Love and Cherish

Chapter 1

“I don’t want a repeat of last year,” Allegra Ilic stated precisely.

Cherish clenched her jaw hard, her molars squeaking as she held the black office phone up to her ear. The panic clawed its way up her throat and made it next to impossible to speak. “I promise you, Ms. Ilic, we won’t have a repeat of last year.”

Allegra huffed, not believing Cherish’s false promises. Cherish had regretted the annual gala since the last one, which had been such a catastrophe, but now with the pressure from Allegra breathing down her neck, she knew she had to keep her boss in line. Which was easier said than done.

“It was a disaster,” Allegra hissed.

“I understand, Ms. Ilic.” Cherish swallowed hard. She remembered all too vividly exactly the shitshow that her boss had created and the fools she had made of all of them. Cherish was ninety-eight-point-seven percent sure that if Allegra Ilic could leave Febe Aarts out of the gala, she would. But Febe’s presence was required. So here they were. Exchanging threats and placations over the phone. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“You better. Because if we don’t get the funding this year, we won’t survive another.”

Cherish’s stomach plummeted. That wasn’t a threat. It was the truth. Cherish had seen the numbers, and the Holbrook Foundation was floundering. But she hated bringing it up to Febe. It was such an awful reminder of—

“We need this to work. We have heavy hitting donors coming in for this spectacular event, and we need them to spend their money, not share gossip,” Allegra snipped like this was something they should all know and understand by this point.

“I’ll make sure Ms. Aarts behaves.” If only Cherish believed the words spilling from her lips.

Allegra snorted. “I’m not sure that’s possible, but at least keep her contained.”

Cherish’s hand shook as she sent a second call to Haylee’s phone. She glanced up, making eye contact with Febe's second personal assistant to make sure she knew to answer it. Haylee rolled her eyes, but she picked up the phone anyway.

“I’ve got it in the calendar. Thank you. I look forward to seeing the formal invitation.” Cherish shoved the phone onto the holder as Allegra’s objection rose through the line. She couldn’t take any more of it. Febe was hurting. Anyone within a mile radius of her should be able to see that clearly. And last year wasn’t her fault.

Fact.

Haylee hung up and cringed. “She wants to see me.”

“Then you better get in there.” Cherish stared at her computer, entering the date of the gala into her personal calendar so that Febe wouldn’t see it. She didn’t need Febe to be more upset than she already would be. The gala brought up too many horrifying memories.

For both of them.

The door to Febe’s interior office closed with a click, Haylee inside. Cherish rubbed her temple, the impending headache that had been threatening to spill into a full-blown migraine finally tipping the scales. She reached into her right-hand drawer for the medicine she always kept there and popped two pills into her mouth, dry swallowing them.

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d used water to suck those things down. She’d had too many headaches lately. Still she loved her job. Most days. She just had to remind herself of that. Working at the world-leading online therapy company was nothing to balk at. Febe had built it from the ground up, before COVID had hit, seeing the need for easier access to quality mental health representatives throughout the United States. When Febe had offered the personal assistant job to her, Cherish had jumped at the opportunity.

She would do anything for Febe.

She always had.

Cherish jerked with a start when the main door flung open. She opened her eyes wide and then winced at the bright fluorescent lighting that seemed as sharp as a knife. Despite her attempts to get Febe to change the bulbs to something softer, she hadn’t been successful. Which meant she was going to have to work really hard to get Febe to not fuck up the gala this year.

“Where is she?” Precious, one of the therapists on staff, growled from the door.

Cherish’s lips parted in surprise, but she stood up slowly, her fingers pressed into the top of her desk. Defend Febe first. Figure out drama later. “You’re going to have to wait.”

Febe wasn’t in the mood for an argument today without both of them blowing a gasket, and Cherish knew which one would be worse and who would win.

Febe.

“I need to see her now.” Precious stood inside the door, hands on her hips, defiance in her eyes.

“No. She’s in a meeting.”

“Like hell she is.” Precious stomped toward Febe’s office.

In a flash, Cherish rounded her desk and put herself between the door and Precious. Cherish lowered her chin and looked over her thick boxy glasses, a firm glare. “She’s in a meeting.”

“I need to speak with her,” Precious hissed.

“It can wait until tomorrow when she has time in her schedule.” Cherish had no idea if Febe had time in her schedule, but she wasn’t about to let an angry therapist loose on Febe. That would end in someone being fired, but it wouldn’t be Cherish.

“No.”

Cherish stepped forward, straightening her shoulders. “I’ll schedule you in tomorrow when there’s time. Until then, go back to work. If you go in there now, you’ll be fired.”

