He was logged into the computer a second later, looking up at me expectantly. “You don’t have any meetings this morning. Your first is at one.”
I smiled. “I know. I planned it that way. I prefer Monday mornings to be clear. Just to make sure there’s nothing pressing to deal with.”
He jotted something down on the notepad he’d brought with him, then leaned back and sighed as he spun in his chair. “Then my job here is done.”
I laughed. “Settle in; then I want to go over my list of items for the Vegas silent auction before I have to confirm with them.”
Instantly, he was leaning forward, his fingers on his keyboard.
I left him to it, returning to my desk and leaving the adjoining doors open for the time being. I took a sip of my coffee as I sat down, pulling up my inbox. I was happy to see my email was getting ramped up. Now that I’d been here for a week, it looked as though everyone knew my email address. I had requests from several department heads, questions regarding the placement of items, times for future auctions, as well as a few comments—mostly positive—about some changes I was looking to make.
I skimmed through them, attempting to see if there was anything critical, but found nothing that needed my immediate attention. While I waited for Emmett, I began typing responses to those I could, requesting more information when necessary, suggesting meetings to explore further.
When Emmett finally walked in, I looked up. He was carrying an iPad—where he’d acquired it, I didn’t know—tapping a few things on the screen.
“I was trying to find marketing brochures for the items that Delta June’s has sold in the past, but I couldn’t find any,” he said, his attention still on the screen.
“That’s because my father didn’t do them,” I explained, having already searched for the very same thing last week. “He was old school, wanted everyone to see the item for themselves.”
Emmett looked up, his brow furrowing slightly. “Are you opposed to a brochure? At least for the big-ticket items?”
I leaned back in my chair, regarded him. “I’d prefer it, actually. Do you have some ideas?”
He answered my question by spinning around his iPad and showing me a mock-up of one of the items from the list I was considering for the Vegas silent auction.
“Where did you find this?” I asked, leaning closer to take a better look.
“I designed it. Just took a little while.” He was watching me closely. “I’d prefer better pictures, but I figured that would be easy enough if—”
“You designed this?” I looked up at him, down at the iPad, up at him again. “In five minutes?”
He grinned, a boyishly charming smile. “What time do you think it is?”
I glanced at my computer to check, but the screensaver had come on. “Eight-thirty?”
Emmett chuckled. “I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun. It’s almost eleven.”
I frowned. “What?”
He chuckled. “I’ve been working on this for at least an hour. Took me some time to find it.”
Where in the world did the time go? One second I was skimming emails, the next…
“No wonder my stomach is growling,” I grumbled good-naturedly.
“I can have sandwiches brought in if you want to carve out some time to go over this.”
“Great idea. Let’s do that. We’ll need to get on the phone with the team in Vegas to see if we can get more images. I agree; these need to be better.”
With that, Emmett accomplished three things: he tackled the biggest project on my list, helped me get it hammered out, and he ensured I was fed.
I couldn’t ask for much more on a Monday.
~~~~
Kieran
My Monday mornings generally consisted of conferencecalls and in-person meetings. Provided, of course, the opening bells of the stock market weren’t followed by chaos and havoc. In those instances, my employees knew to scatter and focus on what they did best, not blowing smoke up my ass. Luckily, today lacked the excitement and anxiety that came with a significant downturn, and we were able to accomplish what was necessary to prepare for a short week.
