Power Shift: Anna Jennings Super Novel Book 2

by EJ Whitmer

  I ruffled through my reports, searching for more information to share. Thanks to being put on the spot, what was once a beautifully organized report now looked like ancient hieroglyphics. I had no idea what else to say.

  “So … Great job. Go team! And … um … I will forward these reports on after the meeting, so everyone can read more about how well we’re doing. Thank you.” I bolted from the stage amidst a concerto of half-hearted applause mixed with not-so-quiet whispers.

  I didn’t stop walking until I reached Blake’s door. He was just shutting down his computer and donning his suit coat as I barged in.

  “I just made a fool of myself in front of the entire floor,” I seethed.

  “Don’t exaggerate, Jennings. A quarter of the team didn’t even show up.” He picked up his briefcase and rounded his desk, coming to a stop in front of me. “I’m sorry I dumped that on you. If it wouldn’t have been a bitch to reschedule, I would have just cancelled the meeting today. My head just isn’t in it right now. Thank you for stepping in. I’ll buy you lunch next week to make up for it.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Those lettuce wraps I love?”

  He chuckled and turned toward the door. “Absolutely. Anything you want. I’m heading out. I’ll see you Monday.”

  As he walked out, I glanced behind him and winced at the main workspace that was already filling with employees. My office was a mere thirty feet from Blake’s. Surely I could make it to my door without being bombarded by people wanting to talk about how I choked during my impromptu speech. Steeling my resolve, I rushed to the door and beelined to my office. This didn’t work, of course. I was stopped along the way by four employees for pats on the back and sympathetic smiles. After a quick hug from Mae, I shut myself in my office and worked on my own projects for the rest of the day.

  At six o’clock, I shut down my computer and began gathering my things. Emmett had swung by earlier to say goodnight and remind me he and the guys were taking Blake out for drinks. I was hosting a girls’ night the next night, so that left my evening free to sit on the couch with Figaro and just breathe. The weather outside looked a bit iffy. Clouds were moving in from the west and the sky was an ominous shade of green. I considered taking a cab home, but it hadn’t started raining yet and the thought of spending money to be driven less than a mile didn’t sit well with me.

  Twenty minutes later, I let myself into my loft and rushed to the kitchen for a tea towel to wipe up the trail of rain and mud I’d tracked in. I’d made it just over half-way home before the skies opened up and dumped buckets of rain. Figaro stared at me with distain from his perch on top of the fridge. I’d have been offended but I did look like a drowned rat. That and he is a cat after all. It’s in their nature to be affronted by pretty much everything. After a quick shower to warm up, I threw on some sweats and a white t-shirt, heated up the rest of Sharon Vance’s stew and settled in with Figaro for a Netflix binge.

  25

  The ringing of my cell phone woke me a few hours later. I checked the screen and was surprised to see the Vance Publishing main line. A glance at the clock told me it was much too late for anyone to still be working.

  “Hello?” I said sleepily as I scrubbed at my eyes.

  “Ms. Jennings? This is Norm with Security.”

  I bolted up to a seated position on the couch. “Hi, Norm. What’s going on? Was there a break-in?”

  “No, no. Nothing like that, Ms. Jennings. I just … I didn’t know who else to call about this and I know you’re close with him and you’ve always been so nice to me, so I figured I’d try you first.”

  “Him? Who’s him?”

  Norm cleared his throat anxiously. “Mr. Blake. He’s ah … He’s up in his office. I just made my rounds and found him there, drunker than a skunk and singing old Irish pub songs. He’s making a pretty good mess of his office. I figured I’d call and see if you could maybe come help him home.”

  I didn’t reply for a long moment. Even when pushed past his limits, Eric Blake was never out of control. Evidently I’d seriously underestimated how hard he was taking his divorce. “Thanks for calling me, Norm. I’ll be there in five.” I shot to my feet, threw on a pair of sneakers and bolted out the door.

  Seeing as the rain was mixed with snow by then, I sprung for a cab and arrived at work in record time. Norm was waiting for me at the front door and ushered me in quickly.

  “I’m so sorry to bug you,” he apologized. “I wasn’t sure who else to call.”

  “Don’t apologize. It’s completely fine. I’m sure he wouldn’t want just anyone seeing him like this.” I patted his shoulder before jogging to the elevators.

  As soon as I stepped onto the floor, my ears were greeted by the sound of heavy metal punctuated by extremely loud hiccups. I quickly made my way to Blake’s office and knocked firmly on his door.

  “Jennings!” Blake greeted me from his position half on and half off his office sofa. “What are you doing here? It’s at least … eleventy-four … You should be home spoiling your strange cat or snogging your geriatric boyfriend!” He struggled to a standing position, wavered for a moment, and fell back onto the couch.

  I made my way across his office, clicked off the music and stood in front of him, hands on hips. “First off, Emmett isn’t old. He’s only a few years older than you. Second, what are you doing here at this hour? I thought you were having a boys’ night?”

  He reached out and grabbed my wrist, tugging me to sit next to him. “Let me tell you the story of my people. Or I guess of one of my people. Me. Let me tell you about me. Once upon a time, an extremely handsome, cunning, strapping, ridiculously cool, outrageously suave –“

  “Blake,” I interrupted. “Move on, please.”

