On board meeting days, Sean and Maurice were the first in to set up the conference room. Nancy sometimes beat them in, depending on what fires she had to create or put out. Today when she stepped in, she found Antony in his chair, looking over the meeting notebook.

“Mr. Avalos, very punctual,” she said as she took her spot at the head of the table. “I’m impressed.”

He looked up and smiled. “Thanks! I’ve gotten some good tutoring.”

Nancy wagged a finger at him. “Mentoring.”

He laughed. “That too.”

Connie arrived next with a surprised double take and chuckle at Antony beating her in. Elias arrived next and, as always, made it a point to greet Nancy, offering several compliments about her clothing or hair before asking if she was still with ‘that husband of hers’.

Several minutes later, they heard Matieus’ big voice coming down the hall. He always waited for Ingrid and Patrick in the lobby and talked their ears off on the elevator ride. The door swung open as Matt held it for his smaller peers. Patrick exhaled in relief as he dropped into his seat, happy to be away from Matieus.

Ingrid walked next to Antony, patted his shoulder, and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Just follow my lead.”

He squinted at her and nodded. “Uh, yes ma’am.”

Once everyone settled, Sean began. “Alright, everyone is here so- “

“Mr. Boyd, I have a motion to bring to the table before we get started,” Ingrid said, her spotted hands folded on the table. It took every bit of Nancy’s willpower to keep from smiling as she nodded to Sean.

Sean held his hand out. “Go right ahead.”

“I would like a no-confidence vote for the Chair,” she said, not looking at Nancy. Matieus sighed loudly and opened his mouth, but Ingrid slapped the table and cut him off.

“No, Matt! Your pet is following in her father’s footsteps. That venture capital foolishness was just the beginning. I will not let her take this company down the drain as her father did. None of your protests or filibusters. I’ve called for a vote.” Her skeletal finger pointed at Matieus before swinging to Sean.

Sean blinked a couple times before writing in his notebook. “Ladies and gentlemen, a no-confidence vote has been called for the Chair, Mrs. Lanover. How do you hear?”

Matieus rolled his eyes. “No.”

“Yes,” Patrick said as he sat forward in his chair. Any weariness from his trip gone, replaced with hunger. Nancy imagined it’s what a shark would look like when it had the scent of blood.

“Yes,” Ingrid said. She turned to look at Nancy, her thin lips peeling back into a wicked sneer. Nancy kept her face calm as she returned Ingrid’s glare.

“No,” Elias said with a hand wave.

“No,” Connie said, shaking her head at Ingrid.

Antony looked around at everyone before raising his hand. “Hey, sorry, new guy. What does this do?” Ingrid snapped her attention to him. Nancy stifled a smile as Sean cleared his throat.

“A no-confidence vote for any seat on the board would, if successful, remove the individual from their position. The seat in question cannot vote and a tie vote is successful since half the board believes the individual unfit.”

Antony shook his head at the end and turned to Ingrid. “You want to remove Mrs. Lanover?”

She spoke as if she were talking to a young child. “Her leadership is ineffective and will drag the company down.”

Antony narrowed his eyes at her and picked up his spiral bound meeting book. “Did you get a copy of this?”

“What?” Ingrid said, annoyance plain in her voice.

“The meeting notes and agenda, we all should have gotten a copy.”

“I know what it is,” Ingrid snapped.

“Okay,” Antony said, flipped to a page and pointed to one of the bar graphs. “All the projections are up. Plus Mrs. Lanover’s,” he turned face Nancy for a moment. “Sorry, the Chair’s proposition to increase grant funding for the relevant college programs and offering early retirements to reduce the number of layoffs is, honestly, a brilliant way to mitigate bad press and morale from the staff cuts."

Ingrid blinked.

“I vote no.” Antony said and placed the notebook back on the conference table.

Matieus stifled a laugh as Sean cleared his throat again. “Motion of no confidence in the Chair has failed. Four to Two,” Sean wrote for a moment in his notebook before looking up. “Well, with that done, welcome back everyone!”

