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V: I am sick with some kind of stomach virus. I won’t be in, but I emailed you all my notes.
I thanked her and checked the business email, pulling up the document and reading through it. She did an excellent job, and I could actually make sense of the things that she was trying to say in the second meeting. I did have to fix a few things but it made sense, and I printed out copies for the meeting as Brandon read over her text. “Think she’s okay?”
“I hope so,” I replied, organizing the papers as I glanced at the clock on the wall. We had ten minutes, and I grabbed a folder to put everything into as I looked at him. “She’ll be back tomorrow.”
The meeting went great, and they were all impressed by the notes, making me remind them that it’s good to have an assistant around. They mulled over the changes and news in the industry, but M&P was going to be just fine. We had a great team that cared about the company as well as my family, and we were only going to get better.
We headed back to the office after we were finished, and caught up on the things we missed during our trip. It was surprisingly a lot. I was also relieved in part that Veronica wasn’t here because I was sure we’d both want to keep the weekend going and not get anything done. I had lunch with Ted and Brandon joined me at the last minute, chatting about the other people we met at the conference. Though my father preferred to go, he sent Ted a couple of times in the ten years that he’d worked here.
“It can get pretty wild there sometimes, even though there are far more men than women. How many of them were drooling over you?” Ted teased as I sipped my water.
“It wasn’t about that. I did mingle with some of the others, of course; but not for that reason. Let’s be honest. Ted. There’s plenty of women here that will do anything for Brandon and me, so we like to keep work separate from that.” I smiled confidently when I was done, knowing how far from the truth that statement was. We’d had a lot of sex in our room with our assistant, but nobody needed to know that. Ted made a joke about her missing work and asked what she did to injure herself, but we both let that go. I did make a point of talking to Veronica about the gossip going around about her. She might act as if she didn’t care about it, but I didn’t want it getting out of control.
We took a bit longer of a lunch than needed, heading back to finish up the day. I planned to take Mom to dinner tonight since we were gone for the weekend, pleased that Ashley wanted to join us. It was a bit awkward talking to her the other night before I left, but I hoped that she had her senses about her.
Brandon was planning to go at this point. He had to have worked a lot out of his system over the trip, so maybe he would calm down. Glancing at him, I saw him sending a message on his phone and rolled my eyes as he caught me. My brother laughed as he waited for a response, putting his phone away once we got back to the building. “You know, someday you’re going to be older and not want sex all day, every day.” We’d just turned twenty-two, and I knew that it was far off in the future, but still enjoyed teasing him.
“I think I’m glad that Veronica is out. I might be humping her like an animal today, otherwise. That was the best weekend of my life.” He grinned, and I laughed.
“It was. I just hope that it doesn’t end badly since it’s the three of us and it’s been going on for a while. That’s always been a one off in the past.” I looked at him, trying to read his face.
“I don’t have feelings if that’s what you mean. Veronica is a great girl, but it would be foolish to want more from her. She’s a wild one,” Brandon told me, making me nod.
“That’s the problem. I fear the rumors are becoming more important than her work here,” I said as Brandon shot me a serious look. “What would Dad do, in this case?”
“Talk to her.” It was an easy answer. It was an easy answer, but Dad never would have slept with his assistant.
“Yeah. That’s going to be interesting.”
Veronica wasn’t in the following day either. She sent another text telling me that she was still sick and I frowned. I knew that we could handle the work, but I wasn’t sure what was going on. Brandon went out after work that night, distracted and restless. I went home and had dinner with Mom since Ashley had plans with a friend. Mom looked at me, asking what was wrong.
“Our assistant has been out the last two days, sick. I hope she’s okay,” I replied as I took a bite of the chicken.
“How is that working out for you? Your father always liked having the help.” Mom looked at me, and I could see the sadness in her eyes for a fleeting moment.
“It’s good to have the help, particularly learning the ropes,” I admitted as I sipped my water. “She knows her stuff, too. I just hope she’s okay.”
“I’m sure you know to keep work professional, Brent. I know that you boys look just like your father and the money makes the women crazy. I remember the stories he told me about the staff there sometimes before he sat them down to discuss it. He liked to keep it business in the office,” she smiled and shook her head. “He was worried about you taking over too young. He was worried about you taking the business as seriously as he did. I can’t believe that man ran the red light and took him away from us.” Tears filled her eyes, and I walked around to hug her.
“The business is great, Mom. We have that under control,” I assured her, holding her close. “We all miss him. I feel like I have to be him every single day sometimes, and then I worry about Brandon.”
“You are doing a fantastic job. They keep in touch with me down there, and I’ve even had lunch with Kathryn a few times. Everybody is pleased.” Mom pulled away and composed herself. “Everybody 's happy.”
“Good. They’ll keep feeling that way,” I promised her as I returned to my seat, watching her carefully.
I went to bed early that night, and when I got into work, there was an email from Veronica. She explained that she was dealing with some health issues and had to leave the job, attaching a vague letter from a doctor. I read through it again, wondering what the hell was wrong with her as Brandon came in with coffee. “What’s wrong?”
“Veronica is gone. She’s sick or something,” I said as he sat down and stared at me. “She sent a fucking email.”
“Any details?” He asked, looking like he had a long night.
“No. I think the note excuses that, though I’ll have to check with HR. I am new to all of this,” I replied as I took a sip of the coffee that he offered me.
“No assistant,” he said, his face dropping. “She was so fun.”
I sent her the last check, and the rumors ran wild once it got out that Veronica quit. She sounded like she slept with every living soul in the office and while I realized that Veronica was fun, she might have ended up being a problem. I knew that I’d miss her presence around here, as well as that hot body. I knew that my brother would miss her, but I made the decision to work without an assistant for a while.
There were rumors that she was pregnant, but I hoped not. I thought that Brandon and I were always careful, but there were so many times that we slept with her.
