2

Jensen relaxed in his chair. "I did tell you about it" he said simply, tapping his fingertips on the arm rest of the chair.

"Yes, you did, but I told you that I was still thinking about it. We agreed that we wouldn't go into this hastily since we had other agencies to consider. I hadn't decided and you signed the papers already."

"Hmmm" Jensen said, almost absent mindedly and stopped tapping his fingers. "I decided that there was no need to hesitate. It is the best option for us. We also have a lot to gain from them. Why wait?"

Timothy wasn't satisfied with that explanation at all. He honestly couldn't understand why his father was acting this way because he never behaved like this before. This was the first time that Jensen had done something like this since Timothy had become an active partner in their company, and from the look on his face, he could tell that his father had something else that he wasn't telling him, but what ever it was, he didn't appreciate being exempted from the decision making process for any reason at all.

"It doesn't matter" Timothy said, leaning forward in his chair. "You should have at least given me a heads up! That is not how partners behave"

The frown immediately returned to Jensen face. "It's my company. I run it and I don't have to run every decision by you first before I go ahead with them. I'm allowed to make one or two decisions without you. And you better stop taking that tone with me."

"Our company, dad" Timothy corrected, as he stood angrily from his chair, unable to sit any longer. "I have contributed greatly to the success of this company and you cannot deny that fact. I am a part of this company just as much as you are and I am not happy with this... One bit. I just want you to know that. The deal isn't complete without my signature on it, and you can be sure as hell that I'm not going to sign anything until I am sure that we are making the right decision. I do not care what you think, because you have proved to me that you do not care about my opinion either" and with that, he stormed out of the office.

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Chloe Gilbert drove her car into Packard enterprises premises and parked in the driveway but she didn't get out. She sat in her car and took several deep breaths, as if doing that would give her the confidence she desperately needed for the day. It had been a while since she had been in this town, she thought. It had been years in fact.

Once upon a time, she had loved the town... although the love for the town hadn't come immediately. At first, she hated it. Hated the fact that her family had to move. Hated her parents for making her leave all her friends and start a new life. It had taken her a while to get used to her new environment. But then she met Timothy Kavell, her best friend and high school sweetheart, and things had taken a new turn.

That happiness didn't last very long. Her parents divorced in her senior year of high school, and Chloe did not handle the change in her family well... No one handled that kind of change well. So after they graduated, she couldn't find a reason to stay, not even for Timothy. She believed that there was nothing left for her there... Nothing but the sad, horrible memories of her family splitting up. And despite Timothy's pleas for her to stay, she refused. She wanted a new life away from the small town in which they lived, and living in the house she used to live in with her parents before their divorce didn't sound like something to look forward to.

Tim wanted to stay, and he did return even after college. He loved the town and he was the kind of guy who always wanted to be around his family, but Chloe decided that although it was nice, maybe that kind of life just wasn't for her.

Timothy went from being sad about her leaving to being so angry to the extent that he wanted nothing to do with her. He shut her out completely and refused to speak to her whenever she tried to reach out to him. She couldn't blame him though, because she knew that their break up and falling out had all been her fault, so after a while she just stopped trying and they both moved on. She had lived her life. They both had. Her parents still weren't on good terms even years after their messy divorce, and she was tired of the constant fighting between them whenever they saw each other, so she just avoided situations like that and preferred to visit them separately....anything for peace to reign…Or at least be away from the chaos.

She had a great job and she was doing well at it. Her boss, Evan Reese liked and trusted her. In the four years that she had worked for him, he had become more than her boss. He was her friend, and that was precisely why he had chosen her to do this for him. 

Evan wanted this account with Packard Enterprises badly. Their agency was small and they needed the money and the exposure. An account with a big company like Packard Enterprises would be great for their agency. So when he found out that Chloe knew Jensen Packard personally, even if was a long time ago, he insisted that she come with him to the meeting, and like he had guessed, her presence and of course her pitch at the meeting had helped greatly in convincing Jensen that this was a good offer, but Evan was convinced that Chloe's presence alone had a lot to do with Jensen accepting their offer, judging by how happy he was to see her.

A few days ago, Jensen Packard had called to say that he was having a hard time convincing his son that this was the right decision for their company, and he wanted a representative who could. And of course Evan had sent her, believing that if anyone could, it would be her.