The Inheritance (Forever Bound #1) (16 page)

She nodded as each one waved to her and then quietly replied, “It’s nice to meet all of you.”

“Likewise,” they said, almost in unison.

“Okay. Then we are adjourned until next week. Have a great day!”

Everyone stood to their feet and started dismissing. He stopped Lily and Charity before they could leave the conference room. In a way, he felt awkward talking to Charity for the first time after giving her not such a nice greeting. He wasn’t as strict as he seemed at that moment. Things happened, and people were late beyond their control, but he also didn’t want Charity to think that there weren’t consequences for unacceptable behavior.

“How are things going this morning?” he asked, directing the question to Charity.

Charity nodded. “Great! Lily is giving me the guided tour of where everything is so I can lay of the land. We even took a tour of the building and I got to meet everyone.”

He chuckled. “So, in other words you met everyone I just introduced you to?” She sheepishly nodded. He didn’t know why no one told him, but he figured it was out of courtesy. It didn’t matter anyway. “I’m glad your morning is going well. I know I’m leaving you in good hands with Lily, and she’ll teach you everything you need to know, but if you need anything don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you!” she replied. Lily and Charity left the conference room, and his eyes followed them. He would talk to Lily separate to find out how the training was going over the course of time, and they would decide when she was ready to be on her own. He didn’t want to rush her, but he also felt he couldn’t hold back Lily from leaving when she wanted to take off. Her replacement was there, and it was only a matter of time.

***

“Do you have any questions before you leave?” Lily asked. There was uncertainty in her voice and Charity knew why. So much information was thrown at her, that Charity was exhausted from overusing her brain.

“Can I get back to you on that?” Charity asked with a light chuckle.

Lily nodded and smiled. “I know it’s a lot of information and I’m pumping it into you like my last day is tomorrow, but really I want you to feel comfortable.”

“Well, now that you mention it…when is your last day?” Charity asked.

Lily shrugged. “Whenever you’re comfortable. Ideally, I would like to be gone by the end of next week.” Charity opened her mouth, and Lily held up her hand to stop her from speaking. “Ideally…realistically, it might be a month.” She shrugged again and smiled. “I’ll be fine with that.”

Charity breathed a sigh of relief, before saying her goodbyes and heading out of the office. She kept her notebook tucked in her purse so she could go over the notes about various tasks Derek might request of her. She made it to the car before her phone signaled the text message. She opened her door and rummaged through her purse, retrieving her cell phone.

Damian: Hope your first day went well. Thinking of you!

It was a simple enough text, but there were a ton of hidden messages she could read through. It was sweet of him to voice concern, but did he expect her to fall all over his tenderness? She put her phone back in her purse and completely ignored it until she pulled into the parking lot of the apartment and she got up into her apartment and was behind closed doors.

Charity: Thank you! It went well, but my brain is fried. Off to bed early tonight.

She dropped her phone back into her purse and pushed it aside. The previous night when they started sexting each other, she found it to be enjoyable, and it didn’t give her a care in the world. Now, a day later…she was a bit hesitant. It was one thing to go to one another whenever they needed a pick-me-up, and it was quite another to rely on that experience. She wasn’t ready to go full force. When she heard a message ding on her cellphone, she didn’t bother looking. Instead, she went to the kitchen and made an easy supper to pass the time.

She kept her phone in her purse, while she took a relaxing bath, and while she looked over the notebook once she was dressed and in bed. She did exactly as she planned…fell asleep and didn’t look back. The message could wait.

Derek walked down the stairs and headed to the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, he glanced around the empty room. “Mary?” he called out. She didn’t respond, but he noticed a note on the counter and went to it.

Derek

I’m sorry to run this morning. I got a call from my son, and his wife went into labor. I put your breakfast together, and it’s in the microwave. Warm it up for two minutes and you should be good to go. I’ll call you later!

Mary

He smiled as he silently read the letter and put it back on the counter. He walked over to the microwave and typed two into the appliance and leaned back against the counter. He got lost in watching the numbers count backward. When the timer dinged on the microwave, he removed the plate of eggs, sausage, and hash browns and carried it to the table.

When he sat down, he took a moment to look around the kitchen. There were very few times in his life where he felt his life had little meaning because after all he was the mayor, and that meant something. However, he sometimes sat back and observed the way things were. Especially when he was alone and sitting in an empty house, things seemed so futile, and he had to shake himself out of his melancholy state.

He picked up the fork and started to eat, drowning out the thoughts in his head. He finished off his breakfast and grabbed a small cup of milk, quickly downing it, before taking his briefcase and keys and heading out to work.

Traffic was nonexistent on his way to work, so he made excellent time. He pulled into the parking garage and spotted Lily’s vehicle right away, but despite looking around for the car he recalled Charity had been driving, he didn’t spot her car. He got out of his car and went to the entrance of the building. He casually waved to a few people that bypassed him. He took the elevator up to his office, and when he got off, he found Lily sitting at her computer.

