Chapter 84 He's Up To Something

Eden's POV:

Noah is up to something. I'm not sure what but he's definitely up to something. He's been intentionally having meetings with members of the team without including me. I don't mind. Not really, except he keeps pulling Rob in with him and I need to ask Rob for help with my terrible carving.

When I say terrible, I don't just mean terrible. I mean the worst carving I've ever seen.

My dad always prided himself on the fact that we did everything by hand but right now, I would love to get someone else to do it for me. I'm never going to do a good job of the furniture for the doll's house and Grandma is all excited about it. She wants to make a big event out of the whole thing and I don't really want to let her down.

I also want to do it well for my dad. I'd like to make him proud. I've been watching tutorial videos online and everything. They make it look so easy but when I come to do it myself it's a disaster. Stacey asked Rob to help me yesterday and he'd quickly agreed but as of yet, I've been unable to pin him down to arrange a time. And it's all Noah's fault!

He's so infuriating! I probably shouldn't blame him. It's hardly rational. It's not like it's his fault I suck at carving.

But the pressure is on since grandma wants to throw some big event for the anniversary. I can't help but wonder if she's forgotten that I can hardly attend as myself. Perhaps it's time for me to come clean about who I am... But I'm scared. I don't know how Noah will react. He clearly doesn't take well to people betraying him and he'll think that's what this is, right?

He'll think I intentionally misled him... which I might have, but I never thought we'd end up dating when I started work at the company. If I'd known that, I wouldn't have lied. Probably...

Perhaps when I explain why I lied, he'll understand. I guess I can only hope.

Dropping my stuff on my desk, I'm surprised when I hear voices coming from the conference room. Whoever is in there is here early. Normally, it's only Noah and me here at this time. I smile when I notice the coffee waiting for me on my desk. He always thinks of me.

Sipping at it, I'm surprised to find it piping hot. It's not been here long. Looking around, I wonder where he is. Maybe it's him I can hear in the conference room. Ignoring the slight disappointment I feel at not having not seen him yet, I get to work, checking his schedule for the day.

It's surprisingly empty.

I hit refresh because that's not normal and I'm pretty sure I'd been assigning things to it, only yesterday. There's no way he has nothing to do today. Did he clear his schedule for something?

He's definitely up to something and the empty calendar is doing nothing to ease my suspicions. I get to my feet, brushing down my pencil skirt before striding towards the conference room. He's obviously here somewhere. His open office door and the coffee that I'm drinking give that much away.

I don't reach the door though before Stacey is stepping out and pulling me away.

"Hey!" She says excitably. "I need your help!"

"I just need to ask Noah..."

"He's working with Rob," she says. "Really boring stuff. Come with me..."

I hesitate. I don't know what is going on but even Stacey is acting weird.

"What's going on?"

"Nothing much," Stacey shrugs off my question. "Just planning for a little workshop later."

"Workshop?" Is that why he's cancelled all his appointments for the day? It's significantly less exciting than thinking he might have planned to take the day off to do something exciting but I'm still suspicious that there's more to it. Stacey is definitely acting weird.

"Yeah... something for the whole department," she says casually, although the pitch of her voice suggests she's not confident.

"What about?" I press.

"Er... You'll find out with everyone else," she says. "I don't know the details."

I decide to let her off the hook. She's obviously terrible at keeping secrets but she's trying really hard.

"What did you need my help with?" I ask, changing the subject.

"Ah, there's some boxes in the corridor," she says, leading me out of the department. "Rob said they were near the lift."

We find the boxes easily enough but boy, are they heavy! It takes us several trips back and forth before we have them all piled up outside the conference room, Stacey refusing to let me put them inside the room. I don't know what to do with myself when we've finished. My schedule might as well be empty too because most of my work is determined by whatever Noah is up to.

I try and find something to do, catching up on emails and completing some of the tasks that I usually leave until Friday afternoons. The rest of the department begin to make their way in. Unlike me, they're completely oblivious to whatever is going on in the conference room. They just get on with their own tasks without a thought for what Noah is doing and I can't really blame them. He's usually in his office anyway, so it's not that different for them. It's only me that feels left out.

It's silly, I know but that doesn't stop me feeling that way.

Noah finally shows his face, stepping out of the conference room a little after ten o'clock, his sleeves rolled up as he talks to a man that I don't recognise. They walk this way, talking animatedly. When they reach my desk, Noah smiles down at me before asking for me to go and collect him and his guest a coffee from the cafe across the street.

If it was just for Noah, he'd be more than willing to have one of the awful coffees from the staff kitchen, so I know he's asking more for the other man than himself. Jumping to my feet, I grab my purse and coat and head towards the lift. I want to know what is going on! It's so frustrating not knowing anything.