Precious sneered, her nose scrunching up. She held the tension, glaring at Cherish before slowly stepping back and putting her hands up in exasperation. “Fine.”

“Perfect.” Cherish sucked in a sharp breath, holding it in her chest, as Precious flounced out of the office in much the same manner as she had come in.

Cherish had exactly twenty minutes of peace and quiet before Haylee came out and shut the door behind her. Her face was pinched. Cherish eyed her carefully, trying to determine which kind of pinch that was.

Desperation?

Anger?

Devastation?

“She wants to fire Precious.” Haylee dropped her notebook heavily on the desktop.

Oh boy.

Cherish kept her mouth shut. Haylee had a bad habit of dishing on whatever Febe told her as soon as she stepped out. Which meant Cherish would end up even further behind in her work for the day because she’d have to listen to Haylee. Multitasking only went so far.

“I can’t believe it,” Haylee scoffed and then groaned. “I’m sure I’m next.”

“What?” Cherish jerked her head up. Febe hadn’t said anything about terminating Haylee. Though Haylee wasn’t a favorite employee either, she hadn’t screwed up to the extent that Febe would just fire her without warning. Febe wasn’t that kind of boss. Then again, Haylee wouldn’t know that.

“If she can’t handle Precious being well…Precious…then she probably thinks the worst of me, too. I mean, I have no problem telling her my opinion, and pushing back.”

Sighing, Cherish bit her lip. How was she supposed to respond to this? Now she wasn’t just placating Haylee, but she was going to have to run interference for Precious who really didn’t want to have that meeting tomorrow now. And she still had to run interference between Allegra Ilic and Febe. Her head spun.

“I can tell when a boss doesn’t like me.” Haylee was close to a whine.

“Enough of that,” Cherish muttered. “Ms. Aarts isn’t going to fire you.”

“How would you know?” Haylee jerked her chin up, and Cherish swore she saw real fear in Haylee’s gaze. “All she does is complain. She never gives me a compliment. I’m not even sure she knew my name until last week. I’ve been working here for nine months already!”

“So are you thinking it’s time for you to move on, then?” Cherish remembered seeing Haylee’s résumé. She’d had plenty of jobs in her short thirty-three years. A new one almost every year. Only one had lasted longer than twelve months. Cherish had hesitated to suggest her for the permanent position because of that, but it did mean that she was a quick learner, and they had needed someone immediately.

“No.” Haylee’s response had a bite to it. “No, I wasn’t saying that.”

“Look, Precious and Ms. Aarts have had issues for months now if not longer, and they haven’t gotten better. In fact, while you were in your meeting with Ms. Aarts, Precious came storming in and demanded to speak with her.”

“And you didn’t let her in?” Haylee’s eyes widened.

“No.” Cherish typed furiously on her computer, trying to multitask as best as she could. “I didn’t.”

“Cherish!” Febe’s voice rang through the closed door.

Jerking with a start, Cherish gave Haylee a firm look. “We’ll get back to this, but you’re not getting fired.”

She grabbed her notebook and headed toward Febe’s office. Her shoulders were rock solid. But she wasn’t going to give up this job. She cared for Febe, for her future, and for the future of the company that she’d been with since inception. Cherish wasn’t going to step away from that if she could avoid it. She plastered on a plain look as she stepped through the door and shut it behind her.

Febe sat behind her desk, her heart-shaped face buried in her computer, tendrils of dark brown hair curled perfectly to frame her features as she worried her thin lower lip.

“What did you need?” Cherish bit the inside of her cheek as she slid into the chair across from Febe. The pounding in her skull reminded her that the medicine she had taken earlier wasn’t working yet, if it would work at all. It hadn’t been up to par lately.

“I need you to schedule a meeting with Precious.”

“All right.” Cherish wrote it down. “Any particular reason?”

“She needs an improvement plan.”

Cherish bit her other cheek, and this time the iron tang of blood hit her tongue before she realized just how hard she was doing it. “Right.” That would take care of one of her problems at least.

“I want you to help Haylee come up with the improvement plan.” Febe glanced up, eyeing Cherish over the top of her laptop. “She needs to learn how to do that.”

“Got it.” Cherish scribbled on the notepad. She’d worked for Febe for nearly ten years now, had known her even longer, and this was Febe on the verge of breaking. “What happened, exactly?”

Febe wrinkled her nose, barely, only a small sign that she was upset. If Cherish didn’t know her so well, she would have missed the signal. “Haylee can fill you in on that.”

Cherish nodded to herself, another sharp twinge ripping through her skull. She winced from the pain.

“Everything all right?”

“It’s fine,” Cherish rushed.

“Another headache?”

Cherish shrugged slightly. “It’s nothing. I just took some medicine for it.”