“Ding! Dong! The witch is dead!” Maurice sang as he backed into Nancy’s office carrying two bottles of champagne and several champagne flutes.

Nancy, sitting on her desk, took a flute from him. “Not dead. I should be so lucky.”

Sean tossed back his flute and holding it out for more. “Aye, she’s just been driven back to whatever hellish pit she sleeps in to regain her power.” Nancy snorted and put a hand to her mouth to keep from spitting her drink out.

“Ding dong, the witch is... defeated?” Maurice said as he poured more for Sean.

“How about ‘Long live the queen’” Sean said, raising his glass to Nancy. She did the best curtsy could sitting on the desk. She opened her mouth but was cut off as the doors swung open..

Matieus stomped in, fists on his hips and chest puffed up. “I’m disappointed in all of you, celebrating someone’s humiliation?!”

“Oh, fuck off Matt, the old cunt had it coming,” Sean said. Nancy snorted again, this time unable to get her hand up in time. She smacked Sean on the shoulder as she dabbed her skirt dry.

Matieus glared at them for a moment before he shrugged. “I suppose she did.”

“Why does she have such a stick up her ass about you?” Maurice asked as he sat on the couch and crossed his legs.

Nancy shrugged. “No idea. I tried to make peace with her several times, but she wanted none of it. I’ve been nothing but nice and accommodating.”

“Hold on now,” Sean said and held up his finger with a big grin. “I seem to remember several screaming fits of ‘Ingrid Beatrix is a dumb bitch!’“

Nancy squinted at him. “Yes, but I never said that TO her.”

Sean chuckled and downed his flute again before getting up for more. “Well, the previous general counsel warned me she was a proper witch. Matt, you’ve known her the longest. Did she hate Marion as much?”

“Not at all,” Matieus said as he dropped on the couch, his weight on one end bouncing Maurice on the other. “She was almost always in lockstep with his decisions.”

“Did she fancy him?” Sean asked as he poured himself more champagne.

“I don’t think so,” Matieus said, his brows furrowed as he thought back. “He never mentioned her outside of work and she never bad mouthed him as long as he was alive.”

Nancy leaned back on the desk, resting on her hands. “Perhaps her vendetta is I didn’t climb the ladder as my father did at his previous company?”

Matt shook his head. “No. She’s never climbed anything. She was born into her money.”

Maurice tilted his glass until it was empty. “Maybe she hates you because you rose to the occasion?” Sean grabbed a bottle and held it out to him but Maurice waved him off. “Oh no, I’m a cheap date. Any more and you’ll be tucking me in.”

Nancy looked up at the ceiling. “Matt, you said she agreed with everything my father put forth? Does that include the alternative investors he found?”

“Yes.”

“And when did she join the board?”

Matieus stared at the floor for a moment before he looked back up to her. “We were in the middle of the downturn. She bought out the previous shareholder for cheap.”

“Hmmm,” Nancy sighed and narrowed her eyes as she stared out of the window over Matt’s head.

“Uh oh. I know that look,” Sean said and elbowed her leg as he dropped back in the chair next to her. “What’s going through your head?”

“Nothing yet.” Nancy hopped off the desk and put her hands on her hips as she looked at them. “All right, some of us have work to do.”

Sean looked at her like she had two heads. “Like hell! It’s almost seven on a Friday night. After a major victory, I might add.”

“Some of us have responsibilities.”

He smiled sweetly as he stood up. “Some of us work more efficiently than others.” Nancy sucked in a mock offended breath.

“Children,” Matt said loudly as he stood, drawing everyone’s attention. “It’s been a productive day. Go home and relax.” He looked around before settling on Nancy. “All of you.”

She waved him away as she sat at her desk. “I will. I will. I just have a couple things I want to do before I go.”

Sean was the first to move toward the door and flipped the light switch as he walked out, plunging them into darkness. “Whoops.”

“Sean!” she yelled, but only heard laughter. She turned the lights back on from her desk switch. Matieus turned them off again as he walked out. “Matt!” She slapped her desk but only heard Sean laughing harder.