He approached her, and she looked up. “Good Morning!”

“Good Morning, Lily.” He glanced around to make sure he just didn’t miss Charity’s car. He didn’t want to appear that he was checking up on her, even if that’s exactly what he was doing. “How’d yesterday go?” he asked.

She smiled. “Well, I filled her head with a lot of information, but she asked questions.” He frowned, not getting the meaning. She laughed. “It’s a good thing when a person asks questions.”

“It is?” he asked.

She snickered and rolled her eyes. “Of course. At least she acts interested. I think she’s going to work out. I have a good feeling about her.”

This time, he snickered at Lily’s conversation. “You get that feeling after just one day?”

She smiled. “I’m a woman. It doesn’t take us much time.”

He laughed and shook his head. “What was I thinking?” He was about to tell her that he hoped she was right, and he would be in his office for a good portion of the day when the elevator opened. He casually looked at his watch, as he turned around and saw Charity coming off the elevator.

She seemed to take note of his action, and she smirked as she approached him. “I’m right on time. Wouldn’t want to have two strikes against me.” Her eyes shone as she looked at him.

He found himself chuckling, which was a surprising reaction, especially when she so confidently teased with him. He wasn’t used to a reaction like that around him, and he enjoyed the soft lilt in her voice. “Glad to see you do know how to tell time.” He nodded, focusing his eyes on her. “Ladies…” he softly muttered and turned away from the desk, then briskly walked to his office. No one had ever gotten him to soften the way she did, and he couldn’t tell if he liked it or would rather build the walls back up.

***

Charity snickered as she put her purse in the drawer designated for her. She then spotted Lily’s eyes on her, and she shrugged. “What?” she asked.

Lily laughed. “What? Oh nothing, but I think you confuse him.”

“Confuse him?” Charity asked, laughing and simply looking toward his office where he had his back to them. Her eyes stayed on him until he walked around to the other side of his desk and she almost got caught being a voyeur. “Confuse him, how?” she asked, bringing her eyes back to Lily.

Lily looked up and smiled. Charity liked Lily, and she almost hated she was taking her job. She wanted to keep Lily around. “Derek doesn’t usually falter when someone speaks to him. He has a job where he’s faced with many different types of people, and he can handle everything thrown at him. However, with you…it’s like he almost doesn’t know how to be around you.”

Charity laughed. It didn’t make sense. Derek was the Mayor of the town, and she was just a woman that had never had much say in anything. Why would he not be able to handle what she threw at him? “With all due respect, I think you’re crazy.” She shook her head and took a seat at the desk.

Lily shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. Go ahead and pull up the calendar.”

Charity did just that, but couldn’t get the idea out of her mind. She was certain Lily was mistaken, but it was a laughable thought. The intercom buzzed in, and Charity answered him as she recalled learning from the previous day. “Hello!”

“Um…Charity. Get me a coffee.” His voice was harsh, and Charity glanced at Lily. Was this the reaction Lily was referring to?

“Yes, sir.” She disconnected the intercom and glanced at Lily. “Still feel the same?” she asked, Lily.

Lily laughed and nodded. Charity got up and went to the coffee maker, where she poured him a cup and carried it to his office. He looked up and grabbed the cup from her. “Thank you!” he mumbled.

“My pleasure. Anything else, Sir?” she asked. He looked up and shook his head as he took a sip of the coffee. She turned on her heel and went back where Lily was waiting for her to return. She finished pulling up the calendar and brought up the current day. Lily stared at her when she finally caught her eye. “Now, what?” Charity asked, pushing the inquiring look from her mind.

Lily cleared her throat and looked back at the calendar. “It’s a pretty quiet day, as of right now, but to the right I’ve made some notes. There’s an organ donor breakfast at the Hospital next Monday, and the Mayor’s office is heading up, so we need to call the guests and make sure they’re still keeping their reservations. That’s forty-five guests. Are you up for it?” she asked.

Charity nodded. “Are the names of the guests in the online Rolodex?”

“They are. If you pull up the Rolodex, you will find a part for special events. I’ll show you.”

Charity pulled up the Rolodex and Lily directed her to locate the list of guests. Charity immediately started calling them up, using the same sentence to open up the conversation. “Good Morning, this is Charity Parker from Mayor Worthington’s office, and I’m calling to follow up on your reservation for the organ donor breakfast.” When the person on the other end of the call, acknowledged that they knew what Charity was talking about, she would continue. “Are you still interested in attending?” If they said yes, she would make sure they had the correct number of seats, but if they said no she would regretfully accept their declination and tell them to have a great day! It was all pretty repetitive, but she was surprised by how quickly time passed with going over the guest list. At one point, Lily jumped on another phone to help with the calls and within two hours they had all forty-five guests called and confirmed, including the twenty people those guests would be bringing, with only a total of seven people backing out.

