Chapter 24
A SMOOTH ONE
That was what she got for trying to play word games with her husband... who only his family in this building knew about.
Filling out her paperwork hadn’t been easy.
Her name was still legally Raye, not a big deal. But her emergency contact was listed as her mother.
Putting Nelson down would have raised too many flags.
Especially since she was getting in the elevator now with him and the young HR staff who was wiggling her eyebrows at her husband.
When the doors opened, Nelson got off first and turned toward the cafeteria. There were signs that showed what was on this floor.
Finance, marketing and the cafeteria.
“I’ll bring you down to each department, so you know, but you won’t have a lot of dealings with other departments, just best to know where it all is,” Sydney said.
She followed Sydney down the hall, popped her head in and said hi to several people, then went to the cafeteria.
“This is nice,” she said.
There was a long line where you could buy hot foods by the looks of it or get a sandwich or anything else made. A salad bar to the back, then some coolers with drinks and other foods to grab and go in it.
She brought a lunch with her and Nelson had laughed when she asked if he wanted her to pack him one.
She wasn’t used to buying and didn’t want to do it.
Too many times in her life she’d watched everything she spent money on and this was no different.
Though she had to admit she hadn’t expected the hourly rate she was getting to work sixteen hours a week.
She’d even asked if that was right and Sydney said that the hourly was higher than other law clerks because she had her law degree where most didn’t.
At least it wasn’t because of who she was. Or she hoped it wasn’t.
Not much she could do about it and the money would ease some of her worry.
She could easily pay her bills and have some to put away and not have to depend so much on Nelson.
His surprising her with a credit card yesterday only caused an argument. Until he told her she wanted to grocery shop and he was paying for it so it was the easiest way to go about it.
She hadn’t thought of those things.
He had.
Guess he took enough things seriously, despite what Sydney joked.
She hadn’t seen him being irresponsible once.
Unless you count the night they both ended up married and had no memory of it.
No reason to cast stones since she was right there with him in the glasshouse.
“Did you want to get anything while we are here?” Sydney asked. “I’m going to grab a latte.”
She saw Nelson standing at the counter and then a green smoothie handed to him. Ugh, she didn’t know he drank those things.
“I might get an iced coffee,” she said. She was getting hungry and it’d hold her over until lunch.
“Ladies,” Nelson said, taking a long slurp of his drink. She shivered and he laughed. “It’s good.”
“Does it have grass in it?”
“Matcha mango with almond milk. All the good stuff to keep you going.”
“And turn your insides green,” Sydney said.
Kenzie laughed. “Sounds good minus the green stuff.”
“You don’t know what you’re missing,” he said, sucked up some more and moved on.
“He’s always like that,” Sydney said. “Likes to flirt and chat with everyone. He can be a smooth one, just giving you a heads up.”
“Thanks,” she mumbled.
They got their drinks, went back to the legal department. She was shown around by Braylon’s assistant, then given a cubicle to work in, and assigned another clerk who would show her the ropes for the first few weeks.
By the end of the day, her mind was drained, yet it was a kind of exhaustion that left her feeling alive and deeply fulfilled with her decisions. Happy decisions.
One day in, and she was gobbling up everything she could about West’s businesses, or what she was being allowed to see.
Nelson was still in his office when everyone in her department was leaving. She didn’t want to travel home alone, but going to his office would alert people to what was going on.
Her phone went off in her purse and she pulled it out while she finished up what she was doing. It was Nelson telling her to meet him in the lobby in twenty minutes over to the side where they’d talked when they came in.
“How did your day go?”
She looked up to see Braylon standing there. There wasn’t anyone around and if there was, they might not think much of it other than he was being friendly to someone new on their first day.
“Good. Great. I’m learning so much already. I know this is going to help me some studying for the bar.”
“Laws are different in different states, as you know, but I think you’ll be fine.”
“I think so,” she said.
“Are you here tomorrow too?”
“Yes. This week, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think the same next week too. Then we’ll figure it out after.”
“We’re flexible.” Braylon looked around, then lowered his voice. “Do what works for you. Don’t worry if someone is telling you you’ve got to be here.”
“I don’t want to cause issues,” she said. “I’ll get the hang of getting here on my own after a few tries.”
“You will. Have a good night.”
Her brother-in-law walked away and she called it a night. She got to the lobby before Nelson and waited off to the side, sending him a text that she was there but for him not to rush.
Her phone went off five minutes later that he was on his way down.
When he got off the elevator, he saw her. She walked over as if she was just another person leaving the same time as him and they walked to the subway without saying much and got their seats.
“How did it go?” he asked her once it appeared there wasn’t anyone around that knew him.
“Good. I love it already. Braylon came to see me before I left.”
“What did he say?”
“Just that I could work the hours that fit my schedule the best. I told him after a few tries I should have the hang of getting there on my own.”
“You’ll get it fast enough. Laken will probably have the baby tonight, by the sounds of it.”
“Oh, so you’ll go there tomorrow and not the office?”
Would she have to figure it out on her own already?
“No. I’ll go into work. Braylon will too. My mother is in town.”
“She is?”
“Braylon told me this morning that Laken thought she was in labor and West sent the jet for my mother. She didn’t want to miss it, but didn’t want to get here too early and be in the way.”
“So you won’t see Laken and the baby until she’s home?”
“We’ll go over this weekend if you want,” he said. “That’s my plan at least.”
“Good, it gives me time to pick something up for the baby.”
“That’s sweet of you. I was going to get something, or try to. Maybe we can shop together.”
Which meant he’d pay for it. Was it really worth arguing over these things?
Lily and Abby both told her to save her breath.
But their husbands were worth so much more than Nelson was.
Weren’t they?
They had to be. Well, West had more than them all. And Braylon was older.
She didn’t know any of those things and it was useless to guess.
“Sure,” she said.
The smile he gave her said that giving in might be hard for her to do, but making her husband happy was more important.