Love Heals

The Past Catches Up Eventually

Monday morning I woke up at 7am to walk the dogs. It felt nice to work with animals again. As much as I had tried to escape all aspects of my old life, I realized I still very much enjoyed working with animals.
Mornings in LA were warm and the bustling city life helped me wake up. Before I knew it the 40 minutes was over and I had to go home to get ready.
I put on a white blouse and black skirt and styled my hair into a ponytail. Then I turned on the robot vacuum just as Austin came out of his room in a suit.
We stared at each other for a second before greeting one another. If I thought he was good looking in casual clothes, he was downright hot in a suit.
I shook myself loose of my thoughts, "Good morning. Here's a breakfast bar. The dogs are walked, vacuum is on, and I'm ready to go."
"Awesome. And if I may mention, you look very pretty today," he said with a slight blush.
I looked to the floor blushing as well. "Thank you," I answered.
Quietly I took the dogs and waited for him to lock the apartment door. Then I followed him to his car which was a modest black Honda Civic. Seeing as he was paying me six figures this came as a bit of a surprise but he didn't seem like someone who liked to show off anyways.
"So, tell me a bit about yourself, Rose. What's your work style? It'd be good to know if we are to be working side by side.
"Hmm... I'm someone who works until I drop. I grew up with pretty extreme anxiety so even though I'm better now, procrastination is just not in my blood," I answered, jokingly.
I don't know why I told him about my anxiety disorder, he didn't need to know. But I guess it's a nervous habit, I can't help but laugh at my pain.
If he had noticed anything off about my tone, he had chosen to ignore it, "That is rather interesting but try not to overwork yourself, kiddo."
'Kiddo, someone used to call me that but who?' I thought to myself.
"Rose, are you alright?" Austin asked when I spaced out.
"Huh? Oh, yes I'm fine, I actually have selective amnesia and you saying 'kiddo' reminded me of something. I just can't pinpoint what," I answered, still mildly confused. "By chance, have we met before?"
"Rose Lin, do you really not remember me? What on earth happened the last 7 years?" He asked with genuine concern. "I thought maybe you'd been acting like you didn't know me for the past few days and I had chosen to respect that but now I think you really don't know me."
"I'm sorry Austin. I really don't know who you are. I don't feel comfortable telling you everything that's happened but I hope you understand that so much of my memory is gone that I don't even know what I don't remember."
"I suppose we didn't really end in good terms but at best we were pretty close and almost dated," he answered wistfully. "Well, we're here so how about I fill you in tonight?"
I smiled and nodded, glad that he was so respectful of my privacy. I didn't want to seem so nonchalant about the whole situation but in truth some part of me didn't want to know our past. I wanted to start over.
Still stuck in my thoughts I followed Austin into a massive building. On the thirtieth floor we exited the elevator into a quiet lobby with an empty desk and a door on the far right side.
"This," he said, pointing at the empty desk, "will be your new workplace. I will be in that room over there and anyone who wants to see me will go through you first. Your main job will be to schedule my day based on the calendar I've shared online with you and anyone who calls in."
"Sounds good. Oh right! Here's your lunch, I almost forgot. It's just a sandwich I picked up from a deli yesterday but their food is pretty good so I hope you like it," I said, handing him a paper bag.
He smirked, "This reminds me of being a kid and having my mom pack bagged lunches. I'll enjoy this, thanks!"
I smiled and walked over to my desk as he entered his office. I was focused on turning on the laptop but out of the corner of my eye I saw Austin take one more look at me before closing his door.
I sighed and shook my head, deciding to focus on work. I looked around and saw that the previous secretary had left sticky notes everywhere explaining what to do or passwords to different devices.
I opened the calendar that Austin had shared with me to find a jam packed schedule. He literally had no breaks besides lunch and dinner.
'So what am I supposed to schedule if it's all filled in already?' I thought. Then I saw a note on the desk that read: This position can get extremely stressful, I've already scheduled the next week for you so you can have a few days to get into the swing of things and maybe even get ahead :) -pam
Bless whoever Pam was because as soon as I read the note, some people walked up to the desk. There was an older lady followed by five teenage girls that I assumed were popstars.
"Hi, how may I help you?" I asked with a smile.
"You must be the new secretary. I am Leanne Henderson, manager of the band SELF LOVE. We are here to see Mr. Calden," Leanne answered, coldly.
"Of course! Let me just check if you have an appointment-"
"We have an appointment and we are right on time," she interrupted.
I was shocked at her attitude but a smile from one of the young girls reassured me that I wasn't doing anything wrong.
"Right this way," I said, walking over to knock on Austin's door. I opened it ajar, "Mr. Calden, Ms Henderson and SELF LOVE are here to see you."
"Tell them to come in," he said with a smile. It was reassuring compared to Leanne's coldness.
I held the door open for them and then went back to my desk. It was about fifteen minutes later when the five girls shuffled out but Leanne seemed to still be talking with Austin.
"You seem to be someone of interest around here that Leanne would want to speak privately to Mr. Calden about you," the girl who had smiled at me earlier said. "I'm Callie, by the way. And these are Lillian, Madison, Millie, and Lisa."
"Hi, I'm Rose. It's nice to meet you girls."
Each girl nodded and smiled but soon skipped the formalities in search of gossip. "Do you and Mr. Calden have a past? Leanne seems to know you. You know that she's his aunt, right?" Callie blurted out.
"Well, you see, it's a bit too complicated for any explanation to make sense..." I said uncomfortably. "We have a past but I don't remember it?"
The girls looked at me as if I had grown another head. I figured that meant I would have some explaining to do.
"I have selective amnesia and I came to work for Mr. Calden unaware that we knew each other at some point or another. I have no memory of who Leanne is but I just hope we weren't enemies back then-"
"Fire her! Living together? Don't think that I don't remember her Austin. She made your mother so angry!" We heard Leanne screaming from Austin's office.
"I'm a grown man and I expect you to respect my choices," Austin fired back. "I'm not losing her again because of you!"
The door opened, "Girls it's time to go. I would appreciate if you did not talk to Ms. Lin."
Austin stormed out of his office, "Leanne Elizabeth Henderson, Apologize right now!"
"I will do no such thing!"
The girls and I just stood there looking at the two of them as if they had gone mad while they glared at each other.
"I think it's best if you girls go for now," I whispered.
They nodded and quickly herded Leanne out. I was about to ask Austin if he was okay when a second group of teens walked in with their manager.
I shook myself and smiled at a man who looked to be in his late thirties and the group of boys. Austin had already slipped back into his office.
"Hi, how may I help you?" I greeted, desperately hoping that this manager had no relations to Austin or my past.
"Hey, I'm Luke and they are SET THE STAGE," Luke replied, pointing at two teenage boys. "We have an appointment for 10:00."
I took a peek at the schedule and motioned for them to follow me. Then I knocked on Austin's door and poked my head into his office.
"Luke and SET THE STAGE are here," I said quietly.
He looked up from his work and nodded for me to let them in. He looked troubled but he put on a fake smile as the boys walked in.
I went back to my desk and sat down with a huff. 'Clearly I was some drama magnet in my past life,' I thought sarcastically.
For the next two hours I focused on answering phone calls and adding to the schedule, as well as admitting more managers in to see Austin. It was an easy job but a boring one.
At lunchtime I knocked on Austin's door to remind him to eat. I'm sure it wasn't necessary as he was a grown man, but I felt like he was someone who would forget to eat. Besides this, however, we had little interaction for the rest of the day.
Even on the way home, he was quiet and awkward. At some point I knew I wouldn't be able to take this weird behavior any longer.
I had to face my past.