Chapter 16 - Kayla
It’s still very early. I’m in my pajamas, and Izabel is standing at the front door with her bag packed and ready to go, catching a morning flight back home.
I wrap my arms around her and hug her tight.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get to do more things together!” I grumble, not wanting to let her go.
“Oh, don’t be silly. You were busy with work, your new job, your promotion, and so many exciting things. I got to spend so much time with girls, and I got to explore Chicago.”
Izabel steps back but takes my face in her hands. “And I really am keen on moving here.”
“Really, even after what happened?”
“Pfft,” she scoffs. “That kind of lame stuff will never keep me from doing what I want.”
I’ve tried to speak to her about what happened a few times, but I think she’s as strong-willed as I am.
She prefers to push things down and pretend they don’t bother her.
I’ll wait until she’s safely back in California, and then I’ll call her so we can have a long chat over the phone. Maybe she’ll open up then.
“So, when will you know for sure? About moving to Chicago. I want to know if I should start getting excited or not,” I smile.
She laughs. “I’ll talk to my brother again, seeing as he will be paying for the whole thing.
I’ll ask him if I can start looking for an apartment and all that.
But either way, whether I come back to visit or to move here, I will be back as soon as possible.
And this time, I’ll give you more warning instead of just rolling up to your front door. Then maybe you can take some time off?”
“I will definitely take time off. That way I can be your personal tour guide and take you to all my favorite places,” I promise her.
“Good. Until then…stay mischievous and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she winks.
“So, basically, do whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want to?” I muse.
“Exactly!” she laughs.
I wave from the front door as the driver heads down the driveway and pulls away from the estate.
My heart aches a little to see her go. I wish I had spent more time with her. If she moves here, it would be incredible.
But it’s also a relief to see her leave. It’s one less thing for me to worry about. Everything is so busy and so new and so crazy. I’m overwhelmed.
Although I think a lot of that overwhelmed-ness is to do with Josiah.
My heart is doing strange things, and I am fighting against it every step of the way.
I’m not even sure if I know what I want anymore, other than to make the best choices for my girls. The rest is sort of…unknown.
The unknown scares me when it comes to my own heart.
It is dangerous and risky.
I close the front door quietly and tiptoe back upstairs to my room to get ready for work.
We have an early morning meeting with almost the whole team.
It’s about a new client who’s just come on board.
It’s exciting, and I’m looking forward to finding out how I will be involved with the whole project.
Downstairs, dressed in my favorite figure-hugging white dress and my black blazer, I take one last sip of my coffee before I grab my work bag and head for the door. I’ve said goodbye to the twins, I’ve had a very quick breakfast, and now I’m ready to get to that meeting.
Josiah is waiting for me at the door.
“Ready?” he asks, pushing it open for me.
“Um, yes?” I say, noticing that my driver isn’t out front. “What’s going on?”
“After this weekend’s event, our marriage is no longer a secret. Therefore, you no longer have to take a separate car to the office,” he informs me.
“But…” I stammer, not sure I'm ready for this.
“But?” he asks, pulling the passenger side door open for me and waiting patiently.
I shake my head and climb inside.
“Does everyone really know?” I ask as he starts the engine.
“They do. And those that don’t know, well. They'll tell the rest of the building before people have managed to finish their first cup of coffee,” he muses.
I chew at my bottom lip, wondering how this is going to affect everything.
I get along so well with the team at work. But that was before they had a chance to make horrible assumptions about why and how I got the job.
Will this cause issues? Is this going to make it harder for me to work with them?
“You’re quiet this morning,” Josiah says halfway through the drive.
“Just thinking,” I say softly.
“About the meeting?”
“Yes,” I say quickly.
“It’s a massive client. The company is excited to take them on. It’s going to be a great project for us.”
“It is. I hope that I get to play a role in it,” I say eagerly.
“The management team sat with the information this past weekend and has pieced together the ideal team. So, we’ll find out in a bit who is running the show and what each person is going to be assigned. I’m damn sure you’re going to be a part of the team.”
Walking into the building, I have a knot of anxiety in my stomach. My eyes dart around, expecting people to be looking at me differently. I expect them all to judge me.
But so far, nothing has happened out of the ordinary.
Bianca greets me exactly the same way she always does.
My desk looks the same. My coworkers all say good morning in the same way they always do.
Maybe he’s wrong. Maybe no one knows.
“Meeting in five,” someone calls out from the other side of the office.
Everyone is excited. I hurriedly gather my notebook and pen and make my way to the boardroom to find a seat. The energy levels are high as people chatter about the new client.
And so far, everyone is treating me normally, including me in conversations and joking around with me, until the management team arrives and we all sit a little straighter.
“Welcome, good morning, is everyone here?” Roger says, his voice booming in the glass room.
Josiah is standing near the doorway with his arms folded over his chest, watching it all play out.
“We’re all here,” Josiah says, gesturing for Roger and his team to go on.
