

"Is this okay, Mr. Jones?" Jaydan asked standing there wearing her coat and holding her purse.

"Brandon's the boss, Ms. Kennison," he said barely looking up. "Try not to be overly charmed by his boyish ways or his fast car, okay?"

"Um...okay," she said in reply.

"MisterJones? Mizz Kennison? What's with all the formality, Royce?"

Jaydan watched him look up at their common boss and shake his head without responding.

Brandon leaned over and said, "See? That stick goes all the way up his ass to his brain!"

Jaydan wasn't sure whether to laugh so she stood there feeling very out of place.

"Come on, let's go! Royce can live without you for a couple of hours."

"A couple of hours?" she said.

"Brandon takes work breaks around here, Ms. Kennison. The rest of us take lunch breaks."

Brandon put his hand in the small of her back and ushered her out the door. "Don't take him too seriously," he told her. "Royce is all work and no play. For me, this is a fun hobby. To him, this place is life or death. My motto is to never take life—or yourself—too seriously."