Ellie stood there in the center of the office with her arms wrapped around herself, giving herself a hug. It finally dawned on Edric—that’s what she needed. A hug.
How could I be so stupid?
“Do you want a hug?”
The oddness of that question seemed to snap Ellie out of her teary state for a split-second. She looked up at Edric, her face twisted into a bewildered expression. “P-pardon?”
“Do you want a hug?” Edric repeated. Now he felt awkward. He could have sworn that was the right thing to offer but, seeing Ellie’s bemused facial expression made him second-guess himself.
Ellie looked down and nodded her head. Edric wrapped his arms around her gently. He was surprised when she buried her tearful face in his chest. Edric wanted to run his fingers through her hair and kiss her on top of the head but he stopped himself. Instead, he opted to pull her in tighter.
“It will be all right, Eleonore.” He felt her nod her head in agreement. The embrace lasted a bit longer than he expected it to. He certainly wasn’t going to be the one to break out of the hug and he sensed Ellie didn’t want to let go either. He was secretly glad that he worked out as often as he did; he hoped that Ellie getting a feel for his biceps and pectoral muscles would make her a little attracted to him.
The young woman’s sniffle snapped him out of his day-dream. She’s still upset? He squeezed her a little tighter.
“It’ll be okay.”
“I-I’m sorry. I need to go. Cassie said that Spots is dying. I-I have to go to the vet. I don’t want him to suffer on my tardiness. I’m sorry.”
Edric slowly let go of Ellie but still kept a hand on her upper back.
“It’s fine. Do you need a ride? You probably don’t want to drive when you’re upset.”
“No. I’ll be okay. Thank you for your offer though.”
“Do you need anything else?”
She shook her head. “The hug was enough. Thank you.” She smiled up at Edric weakly. He mimicked the weak smile.
“Goodnight, Eleonore. Call me if you need anything. Okay?”
“Thank you and I’m sorry for getting upset and wasting your time.”
“You’re not. But never mind that. Now go and see Spots.”
After Ellie left, Edric slowly exhaled and wandered back over to his desk. He placed his hand over his chest and noticed that his suit was damp where Ellie’s head was moments earlier. He frowned and shook his head. He fantasized about holding her close for months now but not under those circumstances at all.
Edric drummed his fingers on his mahogany desk. How can I fix her Spots problem?
***
By the time Ellie arrived at the vet’s office, her hands were shaking and her whole face was red from crying. Cassie immediately rushed over to her younger sister and wrapped her in a tight embrace. Even though Ellie stood on her tip-toes, her head still bobbed on her sister’s shoulder since she was so much shorter than her.
“I’m so, so, sorry.” Cassie said. “I was trying to get inside the house with the groceries and he just scooted by me and I couldn’t catch him in time. I’m so, so sorry.”
“I’m not mad at you. It was an accident. Besides, it’s my fault.” Her voice cracked again.
Cassie let go of her sister and took a step back.
“How is it your fault? You had nothing to do with this.”
“But…but…if I was home more often and a better dog owner and trained him more then maybe he wouldn’t have run out into the road.” The petite woman hugged herself.
“Ellie. You literally had nothing to do with this. It’s my fault that the dog got hit by a car and it’s my fault that I blew all the money I made from Scrooge on stupid shit instead of saving it up for moments like this.”
“But…”
“No buts. Not everything’s your fault. You need to go a little easier on yourself.”
Cassie looked like she was about to cry too. Seeing her sister so upset made Ellie even more upset. Another thing to add to her guilt list.
Ellie wiped away another stray tear and took a seat in the waiting room. She felt mortified—here she was crying. In public. With two strangers present, nonetheless. She remembered crying in front of her boss earlier too. The compound embarrassment halted the flow of tears and she blushed instead.
A young woman entered the room in a lab coat and scrubs. Ellie assumed that she was the veterinarian.
“Eleonore and Cassandra Kent?”
The sisters stood up from their seats simultaneously.
“Can you come in with me?” The veterinarian asked.
The two women gingerly walked down the hallway and followed the veterinarian to a small room. Ellie couldn’t stop her hands from shaking. She had this sinking feeling that her dog was about to be put down.
The veterinarian motioned for the two women to sit down on the nearby chair. She took off her glasses.
“I got a phone call about five minutes ago.”
“Pardon?”
“I got a call from a man who wishes to remain anonymous. He called and insisted on paying any and all veterinary bills and to spare no expense at saving Spots. Quite insistent on it. Do we have your permission to operate on Spots?”
Cassie and Ellie exchanged glances.
“Who is it from?” Ellie asked.
“I can’t say.”
The younger sister slowly exhaled and leaned back in her seat. “Okay. Um. Do you think that you can save Spots?”
The veterinarian nodded her head. “I can’t say for certain but the operation has a seventy percent success rate.”
“Let’s do the operation.”
The veterinarian nodded her head. The next few hours felt like a blur. The Kent sisters saw Spots before his operation. Then they were ushered into the waiting room. Cassie laid down across three different chairs and Ellie was hunched over in one chair. There was one thing that Ellie did distinctly remember: about an hour into Spots’s surgery, she muttered something very, very important to her older sister; she got something off her chest that was bothering her for weeks now:
“Cassie, I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
“What?”
