by Lexi Wilson
“Yes. You’ll have some time to ease into everything yet,” he said, confirming my guess. “If you need anything for your desk, let Iris know, but you should be all set up.” He nodded and stepped out of my little alcove to head into his office and sit behind his desk.
I took note of the fact that he didn’t close his door. It was the little things that were revealing about a boss. My old boss always wanted his door closed, for example, convinced he’d be distracted otherwise. Daniel already seemed a lot more laid back.
I turned back to my computer, letting out a sigh of relief. I didn’t know why I was so scared. It was like I’d expected him to tell me he’d made a mistake and I should head back to my old job.
A shiver wracked my body at the thought. I was so glad to have landed this new job. It wasn’t that anyone at the bank mistreated me; if anything, I’d had the opposite problem. There was such a thing as people being too nice.
I let out a long, pain-ridden sigh. It had been two years since I’d lost my baby. At first, I appreciated all the sympathy, but it was hard to go into a job every day where everyone looked at me with pity, always acting like I’d break if they said the wrong thing. They were uncomfortable, which only made me more uncomfortable.
Yes, I’d experienced a horrible tragedy, but how was I supposed to move on when no one around me would let me?
I’d been on the fence about what I should do, but after talking with my therapist, she’d made it clear that if I wanted to fully recover, I’d need to change not just my mindset, but my life, and moving on from the job seemed like a good way to begin.
The need to move on was one of the main reasons why I’d picked a different industry entirely, even if that meant I wasn’t stepping into my new job with a complete understanding of the entire business from top to bottom like I’d had when I worked in banking.
A little spear of guilt stabbed me. I’d hadn’t been totally honest with Daniel about the reason for leaving my job, but it wasn’t a total lie either, and I didn’t really see why he needed to know anything about my personal life. The last thing I needed was for him to start pitying me, too.
Even without any of that weighing me down, I would have been crazy not to take this job, regardless of the nature of the business. The package I’d been offered had floored me. Daniel was offering me almost double my last salary, ridiculously good insurance, and an overly generous 401k contribution match, not to mention the unlimited coffee.
Guess I’d never get sleepy at this job—that much was for certain. I wondered if Daniel drank as much coffee as I did, and from what I’d already seen that morning, I was beginning to think the answer to that was yes. My old boss liked to tease me for drinking too much coffee. Oh, how things had changed.
Just as I was about to start reviewing my HR manual, I spotted a young, dark-haired woman heading toward Daniel’s office. She must have been in her early twenties at the most, and her distended belly made it clear she was pretty far along in her pregnancy, if not close to the end. She had nice enough clothes as well: a mommy-to-be in designer clothes.
Frowning, I checked Daniel’s calendar on my computer. He didn’t have any meetings scheduled until the 11:30 one he’d mentioned. He hadn’t explicitly stated so, but I assumed that part of my job as his personal assistant would be screening visitors. It’s not like Daniel had time to deal with every random woman strolling in who wanted to talk to him.
Standing, I waved the woman down. “Excuse me, ma’am. Do you have an appointment?”
The woman stopped, frowned, and stared at me like I was the stupidest woman on the planet. I fought down the snotty comments flooding my brain. I had no idea who she was, and the last thing I needed to do was make enemies, especially when I didn’t even know who I was dealing with.
“I don’t need one,” the woman stated.
“I’m afraid Mr. Brown is very busy. You’ll need an appointment.”
“I’m Daisy,” the woman stated, as if that cleared everything up. She rolled her eyes and then pointed toward Daniel’s open door. “See?”
I glanced over my shoulder, and Daniel was watching us, a faint frown on his face. I wasn’t sure if he was annoyed at me for stopping her, or this Daisy for showing up. He gestured for her to enter, and I cleared out of her way.
My stomach sank, and I wondered if he would yell at me later. It didn’t matter. If he had a guest coming, all he needed to do was let me know, and then we wouldn’t have this type of problem. No one could be expected to know everything right away.
Daisy offered me a smirk and a dismissive wave before continuing toward Daniel’s office. I sighed, and looked down, my cheeks burning. It was like the woman had purposefully wanted to humiliate me.
Even if I’d made a mistake about her being allowed to see Daniel, she had to realize it was my job to protect his time. Maybe she did and didn’t care. I suppose it didn’t matter. Now I understood that when the mysterious Daisy showed up, I needed to let her in.
She closed the office door behind her, and I took a seat to return my attention to the HR manual. There was no use in brooding about making a mistake. The best thing I could do was prove that I belonged in my position.
A few minutes passed, and my mind drifted. Something else gnawed at the edge of my mind, annoying me. Daisy had been dismissive, but I’d dealt with far ruder people in my time. So why had that woman in particular gotten under my skin?
My breathing picked up as a twang of pain hit my heart. I managed not to gasp. That Daisy woman looked barely old enough to even be having kids, and now she was pregnant. Was she even responsible enough to take care of a baby? Would she set a good example for her child?