  “Right. Well, anyway, one day this handsome prince had one too many chalices of wine and wound up in the clutches of a succubus. Oh aye, she was beautiful, but a royal b- …. Well … A nice lassie she was not.” Midway through Blake’s fairytale, he’d switched to speaking in an Irish brogue. “Thinkin’ with his tosser, he was, instead of considerin’ the possibility of the evil wench ending up the flue.”

  “English, Blake. American English.”

  “I knocked her up, Jennings. Pay attention. Anyway … Uh, what was I talking about?”

  I groaned and rested my head on the couch cushion behind me. “You were romanticizing the story about how you got wasted, banged Regina, married her out of obligation, and are now wallowing in self-pity.”

  He slumped in his seat. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

  “Blake, I get that divorce is hard. I get that it sucks and I’m so sorry you’re going through it. But why is this affecting you this much? You knew Regina was an evil bitch when you married her. She was horrible to Sophia and Lord knows she hadn’t been faithful to you since the beginning. If Sophia didn’t look just like you, I’d worry about her paternity.”

  Blake reached forward to snag a bottle of whiskey off the coffee table and frowned at its emptiness. He tossed it over his shoulder, narrowly missing his desk, and closed his eyes. “I failed,” he murmured. “Eric Blake does not fail. But I did. And I don’t know if I’m more upset about being divorced, or the fact that I should have done this sooner. She hurt my baby girl. Sophia still cries about it. She draws pictures of the two of us and some big boobed, evil woman with an x over her face.”

  “Are you going to counseling?”

  He nodded. “Yes. We’ve actually been going since before I filed. It’s helping some.”

  “See? You’re not failing. You’re surviving. And you’re doing way better than most people would.” I patted his knee and stood. “Let’s get you home, okay? We can talk more on the way.” I glanced around his office and cringed. “Actually, you sit here. I’ll pick up your office real quick.”

  I grabbed the trash can and shoved the stray beer cans beneath the papers, hoping the cleaning crew wouldn’t notice. The entire office reeked of booze, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do abou
t it. I hustled to pick up the papers on the floor and righted the overturned office chair.

  Blake had given up on his Irish pub songs and was instead singing a version of Barry Manilow’s “Mandy.”

  “Oh, Annaaaa … You came and you took all my whiskeyyyy … and you’re not wearing a bra, oh Aaaaanna!”

  I froze, mid-dusting, and stared down at my chest. Sure enough, I’d forgotten to throw on a bra before running to save the day. I covered my boobs with one arm and finished wiping down Blake’s desk with the other.

  “Alright, we’re good to go. Where are your keys?”

  Blake stood and wobbled to his door where he removed his jacket and handed it along with his keys to me. “Cover up your yabbos, Jennings, and let’s roll.”

  I resisted the urge to elbow him in the stomach and shrugged on his jacket, pulling it tight across my chest. Luckily, Blake was able to walk on his own and I didn’t need to enlist Norm’s help. We waved on our way out of the lobby and Norm mimed zipping his lip and throwing away the key. I mouthed a thank you and walked us out the door to the employee parking garage.

  26

  I situated Blake in the passenger seat of his SUV and hustled around to climb in behind the wheel. His vehicle was one step below a space ship, with buttons and dials blinking on every surface. I spent an embarrassingly long amount of time searching for the ignition before Blake finally reached over and pressed the Start button.

  Thirty minutes later, we pulled up to Blake’s driveway. The lights were out in his home and I breathed a prayer of thanks to Baby Jesus. The last thing we needed to deal with was Blake’s daughter seeing him in his inebriated state. We shuffled through the door and he immediately headed for the living room where he plopped down on the couch and threw an arm over his eyes.

  I made myself at home in his kitchen, pouring him a glass of water and whipping up a quick grilled cheese, then walked back to the living room. Blake was sound sleep, snoring and muttering jibberish under his breath. After setting the water and sandwich on his coffee table, I unlaced his shoes and threw them to the side.

  “Hey, big guy. I need you to wake up.”

  Blake groaned and uncovered his eyes to glare at me.

  “I’ve got water and a grilled cheese. Eat it tonight and you’ll feel better in the morning.” I grabbed his ankles and rotated his legs to hang off the edge of the couch.

  With a muffled curse, he sat the rest of the way up and reached for the sandwich. While he ate, I ran upstairs and snooped around quietly in search of a linen closet. The first door I opened ended up being Sophia’s room. She slept soundly in a pink bed, her dark brown hair spread like a halo around her head. I took a personal moment to absorb the precious scene before quietly closing the door.

  Next to Sophia’s room was an open door that led to a guest bedroom. I grabbed the duvet and a pillow and trudged back downstairs. Blake was just finishing his sandwich as I entered the living room.

  “Alright, drunky. Pull your legs up and lie down. I’ve got a pillow and blanket for you.”

  He obeyed and lifted his head as I stuffed the pillow beneath him. As soon as he reclined, his eyes began to drift shut. “Thank you,” he mumbled. “I like you. Have I ever told you that? You’re the best.”

