Page 42 of Room Service

15

Trent

“Sir?” I heard the question as she knocked on my door. She didn’t wait for me to reply as I sighed and looked up.

“Yes?”

The secretary walked in, a folder held in her arm, and I knew it was just one more thing for me to do. I’d migrated recently from working with hard copy documents, thanks in large part to my brothers, who were now off somewhere supposedly attending to their ‘duties.’ I was still waiting for news that Mason had thrown a party somewhere. Kevin would be more circumspect, but I’d probably hear something about him too.

Occasionally there’d be something for me to look into, which meant I had to stop whatever else I was doing to get to it because all the late arrivals were super fucking important, and I couldn’t put them off.

“I have some new documents for you to look over… but if you don’t have time, sir…?” she started slowly, and I could have pushed her away but I knew that it had to be done.

“It’s fine,” I said, cutting her off. “Please set it down. How soon do you need it back?”

“An hour. It needs at least three signatures.”

I sighed. So, it was probably a contract or something. Were Dad’s business partners changing the rules of the game now that the old man was out of commission for the time being? I needed to find the original if there was one, then read through the whole document and decide whether to sign or not, or send it back and wait for it to be returned…

I’d be happier if it were just something to do from within the hotel, but I’d taken care of all of those already. My secretary made sure.

“You’ll have it. Come back for it in exactly one hour.” I waved my hand from side-to-side trying to gauge how long it would take me to sort it out.

“Yes, sir,” she said with a nod, then turned and walked out the office.

As soon as she was gone, I dropped my head into my arms. What I wanted to do was knock my head on the desk, but the last thing I needed was to give myself a headache anyway.

“Where did my free time go, exactly?” I muttered to myself, starting to feel resentment at my lack of spare time.

Sure, I was used to working for days on end with no breaks, it wasn’t exactly a new thing to me. The problem was it had been a fucking week already, and because I was so bogged down with work, I hadn't had the time to properly track Jessi down for that talk. I was taking too damn long to find her, and I was worried how her thoughts would have changed over the course of that time.

On the other hand, I’d had a lot of time to think about her. Even when I was working, thoughts of Jessi tended to intrude on my mind to the point that I was growing used to it. Besides thinking about her, I also had a lot of time to examine my own life.

I’d managed to come to the conclusion I lacked something in my life. And what could it possibly be, besides that one thing that had settled in my head and refused to leave for the past week?

My life had been lacking Jessi. It wasn’t an easy conclusion to make, but it was one that made sense to me after the week I’d had of dreaming and daydreaming about her.

Focus, I thought to myself. The day isn’t over yet.

I got started reading the new document. As if to mock me, my phone rang. I winced when I saw it was a call from my PA back in Asheville. It had been easy before, to help out with Dad’s empire when I was still working on my own company, but now that I was fully focused on both, I was starting to feel the strain.

I managed to do a quick read of the document as I listened to my PA, and by the end of the hour when the secretary came for it, I handed the signed document over. I was getting back to what I’d been doing before, only for my phone to ring again. I had to pick it up, and it was nearly a whole hour of chatting over the phone so I could help fix a situation on the other end.

After a few more minutes of working, my phone rang again. Only, it wasn’t my PA this time. I vaguely remembered it as some woman’s number. I’d probably given her my number at some party, and she was calling because I hadn't made the first move.

Dammit. Can't you people just leave me alone? I’m busy!

I was almost to the point of tearing my hair out. I rejected the call, but she called back a minute later. I let out a low growl, then sighed.

“I’m taking a break,” I declared to my empty office, glaring at my phone as I picked it up and turned it off. Then I turned to the computer and logged out of the hotel’s database before turning it off. I got up, pulled on my jacket, and left.

The secretary looked up as I walked out of the office, surprised. I didn’t blame her. I might have only been at my dad’s office for a week, but this was the earliest I’d ever come out of it.

“Sir?” she said, a slight frown of confusion on her brow.

“I’m taking a break,” I told her. “If anything comes up, please take care of it for me. I’ll be completely out of communication for the rest of today, but I’ll be back tomorrow. I have something important to take care of.”

“Yes, sir.”