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P.S. 817 times? Don’t you have a corporation to run? Better get to it.
Addie hit send and glanced at the clock. Seven fifty-nine a.m. Shit.
Hightailing it to Sondra’s office, she knocked once before letting herself in.
Sondra didn’t look up from computer. “Morning, Mrs. Greyer.”
Addie sat down in the chair across from Sondra’s desk and folded her hands in her lap. She took a deep breath. Better get it over with.
Sondra finally looked up, the look on her face offering nothing.
Addie sat up straighter. “I appreciate the offer, Sondra. I really do. But I’m sorry. I can’t do it.”
“I must say, Mrs. Greyer, that I am disappointed, but not surprised.”
Addie frowned, but stayed quiet. Oh, shit. Here we go. She’s going to let me have it.
What Sondra said next nearly knocked her over. “I’m not going to talk you into this. I am only going to say that you have a very bad habit of underestimating yourself. In turn, you allow everyone else to do the same. You let people walk all over you. Treat you however they like. So they do. Addie, your marriage is crumbling. Your husband does what he pleases. He left the country with little regard to the effect that it would have on you, much less your children, and you stand by and watch it happen. You need to stop being a doormat and take charge of your life.”
Addie’s mouth went dry. What could she say? That she was surprised that Sondra had such keen observation? That she had her pegged? It was one thing that Addie thought these things herself, that she knew it all deep down. But to hear someone else say it, to have someone who was practically a stranger verbalize these things out loud, shook her to her core.
“Aren’t you going to tell me I’m mistaken?”
Addie didn’t speak.
“Have I ever told you that I was once married too, Addison?”
Addie shook her head. Really?
Sondra continued, her voice low. “We were high-school sweethearts. We married young, straight out of college. He was the love of my life. Two years into our marriage, I came home one day to find him loading suitcases in his trunk. I thought maybe he had another business trip that maybe he’d forgotten to tell me about. He was leaving me, Addison. Turns out, he had fallen in love with his secretary. I hadn’t a clue that he was having an affair. A week or so after he left, I found myself staring at two lines on a pregnancy test. We were going to have a baby, but he wasn’t coming back. Said he had moved on with his life and that I should too. I was in shock. Devastated. Two weeks later, I moved my stuff into a tiny apartment because it was all I was going to be able to afford with a baby as a single mom. As I sat in that tiny apartment, surveying my new life, finally feeling hopeful, I began bleeding profusely. In the ambulance, on the way to the hospital, I nearly bled out. I almost died, Addison. I lost the baby and was told that I’d never be able to have children. While I lay there in that hospital bed for two weeks recovering, he never visited or even called. Not once.”
“I’m sorry. Sondra.” Addie said, hot tears stinging her cheeks.
“Don’t be. I learned a valuable lesson then, Addison. I was never going to put myself in that position again. I see a little bit of myself in you. I ended up broke, alone, and scared. I don’t want to see what happened to me happen to you.”
Addison stared at her hands. “I am . . . We are fine.”
“Just think about it a little more, ok? Give it a few days.”
Addie stood to go.
“Ok,” she said without looking back.
Ten
Sondra Sheehan was the sort of woman who didn’t take no for an answer. Being petite, she learned early in life that she’d have to make up what she lacked in size with straight-up bravado. With a short red bob and deep green eyes, Sondra was elegant and high class. Always well put together, not a single hair out of place, she liked order and carried herself in a way that let everyone know the high standards she’d set for them without her ever having to utter the words. Yet, for someone always in control, she found herself completely taken aback by her current predicament.
Addison Greyer had to take her up on her offer. She just had to. There was just no way around it. Time was running out for Sondra, knowing that she’d have to make a decision soon. Having Addison fill in for her as Head Mistress was a brilliant idea, one that had come to Sondra almost completely by accident. Sure, Sondra had a lengthy list of women that she could have chosen for the role, but she wanted Addison. You see, Sondra was smart, extremely savvy, and knew deep down that none of these women quite fit the bill. First of all, she didn’t trust any of them to handle her business and her clients in the same manner that she would. But mostly, it was the fact that Sondra didn’t trust that they wouldn’t steal her business right out from under her. These women were ruthless, which was, for the most part, a necessity in the business they were in. On the other hand, Sondra understood that this also disqualified them from being true leaders. A leader needed to be firm, but vulnerable. Smart, but willing to learn. Assertive, yet open.
Though she would never let on, from the moment she met Addie, Sondra liked her, which was a rare thing because Sondra liked very few people. There was something about Addie though. Sondra saw her as an underdog: The least likely to win, yes, but also as someone who had a fighting spirit that if one only looked for hard enough he would find. Sondra saw herself in Addie. She knew that, like herself with the right mentor, Addison could become a winner.
The situation in the elevator only added to the mystery. Admittedly, without this piece of the puzzle, Sondra never would’ve considered taking on such a daunting task in her current situation. Getting Mrs. Greyer into fighting shape was really more than she wanted to take on, and had she not found out about Addison's impromptu affair with William Hartman, she never would’ve considered it. It was her star client who informed her of the videotape. A high-profile attorney thrilled yet shameful about selling it, he brought the information to her in a session. It was easy putting two and two together once Mr. Hartman called her about hiring Addison. If Sondra hadn’t known better, she’d have thought it a purely brilliant maneuver for Mrs. Greyer to land herself a job this way. Admittedly, she was disappointed when she learned this wasn’t exactly how it’d all played out.
While it didn’t exactly surprise her that Addie hadn’t said yes to her offer right away, she was perplexed. Why hadn’t she asked about her medical condition and the reason Sondra needed to step out? The fact that she hadn’t asked had only reconfirmed what Sondra knew to be true: Mrs. Greyer was perfect for the role. She respected privacy, yet she had an openness about her that made you want to tell her the truth. Any Mistress, especially Head Mistress, had to have this quality, and it was a rarity. It was upon this realization that Sondra realized what she had to do to get Addison to accept the offer. Then and there, she’d decided it was time to tell her the truth.
Addison’s day was filled with wall-to-wall meetings, which she was grateful for because it kept her mind focused on work and off of the shit storm that seemed to be surrounding her at the moment.
Penny, her mother-in-law, had been breathing down her neck ever since Patrick had announced he was taking the promotion. She’d already called three times this morning, and Penny was the last thing Addie needed or wanted to deal with right then.