I narrowed my eyes. Was she one of Daniel’s mistresses?
Taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes. First off, it wasn’t my business who my boss slept with. Second, I couldn’t be angry at every pregnant woman I saw. It wasn’t their fault that my child had died, and part of moving on from my own past was learning to deal with things that might be unpleasant reminders. There were a lot of things I could avoid in life, but it would be hard to never run into a pregnant woman.
My curiosity ate at me, though. Daisy looked like she was in her early twenties, and there was a good chance she might be younger. If she were Daniel’s lover, that would give him a good twenty or so years on her.
Rich older men dating attractive and much younger women weren’t exactly rare, and he’d not be the first executive I’d seen that did something like that. Still, you’d think he’d marry her and get it over with since she was going to pop and have their baby sooner than later.
Picking up my coffee I took a sip. Whatever else I might have worried about, the coffee was heavenly. I savored the taste for a moment, enjoying the subtle undertones of the different ingredients. Nothing too bold and distracting, just the right level of interplay.
After a few seconds of coffee appreciation, I realized something didn’t feel right about Daisy being some sort of not-so-secret lover. He’d looked annoyed, not happy to see her, and something about her body language didn’t suggest they had that kind of relationship. Though if she’d gotten pregnant by accident it might explain why Daniel was annoyed. Of course, I may just be reading too much into everything.
Then again, Daniel seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t have his young lover show up at his company unannounced. Not that I knew him all that well, but I did like to think I had a good sense for people. It also seemed like he would want me, as his new assistant, to know about someone like that, if only so we could avoid embarrassing situations.
I gulped down my coffee, then sighed. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t my business unless he told me it was my business. I set an alert on my phone for 11:25, then dove back into the HR manual.
Chapter 3
Daniel
Damn Daisy. Why did she have to show up today of all days? I had an important meeting coming up, and I needed to be focused, not worrying about my irresponsible little siste
r and her greed. Not to mention I was still dealing with a new assistant who now probably had a bunch of questions I didn’t want to answer right away.
Daisy’s arrogance and self-centered nature never ceased to amaze me. She acted like I was just sitting around all day waiting for her to show up and ask me for money or some sort of favor, rather than working my ass off being the CEO of a major company. My responsibility as her brother didn’t make me her slave, no matter what she seemed to think.
My hands curled into fists, and I shook my head.
Slowly I exhaled, intentionally trying to relax and get my mind back on track. My sister’s appearance had nearly derailed my entire day. She needed to remember she couldn’t just march in here anytime she wanted. It raised questions, and it didn’t look good for the company or for me.
I’m sure Morgan was wondering what the deal was, but I wasn’t in the mood to explain anything just yet. One thing she’d need to learn if she wanted to be my assistant was that sometimes it was best to just leave well enough alone, even when the situation screamed for an explanation.
For the life of me, I didn’t understand how Daisy kept going through so much money each month. Yes, we’d not exactly grown up poor, but it wasn’t like our parents had anywhere near my wealth, yet somehow my sister kept going through her allowance much quicker than I thought possible, as if she’d suffer great indignities if her every whim weren’t indulged. If anything, she’d only grown worse in recent years, even before the pregnancy.
In this absurd situation, somehow the man who’d gotten her pregnant had conveniently left town. I considered tracking him down, but it was pointless. He was some unsuccessful musician. He lacked the resources and wherewithal to even take care of himself, let alone a wife and a child. If they had gotten married, I would have ended up supporting both of them instead of only my sister.
I snorted. My sister needed better standards, but no amount of irritation would turn back the clock. I needed to figure out the best strategy for the future. Some way to force my sister to grow up.
It’d been easy to cut Daisy off before, regardless of the promises I’d made to both my parents before their respective deaths. I knew that she wouldn’t starve to death if I didn’t write her a check on demand, no matter how much she tried to act like she was suffering more than refugees from some war-torn country.
But now that Daisy had gone and gotten herself pregnant, my hands were tied. I didn’t want to risk her doing something stupid that might harm the baby because I wasn’t giving her money. It wasn’t the baby’s fault that her mother was so selfish and lazy.
Plus, I clung to the hope that once the baby was actually born, my sister would finally grow up and realize there was something important in the world besides her. That was hardly an unknown experience among irresponsible young men and women. It was unfortunate that it took a baby for them to realize the world didn’t revolve around them and their selfish desires.
I shook my head. I couldn’t be sure what would happen, and only knew that I didn’t have any good solutions at the moment, not while my sister effectively had a hostage in her belly.
Morgan knocked lightly at my door, pulling me out of my reflections on my sister. I took a deep breath, slowly exhaled, and then looked up at her. She had a laptop under one arm and a pad and pen in her opposite hand.
Her appearance in my office meant only one thing. I frowned and glanced at my watch. 11:27, almost time for my online meeting with some new investors in England. Daisy had frazzled me so much I’d almost forgotten about the meeting. Wonderful. Freaking wonderful.