“Spy on Mr. Kensington.”
“But Ellie—”
“I’m sorry. I can’t.”
“Are you going to quit being his assistant?”
“No. I won’t quit. Please. I’m sorry. I just can’t do it.”
Cassie sighed. After a brief pause, she spoke up. “I’ll manage it without you. Just please don’t stop me—you have no idea how important this is to me.”
“But—”
“Please, Ellie. Don’t stop me.”
“All right.”
***
Cassie Kent heaved a heavy sigh as she entered the glitzy hotel room. She thought that seeing Logan sitting on the bed, clad only in a plush, white, bathrobe, with a plate of chocolate-covered strawberries in hand, would make her feel better. But she still felt terrible—she felt like the worst sister in the world for letting Spots get hit by a car. When Ellie blamed herself for the accident, it compounded the elder sister’s guilt. As soon as she and Ellie arrived home for the night, Cassie snuck out to see Logan. He seemed to have a knack for cheering her up—meeting him in nice hotel rooms always made her feel better and special and like a halfway-decent person.
When Cassie entered the room, the silver fox propped himself up on the edge of the bed and leaned forward.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For paying for Spots’s surgery. I know that you’re the one who did it. Who else would do that?”
He laughed. “Of course I would pay for Spots’s surgery. I couldn’t have my babe feeling bad.”
Cassie sat down on the bed next to Logan and laughed bitterly. “I just feel like the worst sister ever.”
“For what?”
“First, I make her work for some short-tempered sociopath and then I stupidly let the dog get hit by a car. My God, I’m
the worst.”
Logan outstretched his arms and nodded his head. “Come here, babe.” Cassie nodded her head and then curled up against his chest. “You’re the best. You always cheer me up and make me feel valuable.”
“I just think that I’ve given Ellie the short end of the stick.”
He ran his fingers through her long, red hair. “But you saved her life. If anything, she owes you.”
“I got Ellie out of her parents’ home because I thought that she would die, not because I wanted her to be in my debt.”
“Which is why you’re a good sister. You’re thinking of Ellie. So, don’t worry about it, okay? Don’t worry about anything, I’ll take care of everything for you.”
Cassie nodded her head and closed her eyes. She actually did feel, in that moment, that everything would be okay.
***
Edric didn’t even notice Ellie arrive at the office the next morning. He hoped that she would take a day off to recharge a bit. He tried to push his thoughts about his assistant to the back of his mind and work on the task at hand—he had a product to launch and things to do. He was so engrossed in his work that the light pitter-patter of footsteps didn’t register that Ellie arrived. He blocked out her soft muttering too. Finally, when he heard his name being among the mutterings, he snapped out of his thoughts.
“Um. Mr. Kensington…” Edric looked up and saw Ellie in a white suit holding a parcel of food and a tray of beautifully frosted cupcakes. He felt a strong-sense of deja-vu.
Ellie gently handed Edric the cupcakes and a plastic container filled with pasta.
“Thank you for yesterday. I can’t even begin to pay you back for paying for Spots’s operation. He’s alive and I’m taking him back home tomorrow, thanks to you.”
Edric took the food and then looked up at Ellie. Again, he felt puzzled that she would do such a thing.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Edric lied. He did, in fact, pay for the surgery. It took him thirty minutes to locate the veterinarian and it cost him a hefty four thousand dollars, which was not super costly to the multi-billionaire. As much as he wanted to take credit for the surgery, he knew that Ellie would ask him why, and then he would have to explain why he paid for the surgery and that wasn’t a conversation he was prepared to have.
“You paid for Spots’s surgery.”
“Where’s your evidence?”
“I don’t know of anyone else besides you who would.”
“Do you have any proof I paid for the surgery?”
“No…” Ellie’s voice trailed off. “But I know you did and I appreciate what you’ve done. I wish there was something more that I could do for you.”
“Eleonore.” He held his hand up and closed his eyes. “You don’t have to do anything for me.”
“Will you still accept these? Even if you didn’t pay for Spots’s surgery, you still comforted me and you’ve been incredibly kind to me this past month by teaching me how to fly the helicopter and I do want to thank you for that.”
“This is completely unnecessary, but thank you anyway.”
“You’re welcome.” Ellie muttered before retreating behind her desk.
One step forward, two steps backwards.
Edric smiled at Ellie and then he returned his focus to his work. He glanced over at her occasionally. She looked a nervous and tired. It’s none of my business. Edric typed away at his desk. At around eleven he decided to sneak one of the pastries that Ellie made. They were delicious chocolate cupcakes with cream-cheese frosting. He could tell by the ornateness of the frosting that she spent a great deal of time making these.
“Would you like one?”
“I made them for you.”
“Well, then I’m giving one back to you.”
She stood up from her desk and quickly grabbed a cupcake and then retreated to her seat, avoiding eye-contact with the man sitting in the desk the whole time. “Thank you.” She quietly mumbled.
