Chapter 8 Second Chances and Soft Hands
Second Chances and Soft Hands
Evelyn
“What the hell was that?” Evelyn barked once Ms Fox had stormed out with her dog.
“That was you getting told off by a fine piece of ass,” Maggie laughed.
“Never say ‘fine piece of ass again,’ Mags, seriously.”
“Whatever. She was fine. Did you see her hair? I would give my yearly paycheck for that mane.”
Evelyn rubbed her forehead. Why had that gone so badly? Had she spoken to the woman condescendingly?
“Mags, was I out of order?”
Maggie brought her forefinger and thumb close together. “A little, Evie. I mean I know today has been stressful, and you weren’t expecting to deal with a bunch of dogs on top of everything else, but you didn’t really give the woman a chance to tell you who she was or what she was doing here.”
“Hey, she told me to call my dad. How is that explaining things?” Evelyn protested.
“I think she only said that because you came out of the gate swinging. Your body language didn’t exactly scream warm and friendly.”
“Maggie, come on.”
“No, you come on. It’s been a bit of a running joke between us lately about your stress levels. You think I’m just nagging, but I’m worried, Evelyn. Ever since you took over from Richard you have been going full steam with no breaks. How many times have you come to the office before dawn?”
Evelyn went to open her mouth to mount some sort of protest, but Maggie wasn’t in the mood.
“Don’t answer that because we both know it’s one time too many.
Yes, there is a lot of work to do, but nothing that’s out of the ordinary.
Nothing you weren’t accustomed to before you became CEO.
Everyone knows you were practically running the place well before your dad buggered off.
Ask yourself why you have taken it upon yourself to carry all this extra weight? ”
“You think I like this?” Evelyn shot. How dare Maggie accuse her of putting this on herself?
“Yes, I do. You have done the Christmas period many, many times. You have overseen budget reports and meetings. All that shit you’ve done for years. Yet now those three letters are attached to your name, you’ve become work obsessed. And before you try to argue: don’t!”
Evelyn was stunned into silence.
“When was the last time you took a weekend off? Or finished work before midnight? Gone out for drinks with your friends? Friends, I might add, that sorely miss you. Before you became ‘Evelyn Crawford CEO,’ you had a good balance between work and home. Now? Nothing, you’re making yourself ill, working every god given hour. ”
“Maggie, I haven’t got my dad to fall back on this time. The buck stops with me. That’s what comes with having those three letters attached to my name.”
“Three letters you never wanted,” Maggie shouted. And there it was, the thing Evelyn hadn’t voiced in months: the truth.
Before Richard decided to go on an extended trip with the floozy, Evelyn was contemplating resigning from the family company. Maggie was her confidante and knew that for a few years, Evelyn had become steadily more unhappy in her job.
The thing that always held her back was her loyalty, which increased tenfold after her mother passed away. The thought of abandoning her dad and the company her mother had created felt too much. Her mum and dad had worked hard to provide her with a stable income, a family legacy.
For the most part, Evelyn loved working at Crawford’s Pet Supplies, but as she got older, she felt the need to branch out.
Try something she had to work for without having her parents there to hold her hand.
Because that’s how it felt. Even though Evelyn worked harder than most people, she still felt the unease of having a company practically handed to her.
A career path laid out since she was a toddler.
“I couldn’t just leave, Mags.”
“Why the hell not? Your dad should have checked in with you before saddling you with his company.”
“It was my mum’s company too!” Evelyn shouted.
“But your mum isn’t here, Evelyn. I’m sorry, honey. I’m not trying to piss you off or hurt you. Hell, you’re doing a good job of that yourself. But be honest with yourself. Would your mum want to see you this stressed out, tired and on the verge of collapse?”
“It’s just until after Christmas,” Evelyn tried to reason.
Was she reasoning with Maggie or herself, though?
Why was she clinging so tightly to a company she didn’t really want to be a part of anymore?
The answer was simple…that’s what she was used to doing.
If she let go of Crawford’s, what would she have?
No girlfriend, no other career options. Evelyn would have nothing, and that wasn’t acceptable.
“You won’t get all the things you want in life, Evie, if all you have is this office,” Maggie said, as if reading her thoughts.
“How did this turn into a beat on Evelyn conversation, hm?”
“Okay, you don’t want to hear it. Call your dad, ask why we have a bunch of dogs running around, and then apologise to that woman. She didn’t deserve the way you spoke to her.”
“Maggie…” Evelyn began, because she hated hearing the dejection in her friend’s voice.
