Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
I examined my reflection in the full-length mirror, double-checking each item of clothing I wore wasn’t inside out or back to front. A repeat of what happened on my first run-in with Neil was something I intended to avoid at all costs.
No visible tags, no unsightly seams, nothing on the front that should have been on the back. I wore all of my clothing correctly, but I still narrowed my eyes, scrutinising my appearance. Christine was so elegant. In contrast, I looked sloppy in an ill-fitting polyester shirt, wrinkled black pants, and a ratty cardigan. Unfortunately, this was all I had, and I couldn’t afford to go out and buy a whole new work wardrobe. Not right away, at least.
Eighty-five thousand.
Maybe I could treat myself to a mini shopping spree once my first paycheck hit my bank account. A long time had passed since I last bought myself any new clothes.
I checked the time. It was eight o’clock already, so I had no more time to obsess over my outfit or put on makeup. I had to get going. I threw on a coat, pulled my bag over my shoulder, and strode out of my apartment, locking the door behind me.
This was it. My first day as Neil Kingston’s secretary. I was too nervous to read my book, so I spent the train ride calming myself with positive affirmations.
You can do it. Think of the paycheck. You’ll be able to pay down your student loan in no time, then you can move to London and travel like you’ve always wanted.
Working for Neil won’t be so bad. He said I impressed him. He said I’m devious—whatever that’s supposed to mean. Out of all the people he could have chosen, he picked me. Who cares why? Eighty-five freaking thousand!
When I entered the lift, I pressed five by accident, realised my mistake, then hit twenty. The door opened on the top floor. I gave a nod to James at the reception desk. “Morning, James,” I said.
He beamed at me. “Hi, Amelia.”
“Call me Milly, if you like. Most people do.”
“Okay, then. Milly it is. I hear you’ve joined the little team up here.”
“Yes. I don’t quite know how or why it happened, but here I am.”
“Good luck.”
“Thanks. Well, see you around.”
“Sure. I’m here if you need anything.”
I walked the path to Neil’s office, which was familiar by now, and entered the room where I’d be working at the desk that used to be Christine’s. At the opposite end of the room, the woman I saw last time occupied the other desk. She wore a simple pant suit and her long hair tied in a low, thin ponytail.
“Hi,” I said. “I’m Milly, Neil’s new secretary.”
“Petra,” she said. “I’m from admin, but I’m helping out here for now.”
“Have you been filling in for a while?”
“A couple of weeks. Christine’s original replacement quit! Just walked right out. I think it was too much for her.”
So, there was someone else before me…
I cringed. “That doesn’t bode well. Do you know what happened?”
“Not really.”
“Damn. What was she like?”
She shrugged. “Never met her.”
The butterflies in my stomach thrashed their wings. Neil had already made one person quit. How was I going to fare?
“So, uh, I guess I should let Neil know I’ve arrived. Is he in?”
“Yes. He’s here.”
I approached the door to Neil’s office. It was ajar, but I still gave a little knock to announce myself. He sat at his desk down at the end of the room, elbows on the table. His fingertips massaged his temples as he examined a stack of papers in front of him. Upon my entry, he dropped his hands and lifted his gaze to me. His dark eyes slid down my body, then back up again, a look of displeasure on his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose in apparent exasperation.
I suddenly felt self-conscious, and I crossed my arms like I could cover myself from his scrutiny. He said nothing, so I walked closer and greeted him, not knowing what else to do. “Good morning,” I said, then blushed, remembering our first encounter and the way I had used those words to flirt with him. I could only hope he had been oblivious to my motive.
He didn’t bother to return my greeting. “The office manual is on your desk,” he said. “I expect you to familiarise yourself with it.”
I nodded, biting my tongue.
“Petra is here for a few days until you’ve settled in. She has assisted Christine on occasion in the past, so she knows what to do. If you need anything, ask her.”
“I will.”
“If she’s unable to help you, you may ask me if my door’s open. If it’s closed, I expect no interruptions.”
“Understood.”
He glanced at his watch. “I have a meeting to get to.” He rose and pulled his suit jacket off the back of his chair and put it on over his white shirt and dark grey vest.
“Should I come with you?” I asked.
He eyed me as if my question offended him. “No.”
With that, he marched out. I took a seat at my new desk as he disappeared down the corridor, heavy footsteps fading into the distance.
Why even hire me if he’s going to be so rude?
“What’s up his arse?” I grumbled as soon as I judged him to be out of earshot.
A faint smile crossed Petra’s lightly freckled face. “He’s always like that.”
I rubbed my forehead. “What have I got myself into?”
