What had started as a very stressful day didn't feel quite so bad by the time Erin drove home from her dad's place. She and Jay had ended up staying all morning, and sampling Mandy's cooking for lunch. It had been possibly the nicest Italian food Erin had ever eaten, she had to admit, which said a lot given some of the restaurants she had been to. Mandy could damn sure cook. It came from being half Italian, so she claimed.
Almost despite herself, Erin had felt herself thawing towards the woman ever so slightly, and not because it was her who had suggested to Hank that he should sign over most of his WWE stock to ensure that Erin became his successor.
That plan was going to start being put in motion immediately. When she got home, Erin was going to call Lucy Thorne, whose involvement as co-CEO would likely be essential for the board to give their approval to the proposed management structure. While the board worked on their investigation into him, Hank would be working on the transfer of stocks. There was a lot going on, and ironically, Erin wasn't involved in most of it. All she needed to do was recruit a partner from the board. Ideally, Lucy would go for it. Erin couldn't see why she wouldn't, unless she was too busy with her other ventures.
"That ended up being an okay visit," Jay opined as Erin drove the Ford GT slowly up the winding driveway to Eagle's Nest. "I feel like you and Mandy made some progress, your dad has a venture lined up to move on with, and, oh yeah, the small matter of you owning most of WWE real soon. I'm so delighted for you and proud of you."
"Thank you, Jay," Erin said quietly. She parked up and killed the engine. The ownership of WWE thing still didn't feel real yet. She was going to be chairwoman of a massive corporate entity, and would become a certified billionaire in the process. That part frightened her. What if Jay started to think of her differently? No, not him. Jay was better than that. But would some of her friends change how they looked at her? In truth, she had no idea how her life would change. This was something she had known would happen 'one day', but 'one day' was supposed to have been at least five years away, whenever her dad chose to retire. Not now. Not out of the blue.
"You've gone a bit pale again. Are you alright?" Jay asked with concern. As ever, he was caring and attentive. No one could wish for a better partner, Erin thought, genuinely believing she was the luckiest person in the world to have him. And she knew that he still had insecurities about not being good enough for her, which in her mind was ludicrous.
"Having all those stocks signed over to me is daunting," she admitted. "Let's go inside and talk."
They went into the house and Jay suggested that they should have a drink. Erin wasn't going to argue. She went to the kitchen and fixed herself a glass of wine, then took a bottle of beer out of the fridge and opened it. Taking the drinks through to the living area, Erin found Jay standing at the picture window. He adored the view across the valley, she knew. Unfortunately the fall weather was starting to turn colder, so they couldn't go and sit out on the deck.
"Fall is the nicest time of year, huh?" she said, handing the beer bottle to him.
"Thank you. It is, isn't? All the greens turning to oranges and browns. One day I'll get used to living with this view, although I actually wish I wouldn't. It still takes me breath away."
"Mine too," Erin said softly. They just stood together for a couple of minutes. Being in her home, with her man, made her feel a lot more at ease. She supposed that was what a truly happy home was supposed to do.
Eventually, Jay broke the silence. "What makes you uneasy about your dad signing his stock over to you? The responsibility?"
"No. Well, not so much," Erin corrected herself. "The main problem I've got is whether people will start looking at me differently. The boss of a multi-billion dollar publically traded company, and a billionaire in my own right. How will my friends see me? How will my employees see me?"
Jay put an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "They'll see you the way you are, which is a talented, caring, kind, down to earth person. People will only see you differently if you act differently, and I know that won't happen. You're just not that kind of person."
"Thank you, Jay. You're right, I won't change. I won't allow that to happen. But what if people's opinions of me change anyway? Some people find it hard to see past status."
"If that does happen, then those people are not your people. We both know you have some friends who won't behave that way."
"That's another thing," Erin groaned, suddenly feeling even more obligations looming over her. "I've got a bunch of messages and voicemails to reply to from people checking on me." She grunted a laugh. "First world problems, right?"
"A bit," Jay said with a sympathetic laugh. "You have so much on your mind right now. Maybe just call a couple of people back? Everyone else will understand why you don't have the time at the moment."
The more Erin thought about it, the worse it got. The boardroom drama didn't mean that WWE's schedule had changed. It was Saturday afternoon. A three hour Raw episode needed to be written by Monday afternoon at the latest, ready for the show that night. The members of her Creative department would have continued working on it Friday in her absence, but there would still be a lot to do. Amendments to promos and matches, formats to write, and so on. There would be hours of work left before she was happy to present the show to an audience.
"I need to get on with Monday's show, Jay," she said after taking a hit from her wine glass. "And I've got to call Lucy Thorne. Sorry, but I'm going to have to be in the office for the rest of the day, I think."
