I nodded. “He really laid into her. I could hear it from my desk.”
She shook her head and tutted. “It’s like working for Dr. Jekyll, you just never know who you’re gonna get.”
“Tell me about it,” I said. I knew exactly what she meant.
“Some days it’s hard to keep sane. That’s why pay day drinks are so important.”
“Pay day drinks?”
“Yup. A bunch of us usually go out on pay day for some drinks. Which is today. But we’ll go out tomorrow, on Saturday night, since we’re all so exhausted from the week. It’s nothing fancy, want to come?” Juniper asked. “You can meet some of the others that work here.”
“Sure,” I nodded. “I’d love that. What time?”
“Sevenish,” she said. “I’ll text you the address if you give me your number.”
“Sounds good.” I walked over to them with my phone and we exchanged numbers. “I better get this stuff to him now,” I said to them.
They nodded again and I raced back to his office, acutely aware that my conversation with them had officially cost me thirty seconds, and now I was running late. But when I got there, a disastrous moment was about to play out in front of my eyes. A man. A man in a dark suit carrying a big briefcase was making a beeline for Ryan’s office.
“Do not let anyone in my office today.” His voice screamed inside my head.
I threw the food and coffee down on my desk and, as fast as I could, wedged myself between the determined-looking man and the door to Ryan’s office.
“I’m sorry.” I smiled at the man. “Mr. Stark doesn’t take walk-ins. Unless you made an appointment with me?” I asked, knowing that no one had made any such appointment.
The man blinked at me as if I was mad. “I don’t have an appointment, but he’s expecting me.”
“No, he isn’t.” I stretched my arms all the way across his closed door. This man would either have to climb under me, or pull me off with force.
“Yes, he is.” The man looked pissed now.
“He does not take visitors during the day, and certainly not ones that I haven’t cleared with him first.”
“Look, I don’t know who you are, but I always come here.”
“I don’t care if you come here every day, you cannot just walk into his office without an appointment. And all appointments need to go through me.” I glanced behind me. Ryan was watching me now. He wanted to see if I would break. See if I would fail him again. Well, I wasn’t going to give him that satisfaction, come hell or high water. This man, whoever he was, was not getting past me.
“Look, lady—”
“Lady?!” I quickly cut him off. “I am not your lady.” I stamped my foot and stood my ground.
The man’s eyes widened. “Mrs.—”
“Miss,” I cut him off. “MissGranger. Executive Administrative Assistant to the CEO Ryan Stark, and you are not allowed in this office.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” The man made a very determined move towards the door. “Ryan? Ryan?” he called out loudly. But Ryan didn’t budge. He was clearly testing me. Trying to see what I would do in this situation.
“Don’t Ryan him,” I said, trying to cling to the door as the man started to push past me. “Noooo!” I shouted as he pried me off the door and walked into the office.
“Don’t you dare!” I threw myself through the air with a loud “hi-yaaaa” and attached myself to the man’s back.
“What the!” The man swung around and flapped his arms.
But I clung on even tighter. This was starting to remind me of a scene from the telenovela. He tried to shake me off, and I tightened my grip.
“I know where you sleep at night, Señor,” I slowly whispered into his ear.
“What?!” the man shouted, sounding scared.