“He’s not that bad. He’s grumpy, but he’s not mean.”
“Not mean,” I repeated. “That’s a pretty low bar. Do you know if Christine usually went to meetings with him? Shouldn’t a secretary go and take notes or something?”
She shrugged. “Sometimes, I guess. Depends on the meeting.”
I slumped in my fancy office chair. Everything was fancier in this office. The computer had one of those extra wide, curved monitors which replaced the need to have two separate screens. The wireless mechanical keyboard and wireless mouse had special ergonomic designs. A headset rested on a stand on the left of the desk, a landline phone on the right, and a soundbar speaker sat below the raised monitor. The desk itself seemed to be made from solid wood. A thick, spiral-bound document took pride of place on its surface, office manual printed on the cover page beneath a transparent plastic flyleaf. Next to the manual was a mobile phone—the flagship Samsung model.
“Is this mine?” I asked, picking up the phone.
Petra giggled. “Of course. Neil sent me out to buy it for you. It’s your work phone.”
“Oh.”
“I’ve already set it up with contacts, emails, and calendars.”
“Thanks.”
“Work pays for the plan. Unlimited everything.”
I admired the smooth, glass-encased device. I played with it for a minute, unfamiliar with its interface, since I was used to my old, low-spec phone. After that, I took a moment to set up the desk the way I liked before diving into the thick manual. It covered everything, including login information, daily tasks, contacts, file management method, details about Neil’s preferences and his daily schedule, and much more. Christine had scattered Post-It notes throughout, with extra commentary rendered in her beautiful handwriting.
Even if I dedicated all day to reading the manual, I didn’t think I’d make it through to the end. So I flicked through, bookmarking anything which jumped out as being useful in the short term.
I spent the most time studying Neil’s daily schedule, admiring his structured routine. Up at five in the morning, at the gym by six, then at work by half-past seven. He stayed at work until the evening and sometimes continued to work until late at night. The rest of his evenings and weekends were free time. I counted up the hours to discover he worked at least eighty hours a week. He was a workaholic through and through.
The list of Neil’s preferences was also interesting. I learned he was a vegetarian and a non-drinker, which surprised me for some reason.
As I turned to another page, the landline phone on my desk issued a loud ring. I looked at Petra with a hint of panic. “What should I do? I don’t know what to say.”
“They will probably ask to speak with Neil. Say he’s in a meeting and ask if you can take a message.”
I heeded Petra’s advice and picked up the call.
“Neil Kingston’s office, Amelia speaking.”
“Milly,” a warm, familiar female voice said. “It’s Christine. How are you getting on?”
“Christine? Why are you calling? You’ve just had a baby!”
Christine chuckled. “Don’t worry! I’m coping very well. My sister is here. She’s had four kids, so she’s a seasoned pro at this. And the nanny Neil hired for me has been an absolute godsend. It almost feels like cheating.”
Neil hired the nanny for Christine? I guessed it was no skin off his nose. He was rich, and they had worked together for a long time. It was the least he could do.
“That’s good. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well.”
“Thanks again for helping me that time. It was a big wake-up call. Neil forbade me from stepping foot back into the office afterwards, even though it left him in quite the bind. We weren’t expecting me to leave for a few more weeks.”
“Did you want to speak with him?”
“No, I called to talk to you . So, you’ve taken my place as his secretary. I’m thrilled he agreed to it.”
“Neil agreed to it? What do you mean? Wait—was this your idea?”
“Oops. I guess the cat’s out of the bag. Yes, I may have had something to do with it.”
“So, he offered me the job because you asked him to.”
“Not at all. He wouldn’t hire just anybody at someone’s suggestion. I bet he was thinking the same thing before I even mentioned it. He must have seen something in you.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
“You’re devious, Amelia.”
I had replayed those words in my head a lot since Neil spoke them. Maybe that’s what he saw in me. Still, I hadn’t been his first choice.
“He hired someone else before me,” I said.
“Yes, and what a mistake that was.”
“Do you know what happened?”
“No. Neil won’t talk to me. He doesn’t want to put anything on me while I’m recovering. Anyway, what matters is that you’re there now.”
I wondered if Christine knew about the whole Amelia Crook thing, but I didn’t want to bring it up to find out.
“Anyway, I just called to give a few pointers, as it’s your first day and all,” she said.
“That would be helpful. I don’t know what I’m doing right now.”
“I’ve worked with Neil for a long time. So trust me, I know a thing or two. First tip, bring him a coffee every morning as soon as you arrive. Large, black, no sugar.”
