Chapter Thirteen #2
She detoured into Chase’s office and closed the door behind her and Hawk.
Chase looked up from the phone in his hand and lifted a finger in the air. “Yes, we’ll conduct those meetings after lunch. Good ... All right.”
Alex took a seat and dropped her bag on the floor.
Hawk moved to the windows and looked out.
Chase ended the call.
He wasn’t smiling.
“What?” she asked.
“There isn’t one department in this building where at least one-eighth of the staff didn’t call in sick.”
“PTSD,” Hawk said from across the room. “It isn’t reserved for combat.”
“What can we do?” Alex asked.
“Floyd is figuring out which departments were hit hardest so we know where to focus our efforts to ensure safety.”
“Then what?”
“Depends on how long it lasts. A quick brainstorm tossed out giving mental health days, bringing in a crisis team for counseling.”
“It was a false alarm,” Alex said with a sigh.
“A false alarm with a bag under a car isn’t the same as the bomb squad finding nothing. Not to mention the direct threat of striking again,” Hawk told them.
Hawk was annoyingly right ... again.
“I can’t blame them,” Chase said. “If Piper worked here and I was somewhere else, I’d insist she stay home. At least until they have someone in custody.”
As much as it sucked, Alex agreed. “We need Legal’s take on this. People worked remotely for nearly a year. There has to be a work-around to keep operations from grinding to a halt.”
“We’ll get through this,” Chase agreed.
“What about CMS ... how is it on the third floor?”
“Busa is taking care of my company. We didn’t have that many sick calls. Nothing compared to this.”
“There’s something to learn there. Unhappy and overworked employees are the first to call out.”
“Those with shitty bosses,” Hawk added.
Alex flashed him a cold look.
“Not you. Their direct boss. Number one reason people quit their jobs isn’t the job ... it’s the boss,” Hawk defended.
Chase huffed. “Dee called off.”
“Dee is afraid of her own shadow. She doesn’t hate us,” Alex argued. “Besides, Piper would know if Dee hated her job.”
Chase pushed his chair back from his desk. “We knew today would be a crap show.”
“Have you seen the market? Are we okay?” she asked. The stock market was the true barometer of public perception.
“We’re good there.”
Alex stood. “That’s half the battle.”
“Did Mom and Gaylord get off this morning?”
Alex nodded. “They were leaving right as Hawk showed up.”
“Owens or Fitzpatrick?”
Alex shook her head.
Chase glanced at Hawk, who also shook his head.
Concern was written on Chase’s face. “We go on ... business as usual,” Alex said. One glance at Hawk, and the “usual” became slanted. “Somewhat,” she amended.
Alex stood. “Do you think I should call Dee?”
“I’ll ask Piper to reach out. She’s not as intimidating as you.”
“I am not ...” One look at her brother, and Alex closed her mouth. “Whatever.”
“Let’s coordinate our schedules for the week before the day gets ahead of us,” Chase suggested.
Alex pushed out of the chair. “Give me five minutes.”
Hawk was at the door before she was, opening it.
She walked through the doorway and uttered, “If I thank you for every door you open, I’m going to sound like a parrot. If I don’t thank you, I look like a bitch. Where is the middle?” she asked.
A few yards away, and he had his hand on the handle of the door to her office. “I’m never going to tell a woman to smile, but a nod works.”
Alex stopped and looked him in the eye.
The corner of her lips turned up without provocation.
She added the nod for good measure.
Hawk opened the door, and she took a step toward it.
His hand coming between her and the room stopped her. “I go in first.”
“It’s my office.”
He leaned in. “It was your car, too.”
She wanted to argue ... oh, how she longed to disagree with him.
Instead, she stepped back and let him go into her office first.
He deemed it safe after a look around the room and opened the door wider for her to step in.
“Thank you,” she said.
Hawk crossed the room to look in the private bathroom at the opposite end.
She left him to his job and woke up her computer to pull up her schedule.
A few clicks later, and her printer started to buzz. “I don’t know how I’m going to do all this without being here.”
If Hawk heard her, he didn’t comment.
Chase walked in right as her printer spit out the last paper. She took the stack and moved over to the sofa.
“Since everything from today has been pushed, I have to be here tomorrow,” she started.
Hawk took a seat across from them and made a noise. “Huh.”
“What?”
“Everyone expects that,” he said. “So, you won’t.”
Arguing would be childish.
“What can be eliminated at the last minute?” Hawk asked.
Alex peered at the paper in her hands. She picked up a pen and started slicing apart her world. She then circled the calls. Those could be done from the estate. She put stars next to things that couldn’t be missed or shouldn’t.
Alex handed her Tuesday schedule to Hawk and moved on to Wednesday.
“Chase, can you take any of these on?”
He nodded and started slicing his schedule. “This can wait until we’re back from the honeymoon. So can this ...”
Then Wednesday was passed around.
Chase highlighted the meeting with Legal regarding the sale of the Noel properties. “This is all you,” he said, handing the schedule back to Alex.
The days were passed back and forth several times. “If I come in the afternoon on Wednesday through the end of the day, I can squeeze together the in-house meetings.”
Hawk nodded. “Thursday morning, you come in as usual, but you’ll get a call that takes you out of the office by eleven. By two, you can pick up the calls at home.”
Alex saw how it could work.
“Why is Friday empty after three?”
“The Hawthorn event,” Alex told him. “I RSVP’d. I have to go.”
“Is anyone else from the office going to be there?” Hawk asked.
“No.”
“And you can’t go instead?” Hawk asked Chase.
He shook his head. “Piper’s parents are flying in and will be here through the wedding. I can’t abandon her with them.”
Alex glanced at Hawk. “Her parents can be ... difficult.”
“Okay. I need you both to leave your schedules looking like they did before we did any of this. Anyone hacking into a computer will see this. Can Piper piece this all together, the revised one that only the four of us know?” Hawk asked.
“Yes,” both Alex and Chase said at the same time.
“Good.” Hawk gathered the papers and, one by one, took a photograph of each. “I’ll forward these to her now.”
“I can—”
“My phone is secure.” Hawk continued to snap photos.
Alex considered her cell phone with a frown. Could it be hacked in some way?
Chase glanced at his watch. “We’ve got to get moving.”
Hawk took his last photograph and stood. “Shredder?”
“The cabinet behind the desk,” Alex directed.
“I’ll meet you in the conference room,” Chase said as he walked out of her office.
Alex’s gaze traveled down Hawk’s back while he shredded their schedules. He wasn’t wearing jeans but ...
He turned, and Alex quickly looked away.
Damn Sarah for putting thoughts in her head.
“Ready?” Hawk asked.
“Yes.”
Alex felt Hawk’s presence at her side even more than she saw him. “It’s weird having a shadow.”
“I can blend,” he told her.
She glanced at him, did a quick sweep of her eyes up and down his frame. “I doubt that.”
Hawk’s chuckle followed them to the conference room.