“I did. Though I doubt much will come of it. Carolyn is the last person to tell anyone else.”
“I thought that too,” she said. “But it’s out there. I just let my father know on my way back here. I told him I would. The fact that someone might have seen that could help it along.”
Which said she was ready for that to happen too.
“You know I’m here if you need me.”
They were watching their words like they normally did. She wouldn’t have said what she was if there was anyone close by, but many worked with their doors open. Sounds and voices could carry.
She went back to her desk to work.
There was a time in the past he wanted to know what she was doing or thinking over there. Early on.
Now they were two people putting separate parts of their relationship to work.
They flowed and fell into an easy rhythm. He missed Blair, but less each day. There was guilt over that too.
She was still working on projects, still looping Nora in on things, still talking to her weekly.
But their communication was more professional and less friendly. Blair was moving on with her life, he was with his.
Nora was the person he was coming to rely on. The one he went to first. The one he thought of first when it came to work.
Somehow that transition happened smoother than the one where he fell in love.
He just didn’t realize it until now.
Two hours later, his door was shut while he was on a call. He was reading emails while he half listened to a project update. He didn’t always have the time for these calls, but tried to make an appearance.
When he heard voices in the hall, he silenced the call he’d been on mute with to see what was going on.
Nora’s voice wasn’t the one he’d heard first. This was louder, more annoyance than anything.
“Sorry I’m late with these. It took longer than I thought to print them all. I’m not sure why I couldn’t just send them electronically.”
He didn’t recognize the voice behind the door other than the person didn’t seem happy.
“Thank you, Heather. I would have had to print them myself if you had sent it electronically and the file doesn’t come in formatted properly for my printer. I don’t have access to go in and change it either.”
He heard what sounded like papers being dropped on the table next to the wall separating their offices.
“Whatever,” Heather said. “So... there’s been talk for the past few weeks that you might be Norris’s daughter and that is why you’re walking around with a chip on your shoulder. Is it true?”
Jesus. Talk about blunt.
That was the woman who gave Nora a hard time before.
He stood up ready to intervene, not caring if Nora got pissed off or not.
Before he got to the door he heard another voice.
“Whether or not she is my daughter gives you no right to talk to someone that way. Least of all the assistant to an executive.”
Damn. That was Norris.
He opened his door and saw Norris standing there, but couldn’t see Nora or Heather, who were in Nora’s office.
“I was just asking a question,” Heather said, her voice not so steady or confident now.
