Page 20 of Decoded
“Tell me about work. Have they posted for my assistant position yet?”
“Yeah, it got posted before you left for Vegas, pretty sure,” Camden confirms. “You gonna handle your own hiring?”
“Nah, I’ll let Janine take care of it,” I say, referring to the head of our HR department. She’s kind of scary, but she’s damn good at her job and that makes everyone else we employ damn good at theirs, too.
“Think Janine would hire a nanny for me?” Lincoln asks, catching us off guard. He’s incredibly protective of both Mama and his daughter Charlie, so the fact he’s considering someone coming in is a huge deal.
“Is Mama okay?” I ask and he shakes his head with a grim look on his face.
“The other day she was watching Charlie when I went out on a date. When I came home, Mama was sitting on the couch with a dazed look and Charlie was still awake even though it was past ten. When I tucked her into bed, she confessed she had tomake herself one of those microwavable mac and cheese cups. Apparently, Mama had been like that most of the night.”
He lets out a defeated sigh. “I don’t know guys, some days I feel like she’s doing better, and then it’s like she takes ten steps backwards the next. Think we should schedule her to see somebody?”
“Yeah, because that went over so well last time,” I remind him. When Mama became fully reclusive about ten years ago, we had no idea what to do. I asked a buddy of mine who's a doctor if he had any suggestions and he recommended therapy. We made an appointment, but when we told her about it, she flipped like we’ve never seen before. She started tearing the house apart, throwing picture frames off the wall, breaking the dishes in the kitchen and then she went to the pantry, grabbed a bag of marshmallows off the shelf, and started pelting the three of us with them. We were both terrified and genuinely impressed with her aim.
“We’ve got to do something. She’s getting worse and it’s becoming dangerous for Charlie.” Lincoln looks as defeated as I feel right now. He has a lot on his shoulders with raising his daughter and taking care of the woman who raised us.
“Talk to Janine,” I encourage. “I bet she can find someone who would be a great fit for all three of you. Maybe having someone else around will help Mama, too.”
Camden nods, then adds, “I can draw up a contract and send some expectations to Janine. It’d be awesome if we could find someone who has a degree in psychology or something. They may be a little more empathetic about the situation.”
Lincoln sighs. “Yeah, I like that idea. If you can get that started for me, I’d appreciate it.”
Mentally checking items off the list I keep in my head, I mark off hiring an assistant. Now if I can just check off the item that reads “get over my wife.”
Chapter fifteen
Anna
“I
can’t believe you’re really leaving us,” Kristy says to me as I take a bite of my salad. It’s been almost a month since I put in my application to Phisherman’s Cybersecurity and I will be officially starting my new position there on Monday as executive assistant to the CEO. “We’re going to miss you so much.”
I smile at her but internally roll my eyes. Kristy is nice enough to me at work, and we enjoy lunch together on occasion, but we aren’t exactly friends. She has never once reached out to me about doing anything outside work and the few times I’ve asked her to hang out, she’s always had something better to do than hang out with me.
“I’m really excited about it,” I tell her honestly. “The woman who interviewed me said nothing but incredible things about the owners and I’ve already seen a sight of that. When I explained that I couldn’t accept the job until I had housing lined up, she let me know about the guest house the CEO has and offered it for me to stay in for no charge until I can find my own place.”
“Are you shitting me? That’s awesome! Of course, any boss would be better than Mr. Brenner. He’s always been a jerk, but he’s been on a real tirade the last couple of weeks,” Kristy says while chewing on her sandwich.
She isn’t wrong. Once I put in my two weeks’ notice, Daniel has been a complete asshole to everyone at work. His messages to me have become more frequent and while they’re typically just vile and downright gross, they’ve become slightly threatening.
Kristy lifts her water bottle up and says, “To new beginnings.” I tap my bottle to hers. I can definitely drink to that.
Packing up the last of my things from my desk, I feel his presence before he speaks.
“Anna, I need to see you in my office,” Daniel’s raspy voice has a bit of a bite to it today.
I look up at him, his dark brown eyes as muddy as the river my dad likes to take his boat on. His hair is greased back, and I know for a fact it’s filled with hair dye to try and hide the fact he’ll be sixty at the end of the year. It’s not fooling anybody.
Following him to his office, he allows me to enter and then shuts the door behind him. Immediately my shoulders tense and my mouth goes dry. Daniel has shut the door with me in hisoffice before and I’ve never left afterward with a feeling other than pure repulsion.
“Why are you doing this to me, Anna?” he asks, coming over to stand behind me. I scrunch my nose up in confusion because I'm not doing a damn thing to this man. His hand grabs my hip, and I flinch at his touch, only causing him to squeeze tighter. “Why are you leaving me when you know I’ve been so good to you?”
I want to yell about how he definitely has not been good to me. When looking for other opportunities I found that my pay is abysmal in comparison. He often keeps me past my workday and I never receive compensation for it. Oh, and then there’s the fact that he has been sexually harassing me for a year. I want to say all that but instead calm myself before I find my voice. “While I’ve appreciated the opportunity to work here, Mr. Brenner, I need to explore my options.” I’m hoping that if I keep things professional, he will too, but I should have known better.
“Your options?” He huffs out a laugh and his grip tightens to the point of pain. “Sweet, stupid Anna. What other fucking options do you think you have?”
His hand slides from my hip and he cups my ass over the gray pencil skirt I chose to wear today. I try to pull away, but his other hand is on my stomach, and he grips that pesky roll of fat that won’t seem to leave there no matter what I try. “You think any other man wants this? You think any other boss is going to be sweet to you like I am when you look like this? You're lucky I like a girl with meat on her bones, sweet girl.” His hand manages to find its way underneath my blouse and again I try to pull away, but he clamps down on my breast so hard there’s no doubt I’ll have a bruise tomorrow. “Though these fucking tits could easily bring any man to his knees.”