  I rolled my eyes as I tucked the blanket around his legs. “Riiiight. You like me now because I’m taking care of you. The other three hundred and sixty four days of the year, you’re harping at me for doing something stupid.”

  Blake popped one eye open to stare at me. “It’s not my fault you get yourself into all sorts of trouble. And I don’t harp at you. I discuss things with you. Firmly. And it doesn’t mean I don’t like you.” He closed his eye and snuggled down into the pillow.

  I bent to pick up the empty glass and plate. Right. The annoyance I see in his eyes on a near daily basis is just a sign he likes me.

  “It drives me crazy,” he whispered almost inaudibly. “You do the most bizarre, asinine shit … And it only endears you to people.”

  I smirked. “Including you?”

  He grunted and threw an arm over his eyes. “Including me. That’s your super power, Anna. Your hijinks drive me crazy … But damn if they don’t make me …” The admission was cut off by a very loud snore.

  I stood there staring at him, mouth open, dishes in hand, mind whirling for at least five minutes before the soft sound of little feet on the stairs broke my trance.

  “Anna?” Sophia Blake stood at the foot of the stairs rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing here? Are we having a sleepover?”

  I set the dishes back down on the coffee table and tiptoed over to her. “What are you doing up, baby girl?”

  “I heard thunder. Where’s my daddy?”

  “Your daddy had a long day and fell asleep on the couch. Konked right out. Does he always snore that loud?”

  Sophia covered her mouth and giggled softly. “Only sometimes. Will you come lay down with me?”

  I smiled and held out a hand for her to take. “Absolutely.”

  We walked hand in hand up the stairs and into her room. Sophia grabbed a stuffed puppy from the floor and climbed into bed. “Cuddle?”

  I peeled back the covers and helped get her settled before lying down next to her and covering us both up. She snuggled into my arms, stuck a thumb into her mouth and shut her eyes. After giving her a moment to drift off to sleep, I carefully dislodged her thumb and buried my nose in her hair, the scent of strawberries and baby powder lulling me off to sleep.

  27

  A demon ray of sunlight slashed through the room and splashed upon my sleeping eyes, waking me from a very pleasant dream about a government surplus of chocolate mousse. I reached out and fumbled for something to cover my face, finally grabbing a pink stuffed puppy and cramming it over my eyes. It took me a moment to remember I didn’t own any stuffed puppies. I lifted the animal from my face and eyed my surroundings. I must have fallen into a deeper sleep than I’d planned when putting Sophia back to bed. The smell of coffee finally registered, as did the sound of voices coming from downstairs. I stretched my muscles, sore after being crammed in a twin size bed with Sophia all night, and slowly made my way down to the kitchen.

  Grandma Rose and Sophia were seated at the breakfast bar eating donuts and giggling together. At the sound of my shuffling feet, Sophia spun around in her seat and grinned. “Anna! Daddy got us donuts! He said to save you the chocolate frosted one and the booberry one.”

  Rose dismounted from her stool and padded to the counter to pour me a cup of coffee. She added a very generous amount of cream and sugar and handed it to me with a wink. “Eric had some errands to run this morning and apologizes for not seeing you off. But he did make a donut run, and honestly, I prefer donuts over awkward goodbyes any day.”

  I nodded and took a sip of my coffee. “I imagine he’s a tad embarrassed this morning. How did he look?”

  “Like Hell warmed over,” Rose replied with a laugh. “I haven’t seen him looking that haggard in … ever.”

  Sophia giggled. “Yeah, Daddy kept asking Jesus to make you forget him singing Barry Antelope.”

  “It’s not nice to listen to your father’s thoughts dear,” Rose scolded. “And it’s Barry Manilow.”

  I wiped a smudge of powdered sugar off Sophia’s nose and grabbed a chocolate-covered donut for myself. “I haven’t quite decided if this was one of those things that I’ll remind him of at every opportunity, or if I should be nice and just never mention it again.”

  “Are we talking about the same Eric Blake?” Rose replied with a grin. “I’d give him shit until he turns brown!” She turned to the sink to wet a towel and began wiping off Sophia’s face and hands. “Alright munchkin, you run upstairs and get dressed.”

  Sophia crinkled her nose in defiance, earning her a stern look from her grandma, and slowly trudged out of the kitchen.

  “So how’s Carl?” Rose asked as she cleaned off the counter. “Has he shifted yet?”

  I r
olled my eyes and sat down in Sophia’s recently vacated seat. “Not that I’m aware of. I believe tonight is a full moon, so I guess we’ll know pretty soon. He did find his one true mate, though. So that was exciting.” I said this last part with a hefty dose of cynicism in my voice.

  Rose didn’t pick up my sarcasm. “He did!?” she squealed. “Oh, how wonderful! Tell me all about her!”

  I finished the last bite of my chocolate donut and reached for a blueberry. “Her name is Gia. She’s Emmett’s temporary assistant while Penny is away on maternity leave.”

  Rose nodded. “Is this the new girl they just brought on? Long, blonde hair. Green eyes. Nice set of knockers?”