AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Breathe, Jill.Back, left, right.
Nope, didn’t help a damn bit.
Chapter Two
Andrew Weston walked into the coffee shop in the lobby of the offices of Sutton Capital where he had been Chief Financial Officer for the past five years. He didn’t look like your average corporate officer, dressed as he was in jeans and a polo shirt.
He grabbed a paper cup and lid from the stack on the counter and smiled at the two women next to him as he poured much-needed caffeine into his cup.
“Morning, Margie, Donna.” Margie and Donna worked in the mailroom at Sutton. They were always together, like two halves of a whole. And they hit on Andrew any chance they got.
“Andrew, when are you gonna stop leading us on and just choose one of us? It’s not fair to keep us waiting for a decision,” Margie said with a flirty smile.
“Yeah, just pick one, Andrew. We’ve been fighting over you long enough. Put us out of our misery,” Donna said.
Andrew laughed. The two of them knew as well as any woman that Andrew never dated anyone in the office. In fact, he didn’t really date. He slept with women, but that was it.
But they teased him just the same. It had become a game.
“Sorry, ladies. How can I possibly choose between two such gorgeous women? And, if I did choose, one of you would be heartbroken and I’d feel guilty. It might keep me up at night and then I’d lose my beauty sleep. Can’t do it, ladies.” Andrew laughed as he walked to the counter.
He smiled at the balding man behind the cash register. “Hi, Pete. Put Margie and Donna’s coffee on my bill. And, I’ll take a bagel, too, please,” Andrew said. He put cash on the counter, grabbed his bagel and coffee and took off for the elevators.
When he stepped off on the twenty-sixth floor of the building, it took a split second to realize something wasn’t right. His assistant, Debbie, rushed down the hall toward him with an anxious look on her face that put him instantly on high alert.
“Andrew,” Debbie called out to him from a good ten feet away. “Lydia just called. Your grandmother fell on ice on her front walk. They’re taking her to Yale-New Haven Hospital. They think she’s broken her hip.”
Lydia was the housekeeper and cook who had lived with his grandmother since Andrew could remember. She was as much a part of his family as his grandmother herself. Lydia was in her sixties now and his grandmother was rounding eighty this year.
Andrew turned back toward the elevator without waiting for Debbie to tell him what he already knew. She didn’t need direction. Debbie anticipated Andrew’s needs before he figured them out himself.
Andrew said she was responsible for at least seventy percent of his success. He knew Debbie would have already cancelled his appointments for the day. She also would have told Lydia that Andrew would be there as fast as he could.
He raised his hand to his ear. “I’ll call you,” he said as the elevator doors shut. Andrew stared at the numbers as the elevator counted down to the garage then ran back to his car with no other thought in his mind than he needed to get to his grandmother.
As soon as his car cleared the garage, he spoke.
“Dial Debbie.”
The car’s Bluetooth system answered in its stilted computer-generated voice, “Dialing Debbie.”
“I’m here,” said Debbie, picking up on the first ring.
“Let Jack know I’ll be taking two weeks off,” Andrew began.
“Already done,” Debbie said. “I’ve got Paul and Katelyn taking over most of your meetings. I cancelled everything they couldn’t cover.”
Andrew’s breath came out with a large whoosh as relief washed over him. He had the support he needed to care for his grandmother.
Nora Weston was not your typical grandmother. She was spunky and eccentric and didn’t take crap from anyone, but she was also warm and caring and the most loving person in Andrew’s life. She had always been there for him and he would always be there for her.
“Can you look into nursing care and rehab specialists that will come to the house? As soon as I know the extent of her injuries, I’ll let you know the exact care she’ll need, but for now, let’s just see where we can get the best care. It needs to be in-home though. Nora wouldn’t handle going to a rehab center or nursing home,” Andrew said.
“Got it. I think Mary Shaver’s mom needed nursing care recently. I’ll see who she used,” Debbie said.
“There’s a carriage house on Nora’s property. I’ll move in there temporarily. Can you arrange to have some things from my condo packed and sent over? It’s furnished so I just need clothes, toiletries, that kind of thing. My bike. Have them bring my bike over.” Andrew liked to ride on the days he didn’t go to the gym or play basketball with Chad and Jack, the cousins who were his two closest friends.
“Done.”
