Page 66 of Resting Grump Face
The conversation is polite, mostly small talk about ourselves. She seems guarded at first, which I understand. It must be weird to have someone work so closely with your boss all of the sudden.
I agree. It’s a little weird.
“So,” I try to steer the conversation in a direction that might make her open up as we dig into our food and wine alike. “How long have you been working for Mr. Grumpyson then?”
“Is that your nickname for him?” she asks with a slight grin.
“One among many.”
“It’s not inaccurate,” she admits. “I have been with him from the very beginning. I was the first person he ever hired.”
“Oh wow, that’s impressive.”
“Yes, most people move on at some point. Not me, I guess,” she says and chases her wine with an entire glass of water. “I value loyalty. Putting the need of someone else before your own. Even if they can’t see it themselves sometimes, you know?”
“I am not sure an employer is the best way to channel that loyalty, but, generally, I absolutely agree.” And I can see why Ryker would value it too.
“Well, this job got me out of a rough situation. Bad family, drugs, debt, you know the drill. I wasn’t brought up under the best circumstances. That all changed when Mr. Grayson took a chance on me. Plus, when you’ve been working together for solong, it’s inevitable that you develop a closer bond. This job is more than just a job to me,” Barb explains with a smile and refills both our glasses. “Anyway, how about you? To whom does your loyalty belong? Any boyfriends? Girlfriend?” She tilts her head a little. “A group of boy-andgirlfriends?”
I almost spit out my water. “Jesus, no. No, I am quite content being single. On my own. All alone. No one I am beholden to.”
I try really hard not to think of Ryker’s stupid face.
And it works too. I don’t think about his face. Instead, I think about his hands, strong and elegant. I think about his laugh, captivating and mesmerizing. I think about his abs, toned and defined. How long has it been since I have actually seen them? And why do I still remember every single nook and cranny? I think about those V-shaped muscles that point to his extremely fuckab?—
“Are you sure? Seems like you might be thinking of someone right now.” Barb drags me out of my head and I wish she would splash the glass of water she’s holding in my face.
“No, just… thinking of work,” I lie and remember last evening and how he didn’t want to talk about his one-date-policy but opened up to me nonetheless. Then I remember that fateful day that led me here in the first place, the first time I ever laid eyes on him and thought, ‘Wow, what a good-looking, ill-mannered asshole’.“By the way, have you found a replacement yet? For the secretary that got fired at the airport?”
“Ah,” Barb re-folds the napkin on her lap before answering. “No, not yet.” Then she shakes her head with disapproval.
“What?” I ask, wondering if Barb didn’t get along with her colleague all that well.
“Nothing, it’s just… maybe this is the… water talking,” she swirls the glass of wine in her hand, “but I am actually glad she is gone.”
“How come?”
“Well,” Barb leans in and whispers, “I probably shouldn’t say this, but considering what she did, she should be happy she isn’t in jail. I just don’t take kindly to people like that.”
For a moment, I consider not asking because it really is none of my business, but curiosity wins out in the end anyway. “What did she do? I always kind of assumed Ryker just had a bad day.”
“Oh, well, Mr. Grayson,” she stresses his name a little, “can indeed be a bit difficult at times, but he doesn’t fire people for nothing. Ms. Fate was misappropriating funds. As his personal assistants, we have access to his expense accounts, and I guess she assumed no one would notice a couple thousand dollars here and a couple thousand dollars there.” Barb pours the rest of the wine into our glasses. “She was right, until she wasn’t. I think Ryker… I mean Mr. Grayson,” Barbara chuckles to herself, “wasn’t even going to fire her, but that day she had messed up a bunch of things. She had forgotten to buy the wedding gift, she had forgotten to arrange for his usual flight crew to take him to the wedding, and what’s worse, she had forgotten to file for his VIP access at the airport. It’s a thing where, if you’re important enough, you can drive right onto the tarmac and— doesn’t matter. A lot of things came together that day, and that’s what got her fired, eventually.”
So I was wrong… again. He did have a good reason to fire his assistant. Maybe not the airport stuff, but embezzling money probably reasonable cause for termination.
“Plus,” Barb continues, “I have always suspected she had a thing for him and that’s just not appropriate when you work together. There are some boundaries that shouldn’t be crossed or everyone else might suffer which we cannot have.There are too many lives at stake here.We have had our fair share of bad press in the past and bad press around Mr. Grayson influences everyone at the company, not just him.”
She takes a long breath. Her cheeks are the color of our wine, and it looks like the topic really pushes her buttons. Which I understand. She owes a lot to her boss, so she is protective, and on top of that, as his personal assistant, her livelihood is directly tied to his job. It makes sense she would feel strongly about all of this, and that she’d be worried.
The rest of the lunch is a lot less passionate and more level-headed. Barbara is nice, we get along pretty well, and I look forward to having a lunch-buddy for the foreseeable future. I do feel bad that I probably won’t be able to stick around that long, but I also take comfort in knowing that there is someone who actually cares about Ryker.
When Barb notices that almost three hours have passed, she panics a little and insists we hurry back to the office. I use our boss’s card to pay the bill and ten minutes later, I’m sitting across the desk from him once again.
Ryker is still busy working on whatever busy CEOs work on. So I, too, go back to work. At least until I notice him staring my way.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he says, crosses his arms, and leans back in his chair.
24