“No, Evelyn, I’m done trying to convince you to look after yourself. I’ll see you later. I have some files to get to.”
Evelyn huffed out a breath. Today sucked. Like, really, really sucked. With the budget meeting looming over her, Evelyn pulled open her bottom drawer and grabbed two chocolate bars. Ideally, she would like to have a shot of something strong, but she wasn’t quite at the drinking at work stage yet.
“I love you,” she mumbled to her Double Decker.
With an entire day’s worth of calories consumed, Evelyn picked up her mobile. It was over two months since her dad left, and she’d only received one message from the man. Well, now she needed him to pick up and explain who and why this sexy Ms Fox was in the building.
“Ms Fox,” she said to no one. Hearing the name roll off her tongue sent shivers down her spine.
Evelyn could imagine playing a few naughty games with that woman.
Pulling herself back to the present, Evelyn hit the call button.
Straight to voicemail. Great. Instead of calling again, she sent a message asking her dad to call ASAP.
The office felt too big and way too quiet. Maggie’s words bounced around her brain as she sat in silence. What could she do, though? Even if she wanted to look into a different career path for herself, Richard had put pay to that by leaving.
Outside, Evelyn could hear her colleagues returning from their lunch. That meant the day had to go on. Whether or not Maggie agreed, there was still a lot to get done. The damn budget meeting for a start. Taking some meditative breaths, Evelyn readied herself for the afternoon ahead.
“Well, that went down like a bag of crap,” Evelyn muttered as she sat behind her desk after a gruelling two hours in the conference room.
All the managers were angry because they didn’t get the money they requested.
It was a no-win situation, and Evelyn was glad it was over.
Budget meetings were Satan’s playground.
A sharp rap on the door nearly caused Evelyn to catapult her coffee across the room. Maybe more caffeine wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“Come in,” she called, secretly praying it wasn’t someone else who wanted to shout at her. The door opened slowly, and Evelyn audibly gasped when she locked eyes with Ms Fox.
“Don’t worry, I’m not here for round two,” the gorgeous woman chuckled. “I came to apologise.”
Evelyn stared at Ms Fox, unable to form a sentence.
Maggie called her a fine piece of ass—crude, but not wrong.
Evelyn, however, would call her exquisitely beautiful.
Ms Fox had thick, dark hair, which she had bundled into a ponytail.
Though her hair looked as if it could burst its restraints at any moment.
Evelyn could imagine Ms Fox’s hair hanging down in luscious locks around the woman’s shoulders.
There must be some Italian in her lineage.
Not only was her hair fantastic, but her skin, face, body, hell, you name it, Ms Fox had it.
Even in worn jeans and a flannel shirt, she was delectable.
Last but in no way least were Ms Fox’s eyes.
Not brown, but almost golden. In a word, she was breathtaking.
“Ms Crawford?”
Evelyn jumped a little at the sound of her name. “Right, right, um…yes…sorry.”
Nicely handled, Evie.
“Can I?…” Ms Fox pointed to the seat in front of Evelyn’s desk.
“Sure, yeah.” Evelyn replied, watching the little dog who’d caused all the trouble in the first place wander over to the windows, sigh, and promptly fall asleep.
“Ms Crawford.”
Evelyn snapped her attention back to Ms Fox. “Please call me Evelyn.”
“Okay, Evelyn. Please let me say how sorry I am for the way I reacted this morning.”
“I should apologise too, Ms Fox—”
“Alyssa.”
“Alyssa. Yes, as I was saying, Alyssa. I shouldn’t have let my bad mood out on you.”
“How about we start again?” Evelyn watched as Alyssa leaned over the desk, offering her hand to shake.
“That sounds good,” Evelyn replied, taking the proffered hand.
Holy moly, Alyssa had soft skin. “So, now we’re back at square one.
Could you tell me about the partnership you formed with my father?
I have tried to call him, per your request.” Evelyn gave Alyssa a little smile.
In return, she got a smirk. Alyssa had a very sexy smirk.
“However, he is unreachable and God knows when he’ll return my calls. ”
“Fair enough. Okay, so I run Four Paws Dog Sanctuary—”
“Oh, I know that place. My next-door neighbour got a beautiful little terrier from there last year.”
“Monty?”
“Yes, how did you know that?”
“I remember every dog that has been in the centre. Last year we had two terriers. One female and one male. The little girl got adopted by a woman in Scotland. So that left Monty.”
“Wow, impressive.” Evelyn really was impressed.