Chapter 141 Turtle Corner
Pam was not joking about going back to work. Only a little over a month after her baby was born, she reported in, and Emily met her by the reception desk.
“I see we have two new employees!” she exclaimed.
Pam was carrying her baby in a colorful sling with a teddy bear print.
“I hope you don’t mind,” she said, “It’s not like I’m going to have any sales meetings on my first day. I’ll need to learn about the company first.”
“Of course I don’t mind.” Emily felt cuteness overload coming on when she saw the baby’s sleeping face. “She’s so adorable!”
“Thanks, I’m not going to bring her every day,” Pam explained, “but it was hard to let her go today.”
“So we can bring our kids to work once in a while?” Allie, one of the designers asked as she passed by.
Emily thought she had been a bit selfish since she never talked with her employees about bringing their kids to work. But since she had no kids, it just never occurred to her. She was still new to owning such a successful and large enterprise.
“I never thought about it,” Emily said, “but we don’t have any rule that says you can’t bring your kids. I would avoid letting them hang out in the studio because there are too many sewing machines and sharp objects. But otherwise… why the heck not?”
“That would be amazing!” Allie exclaimed. “There are some days when I can’t get a babysitter, and my kid is really well-behaved. She won’t be any trouble.”
“I wish I had said something sooner,” Emily said, biting her lip. “Maybe we could have a nanny on site to look after the kids.”
“Looks like I’m stirring up trouble already,” Pam remarked with an apologetic grin.
“You’re not stirring up trouble. I should have made an announcement regarding kids a long time ago.”
A few days later, Emily held a meeting regarding bringing children to work where she outlined the new policy. Everyone approved of the new rules. Paul, one of the designers, raised his hand to ask a question. “Can we bring our dogs too?”
That was another thing Emily had never considered. She often missed her dogs when she was at work, so she decided it might be a good idea.
“As long as they don’t enter the design studio because much like kids they could get hurt by all the sharp objects there. Maybe we can have a dedicated dog area. I hope no one is allergic to dogs?”
She looked around the room, but no one raised their hand.
“No one? That’s great!” Emily realized she could bring Shandy too. “So no objections to dogs?”
“It would be great to bring our dogs!” another designer called out.
“Yeah!” other people agreed.
“Okay, excellent. I guess that wraps up the meeting.” Emily was not a big fan of meetings, and she was eager to get back to the fashions. Some people started filing out of the meeting room, while others stuck around, chatting. Emily noticed Michelle’s downcast face and gloomy expression as the manager was about to leave the room.
“Michelle, you’re not secretly allergic to dogs are you?” Emily asked.
“No,” Michelle said. Emily still had the feeling she was hiding something.
“Is everything okay?” Emily probed gently. “Was it too much, allowing dogs and babies in here all at once? You know I always value your opinion.”
“No, it’s just… I have a turtle.”
“That’s nothing to be sad about,” Emily said, but she felt guilty about her thoughtlessly glib words since Michelle didn’t smile at all.
“I know it seems silly, but I miss him when I’m at work.”
“You could bring your turtle to work too if you want,” Emily suggested.
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Michelle said, hugging her arms closer to her body. “With all these dogs around, he might get eaten.”
“Oh, I see… How about we bring an enclosure for your turtle friend?”
“I’ve got a small enclosure, but I’m worried the dogs will break into it.”
“I don’t think our dogs are that vicious,” Emily said, “but I understand your concern. What if we set up a bigger enclosure around it? We’ll call it ‘turtle corner’.”
“No, you don’t have to go through so much trouble just for a turtle,” Michelle objected.
“Michelle, we’re going to get it done,” Emily said decisively. “If everyone else can bring their pets, so can you.”
“Thank you.” Michelle smiled for what seemed like the first time that day. “I really appreciate it.”
“So when is your wedding?” Paul, one of the designers asked. “Are we invited?”
“Um…” Emily’s engagement was pretty much public knowledge, what with the ring on her finger and the media talking about it. “Yes, you’re all invited. It’s this summer, though we haven’t set an exact date yet.”
Even though it was kind of cheeky of Paul to ask for an invitation, Emily liked her employees, and she realized it would be fun to host them all at her wedding. Besides, it probably would have seemed mean to say no since he was clearly interested in attending.
Emily wondered how Sylvia would react when she learned the guest list was expanding. She decided they should meet in a public place so that her mother-in-law would not try to kill her.
