I reached over to my night table and grabbed my phone, opening our chat. I had typed out a full-on apology, and then something inside of me decided against sending it. I wasn't going to do this through a text. I'd wait and talk to her tomorrow morning the second she arrived at the office, and we would work everything out.
Ainsley
The lobby of Finding Forever looked amazing all decorated up for Christmas. I greeted a couple of girls who sat behind the reception desk and then walked over to the elevator. My nerves were uneasy. I had spent the entire weekend sulking, wishing that my father hadn't spoken to Brittany, and then wishing Spencer would message me, but when I didn't hear from him by the time I'd gone to bed, I had finally concluded that perhaps I really didn't know what was going on between us. As much as I didn't want to say everyone else was right, perhaps they were, and so I had gotten out of bed at one in the morning and filled out a transfer form.
The ride to the top floor didn't seem to take as long as it normally did, and when the doors opened, I stepped off the elevator, manila envelope in hand, and walked over to my desk. My stomach was in knots as I placed my coat on a hook in the corner of my space and shoved my purse into the bottom drawer of my desk. I saw that Spencer's door was already closed, which meant he had arrived early and was probably in a meeting. Again, doubt filled my mind, and I seriously thought of just shoving that envelope into the back of one of my desk drawers and forgetting about it. Instead, I sat down and turned on my computer and quickly checked his calendar to see if he was indeed in the middle of a meeting before going and knocking on his door. His calendar this morning was clear, which made my stomach flop yet again. I took a deep breath, grabbed the envelope off my desk, and knocked on his office door.
"Come in," I heard him say in that deep, business-like voice I'd grown used to.
I closed my eyes, composed myself, and opened the door. He was focused on something as he sat behind his desk looking as handsome as ever. His suit jacket hung on the back of his chair. The sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled up, exposing his strong forearms. He wore no tie today, his shirt open at the neck, and immediately my thoughts went to kissing that soft spot where his neck met the top of his shoulder. I swallowed hard as I caught the scent of his cologne. He looked up from his paperwork, his eyes running over my body, and smiled.
"Good morning. Come in, shut the door. I have something I'd like to discuss with you."
I froze, unsure of what I should do. Instead, I didn't close the door I stepped forward. "I have something I would like to discuss with you. I'd like to go first," I said and held out the envelope for him to take. "Here."
Spencer looked at me, the smile he had on his face quickly vanishing. "What's this?” he questioned, taking it from me and opening it.
"I'm putting in a transfer." I swallowed hard, even though I felt this was wrong from the time I'd filled it out last night, but yet I somehow knew it was the right thing to do, especially after Spencer told me that Brittany could take Nikki from him. I didn't want the man to lose his little girl. I loved her as much as I loved him.
He sat there looking over the page, then he set it down on his desk and crossed his arms in front of him. "Are you not happy here?"
"No, I am. Dad wanted me to resign but I figured this was a better option. I just really need you to sign that, please. There is an opening in the finance department, and I would like to take that position."
Spencer looked down at the sheet again and then back up to me. "I didn't know you took any interest in finance."
I shrugged. I didn't take interest in finance and there was no way I was going to pretend that I did, but there were no other openings at this time. I looked to the floor and back up to him. "I'm, um, expanding my horizons."
Spencer sat back in his chair and chuckled, then shook his head. "You know, I appreciate people who aren't afraid to better themselves, but in this case, I'm sorry, I won't sign it."
My eyes flew open. "You won't sign it? What do you mean you won't sign it?"
"I mean, no. With everything coming up over the holidays, I am going to need you here. So, I am not signing this," he said, picking up my transfer sheet and setting it off to the far side of his desk.
"You can't do that. I mean, you have to sign it."
He chuckled. "Ainsley, I can do whatever I want. I own the company, remember? And I must do what is best for the interest of the company. We have our Christmas party in less than a month, and I am going to need your help to finish organizing it. If I were to sign this, I would need to hire and train a new assistant. You and I both know that will take months, and there would be no way that they could organize a function of this magnitude on such short notice."
"Spencer, that's not my problem. That is yours. Besides, you haven't even mentioned a Christmas party for your clients. Now, please sign the transfer."
"I haven't mentioned it to you because I was away for the last two weeks, but I was planning to talk to you today about it. Now if you'd care to get your notepad and pen we can start getting things down for this function."
I looked at Spencer, highly annoyed, first at the fact he wouldn't sign my transfer and now at the fact that he was assuming I would just bend over and organize this party. "I'm sorry, but I really don't think I am capable of organizing this function either. I have worked for this company for a few months, and besides, I have no experience in the event planning area, so I think you really should talk to the events department."
Spencer chuckled. "Well, you have no experience in finance either, yet you wish to transfer to that department."
I could feel my blood pressure rising as he sat there with a cocky grin on his face.
"I can learn," I gritted.
"Well then you can learn how to organize this event then. Colleen was working on it, but she is out of the office. She had surgery a week ago and will be off until January, maybe February. So, I'm left with no choice. We will work together to organize it, and you can learn."
I looked at Spencer and then glanced around his office, my eyes landing back on my transfer form that sat on his desk unsigned. This had totally blown up in my face. Not only did I do this so Spencer wouldn't lose Nikki, I had done it so that I wouldn’t hear my father lecturing me on the fact he wanted me to resign. He would not be happy to know that instead I'd now be working in close quarters with Spencer. "I'll make you a deal."
"All right." He nodded. "What's the deal?"
"I'll help you organize this event and see you through the holidays on the condition that in the new year you sign my transfer form."
Spencer studied my face and nodded. "If that is what you really want."