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I suck in a breath. “I don’t wish to be difficult, but you must have known your daughter was going to give birth, and roughly when. Why have you waited until now to tell me?”
“Because they waited until yesterday to invite me over there,” she says, with a hint of steel in her voice.
“You could just take some time off work. You know that, don’t you?”
She looks at me and tilts her head slightly to one side. “Yes, but…”
She stops talking and I nod my head, both of us understanding the other, I think. I might bear my father’s surname, but there the similarity ends. Personally, I think that’s an advantage. I can’t remember ever liking my father very much, let alone loving him, but I think Doreen might have done. God knows how. He was the most unpleasant man I’ve ever known. But maybe she saw something the rest of us didn’t.
“I’ll arrange it,” I say, smiling at her, so she knows there are no hard feelings, even though her departure is likely to cause me some serious headaches.
“I’ll happily help with handing over to whoever you get as my replacement.”
Assuming we can find someone before you leave. “That’s very kind, and I’m grateful for everything you’ve done to make the last year a lot easier for me than it might have been.”
She blinks rapidly as she gets to her feet. She’s clearly finding this an emotional moment and I don’t know what to do. I feel as though any more words will only cause her further upset, but I don’t know her well enough to hug her… even though I’ve known her all my life.
She saves me the embarrassment of trying to work it out, and leaves the room, while I stare at my computer screen for a moment, feeling a little lost, before I realize I need to act… and act quickly. I bring up my email app and start typing…
‘Miles,
Doreen is leaving in six weeks, so I need you to find me a replacement ASAP.
Keep me posted on developments.
Hunter’
I press send and get up, wandering over to the coffee machine in the corner of the room and making myself a cup of very strong espresso, which I bring back to my desk, just as my phone rings. It’s lying face-down, and I pick it up, rolling my eyes when I see the name ‘Miles’ on the screen. Why am I not surprised?
“Yes?” I say, snapping out my greeting, although that’s not unusual with Miles. He has a habit of annoying me, like many of the people who were here in my father’s time and whose contracts I gained, along with the title of CEO.
“Six weeks?” he says, not bothering to greet me, either. “You know that anyone who’s any good is going to need to give three months’ notice at their current job?”
“Of course I do.”
“But you’re only giving me six weeks?”
“No. Doreen is giving me six weeks.”
“And you’re letting her?”
“Yes, Miles. It’s called loyalty. And when I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.”
He sighs, but clearly knows when to stop arguing. “I take it you want someone with experience?”
“Ideally. It’s not vital that they’ve worked in advertising before, but some experience of being a PA would be useful.”
I hear him suck in a breath. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do.”
Anyone would have thought I’d asked him to solve the climate crisis, or bring about world peace, but before I can say anything, he hangs up, and I stare at the phone, wondering why I so rarely feel like I’m in charge around here.
I try to get back to the proposal I was working on, but I can’t settle, and after twenty minutes, I pick up my phone again and connect a call to the only other person on this planet who understands what it feels like to be Theodore Bennett’s son… my younger brother, Drew.
“Can I call you back?” he says, sounding rushed.
“Sure.”
“Sorry. I’m right in the middle of a shoot and the model’s being a pain in my ass.”
