“This will be presented this afternoon. If you’d like to present your own work…?”
“Oh, oh no!” I babble. “That is to say, no, thank you, Mr Yates, but I think an account as important as this one requires more experience than I have.”
I am no wallflower, but I know for a fact Gregory will be in that boardroom, and it will not be a pretty sight if I have to be anything close to intelligible. Better to cut my losses and move ahead.
“Thank you, Miss Newman, that will be all for today,” he says, dismissing me with a smile.
I make it out of the office and lean back onto the door with a huff.
“That bad, huh?” Taz asks, and I shake my head with a groan.
“No, he was really nice, I’m just glad I got out of there without making a fool of myself.”
“Here’s your water. I was going to bring it in, but I didn’t want to interrupt,” she says, handing me a glass of ice cold water.
I drink deeply and straighten, throwing her a smile as I leave.
“Lucky bitch.”
“Don’t I know it. Have a good day, Han!”
I make my way downstairs, feeling better about this situation than I have a right to. The phone is ringing off the hook by the time I sit down, and I answer, hoping Jordan hasn’t decided to go against his usual practice and is calling to make sure everything’s okay.
It isn’t Jordan.
“You have to come get her, Hannah! She’s been running off my staff, and she stripped down to her underwear yesterday and refused to get dressed! The customers were horrified!”
Yeah, all three of them, I bet.
I glare at the dress I’ve steamed and brought back to work with me, wondering if my theft hasn’t swung that thing called karma back at me.
“I’m sorry, Amber, but I can’t do it. I’m swamped at the moment and I have to work this weekend,” I lie.
It sounds horrible, but I am not spending my weekend with my crazy ass grandmother while Amber flits around enjoying her life. It’s about time she does something instead of just leaving me to juggle a million things. She’s my sister, and as such she has just as much responsibility in this as I do.
I’ve spent years paying for and visiting and herding Nana. It’s about damn time someone else took up the reins.
“But I have plans!” she wails, and I bite my lip to stop the I-don’t-care speech that’s hovering on my lips.
“So do I. I’m going away for the weekend,” I lie, crossing my fingers.
“But, didn’t you say you have to work—”
“You can handle Nana for a few days while you find another nursing home, Amber. It’s not the end of the world, you know. I did it, so can you.”
“Hannah, please, I—”
“She’s your grandmother too. Surely you can handle caring for her without your life coming to an end. Let her hang out in the kitchen for God’s sake, she loves baking and could probably teach you a thing or two.”
“Fine, but if she strips down again I’m going to be on your doorstep,” she warns.
“Just keep her in the kitchen on Thursdays and you’ll be fine.”
“What? Why?”
“Naked Thursdays are her thing.”
I put the phone down before her whining and wailing can start, and lean back in my chair to bask in the glow of another small but satisfying victory.
If I could afford to I would take Nana home with me and hire a helper to keep an eye on her and maybe take her for walks and keep her company. She’s a handful and probably going a little senile, but I love her and want her to be happy.
In a perfect world I could do that and not have to guilt my sister into helping out at all. Unfortunately, the world is not perfect, and right now I can’t afford to focus on anything but my job. If I let her, Amber will have Nana back with me, and there’s no chance she’ll come anywhere near us again.
“You’re deep in thought today, darlin’.”
I jump and sit straight up as Gregory comes ambling in, his charcoal gray suit doing great things for his tousled honey blonde good looks.
“Well, I’m a deep girl, Mr Lucas. What can I do for you today?”
Be cool, be cool. He’s just a man, I remind myself, steadying my suddenly shallow breathing.
“How did the meeting go with Yates?”
“Fine. Good,” I answer, knowing he probably already knows.
“I saw your presentation. It’s good,” he says, and pleasure unfurls at the compliment.
I know he’d never compliment me if he didn’t like it, so the fact that he is makes me feel good about all the work I put into it.
“Thanks,” I say. “What are you doing here?”