The Assistant's Secret

by Emerald O'Brien

  “Yes, Ms. Locke.”

  Her expression lightens, and I’ve made the right choice.

  She sits, resting her hands on the armrests. “Well done, then. Enjoy your glass of champagne. We’ll see how you handle this client and, in a month or two, we’ll send another your way if you can manage this one to our standards. The signing bonus is one percent of their contract—you’ll see it in your papers.” One percent of a million? Two million? How much is that? Ten thousand—twenty thousand! “Here at Locke Industries, we reward loyalty and dedication. Are they important qualities to you?”

  “Yes, they are. I hope I’ve exemplified them during my time here.”

  Cathrine crosses her legs and leans against the back of her chair, seemingly at peace. “Are you happy here?”

  Getting the internship with this company made me the happiest I’d been in a long time, maybe ever, except for becoming an aunt, and even then, Maggie was in a rocky relationship, at an unhealthy time to be having a child, so I was more worried than happy.

  Being hired on to Locke Industries affirmed that everything I’d worked toward was within reach, that I could achieve what I put my mind to, despite my background or setbacks, and made me proud to tell people what I did for work. To have a career with the opportunity for advancement that kept people secure and safe.

  “I love it here.” I clutch my champagne flute tighter in an effort to hold on to the moment, the feeling of pride.

  “Well, you go on now, take the rest of the day off, and next week, there are some people I’d like you to meet. And Josephine, all the files—”

  As she says my name, her phone rings. Probably Mathison.

  “Thank you, Ms. Locke,” I say as she stands. “I’m so grateful.”

  She stares at me and raises her brow. I nod and turn on my heel, pacing out of the room.

  “Josephine,” she calls as she rounds her desk, reaching for the phone. “Don’t forget your folder.”

  Her folder is mine now. The client is mine.

  I take my folder from her desk as she answers the phone. “Well, hello there,” she says in a honeyed tone, and her soft laughter quiets as I close her door behind me.

  I notice the mouthful of champagne remaining in my glass and down it in one shot.

  This is really happening. I’m really making something of myself, for myself—for Andy.

  Three more months, and no debt, less resentment, a full fridge all the time, and a kid with stability.

  I stride to Fern’s desk, and she stares up at me while typing. “Leave your glass there. I’ll look after it.”

  “Thank you.” I set it down and wait for her to speak again. To congratulate me. Give me a smile. Something.

  She turns back to the computer screen and clacks away at the keys again.

  Tough crowd. That won’t get me down. Nothing can. Cathrine told me I earned it—and I did. She even asked me how I did it. The realization washes over me again as I walk back to the glass doors, reliving the moment I just shared with Cathrine, replaying it in my mind as if absorbing it for the first time.

  I stop before the door and turn to Fern, still clacking away. I open my mouth, about to ask her to open the doors, and she turns to me, her narrow eyes staring me down. I smile, but she presses the button.

  I don’t get it. She wished me luck just this morning. I thought she’d be pleased too.

  My cell phone vibrates in my purse, and Katie’s name appears beside her message. “Hang out tonight?”

  I grin and press the button to the elevator before typing back.

  Meet at my place. Seven.

  This is perfect. The three people I care most about will be there to celebrate with me.

  Should I get a cake? Maybe something fancy?

  This occasion calls for something special, but my account is in overdraft, and I’m brought back to reality.

  Pizza maybe? Andy’ll love that.

  I send the text and step into the elevator, blushing at my reflection as my phone rings in my hand. Another debt collector. I shove it in my purse and notice a bright yellow mark on my black blouse, like a bumblebee. I step closer to the mirror to inspect it.

  A mustard stain from this morning…

  I tried to put the events of the morning out of my mind, but I see it in a different light now.

  Now I remember what our clients do is none of our business, and whatever Tackman does, good or bad, is not my concern. The company’s concern is his security. I cannot control others, only myself.

  I pinch the material surrounding the yellow stain, remembering the homemade burger Tackman had made for me. How he stood there waiting, full of confidence, wanting to share a meal with me.

  I close my eyes as my mouth salivates, remembering the taste, the way he stared at me from across the table with his secrets stashed, just a room away.

  Not my business—but now—I have a craving for burgers.

  Chapter Five

  From the Bottom

  “Will you tell us now?” Katie pleads, setting the video game controller on the couch cushion between her and Andy.

  Andy rests his controller in his lap, averting his eyes from the screen for the first time since he finished his meal and turning to me on the recliner, shooting me a little smirk.

  He seems to have forgotten about getting locked out this morning or put it out of his mind somehow. I’d gotten good at that when I was younger too. Sometimes, when you see the darkness in people you love, it’s easier to shove it down deep than see it in their face all the time. To put it away after you’re confronted with their pain when you have no way to stop it for them, it takes the sharp edge away from feeling powerless for a while.

  “How did it go?” Katie asks again. Maggie turns over her shoulder from the kitchen table with a somber look on her face, no doubt feeling guilty about making me late. Katie glances over at her. “She had a meeting with her boss today.”