I opened my notebook and grabbed a pen to jot the tip down. “From a cafe or from the coffee machine here?”
“The coffee machine is fine. He consumes it for the caffeine fix, not the taste.”
“I see. What next?”
“Remind him of his upcoming appointments for the day and let him know if there’s anything urgent he needs to respond to. After that, he might assign you some tasks, which can vary from day to day. If not, then you’ll spend most of the time managing his inbox, phone calls, and visitors, responding to what you can, taking as much off his plate as possible. Aside from that, you will need to keep the task management system up-to-date at all times, which is a big job in itself.”
“What kind of tasks will Neil give me?”
“Anything. Proofreading a document, compiling a presentation from his notes, buying a gift for a client, booking travel or restaurants… Things like that. Once you’ve been at it for a while, you’ll pick up what needs to be done on intuition. He won’t even need to ask.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“When his door’s closed, don’t interrupt him unless it’s something urgent. When he’s stressed out, give him space.”
“Trust me, I’ll be giving him plenty of space.”
Christine chuckled. “You’ll get used to him. I promise. Think of this job as doing everything you can to make his life easier and reduce his stress. If you can do that, he’ll come to treasure you.”
“I think I get it.”
A noise startled me out of the phone conversation, and I realised Neil had just re-entered the room. He came to the front of my desk and loomed over me, his eyes shooting daggers.
I lost track of what Christine was saying. All my attention was on Neil.
“Is that Christine?” he asked.
I nodded.
He yanked the phone right out of my hand.
“Rest,” he barked into the phone, before slamming it down into its cradle. He proceeded to glare at me as if I had committed a deadly sin.
“I didn’t call her. She called me!” I said in self-defence.
“It’s true,” Petra said from the other end of the room.
“Oh, I believe you,” Neil said. “But that doesn’t excuse what you’ve done. Do not, under any circumstances, talk to Christine. Not for however long it takes for her to recover. Do I make myself clear? She’s just given birth, for God’s sake. She’s done here.”
I was dumbstruck. All I could do was nod my head.
Having made his point, Neil stormed into his office and shut the door behind him.
“Whoa,” Petra said. “I haven’t seen him get that angry before.”
Whoa was right. The pure fury emanating from him was spectacular. It would have upset anyone on the receiving end of it. And yet, I was in awe. The power he commanded without so much as raising his voice… He had rendered me breathless. I had goosebumps.
“I don’t think it was your fault,” Petra said. “She called you on her own accord, so she must have been up to it.”
I shook my head. “No. He was right. I should have put my foot down and insisted she didn’t need to help me. It’s not like she told me anything I couldn’t have worked out on my own.”
Why I was coming to Neil’s defence, I didn’t know. Maybe it was the honourable intention buried somewhere underneath all that chilling rage.
“Okay. But he still shouldn’t have treated you like that. It’s no wonder the other woman up and left.”
I took a breath. “It’s okay. I can handle it.”
It was more a pep talk to myself than a response to Petra’s concern.
Once I had recovered from Neil’s outburst, I turned my focus to the email inbox on my computer, studying how Christine had sorted and tagged messages in the past, and already thinking up some improvements to her system.
The rest of the morning flew by. I took my lunch break at one o’clock, eating the fruit, crackers, and hummus I had brought with me from home. Petra had gone out for lunch, and Neil had disappeared to another meeting, so I was alone in the office.
From my chair, I could see straight out the window behind Petra’s desk. I watched the sky grow dark and dreary, writing off plans to go for a walk outside after lunch. By the time I finished eating, it began to rain, fat droplets pelting the glass.
My eyes went to the window latches. Unable to resist the magnetic pull of the rain, I crossed the floor and unlatched the window, pushing it open as far as it could go before the safety lock kicked in. The rhythmic sound of the rain filled the room. I spent several minutes just listening, enraptured. If cleaning were my top form of stress relief, the sound of rain came in a close second. I closed my eyes, leaning close to the cool glass.
“What are you doing?” Neil snapped behind me.
I shut the window and swung around, hands clasped together behind me. “Nothing. Just letting some air in.”
He regarded me with narrowed eyes and pursed lips, veins popping.
I tried not to squirm or look away. What was so bad about opening a window? Jeez.
“I need you to do something for me,” he said at last. “Read this and summarise the key points.” He passed me the manila folder he clutched in his grip.
“When do you need it done by?”
“Have it on my desk before you leave today.”
His mobile phone rang. He fished it from his suit jacket pocket and answered en route to his office.
I set the chunky file on my desk and opened it.
A few hours later, I had typed up a document of notes, printed it out, and stapled the neat stack together. At the same moment I stood to deliver it to him, Neil came out of his office. I presented it to him.