Lily sighed, walking back over to the desk and putting the notebook down that contained the list of people she called. “Not bad! Now…you tell Derek what we found out.”

Charity tilted her head. “Tell him what exactly?” she asked. In her eyes, it wasn’t like she just stopped world hunger. She simply made a few phone calls, and she could casually mention it to him when she crossed his path. She didn’t need to take out a billboard and advertise every little detail, did she?

“Tell him that you have called and confirmed a total of fifty-eight guests for the Organ Donor breakfast. Communication is key in this job, and it might be a lot of back and forth, but eventually it all settles in.”

Charity nodded. She could talk to him, so she didn’t know why the sudden uneasiness of heading to his office. When she reached the door, she spotted that he was on his phone. His brow was furrowed, and he looked irritated, to say the least. She hung at the door, unsure whether to leave or to wait for him to get off the phone. She didn’t need to contemplate the idea for too long, because he hung up the phone, literally slamming it down on the base, and hurriedly started typing on his keyboard.

She hesitated but found herself knocking on his office door. “Don’t have time to chat, Charity,” he huffily replied, still staring down at his computer and never looking her way. She froze, really debating if it was worth standing there awkwardly until he heaved a sigh and looked up. “What?” he asked, looking up and this time not breaking eye-contact. Her knees were shaky, and she had to will herself not to run out of the office, or worse…start crying.

“I…uh…I mean…” she approached his desk, choosing not to run. “Lily told me to advise you that fifty-two…I mean, fifty-eight people are confirmed for the Hospital breakfast on Monday.”

“Fine!” he stated, looking back down at his computer. She started to walk away when he cleared his throat. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome!” she mumbled, stumbling out of his office and trying to gain space from him. When she got back to the desk, Lily cocked her head. Charity looked into her eyes. “I told him!”

Lily raised a knowing eyebrow at her. “He can be a little overbearing and hard to read, but he means well. Really…he does and you can always count on him to have your back.”

Charity laughed. She’d just have to take Lily’s word for it because right now she was ready to start looking for another job and she wasn’t a quitter unless she had no other choice. She needed to give it a little more time and hope that soon Derek would suddenly realize she wasn’t the enemy, and he didn’t have to be angry at her.

***

Derek read the email one more time, not understanding why it was so hard to locate one family. Calvin never had this much trouble, but he was turning up dead end after dead end.

Derek

I’m heading to California on another lead. I’ll keep you posted.

Cal

He looked away from the computer. After receiving the call from Calvin, explaining that Victoria had left the rehab in Mexico only fifteen hours earlier than when he got there, Derek was left in disbelief. “Cal, you’re losing your sixth sense,” he told him, angrily speaking into the phone. “How can you possibly not find two people?”

Calvin couldn’t seem to respond to the question. He had no answers. This was a first for him and now, according to the email, he was going after another lead that could easily turn into another dead end. He still hadn’t received a call back from Jenna, but he would’ve been shocked if he had. He turned off his computer and grabbed his car keys, then left his office.

Lily was sitting at her desk, eating her lunch, but she looked up when he got closer. “Going out for lunch?” she asked.

“Yep! Need anything?” he asked. She shook her head, but there was something hidden in her expression, that caused him to pause. “What? Something bothering you?”

She shrugged, putting her spoon down in her bowl. “You tell me.”

He shook his head. “Don’t have time for games. Something’s clearly bothering you. What is it?”

She frowned, then chuckled and a wrinkle formed on her forehead. Then she told him what was on her mind. “You didn’t exactly find my replacement in the first handful of applicants.”

“So?” he asked.

“So?” she asked. “My point is…do you really want to have to go through another batch of candidates and look for someone else? I don’t want to have to leave you high and dry, Derek, but if you leave me no choice…” her words trailed off.

“I knew this would happen,” he mumbled, slowly realizing what she was talking about.

“You knew what would happen?” she asked.

“I feared she wouldn’t have the experience needed. I was hoping she’d last longer than two days, but it is what it is.”

Lily’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding right?” she asked. When Derek didn’t respond in a way she seemed to want him to, she threw up her hands. “Derek…she isn’t the problem. You are!”

“What?”

She shook her head and sunk back into her chair. “Derek you’re like a brother to me and our working relationship seemed to just work over the course of my employment here, and I might be way out of line. Let’s face it…I’m way out of line here, but I have nothing to lose. You're a jerk towards her and if you don’t shape up…she’ll quit and you’ll have no other choice but to hire someone else.”

Derek processed the words, but the more he thought about them, the angrier he became. “You’re wrong!” he snapped.

“Derek, I’m simply trying to be real here. What did you say to her when she went into your office earlier today?”