Turning the lights on again, her full attention swung to Maurice who was getting up from the couch. He froze. His eyes shifted between Nancy and the door. He leaned ever so slightly forward on the couch. Nancy raised her finger to point at him. He glanced at the door again. Nancy tilted her head, raising her eyebrows.

“Run for it, lad!” Sean yelled as he reached in and turned the lights off again.

“God damn it, Sean!” Nancy yelled as Maurice made a break for it. He was almost out when he tripped over something and tumbled into the foyer to a chorus of laughter.

Sean helped Maurice up. “Christ, you really are a cheap date.” Nancy turned the lights on again and Sean leaned in to smiled at her. “Might as well head home love, looks like your assistant just clocked out for the evening.”

Nancy sighed and shook her head before grabbing her bag.

After a pleasantly quiet drive home, she opened the door to find Jared and Michael standing in the foyer waiting on her. Her good mood evaporated as she narrowed her eyes and exhaled. Setting down her briefcase and hanging her jacket, she turned to face her husband and son, raising her chin.

“Yes.”

Jared, hands behind his back, looked to their son. “Michael, you had something to tell your mother?”

Michael took a quick breath and looked up at her. “So, umm, I cleaned the whole kitchen and did all the laundry. I cleaned my room, and I did my homework. And Dad checked it.”

“And?” Jared said, making Nancy narrow her eyes as she waited for the bad news.

Michael licked his top lip and looked up at his mother. “Um, I was wondering if I could go to Alex’s tomorrow, Dad said he’s going that way, so he could drop me off and pick me up, plus, I still have my allowance from last week so I wouldn’t need any money.” He finished speaking but couldn’t look at her anymore, so he examined the floor.

Nancy blinked several times and looked from him to Jared, who gave her a small smile. She walked forward and stood in front of her son. “You did all that?”

“He did,” Jared said, but Nancy held out her hand to stop him.

“I was talking to Michael,” she said, not taking her eyes off her son. “You did everything you said?”

“Yeah,” he said, head still down. Nancy put her finger under his chin and raised it, forcing him to look her in the eyes.

“Why are you nervous?”

“Cause... it might not be good enough and you might say no.”

“Was this your idea or your fathers?”

“Umm, it was, mine, but he said, I should ask you, if I could go.” Nancy narrowed her gaze before softening her face and tilting her head.

“So, on your own, you cleaned and did your schoolwork? Did your father tell you to do it?”

“No.”

Nancy took a deep breath and put her hand on her son’s shoulder. “You took the responsibility to do necessary things before fun things. You should be proud of that. I’m proud of you for that.” Michael’s eyes opened a little wider as his mother smiled down to him. “Have fun with your friend tomorrow.”

Michael looked to Jared, who was smiling as well. “Really?” he asked, looking between them several times.

Jared came over and put his hands on his son’s shoulders. “Yes, but let your mother get settled and then we can try what culinary masterpiece you’ve created for us tonight.” He cast a quick forlorn look to Nancy, who managed not to laugh.

After dinner and a shower, Nancy was reading on the chaise in her office when she heard a knock. She looked up to find Jared in the doorway, smiling. When she waved him in, he walked over and stood next to her. “Well done, sir.”

Jared chuckled and gave her a bow. “Thank you, ma’am. It took a lot of repeating, but it looks like it got through.”

She nodded. “If we stay on him, he might make something of himself.”

Jared squinted as he examined her. “You’re in an awfully good mood this evening.”

She laughed. “Oh stop, I’m not high.”

“Board meeting went well then?”

“Very well,” she said, her chin up.

“Good.” He smiled down to her. “I’ll check on him one more time, then I’m turning in. Long day tomorrow.”

She watched him turn and go. Perhaps she had been too hard on Jared. He had gotten through Michael’s stubbornness and was making career choices that benefited them both. Her head fell back as she tried to remember why they had stopped being intimate. No singular incident stood out. They had both just gotten busy in their careers.

This seemed like the perfect time to rekindle that. If he was going to be out tomorrow, that would give her time to get ready and surprise him. She hopped up, working out a time table for all the things she needed to do tomorrow.

She smiled. “This should be fun.”