I considered telling my sister that if she interfered with my ability to do business, I wouldn’t have as much money to give to her, but I doubted she cared enough about the future to let that affect her day-to-day behavior. The concept would require her to think more than ten minutes into the future and consider someone other than herself, however briefly.
Gesturing toward the open chair, I told Morgan, “Just take notes. Type them up in bullet point format and send them my way before you leave today so I have them as a reference. Any questions?”
Morgan shook her head and slipped into the chair. She opened her laptop and tapped its touchpad a few times.
Good, at least one woman in my life wasn’t going out of her way to make it more stressful. A competent assistant, in the end, could be the difference between a successful business that always anticipated problems, and a dying company that ran from fire to fire trying to put them out. Preparation was key.
Turning toward my computer, I clicked a few buttons. Several faces popped up on my monitor—my potential English investors. With the changes in the UK’s relationship to the EU, there were a lot of business opportunities on both sides of the pond right now. You just had to be able to stomach some volatility and uncertainty.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” I said, after doing a quick mental conversion of the time-zone differences. “I’m glad you could find the time to speak with me. I think if we can come to an agreement, we all can make a lot of money from this, and I’m sure that’s something we can agree is a good thing.”
An hour later, the meeting came to a close. It had run much longer than I anticipated, but that didn’t bother me. I’d found through the years that men who asked a lot of questions were far more likely to make a deal than those who didn’t. The latter were typically just men hoping to get things done as quickly as possible so they could move on to the next opportunity.
“Thank you again, gentlemen,” I said. “Next time, I can be the one staying late at the office.”
Everyone laughed, and then started logging off.
I took in a deep breath and slowly let it out as I thought over every question that had been asked and every facial expression made during the meeting. Eventually, when I trusted Morgan more, I’d have her take note of even minor things such as body language. I’d take every edge or the slightest advantage if I thought it’d help me close a deal.
For now, though, the meeting had gone well, and I thought the investors were ready for a deal. Not that I was that surprised. If there was one thing I was good at it in life, it was making money, and this particular deal wasn’t even all that risky relative to the reward. The only trick was that it required partners with enough capital, and everyone involved was having trouble finding partners at their level, especially given the uncertain macroeconomic climate.
Morgan hadn’t uttered a single word during the whole meeting. Instead, she spent the entire time tapping the keys on her laptop or occasionally scribbling down a note on a pad of paper. She didn’t even offer me a quizzical look when the meeting turned a little more technical.
That surprised me because I’d expected her to at least be surprised by the figures being discussed or some of the terminology. While I’m sure she studied up on the company, that wasn’t the same thing as having the domain knowledge that came from actually working in the field.
“Do you have questions?” I asked, just to be sure.
Morgan shook her head. “No.”
There was no confusion on that pretty face of hers, no sign in those blue eyes that anything about the meeting had troubled or confused her.
I don’t know why that bothered me so much. On a certain level, maybe I wanted to have an excuse to brag to her or explain the deal without being the one to bring it up. With no other options, I decided to move everything along.
“When do you think you can have notes those summarized for me?” I asked. “I always like to review them the first thing the next day to refresh my memory, but often I prefer to check on them at the end of the day.”
Morgan glanced down at her computer and then back up at me. “It should take me about thirty minutes, so probably after lunch.”
“Perfect. Are you going out for lunch?”
Morgan shook her head, “No, I brought something.”
“That’s handy.”
She closed her computer. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m a bit h
ungry.”
“Of course,” I nodded, and watched as she walked out of the room.
I didn’t know what to make of Morgan. She seemed competent and professional enough, but we’d barely worked together, and she hadn’t been under any real stress yet. An assistant who crumbled when I gave a curt command wouldn’t be useful to me.
Still, I wasn’t going to be an ass to her on purpose just as a test, that sort of thing wasn’t professional. Besides, the way things went around here, she’d get a glimpse of me being an ass soon enough.
I half-wondered what her husband was like. The thought of asking bubbled up, but I didn’t want HR complaining about me asking personal questions, especially after the fuzz up we’d already had. Eventually, she’d probably mention something about her husband, and then I’d know. There wasn’t a woman alive who didn’t like to talk about her family.
My mind drifted back to Daisy, and I ran a hand through my hair. What would I do if the baby changed nothing, and she was the same irresponsible woman as before? I wouldn’t be able to just sit by while my sister screwed up that baby’s life.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to get anything else useful done on this day. I locked my computer and headed out of my office, closing the door behind me. No matter how many times I told myself not to worry about things I couldn’t predict or change, it didn’t seem to help.
I stopped in front of Morgan’s desk. She didn’t have her lunch out yet and instead was checking emails from the last hour.
“I’ll be off the rest of the day,” I said. I waited for a moment, wanting to see if that surprised her at all.
Morgan gave me a simple nod, no sign of irritation or surprise on her face.
“Field any calls and take detailed messages,” I continued. “I don’t want to know about it until tomorrow unless it’s the president or something.”