  “Yeah.” Maggie nods and makes eye contact with me for the first time since I got home. “Do okay?”

  “Yeah.” I can’t help but smile. “Not bad.”

  “So?” Katie stares at me, grinning. “Good news?”

  “It’s good news.” Andy nods to himself. “I’ve figured out that much, ‘cause of the burgers.”

  I take a deep breath. “I got a raise.”

  “Woohoo!” Andy’s eyes open wide as he hollers.

  “Congratulations.” Katie’s drowned out by my nephew’s noises.

  I laugh and shake my head. “Shh, we have neighbours!”

  He opens his arms wide and rushes over to me, wrapping them around my neck. He squeezes me, and I know it’s with all his strength. “Great job, Joey,” he whispers.

  Tears pool in my eyes, and I clear my throat before pulling away.

  Maggie jumps up and gives me a quick hug. “I’m really happy for you.”

  “Thanks,” I mutter without standing. She steps away, but just one step, as if she’s expecting more information from me, so I turn to Katie. “Can I play next?”

  Andy beams. “For sure! Zombies or Mario Kart?”

  “Your pick.”

  “Hey, before you start, I should go.” Katie grabs her jacket and pulls it on over her work uniform.

  Maggie turns to her. “So soon?”

  “Yeah, John’s getting in from Vancouver tomorrow morning, and I’ve got some stuff to do before then.”

  Maggie nods to her. “Drive safe. Andy, say goodbye to Katie.”

  “Bye, Katie,” he says, staring at the screen.

  “Bye, guys.” She walks to the door, and I follow her.

  Instead of turning to say goodbye, she takes several steps out into the hallway and tilts her head for me to step out too. I guess she wants to talk, so I close the door behind me.

  “You okay?” She gives me a little smile. “I didn’t know you were up for a promotion, but an order came in this afternoon for a new installation, and your name was on it. So, it’s not just a raise, is i
t?”

  I crane my neck back. “So, you knew, and you wanted to see if I’d tell you?”

  She shakes her head, and I frown, instinctively defensive of my decision to keep it to myself, but there’s something in her eyes. It’s not anger. Concern?

  “Is there something I did wrong? Something I don’t know?”

  She sighs and looks down both ends of the hallway. “There’s a lot you don’t know about Locke Industries. I see… a lot.”

  “Okay… what are you trying to say?”

  “I wasn’t worried about you before, when you were just an assistant, but your name is attached to a high-profile case now. Are you managing it?”

  “Yeah, it’s my first client.”

  The door across the hallway opens, and Don walks out with his Maltese pup, nodding to us before continuing down the hallway to the elevator. After he gets on, Katie checks down the hall again and steps close to me. “Be careful,” she whispers. “They’re involved with some bad people, Jo. Once you get involved in that business, once you see more, you don’t get out.”

  “I don’t think it’s like that…”

  It can’t be that bad. They’re powerful people, well respected, and well known with a great reputation.

  “I watch the live footage of these clients all day. Don’t you think I know what I’m talking about? You don’t believe me?”

  I don’t want to believe any of it, especially not what I saw today, but this is what it takes to get ahead. To help Andy.

  “Is it really that bad?”

  She presses her lips together and shakes her head. “It’s not that good, I’ll tell you that. Did you hear about the bombing of one of our client’s businesses?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know anything about it. That’s the commercial and business sector.”

  “Well, not much the clients do sees the light of day, thanks to our company, but sometimes, things like that get out…”

  “What do you want me to do?” I ask, and she hushes me. “And why do you still work for them if it’s not good?”

  “I don’t plan on being there forever. As soon as John and I get engaged, I’ll look for another job in Vancouver, so we don’t have to do the long-distance thing.”

  “You’re going to move away?”

  “Yes, and that stays between us.”

  She’s leaving me, and it’s been her plan all along… “Of course. You don’t even have to say that. We’re friends.”

  I thought we were.

  She sighs. “I know. Listen, you might not see it now, but if you’re managing clients, you will eventually. I don’t want you to get in too deep with them.”

  That’s exactly what it feels like I’ve done.

  “I stand by and watch it—what the clients do, and I can’t do anything about it.”

  “What are we talking about here?”

  “Illegal things.”

  Drugs. Guns.

  “Like what?”

  “I can’t talk about this.” She lowers her voice and looks up and down the hall. “I know it seems paranoid, but it’s not safe.”

  “So why did you even tell me?”

  “Because you’re a good person. You and your sister are good people, and I don’t want you mixed up in all of it.”

  She doesn’t know my sister, or that she’s an addict, or what she’s put her family through, but that’s not Katie’s fault. It’s family business. I can’t confide in her about things I don’t want Maggie judged for. She needs a clean, fresh start.

  “Well, I appreciate your concern, but I’m doing what I need to do for us.”

  Maybe what I need to be doing is looking for another job…

  Her gaze falls to the floor in front of her. “Be careful, okay? Remember, you don’t need them.”

  But right now, I do. They’re what’s going to help me repay the debt faster than I could anywhere else.

  Three months, and then I can re-evaluate.