One of Eagle's Nest's bedrooms had been converted into an office. Erin had a computer in there with two screens, which was all she needed to work considering she ran her department paperless. The formats and scripts to be handed out to the wrestlers backstage prior to shows were the only thing that ever got printed, but that wasn't her responsibility. She took the process as far as submitting the finalised documents.
"Okay. I'll leave you undisturbed, but give me a shout if you need anything," Jay said.
Erin reached up and gave him a peck on the lips. "Thank you. I love you."
"Love you too. I'm going to put the game on."
Postseason baseball, Erin knew he meant. Yes, that would keep him occupied. "Enjoy," she said, giving him another kiss before heading through to the office. She closed the door behind her, sat down in the custom-designed office chair that had been made to fit her, and turned on the computer. While it booted up, she decided to call Lucy Thorne.
Taking out her phone, she was about to place the call but then she figured it might be an idea to flick through her messages first. Pretty much all of her friends had tried to reach out, among them were Zelina Vega and Raquel Gonzalez. There were texts from each of them. Erin smiled, feeling grateful for those friendships in particular, and even more so that she shared them with Jay too. He was particularly close to Raquel, whereas Erin was closer to Zelina. But all four of them got along great as a group. Erin wished she could take a couple of days to go down to Florida with Jay and spend some quality time Zelina and Raquel. Her life promised to get too busy though in the near future. In a matter of weeks, she would be in charge of WWE.
Erin decided she would call Lucy Thorne first, then quickly call Zelina before getting on with her work. She called Lucy's number, thinking as it rang that she should invite her prospective partner to dinner to discuss the proposition she had to make.
"Hello, Erin," came Lucy's smooth, posh English accent over the line when the call was answered. Erin could hear a lot of noise and chatter in the background.
"Hi, Lucy. Do you have a minute to talk?"
"Yes, I do. Just give me a minute to get somewhere quieter. I'm in the suite at Leicester." Leicester City was the soccer team that she owned. Apparently she must have flown back to the UK right after the board meeting the day before. Lucy being out of the country was a problem for Erin.
"Okay, I can hear you now," Lucy said a minute later. The background noise on the call was mostly gone.
"I won't keep you long," Erin said. "After that board meeting yesterday, I have something I'd like to discuss with you. When are you back on this side of the pond?"
"Monday, actually. This needs to be a face-to-face conversation?"
"It does," Erin confirmed, aware that might give Lucy some idea as to what she wanted to discuss. "How about dinner at my house Wednesday night?"
"Wednesday night," Lucy said, either searching her memory or checking a diary on her phone for prior commitments. After about ten seconds, she had a verdict. "Yes, I can do Wednesday night. Send me your address. I'll be in New York anyway, so I'll drive out, assuming you're not too far?"
"Not too far," Erin said. "I'll text you the address. Enjoy the game."
Lucy laughed once. "The game is already over. We bloody lost. I'll see you on Wednesday."
"See you then," Erin said, smiling in amusement at the way Lucy had referred to the defeat. With that call done, she placed one to Zelina. It was answered after a few rings.
"Erin. Damn, girl, are you okay? We've been worried about you," Zelina said in her strong New York accent, her voice full of concern.
"I'm okay, Z. Thanks for thinking of me. It's tough time, but dad and I are working our way through it. That's all I can tell you I'm afraid."
"Of course, I understand," Zelina said. "As long as you're really doing okay, that's the important thing."
"I mean, I'm very stressed. It would be a lie if I said otherwise. This whole mess is bad for my dad, bad for me and bad for the company. But we're in it now, so it's about finding a way forward, right?"
"Your strength is amazing, Erin. I just want you to know that, and take it with you through whatever challenges are coming."
"Thank you, Z," Erin said, finding herself smiling. "That's so kind of you. Hope you guys are okay?"
"We're good. If you have the time, you and Jay should come down here for a couple of days and stay with us. Might be good for you to get away from everything, if it's possible? You know, some R and R."
To hell with it, Erin decided. Her life was about to go crazy, and Jay was about to go in for elbow surgery. Before those things happened, she would make sure they had a chance to spend a nice couple of days away with their friends. She had already thought about the exact same thing before Zelina suggested it.
"You know what, Z? I'm going to make sure we get down there to see you. How about this coming Thursday? We could travel down Thursday and fly back Saturday if that works for you?"
"I've got a media day Thursday, but Raquel will be home. I'll be home Thursday night anyway, so we'd spend Friday and Saturday together. So yeah, let's do that. Do you need to check with Jay?"
Erin laughed. "No, I'll just tell him."
Zelina laughed also. "That's my girl. I'll see you Monday at Raw anyway."
"Of course. See you then," Erin said, and ended the call.
A/N: Plans in place for Erin. A mini vacation to Zelina and Raquel's place, but before that a vitally important dinner with a prospective partner in taking charge of WWE. Will Lucy Thorne agree to join forces with her?