Total pages in book: 60
Estimated words: 61939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“I still have them all.”
“Well, scan them to me by the end of this weekend, and I’ll email you after.”
“There are over two thousand notebooks with two hundred pages each…” he said. “Not to mention the phone records and investor transcripts I had to keep. Well—I mean—he didn’t know I recorded those, but I thought it would make me valuable later.”
“I see.” I smiled for the first time this morning. “You’ll be hearing from Ciara soon about getting all those handled a lot faster… and you might’ve just saved your job.”
“So, you were going to fire me?”
“Get out before I change my mind.”
He left my office at the speed of light, and I sent an emergency email to Ciara. Then I noticed that there was no breakfast on my desk.
No fresh coffee.
No notes on my upcoming media interviews.
Are you alive, Miss Stone?
Has something happened to you?
No answer.
I pulled up her calendar and noticed something that wasn’t synced to mine.
Secret Employee Appreciation Day
(Shhh! Two hours max!)
(Do not come if you’re not a week AHEAD in your work)
Confused, I clicked on the location and stood up from my desk.
I headed down to the auditorium and stared at the scene ahead of me in disbelief.
Hundreds of gold and emerald balloons kissed the ceiling. The words “Long Live Sweet Seasons” were etched on a banner that hung from the stage, and music was blasting from the speakers.
No one was working.
They weren’t even pretending to.
Is that champagne they’re serving?
“No matter what happens to this company,” the senior accountant spoke into the mic, “I’m so grateful to have met all of you, and you’ve become my second family. We just have a new evil stepdad at the helm.”
Laughter echoed through the walls, and I debated crashing their little party by taking that mic away.
Andrea’s eyes met mine from the stage and she gasped. Then she rushed toward me.
Seeing her gray dress fluttering temporarily distracted me from the event.
Keyword: Temporarily.
“Good morning, Mr. Cross,” she said. “Is everything okay?”
“My morning coffee and breakfast never arrived and I’m missing quite a few notes.”
“I’m sure those are being delivered to your desk right now.”
“They’re late.”
“No…” She furrowed her brow. “You’re an hour early... It’s just now eight o’clock.”
I glanced at the phone in her hand, catching the time.
Why am I off by so much today?
“You’re supposed to bring a gift to exchange with one of the senior employees.” She changed the subject. “That’s like the entire concept of Secret Employee Appreciation Day.”
“I see,” I said. “In that case, I did bring a gift.”
“Then can you please tell me where the hell it is, so I can add it to the pile?”
“Sure.” I smoothed my tie. “It’s right here.”
“You’re sharing one of your designer ties?”
“No, I’m sharing my presence, Miss Stone,” I said. “My presence is a present.”
“In that case, please let me know where I can return it.”
“I’m going to let that one slide.” I looked at my watch, confirming once again that I was out of sync today. “How much longer does this go on?”
“One more hour.”
“Good. Be sure to tell them they’ll be making up for this playtime later this week.”
“Already did.”
“Good.” I felt the need to have the last word with her. “Don’t say anything else before I walk away.”
“Wait,” she said. “Can I talk to you in private for a second?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea given our last private conversation.”
Her cheeks flushed red.
“It’s a business conversation,” she said. “Out in the hall, please?”
I gestured for her to lead the way and made sure that we were still in sight of everyone.
“I’m listening, Miss Stone,” I said.
“I went ahead and signed up to take the CPA exam for the next round, and I’m going to attempt to take all the parts at once, so…”
“So?”
“So, I need an additional four days off every month to study,” she said, “starting with tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is my Wall Street Journal interview.”
“I left super extensive notes on your cloud, and I have two interns ready to step in and shut any not-allowed questions down,” she said. “But we’ve rehearsed it plenty of times, and I think you’ll be fine.”
“I have other meetings and things that need to be handled tomorrow as well,” I said. “Why can’t you take Sunday off?”
“Because I already get Sundays off…”
“Problem solved.”
“Please.” She touched my arm, but then quickly withdrew it. “I can’t possibly study without off days.”
“Fine, Miss Stone,” I said. “Despite giving you a colossal raise and clearing out new office space for you, you can have this Saturday off.”
“What about the other upcoming off days?”
“We’ll talk about that when we get there.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. “Thank you very much.”
This was the part when I knew I should’ve walked away…
“Tell me something,” I said, lingering. “Which senior employee did you draw for gifting?”
“You.”
“How is that possible if I wasn’t invited to play?”