“So, as you all know, we have a new client. A very big client. They have twenty-seven franchises across North America and are now looking to expand into South America and other parts of the world. And we are the team they have chosen to help them invest and grow their money in order to do this. We will put together a product management package; we will analyze each of their franchises and give them a set plan for improvement based on each location’s needs and target market.
We are going to blow them out of the water with our efficiency and professionalism. ”
He’s creating more hype in the room, and the tension is increasing.
Roger looks around the room. He smirks. “Are you ready to hear the team we’ve put together?”
“Yes, please, we can’t handle the suspense,” Sally from the marketing department laughs nervously.
“Sally, you and Damien will handle the marketing,” Roger smiles, relieving her anxiety first.
Her smile widens, and she reaches over to playfully punch Damien in the arm.
“Vincent and Luke, you two are on programming and the new app they want built. We might have the chance to rebuild their websites. We’ll see as we go along,” Roger says.
He goes through each aspect of the project, handing out tasks to various sectors, and I sit feeling more and more anxious that my name has not been mentioned.
“Then, as we know, Josiah is usually at the top, always hands-on, managing the lot of you. But this time we have a different plan. Kayla, please stand.”
My face drains of color, but I stand, appearing confident on the outside.
“The whole reason we got this client is that Mr. Carter referred them to us. Your astounding work on the Carter file has spearheaded new opportunities for us, and that is why the management team wants you to lead this entire project alongside Josiah. Do you think you’re up for it?”
My mouth drops open in disbelief.
“Project management?” I gasp.
“Your analytical skills will be put to good use, that’s for sure,” Roger says.
“I’d love to,” I say politely.
The boardroom breaks out in a loud cheer. I look around me in surprise. My co-workers are clapping for me and congratulating me.
I sit down again, beaming.
Sally leans forward, pushing through two other people to whisper, “And congratulations on the wedding.”
This time, my cheeks burn. I expect shock from everyone else, but instead, there are murmurs, joining in, and saying congratulations as well.
The meeting ends, and I make my way back to my desk, overjoyed and feeling prouder of myself than I have in a very, very long time.
Josiah is waiting for me.
He holds out his hand to shake mine. “Congratulations, your first project lead. One of many, I imagine.”
I grin and shake his hand. “Thank you,” I say confidently.
“I was thinking that we should set up a separate desk in my office where we can work together on this project specifically. We can leave the files and things on that desk. Then it won’t get mixed up with the other clients we are still managing."
“Oh, sure, that sounds like a good idea.”
But realization kicks in regarding just how closely I will be working with Josiah on this project. Sitting at the same desk? Working out complicated challenges? Can we do it? Is it going to be even more awkward, considering everyone knows we’re married?
My coworkers don’t seem bothered by the news, though. They were all treating me the same. So, I push my worries aside and decide to just focus on the tasks one at a time.
The week blurs into itself. Steadily, the project moves forward, and with each passing day, I realize how brilliant Josiah and I are as a team when we leave all of our differences out of it.
He has been treating me professionally and as an equal. When it comes to making decisions, we both put our thoughts into the mix and then hash out the best way forward together.
I’ve never had a chance to work with someone like this. To be a proper team in a way that benefits both of us. And somehow, every idea we have grows bigger and more defined when we discuss it. We feed off each other in a brilliant way.
On Friday after lunch, we’re both sitting at the same desk in his office with our chairs close together and our heads leaning over the same document.
“Don’t you think we should allocate more of the budget to the marketing team? I was doing some research, and in order to reach a younger market, we should make that app a primary focus,” I say.
Josiah looks at me. Our faces are close together. We’ve been this close almost all week, and he’s maintained such a level of professionalism that there hasn’t been one moment where I felt uncomfortable.
Yes, I’ve felt the pull. The need. The desire.
But he hasn’t put even the slightest pressure on me. No flirtatious comments. Nothing to distract me from our project.
“What age group with the app be targeting?” he asks.
“The way we’re designing it, we hope to pull in people between twenty-five and forty-five,” I say.
“Mm. And if you look at the way their website is set up, it looks ancient. They've had a lot of growth over the past decade, but their look and feel are in the past. Shall we revamp the site to match the app?”
“Yes, what if we integrated them?”
“Brilliant idea. I don’t think our engineers are going to be too pleased about the massive workload increase,” he chuckles.
“I don’t know…they're sounding pretty inspired by this project. I have a feeling they won’t mind,” I grin.
We keep working until late. Finally, I lean back in my chair and yawn softly.
“I need to call it a day,” I say.
“That was an incredibly successful first week!” he says, standing up and stretching.
My heart flips over in my chest as I watch him.
“Josiah?” I say his name, almost a question.
“Mm?” He turns to look at me with his brows raised.
“Can I take you out to celebrate?” I ask, my entire body sparking with excitement and anxiety.
It’s not a date. It’s just celebrating something really great that’s happening.
“That sounds like an excellent idea. I would love to celebrate with you,” he smiles broadly, his face lighting up at the idea. I remind myself again that it’s not a date. But the butterflies in my stomach have a mind of their own as they flutter about wildly.