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23
Saona
“So, are you going anywhere for the holidays or are you going to join me and the partners for the cruise?” Carina’s tone is tight and I know she’s threading on borderline impatience.
I can’t blame her. She’s been asking for the past two weeks. The truth is, I should go. I don’t want to leave Sierra alone with Mom for Thanksgiving but she’s going to the Dominican Republic to spend Christmas with my grandma. I don’t want to go there either. But I’ll have to decide soon. Cruise with Carina, while fending off the advances of at least two of her coworkers. Or a tight Christmas dinner with my mom but I can be there for Sierra who’s soon to be divorced and needs me.
I can always stay by myself in New York.
“Go ahead and book without me. I’m leaning toward going with the family and don’t want to hold you up.”
The hmmm is long and pronounced. I’m so not in the mood today. She’s about to lecture me about not going out with anyone.
“Saona—”
“Look—”
“Sorry—” Jess, my assistant, appears at the door.
“Carina, my assistant is here. I need to call you back.”
I hang up and wave Jess in. “You saved me from an annoying sermon, followed by an ultimatum. I’m so buying you designer for Christmas.”
She laughs, her layered bob bouncing as she takes the chair across from me. “I’m looking forward to that. You can Kate Spade me all you want.”
I smile and give myself a mental fist-pump. Because I’ve already bought her gift and I got it right. It’s a Kate Spade tote she’ll love.
“What’s up?”
She looks down at her notepad. There’s a list of items on there. “Okay, we have to talk about the Christmas party. I booked the restaurant and made the orders for the staff swag bags. I cannot tell you what a coup thoseLash N’ Glowlip and shadow kits are. Every woman on our team is going to flipping die. Not to mention, the guys will pass out over the flask and wallet sets.”
I clap my hands together. “Excellent. Do we have an account on everyone’s schedule? I need to send that report to you-know-who.”
She rolls her eyes. “She’s called three times. It’s not due ‘til Friday. Speaking of, she called about the quarterly trips.”
My heart flips. Quarterly trips mean Baltimore. Baltimore now means Jax.
I keep my face neutral. “What about the quarterly?”
“You know how she is. She wants to know if you’re going to go this time around or send me to handle the stuff like last quarter.” Her gaze drops to her lap. “If you want me to do it, I will.”
She doesn’t want to but won’t say it. I don’t wince like I want to. I chickened out last quarter. The whole rupture with Jax was still too recent, too raw. I didn’t want to go and risk seeing him or facing our memories together. Jess had been more than happy to go in my place. She got compensated with overtime and per diem for it, but I can’t do that to her so close to the holidays. She probably has plans. I need to woman up on this one.
“I will go to Baltimore.”
Jess exhales and her smile can only be described as pure relief. “Thank God.”
“Why, what’s up?”
“Robbie bought tickets for us to go to London for Christmas. He told me last night. I told him I could only go if you didn’t need me.”
“Of course, you should go. The holidays are slow and I can manage with one of the other assistants in the office. You should have started with that, or were you planning on going to Baltimore instead of London, if I asked you?”
Her pale face pinkens.
“Don’t do that again. You know me and I’m not the type of person that would make you miss a trip like that. You know you can talk to me.”
She folds her hands on her lap. “I know. It’s just that I’ve only been working here a year. I don’t want someone to get ahead of me, just because I’m going on vacation.”
