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I have to fly to London on Monday afternoon with Owen and spend three nights there with him. Jill asked me about an hour ago if I would be okay with doing this. After I said yes, she sent this email with all the details about the trip. The email feels like the closing of the deal, the thing that says I can’t back out now.
I should quit my job.
Right now.
Yes, that’s exactly what I should do.
I immediately open a new email and draft a letter to Jill.
From:Jill’s Assistant
To: Jill North
Date: May 21, 2021, 10:05 AM
Subject: Resignation
Ms. North,
I’mregretful to advise I must resign as your assistant. I can’t possibly continue in this position. Not when I want to break the agreement you have with the CEO that states he won’t fuck a staff member. I mean, while we have had sex outside of company time, if you send me to London with him, I am very sure we will have sexoncompany time.
I hope you can understand.I’m more than happy to service the needs of your CEO, but I do think in this instance that you should find another assistant to service the actual needs he’ll have in London.
Charlize Cohen
Assistant to Jill North
I’m staringat this email when Tahlia calls me.
I snatch up my phone while hitting delete on the email. “Tahlia.”
She laughs and I realize I must have sounded needy or desperate. Ifeelthose things. I feel completely bewildered over my London assignment and it’s scrambling all my thoughts. “Are you okay, Charlize?”
I grip the phone harder. “Yes. Sorry, just having a moment there. What’s up?”
“Jill asked me to call and go over everything you’ll need to know for next week. Is now a good time? It’ll take a little while.”
I take a deep breath and center myself. “Yes, shoot.”
We spend the next hour covering everything in detail. Tahlia emails me copious documents and information I’ll require while I take just as many notes. Owen has a conference to attend which I’ll be sitting in on with him so I can follow up on any action items for him. He’ll also be holding meetings with potential investors that I’ll be in charge of making sure go ahead without a hitch.
“Owen’s generally good at time management,” Tahlia says, “but he needs someone to keep him on track when he’s surrounded by people. He’s a little too good at networking and will get sidetracked if someone engages him in a discussion that he finds interesting. A lot of your job will be to manage him and his time in respect to his priorities and goals, so please make sure you familiarize yourself with the expected outcomes of this trip.”
I make a big note about that:MANAGE OWEN.
“I will.”
“Thank you for this. I’ve never left him hanging like this, so it puts me at ease to know you’ll be there to help him.”
I smile at what I hear in her voice. Tahlia genuinely cares about Owen and his success. “I hope your sister is okay. And please know I’ve got this. I’m going to spend this weekend making sure I have all the information I need.”
“Just call, text, or email if you have any questions. I’m always available.”
We end the call and I get to work. Jill has made it clear her list of jobs comes second now. She’s switched a lot of my work to Tahlia and vice versa so I can prepare for the trip. I haven’t spoken with Owen about any of this yet and can’t help wondering his thoughts. I don’t dedicate too much time to that today, though. There’s far too much for me to do that I’m completely focused on work.
At four thirty, Tahlia calls me again. We’ve been in touch throughout the day whenever either of us thought of something I need to know for next week. This time, she says, “I need to ask Owen something, but he’s got his phone switched to silent. Can you go and interrupt him and ask him to call me?”
“Sure.” I push my chair back to stand.
