4
“Seth, we discussed this already. You’re the one who doesn’t trust her, so it becomes your responsibility to monitor her,” Charles stated.
Her stomach dropped. Charlene hadn’t expected to overhear that when she approached Charles’ office. She really thought she’d made some headway with him last night. Guess she was wrong. He was just as difficult as she originally thought he was.
She had two choices, walk away and never let him know she’d overheard them, or knock on the door jamb of the open door. Charlene had told herself she was ready for a challenge and it was just getting bigger, that’s all. Nothing else had changed.
Before she knew it, her fingers curled and she tapped, the sound filling the office. “I hope I’m not interrupting,” she said her gaze meeting Seth’s.
“Not at all. We were just discussing you,” Charles said.
“Perfect. Is there anything I should know?” she asked. Beyond what I heard?
“I have suggested you report directly to Seth.”
“That is fine. I really enjoy working so closely with him. I believe I’ll learn a lot from him. Actually I was going to see if I could sit in on a few of his meetings in order to learn even more.” She could see Seth cringe at the thought. That only made her enjoy this even more. How dare he tell Charles not to trust me?
“There is no need to go to that extreme. I’ll check on you throughout the day. If you have any questions or issues, you can save them for me at those times,” Seth stated barely making eye contact with her.
“Oh, I have one now. Or should I wait until you come to my office?”
“Might as well ask while you’re here,” Charles stated.
She really didn’t have one for Seth, but she was a quick thinker. “Did you want me to do a PR announcement?”
“No. I made sure that Lawson Steel wasn’t connected to what took place yesterday. As far as the residents of that apartment complex know, the city stepped in to help them. We’re just footing the bill,” Seth stated.
“Okay, but I’m telling you now, it will get out.”
“Charlene, I appreciate your concern, but we have been able to maneuver situations before and never been publicly linked to them,” Charles stated.
“Hopefully Charles confirming this is enough for you,” Seth stated.
She didn’t miss the snide tone. What was his problem? Charlene didn’t recall pissing him off. Surely it wasn’t just her working here that was doing it. “I don’t make those decisions, I just give my recommendations.” That was all the answer she was going to give. Hopefully she wasn’t going to be proven correct. Because for Lawson Steel that wouldn’t be a good thing. “I guess I’ll head down to my office. Let me know if either of you need anything.”
Charlene walked back out of the office. This time she didn’t linger. Whatever was going to be said about her, she didn’t want to know. When she arrived back in her office, she noticed her desk line was blinking there was a message. She picked up her fist voicemail and it was Sofia.
HI CHARLENE. CHECKING TO SEE HOW YOUR RIDE HOME WAS. PLEASE DON’T TELL ME YOU SPENT THE ENTIRE RIDE TALKING SHOP. NOT AFTER HOW WELL YOU TWO WERE GETTING ALONG. WE’LL HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN SOON. LOVE YA!
She’d return Sofia’s call later. The last thing she needed was to get caught chatting about Seth. Of course he did owe her for eavesdropping already. God I hope Charles doesn’t know.
Moving along she listened to the second one.
HI CHARLENE, IT’S ME AGAIN. HOW ABOUT TONIGHT? I CAN SEE IF SETH WANTS TO COME OVER AGAIN. DYLAN SAID HE WANTED A REMATCH. OKAY. CALL ME LATER. BYE.
Really Sofia?She didn’t move to Manhattan just to be closer to Sofia. That just happened to be one of the perks. There were still more messages and she really hoped they weren’t all from Sofia.
When she listened to the third one, she almost dropped the receiver. No way. She backed it up to listen again.
I’M CALLING BECAUSE MY REFRIGERATOR ISN’T WORKING. THERE IS A PUDDLE OF WATER IN THE KITCHEN. ALL MY FOOD IS SPOILED. I’M NOT PAYING MY RENT UNTIL YOU CALL ME BACK.
Okay, yesterday was a fluke. Today? What the heck was going on? How did this person get her number? She took down all the information and moved onto the fourth message.
THERE IS A NO PET POLICY. WHY AM I LISTENING TO A DOG BARKING UPSTAIRS?
At least this one didn’t demand a call back. But once again, she was puzzled. Seth had taken over for her yesterday. She couldn’t let that happen again today. She dialed the first gentleman back. This time very cautious not to mention where she was calling from.
“Hello Mr. Potter. I received your voicemail this morning. I believe you may have called the incorrect number.”