The two returned to work. There was an awkward tension in the air. The atmosphere was almost as tense as it was during her first few weeks at the office—back when she refused to look him in the eye and turned bright crimson every time they spoke.
After about an hour, Edric couldn’t take it anymore; he finally spoke up. “What’s wrong, Eleonore?”
“Pardon?”
“You’ve been antsy and nervous all day. I haven’t seen you this nervous for over a month now.”
“I-I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. What’s wrong?”
She averted her eyes to the ground. “I wish that there was something that I could do to pay you back.”
“You’re still on that?”
“Well, you’re always doing things for me—teaching me how to fly the helicopter, being nice to me, paying for my dog’s surgery.”
“Allegedly paying for your dog’s surgery.” Edric smiled. Then he remembered that’s a joke that Owen would appreciate, not Ellie.
“But…”
“If you want to look at it that way then, you stay late all the time, you checked up on me when I was sick, and you’ve made me pastries. In that sense, we’re even. Actually, I might owe you because your time counts for something. I think you’re looking at this all wrong.”
“But—”
Edric sighed. “You don’t have a corner of the market on good deeds, Eleonore. If someone’s nice to you, just say thank you and move on. Do you expect a form of payment when you do something nice for another?”
“Certainly not, but—”
“Just accept it and move on. I don’t want a tense working environment every time I do something for you.”
She nodded her head and blushed. “Yes, Mr. Kensington.”
“Oh, and another thing, Eleonore.”
“What?”
“Drop the whole ‘Mr. Kensington’ thing. I do have a first name, you know?”
“All right, Edric.” Ellie blushed deeper. “You can call me Ellie, if you’d like. No one ever calls me Eleonore. The name sounds so more serious and important than my personality.”
“You are serious and important.”
“I….I still prefer to be called Ellie.”
“Okay, Ellie.”
There was a soft-knock at the door. Edric sighed. Just when I’m finally fucking getting somewhere…
“Come in.”
A middle-aged man entered the room. Ellie and Edric immediately recognized the man as Kyle Smith—the middle-aged man who had the daughter with cancer. He was dressed in a dark-blue suit and looked very well put together. There was one key difference in his appearance now—he looked completely exhausted.
“May I help you?” Edric asked. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
“My daughter is in remission.”
Edric smiled. “Good.”
Ellie breathed an audible sigh of relief.
“I just wanted to thank you in person for letting me keep my job and for paying for the rest of my daughter’s medical bills that the insurance didn’t cover. There is no way that I can ever repay you for that. My daughter made you this card…” He pulled out a hand-made card and placed it on his desk.
Edric took a quick look at the card, pursed his lips together, and then put it down. He told himself that he would look at it later. It might make him feel sappy and emotional and that’s not the image he wanted to project to his employees—especially Ellie.
“Just go back and do your job.”
Kyle nodded his head gently. “Thank you, Mr. Kensington.”
“And take a few days off first. You’re of no use to the company if you’re too celebratory and distracted.”
Kyle nodded his head again. “I’m going to go home now.”
“Good. And be ready to work hard when you return to the office.”
Kyle nodded his head again and left the room.
Edric returned to his work by checking one of the three emails that popped up during the last ten minutes. When h
e was in the middle of reading the second Email, Ellie spoke up and snapped him out of his focus.
“That was very kind of you.”
“Hmm?”
“Paying for his daughter’s medical expenses and letting him take time off. I just think that was a nice thing for you to do.”
Ellie had a different look about her—she had an expression on her face that was a mix of sadness and something else that the CEO couldn’t pin-point.
“I suppose that I learned something from you after all.” Edric said nonchalantly. With that, the young businessman gave her a half-smile and then returned to his work.
Chapter Thirteen
Ellie Kent could hardly believe that the event that she was planning was tomorrow. Her nerves were shot to pieces and she couldn’t stop from mentally running through all of the ways the event could go wrong.
That morning she tried on her dress for a final time. It was a black turtleneck gown that was somewhat flattering to her figure but completely out of season, outdated, and the velvet fabric started to fray. To top it all off, the dress completely washed her out. It was the best she could find at a thrift store but she still wasn’t quite satisfied with it. Ellie was worried that she would stick out like a sore thumb—even more than she would already.
The young woman put the garb back in the closet, sighed, and drove to the office. While in the car, she finally thought about the role that she would play at this event—would she just stand awkwardly next to the wall in her outdated dress? Talk to the vendors? Sit in her and Edric’s office? Ellie cringed—she did not want to go to this event alone. Violet told her that she wasn’t attending the event. She hardly knew Owen. Edric would be too busy to socialize with her. There were the others at the office, but they were always stand-offish towards her since she was their boss’s assistant. Ellie would be a wall-flower surrounded by strangers.
Suddenly, she didn’t even want to go to the gala anymore but knew she had no choice. She’d planned the whole event and was responsible for it.
Ellie was so far in her own little world that she hardly even noticed that she drove over to the office, went up the elevator, and sat at her desk. It wasn’t until Edric cleared his throat loudly and looked at her expectantly that she snapped out of her daydream.
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