Wait For You

Chapter 18: I Don't Believe In Love Nor Office Sex at 7:00pm with Mr. Tate

𝔍𝔬𝔫𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔫 " 𝔓𝔥𝔬𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔵 " 𝔗𝔞𝔱𝔢

Heading from my office, I noticed as each of my employees turned to nod and greet me. In my peripheral vision, I saw Grace grin at each of them, offering a little wave. I didn't bother to stop and introduce her. She wouldn't be here long enough to make friends. Instead, I slowed to a stop by her desk.

"This is you. You'll find what you need in the manual. The directives should be clear and to the point, but if you have questions..."

I trailed off because frankly, I didn't care if she had questions. All I wanted was for her to be able to muddle through well enough to take even a little heat off me and keep me organized until someone more appropriate took her place.

I gestured to a black binder on her desk and then slipped into my office and closed the door, careful to make sure she'd taken her seat before making my way to my desk. 

Sighing, I glanced at the clock, pressed the buzzer, and waited for her to answer.

"How can I help you, Mr. Tate?"

"Coffee, please. I take it—"

"Black," she finished. "All in the manual. I'm a fast reader. I'll have it for you right away."

I blinked but then released the intercom button and focused back on my messages. Within a matter of two minutes, there was a soft knock and then the door swung open, revealing her holding my favorite mug and walking slowly toward my desk.

"Here we go, and—" She gasped as she set down my coffee and then pressed a hand to her mouth, her beautiful eyes wide with dismay.

She pulled her hand from her mouth and cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be quite so dramatic, but...is this how your office always looks?"

She squinted at my multicolored Post-its and the utter chaos of my desk.

"Is there a problem?" I asked.

"It's just...how do you work like this?" She poked a faded Post-it whose words weren't even visible anymore.

"There's a system," I said coolly. There wasn't, but I wasn't about to let her walk in and start judging me. Who worked for whom here? "I figure it out."

"And what exactly is the system?" she asked, the doubt plain on her face.

"I figure it out." I shrugged. It hadn't always been this way. Before my long-term assistant Imelda had retired, things had been shipshape all the time. Once she'd retired, though, I just hadn't been able to find anyone to replace her, and things had devolved.

Fuck, who was I kidding? It was like A Beautiful Mind up in here.

Still, something about the horror on Grace's face made me bristle, so I stood my ground.

"Eventually, as my assistant, you'd be responsible for getting this all digitized and keeping me on track."

"Of course," she said with a nod, her gaze flitting around the space like she was already mentally tidying up. "Well, you have a meeting in the conference room in five minutes. I've set up the projector and the computer in there, so you should be all set for the presentation."

"You did all that already?"

"Well, what else was I going to do while the coffee brewed?" She shrugged. "Do you mind if I work on your calendar a little while you're gone?"

"Knock yourself out," I said. Then I collected my papers and made my way to the meeting.

The presentation was short and sweet—just an update on where we stood in terms of the upcoming merger and a few housekeeping notes on the properties the company had acquired in the past few months. It was all straight and to the point, and by the time my coffee was finished, it was over.