  I say goodbye and try to shake off her warning as I walk back inside, but Andy’s smile disappears when he sees me from his perch on the couch, and there’s no point in putting on a show for him. He’s already seen through me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I just…” I wish mom and dad were here. None of this would be happening if they hadn’t become addicts. Everything wouldn’t rest on my shoulders. “I wish our mom and dad could be here with us right now.” I turn to Maggie. “Back before, when they were better.”

  “I know they’re proud of you.” Maggie takes a seat in my recliner as I plop down on the couch beside Andy.

  I nod, letting the small consolation linger as I consider it.

  Would they be?

  But if they knew what we’ve been through since they died. If they saw all the judgments passed on us and how lonely we were, lost without them, how sick Maggie got and how much it affected Andy, maybe they’d understand I’m doing what it takes for us.

  “So… how much?” Maggie gives me her signature faintly crooked-tooth smile and runs her hand through her shoulder-length, curly brown hair.

  “Double my pay,” I say, and her little smile is replaced with a wide-eyed stare. “I know.”

  “That’s amazing.” She wraps her cardigan over her chest and stares at Andy until he looks back at her.

  “You know what it means, right?”

  “I can finally get a lizard?” Andy laughs, and I shake my head, smirking until his laughter fades.

  “Could you get the game ready for us? I need to talk to your mom for a sec.”

  “Okay.”

  Maggie and I walk into my bedroom. “I’m going to be able to pay off the debt in three months.”

  “Seriously?” She seems like she’s about to choke.

  “I promised you I’d make it happen.”

  “Joey, I don’t want you spending all your hard-earned money on me. Let me get a job.”

  I frown and shake my head as tears pool in her eyes. We’ve been made to feel like burdens for most of our lives, and I know she still feels it now. “The best thing you could do for me is the best thing you can do for yourself. Stay clean, go to meetings, and be there for Andy. One day at a time.”

  I still remember the day I got the call she was in the hospital after an overdose. Her ex, Andy’s dad, had left her on the street and said she felt like she had nothing left to live for. If someone hadn’t called it in, she’d have died, and from where she was in that hospital to now, she’s come a long way from the bottom already.

  I rub her shoulder as tears spill down her red cheeks. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”

  “You do too much for me.” She sniffles.

  There’s truth to that, but I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to repay the money and move on with our lives in a better place.

  “Okay, enough with the mush,” she chokes out, wiping her eyes with her fingers. “I’ll be out soon, okay?”

  I nod and go back to the couch with Andy.

  “Are we playing, or are you afraid to get your butt kicked?”

  “One game.” I pick up the controller Katie used. “Then I have to go to bed. I’ve got to get to the office early.”

  He turns on our old favourite, Mario Kart.

  As we play the game, Katie’s alarming warning wears off and the sweet comfort of Andy’s company replaces it.

  We have something we’ve never had now. The security of knowing the money is coming, so long as I do my job right. I’ll do it right, and then, after that, I’ll see where I’m at. After that has only ever been a dream, and now, it’s about to come true.

  After Andy wins the game, I go to the kitchen and clean up the takeout mess as he plays another game with his online friends.

  Yesterday, I didn’t think I’d be able to make the internet bill at the end of the month so he could play his games, and now, I’m dreaming of all the games I’ll be able to buy him soon.

  I start cleaning up the takeout mess, ball t
he burger wrappers up, and toss them in the garbage.

  The burgers were good, but they didn’t satisfy my craving.

  Chapter Six

  Installation

  As I rush toward the front door in the dark, I stumble over Andy’s lizard toy, hitting the bookshelf with my shoulder. A hardcover falls from the shelf. I reach out and grab it before it can smack the floor and wake up Andy, rubbing my shoulder as I slip it back on the shelf in its place.

  I’ll be fifteen minutes early for work, so I could slow down, but I won’t. I’m building a reputation of dependability, and it’s important for Cathrine to know she can rely on me. I have filing to do before the installation at Tackman’s this afternoon.

  A week and one day since I signed the contract, and I can’t stop thinking about my next paycheck. Even when the bill collectors call, it doesn’t ignite the same level of fear in me, because soon, they’ll have no reason to call.

  “Hey,” Maggie whispers.

  I turn to her, sitting at the kitchen table in the dark with a mug in her hand.

  “I didn’t even see you there.”

  “You want some tea before you go?”

  “I don’t have time.”

  “Okay.” She squints at me through the dark as I turn to leave. “You’re working another Saturday? Is that what you’re wearing for after work?”

  Right, it’s Saturday. The days have all been running together lately.

  I turn around in a huff. “Yeah, I have an installation today, and then I’ll meet my friends at the bowling alley. Why?”

  “I really think you should invest in a new top or two. Maybe a blazer to wear over a dress to go from a day to nighttime look.”

  “I don’t have the money for that,” I grumble and turn back to the door again.

  I was too rough with that one, feeling the underlying resentment of why I don’t have the funds with each word I spoke, but I don’t know how to stop being mad at her.

  She folds her arms over her chest. “Mom’s clothes are too big on you.”

  “They’ll have to do for now.” I twist the knob and open the door.