“Done already?” He furrowed his brow as he flicked through the document. “What is this?”
“Um, the summary you asked me to write.”
He frowned. “Summary? This isn’t a summary. I wanted a one-pager, not an essay.”
“Actually, you didn’t specify?—”
He flicked to the back page and snickered. “You even included references.”
“I thought?—”
He slammed the paper down on the desk, making me flinch. “This is the business world, Amelia, not school. You might be able to impress a teacher with this, but not me. My associates are busy people. I can’t expect them to sit and read a two thousand word essay. They need bullet points. They need information in a way that’s concise and easily digestible. Can you do that?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“Good.” He tossed the document in the bin. “Now redo it.”
I cringed. I had spent so long writing that summary. It was perfect in my eyes.
But not his.
After getting what he came out for, Neil returned to his office. I slumped into my chair in defeat. Now to start all over again. Ugh.
I had never been told off at work before. I was only used to praise. And now, Neil had scolded me twice in one day. It was confronting, but also strangely exhilarating. My heart was pounding.
I opened a blank document and started over. Concise bullet points were more difficult than they seemed. In a way, it was easier writing the “two thousand word essay” as Neil had called it—never mind the fact that it was only seventeen hundred words.
Ugh. This is going to take forever.
Petra got up, put on her jacket, and lifted her bag.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Home. Work’s over.”
I looked at the time. It was already ten minutes past five. “So it is. I lost track of the time.”
“You should get going soon too.”
“I will as soon as I finish this.”
“Don’t take it personally—what Neil said. He’s done that to me before, as well. Okay. Maybe not as bad as that, but still…”
“Don’t worry. I’m not upset.”
Neil had ruffled my feathers, for sure, but I was far from at breaking point.
“Good. Well, see ya tomorrow.”
“See you. Thanks for your help. I couldn’t have survived the day without you.”
“Nonsense. You did fine.”
We exchanged one last goodbye before she left the office. I returned my attention to the bullet point summary and realised there was no way I’d finish it anytime soon.
“Have it on my desk before you leave today.”
I sighed. Back in my old role, I was used to working a little late, but this would be a lot late. And if working late was going to be a regular occurrence, how on earth was I going to fit the cleaning job into my schedule as well? Cat Dad had agreed to evenings, but not past seven thirty. Perhaps my plan wouldn’t work out after all.
Oh well. I had nothing else to do tonight, and as much as I disliked Neil, I still wanted to make a good impression. It was my first day, and I wanted to prove he had made the right decision to hire me. So I continued to write the summary, without taking another look at the time.
Lost in the task at hand, the sound of Neil’s door opening gave me a start. Neil looked at me with surprise. “You’re still here.”
“You need this done today, right? I still haven’t finished. There’s a lot of information to process.”
“It can wait until tomorrow. Go home.”
He took me off guard. I thought he would make me stay and finish up. But I wasn’t going to argue with him. “All right. Thanks.”
I turned off my computer and stood up.
“Oh, and Amelia?—”
“Yes?”
His eyes flicked over my outfit, his harsh features twisting into a familiar look of distaste. “We have a stricter dress code up here than you’re used to.”
My third scolding of the day—just to round things out. And this one struck a nerve.
Not all of us can afford designer suits, you know.
I fought my desire to snap back at him and answered politely. “Sorry. I don’t have anything more professional than this. I’ll have to buy some new outfits.”
There goes my first paycheck.
“You can expense them,” Neil said, as if reading my mind. “Actually, put it on a company card.”
He pulled out a sleek leather wallet from the internal pocket of his suit jacket, and selected one of the many bank cards he possessed.
“Here.” He passed me a platinum Visa card. Then he leaned over to the pad of sticky notes on my desk, jotted down the pin number, and stuck it on the card. “Don’t lose it.”
“I might not have time to go shopping until the weekend.”
“That’s fine. I don’t need that card back right away. Just go shopping when you can.”
“Okay. Thank you. Wait—how much am I allowed to spend?”
“Hmmm. Two grand should cover a couple of nice outfits, shouldn’t it?”
I wondered if I’d misheard. Two… grand?
“Y-yes. That should be more than enough. Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Look, as my secretary, you represent me and the business. You should be well dressed.”
“Yes. You’re right.”
“Make sure you get receipts.”
“I will.” I pulled on my coat. “Good night.”
He didn’t respond. He went back to his office.
Two grand to spend on office attire. Two grand. I didn’t even know where to begin. I had never had so much money to spend on clothes before. Where would I even shop?