Febe parted her lips, her eyes widening. She looked Cherish over, the moments ticking into seconds that were way too long. Uncomfortable, Cherish shifted in the chair.

“I have it under control.”

“Are you sure?”

Cherish nodded. “Yes.”

“I’ll trust you. I’ve always trusted you to tell me the truth.”

Cherish’s heart twinged. She needed to remember that, as much as she didn’t want to. She’d held back for the last few years, but it was only because she wanted to protect Febe. “I’ll let you know if it’s too much.”

“Please do.” Febe dropped her gaze back to the computer, curling a strand of hair behind her ear as her gaze moved back and forth, obviously reading something that Cherish couldn’t see.

“Was that all?”

“Hmm?” Febe flicked her eyes up before dropping them again. “Yes, Cherish. Thank you.”

Cherish gave her a forced smile before standing and leaving the darkened office. She relished that Febe could lower the lights in there. She often kept the lights dimmed when she didn’t have a meeting with someone other than Cherish and Haylee. But the darkness had been such a relief to her migraine. Maybe if she stayed in there, she’d have a chance that it would disappear immediately.

“What’d the witch want?” Haylee muttered.

“Don’t call her that,” Cherish chided. “What did Precious do?”

“Oh, it’s bad.” Haylee leaned forward, her elbows on her desk as she pinned Cherish with a look that said all the gossip was about to free flow. “Precious crossed an ethical boundary line.”

Not the first time.

Though Cherish didn’t share that thought out loud.

It wouldn’t help the situation.

Well, maybe it would.

Still, she waited to see what Haylee had to add. Having all the information up front was key to running a business. Febe had taught her that before she’d become a recluse in her office and hidden away from the world outside.

“There were two complaints filed against her for self-disclosure.”

Cherish’s brows drew together.

Haylee’s eyes widened as if surprised. Cherish was sure that Haylee had already heard the rumors, but this was the same issue Precious had gotten into trouble with before. Cherish held still and waited, eyeing Haylee’s bright brown eyes and not breaking contact.

“Of the sexual nature.”

“What did she say?” Cherish wanted to get to the point already.

“Something about having sex with her husband.”

Cherish’s face pinched. “Let me see the complaints.”

Haylee sighed. “Fine. Look for yourself.”

“I will.” Cherish moved to her desk and slipped into her chair. “Ms. Aarts wants you to form an improvement plan for Precious.”

“So she’s not being terminated?” Haylee leaned around her computer screen to make eye contact.

“She will if she doesn’t follow the improvement plan to a T. But I’ll also add that you don’t get an improvement plan if she plans on keeping you around. Run what you come up with by me before we send it to Ms. Aarts.”

“Okay.” Haylee paled. “Do you have a template for that?”

“It’s in the file labeled corrective action.” Cherish could picture where the file was on the drive and the folders Haylee would have to dive through to find it. But she didn’t give the rundown of how to get there. Haylee would either find it or she’d ask.

“Right.” Haylee sounded chipper again.

Cherish envied that. Truthfully. But she’d seen too much heartache in the last few years to experience that kind of joy again. She’d watched people she loved be devastated by death, and she wasn’t someone who could just push that to the side. Not when it affected everyone in her vicinity so drastically. Her gaze slipped to Febe’s door. She just wished that her best friend could find herself again.

“We have another issue we need to deal with,” Cherish said before she could stop herself. She really shouldn’t rely on Haylee for this. It was too sensitive an issue, and it wasn’t like she was going to share why it was an issue.

“What’s that?” Haylee didn’t even bother to look up as she clicked away at her computer before typing.

“Ms. Aarts is the founder of a nonprofit called the Holbrook Foundation. They work with veterans to help them acclimate back into the civilian world.”

“Yeah, I remember reading that.” Still, Haylee didn’t look up.

Cherish longed to see her eyes, to gaze into them and know that Haylee truly understood how important what she was about to say was. “Well, they have an annual gala they use as a fundraiser. It’s coming up in a few months.”

“All right.” Haylee still didn’t look up.

“It needs to go off without a hitch.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Haylee,” Cherish chastised sharply.

“What?” Haylee stopped working and made eye contact.

“This is important.”

“What is?” Haylee looked so confused.

Cherish could understand why. Haylee had no idea why the gala was so sensitive, and she hadn’t been around last year to witness the disaster that had taken place. Cherish bit her cheek again when pain seared through her head. She squinted against the light but kept her eyes locked on Haylee.

“The gala.”

“Yeah. I heard you.” Haylee smiled and went back to work. “We’ll take care of it like we always do.”

Like I always do. Cherish corrected. Because no matter what, she would always take care of Febe.