18. Kyle

18

KYLE

T he transition of taking over Stone Group was a relatively painless process. The offices were a little crowded as my team slowly began to move in. With the invaluable help of James's office manager, Jenna, Alayna did her magic, and we were able to secure a lease for additional space on the floor above us.

Since we were already an architectural firm, we were able to handle our own expansion design. We only needed to bring in an outside firm to complete structural analysis for putting in a staircase.

It was a fabulous first project for Clarissa since she was involved from the very first planning discussions. The full team was gathered in the conference room as we reviewed sketches that everybody collectively worked on. Stone Group's team, Phillip the architect, and their draftsperson, Michelle, were discussing their wants and needs with my guys, Nick and Steve.

The addition of the space directly above us would allow our office space to more than double, and nobody would have to relocate offices if they didn't want to.

"We're gonna lose James's office," Clarissa said as she pointed to one set of sketches.

"It's not like James is going to be here all the time," Phillip added.

"I'll be here often enough that I still need an office," James replied.

"Move your office upstairs. Your square footage will double." I wasn't paying exact attention to who was saying what.

"But if we put the stairs down here in James's office, they'll come out right next to the restrooms upstairs. I'm not sure if we really want stairs leading directly to the restrooms."

"Our other option is to lose the conference room, which is in the farthest corner of our space right now."

Steve reached over and lined the two sets of plans up next to each other. "Our choices are that we have an aesthetically pleasing staircase on the main floor, or we have an aesthetically pleasing staircase location on the second. We can't do both. We're limited by the space we have and the building we're in."

"How much will clients need to see? We need a conference room for them to meet in, right?" Clarissa asked.

"Yeah, and we need one to spread out and do work like this," Nick said.

"We can put a conference room upstairs," Michelle suggested.

"Do we really want to make our clients have to walk upstairs to get to a conference room?"

I leaned back and let the team hash it out. I had my opinions on the whole thing, and I knew James had his opinions. Neither of us said anything. It was important to see how our newly combined team worked together to problem solve. Steve and Phillip stood next to each other. It was almost as if I could see their processes in tandem.

"We could turn the entire upstairs into an open office work plan," Steve started.

"Oh, hell no. I want walls. I need to be able to close a door," Michelle snapped. "Do not put me in one of those open office concepts."

Phillip tapped his finger on the plans. "Okay, so instead of a complete open office concept, we go with some kind of modification. Something that gives us privacy if needed, and also, collaborative working space."

"We could put in movable walls."

"Only if they are real walls and not some kind of folding thick curtains like they use in conference centers. Those are ugly and barely provide privacy. I'd almost rather have a garage door."

"So, are we discussing moving all the creatives upstairs and leaving down here for administrative offices and the conference room?" Phillip asked.

Steve started nodding. "Yeah, we leave the administrative offices downstairs and turn upstairs into an architectural playground."

"Where does my office go?" I asked.

Phillip made a circle with his finger over the area that was James's current office. "If we put the stairs here and Michelle and I move upstairs, we can then knock down this wall and open all of this up. That becomes your office."

"When a client comes to visit," Clarissa started, "they would see your big, impressive office, a beautiful staircase leading upstairs, and this conference room. And only if they were interested in seeing where the actual work gets done would they go upstairs. At that point, it's on them if they get upset that the first door they see is a restroom."

"I don't have a problem with it as long as I have a door that I can close," Michelle announced.

Michelle and Nick left the meeting first. They both had deadlines they needed to focus on. Steve and Phillip began shuffling the drawings into some semblance of order.

"You had some very good questions today, Clarissa," James said. "You need to keep thinking outside the box, especially when everybody else"—he pointed at her and then he circled his finger around, indicating everybody else in the room— "is caught up in the details that they want. Keep asking questions to bring it all back to the bigger picture. What are the usage needs going forward? Don't be afraid to ask clients these things." He patted her on the shoulder and smiled as he walked out.

"Good job," I said.

She turned her smile to me, and I felt an odd sensation deep in my chest that I hadn't experienced in a very long time. As I was about to open my mouth and ask her out to dinner, she looked down at her phone and gasped.

"I'm late. I have to go. I will see everyone tomorrow," she said, running out the door.

Philip didn't seem to notice anything, but Steve let out a low laugh.

"What are you laughing about?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing," he said.

"I call bullshit. Why are you laughing at Clarissa?" I pushed.

"I was just thinking she's still cute. You know I had a little bit of a crush on her back when we interned for you before."

I must have flinched or looked at him with a shocked expression.

"You don't have to worry about anything. I don't think she even noticed. And she certainly wouldn't notice now."

I pointed at him. "Don't develop a crush on my intern."

Phillip looked up from rolling drawings and scoffed. "Don't look at me," he said. "I won't report this conversation to HR. You might not want to say anything the next time Michelle is around. She gets very peculiar about appropriate office behavior."

"Noted," I said while giving Steve a knowing glance.

I made a mental note for myself as well. Do not be inappropriate with the intern . It was a hard lesson that I really hadn't learned the last time Clarissa had been my intern.

"Good morning," I muttered as I pushed my way into the office the next day.

Clarissa was already behind the receptionist desk. "Good morning. Alayna is already here. She has some information for you. James left a message. He said he'll meet you at your client meeting. He's not gonna come in today. If you need to spread out in his office for any reason, feel free to do that."

"Thanks," I said. "You took off pretty quickly last night."

"I was late for a meeting," she said.

There was something off about the tone of her voice and I didn't quite think she was telling me the truth, but I also knew it wasn't my place to ask.

"What are you doing for dinner tonight?" I asked, completely ignoring my own advice of the evening before of not getting involved with the intern.

"It's Friday. I'm making spaghetti."

"Do you make spaghetti every Friday?" I asked.

She bit her lip and looked to the side, thinking. "I guess I do. I don't have to think about it. I just know that I make spaghetti."

"What do you have for dinner on Mondays?"

"Usually, chicken," she said.

"Do you cook every night?"

"I don't cook every night. Sometimes, we have pizza," she admitted.

"We?" I asked.

"I have a roommate," she blurted out.

"Not the same one you had before?" I asked.

Clarissa giggled. "No, I don't live with Marci anymore, even though we're still in the same building."

"You're still friends?"

"Best friends," she said with a smile.

"That must be convenient," I said.

The phone rang.

"I've gotta get this," she said as she reached for the receiver.

I left her to her work.

Clarissa was still sitting behind the desk and waved as I left for my meeting with James and his client right before lunch. The meeting went as well. The client seemed genuinely pleased that James would still be involved with the business for at least the next year. I was confident that I had made the right choice of buying out the Stone Group.

When I returned to the office, Clarissa was still at the receptionist desk.

"Why are you sitting there?" I asked.

Clarissa let out an aggravated sound. "The receptionist didn't come in. She didn't even call, and she hasn't returned any of my calls. I don't know whether I should be angry or worried."

"You've been doing your old job all day?"

"Exactly, and not that measuring the empty offices upstairs is a whole lot of fun, but it's what I was supposed to be doing today. Instead, I've just been sitting here waiting for the phone to ring."

"Why don't you set the phones to voicemail and come and have a drink with me?"

"I have to be somewhere by six," she said.

"The same meeting you had yesterday?"

She nodded.

"It's only four thirty. You have plenty of time," I pointed out.

"But the office doesn't close for another hour."

"I'm the boss. Close early. Come on, Clarissa, one little drink."

"Fine, one drink, but nothing alcoholic," she insisted.

"We can go to the coffee shop if you want." I gave her my best pleading expression. How could she resist me?

"I shouldn't, but okay," she gave in.

"Great, be ready to go in fifteen minutes."