The Boss & The Assistant - Rewritten Edition of "The Boss"

Chapter 21 - Emerson

On Tuesday, Halloween, Lafayette was late for work. The idea of him sleeping in seemed silly to me, since he was more likely to stay awake all through the night. When it was almost ten, I got a little worried. What if something had happened to him? I texted him Saturday night when I got into my apartment, like he had asked, but he never actually texted me back. I mean, this was fine because we agreed not to bother each other over the weekends as much. Monday he seemed not as talkative either, but I figured he was just tired from a long weekend. Surely he would've texted me if he was running late.

I decided to go and ask Michael or Emilio if they had heard from him. As I was walking into their reception area, I heard laughter coming from Emilio's office. His door was open, so when I popped my head in I was surprised to see Lafayette in there. It looked like he had just arrived because he was still wearing his jacket and sunglasses, a hot coffee in his hand even though I had brought him a coffee when I first arrived. Michael and Emilio were in the room as well. Then, an incredibly handsome man I recognized as Marcus from Lafayette's photo album was also in the room. My heart sank into my stomach.

"Good morning, Emerson," Lafayette said. I couldn't remember the last time he said Emerson. It was always Em or Emmy.

"Good morning," I said, holding my hands behind my back.

"Marcus, this is my assistant, Emerson. Em, this is Marcus," he said.

"Hello," I said.

"Oh, that's so cute, you have a new little assistant," Marcus said. "Does he fetch you your little coffees and take your calls?"

Lafayette elbowed him. "Sorry I'm late, Em. What's on the schedule today again?"

"The trick-or-treat bash is later today," I said. We were holding an event for children from some of the schools we supported to stop by to trick-or-treat through the building.

"Ew, will children be here?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah, a handful," Lafayette said.

"They're disadvantaged children from some of the underfunded schools we support," I said. "They trick-or-treat through the building." I loved the trick-or-treat bash. I loved kids. They were just so sweet and innocent. Sure, they could be loud and messy, but they were kids. They were supposed to be that way. These kids came from troubled homes, parents who couldn't always take them trick-or-treating. It was a great event.

"That explains why everyone is dressed in their little costumes," Marcus said. Everything must have been little to him and his big ego.

I forgot I probably looked ridiculous in my pumpkin poncho. It was just draped over me like any other poncho, but with a big jack-o-lantern face on it. I thought I looked nice with my black, tight pants and black boots. No one else in the office was dressed up. Sasha had dressed up like a simple witch. Carla was dressed up like a cat while Marion was a burglar. Emilio and Michael weren't in costume. Lafayette said he was going to put on a candy corn poncho like mine for the kids, but he wasn't wearing one.

They continued chatting. I felt out of place, so I went back to my office. The kids weren't coming until later, around two o'clock, so I sat at my desk and worked. It was almost an hour later when Lafayette walked through, without Marcus.

"I'll be helping with a campaign for the rest of the day probably," he said.

Lafayette used to be more hands on when the company started, with some of the photoshoots and campaigns. He wasn't as involved these days, so I was surprised. "Okay, are you thinking you'll be done around one or one-thirty?" I asked.

"Probably not until the end of the day," he said. He went into his office but kept the door open so I followed him.

"But we have the kids coming at two," I said.