Healing Haven - Book 2 in Haven Series [Complete]

27| Later

Fingers whisking over the keys on her laptop, Alyssa pumped out an email to follow-up on the surge of correspondence for Out of Focus. Since the re-launch, their numbers had shot beyond the stratosphere, kicking up another whirlwind of media and publicity that left Alyssa with long days of buzzing energy and little room to breathe. At this rate, she'd have to seriously talk to Eva about not only hiring in a Social Media coordinator, but an accomplished and efficient assistant to back up the role.

And with her mind on the thought, she plucked through her contacts and fired out a request for a head hunting agency to send over a couple more resumes to add to the dossier she was composing for Jenelle and Eva tomorrow afternoon. So far she had six strong potentials and figured she should get as many for an assistant. The three of them could whittle down those numbers to the strongest two and move on from there.

Odds were she would be long gone before the hiring took place, but that wasn't an issue. She'd been diligent in composing a carefully mapped out cheat sheet, covering everything she'd handled or put into place during the last two and a half months.

And the thought brought her to a paused. Two and a half months. It was amazing how the passing of time had both stretched and snapped all at once. How it could move so slow yet pass in a blink. Startling, really.

The chirp of her cell phone brought her back and she glanced at the screen a second longer than necessary if only to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Swiping her thumb across to accept, she brought the phone to ear.

"Marissa?"

"Good morning Ms. Sloane," Marissa, the receptionist for Schulman & Co, said in her professional tone of voice. "I'm calling to confirm your availability for today's conference call?"

"Call?"

"Yes, I'd emailed the invite to your corporate email yesterday afternoon but haven't heard a response."

"I didn't see anything," she apologized, though why the hell would she bother to check emails for an account she had no reason to use anymore? Opening up a brower, Alyssa signed into the old email server, quickly logged in—and was surprised to find her old user credentials were still valid.

Skimming down the inbox, her cursor—and her breath—stopped at the sight of a familiar name. Gerald Moser. A calendar request sent yesterday with conference call details for this morning. In precisely ten minutes.

No message or explanation other than the brief email from Marissa stating, 'Sent on behalf of the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Please confirm your availability.'

Holy shit.

"Ms. Sloane?" Marissa's voice sighed while Alyssa sat in stunned, gaping silence. "Can I confirm with Mr. Moser?"

"Yes," Alyssa stammered and muttered a soft curse. There was no time to change, brush her teeth—hell, even run a comb through her hair. And she was about to have a sit down—in a Skype conference call—with the man who sat at the tippy top of the Schulman & Co ladder.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

"Great," Marissa said and Alyssa could hear both the smile and relief in her tone. "I'll let him know you're dialling in shortly. Thanks!"

"Shit," Alyssa muttered after Marissa hung up, bobbing in and out of her seat like a loon breaking the surface of a pond. Torn between making a mad dash for her room or sitting put. Maybe if she tugged on blouse, gave her hair a quick toss she could make herself semi-presentable and—The Skype icon her laptop chimed and the window sprung open with an incoming video call. Alyssa slumped heavily into her seat, groaned. "Shit."