“He emailed me about that. It’s fine. You don’t need to report to us every time you go anywhere,” she snaps.
She has a long list of names in front of her and hundreds of thick, cream envelopes. There’s a big gala coming up soon, and she’s been stressing about it for weeks.
I look at Kaitlin and Julia, and they don’t look any better than Beatrice. My heart aches for them. They all work so hard, and it doesn’t seem as if they get much recognition for what they do.
“He asked me to thank you,” I blurt out. Beatrice looks up with her eyebrows raised.
“What? What for?”
“He said he appreciates how smoothly things have been running lately.”
It isn’t a lie. I saw an email he sent to Vanessa about it. Beatrice stills as she glances at Kaitlin.
“Oh,” her shoulders lower a little, the invites in her hands resting on the desk. “Well, that’s good.”
“He’s been out a lot, I know, but he talks about you three all the time. He values the work you do. I can tell.”
Julia and Kaitlin are both smiling now, watching Beatrice. I wonder how many times in his life Crawford has complimented them. By the look of surprise on their faces, probably never.
“Okay, you’ll be late if you don’t go now,” Beatrice says, but her voice is a little less frosty than it was.
I turn, heading to the elevators with a little smile on my face. When I reach the parking lot, Melvin is already waiting for me.
I climb in and nod at him.
“My lady,” he says.
“My lord,” I reply. “Is he sick?”
Melvin rolls his eyes. “He’s never sick.”
“Is that the official line, or do you genuinely believe that?”
He shifts in his chair, uncomfortably. “He doesn’t like people to know he’s human. He has to show the world that he can tackle anything. He can’t afford for his rivals to know he occasionally gets the flu.”
“But in your professional opinion?” I ask, and he smirks at me.
“He’s sick as a dog. Didn’t even chew me out for being five minutes late this morning.”
“Has he left his apartment?”
“Tried to. I took him halfway to the office, and he threw up on the sidewalk, so I took him home again. I’ve been waiting for him to ask me to collect you for an hour.”
“Why me? Doesn’t he want one of the other EAs to help?”
His expression when he meets my gaze is hard to read. “He wanted you.”
His tone is odd, but I brush it aside as he starts the engine and we drive off.
“Do you think we could make a stop on the way?” I ask. “I don’t want to get you in trouble though.”
Melvin raises an eyebrow at me. “What did you have in mind?”
Chapter 23
Amelia
By the time Melvin and I have stopped at a drug store and a Whole Foods, the traffic is heavy, delaying us by another fifteen minutes.
