60- Happy with who yo are

My gaze meets his in shock. I am a bit surprised though to see that his eyes are sparkling, and a ghost of a smile is tugging at the corners of his lips.
“That can’t be right,” I say.
Now, his smile breaks free. “Really? How so? Because if I say the camera in the conference room is broken then it is, and if I say that it is not, then that will be the case. This, Blair, is my turf and I call the shots here.”
This, I think as I watch his face brighten up. This right here is the sinfully haughty and massively appealing demeanor of his that made me offer myself to him on a silver platter during the weekend. Suddenly, recollections of him pounding his hips into me flashed before my mind, and the sexual pangs that ensue feels like several severe kicks in the gut.
I don’t know how to respond to him anymore so I turn around to take my leave. I have finally lost.
This whole situation is a bust and I am ready to save myself from the shame before it kills me. “Can you really work with me?” he asks. “After last weekend?”

He hits a nerve and I turn back around. “Last weekend has absolutely nothing to do with today! That was personal and I didn’t know who you were. This is my professional life.”
He remains calm despite my explosion. “That’s why I’m asking you. Can you separate the two?” “Of course I can,” I reply.
Silence.
“Then you’re hired. Relay my decision to Allen and tell him to instruct you on all you need to know. Please shut the door on your way out.” He returns his attention to the documents on his desk.
My knees wobble from the shock. Before I can fall again, I force the strength back to my frame and immediately turn around. I want to express some form of gratitude but I can’t muster up a single word or thought for that matter, so I just walk out of the office and shut the door behind me.
Allen is outside the office and speaking to a woman in a corduroy pant suit. The moment they see that I have emerged, they both come over to me.
“Blair, this is Monica Herring, our head of HR. She is going to be assisting me in reassigning you. Monica, this is Blair Tatum.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she says.
I reply in kind, before turning to Allen. “He says I’m hired,” I tell him. “So I don’t think there will be a need to reassign me.”
Both of them go silent at my statement.
“What?” Allen asks while looking stunned. “He changed his mind?”
I nod and hope to God, he doesn’t find out the backstory behind all of this.
Allen inhales deeply and then releases a deep, and heavy breath. “Monica, please orientate Miss Tatum. I’ll speak to Grady.” With that, he returns to Abbott’s office.

While trying to control my nervousness, I go along with Monica.



here is a sudden commotion in the cafeteria. I look up from my simple but tasty meal of grilled rockfish and pecan dumplings to search for the source and my gaze meets a man
with a small toddler strapped to his torso. The baby is giggling with excitement, it’s stubby arms and legs outstretched to receive all the attention that is coming her way from the myriad of employees, most of which are female, that are gathered to welcome them.
Her father is none other than the affable CFO, Allen, whom I’ve become quite fond of, and who is very clearly enjoying the attention even more than the toddler is. I want to go over and give my greetings, but I am still somewhat of a strange presence amongst the sea of employees. So I glue my butt to my seat, continue with my meal and remain content with just watching from afar.
A message arrives on my phone, so I turn my attention to the screen to see that it is from Jodie.
It’s about her escapades at the diner she works in, and at the picture of the stranger’s Ferrari that she went home with the previous night, my heart nearly jumps out of my chest.
You got in a freaking stranger’s car and went home with him? I texted
You’re one to talk, she texts back.
I’m immediately reminded of the dilemma I’m in with my new boss who by the way, hasn’t spoken a word to me in the week that I have been working here. Touché, I reply with a sullen face just as a deep but breezy voice sounds behind me. I turn to see the highly esteemed CFO Allen, arrive at my table with his toddler and I immediately rise to my feet. He has two packed lunches in hand, and to my surprise pulls out the chair in front of me to take a seat.
I immediately feel self-conscious, knowing that a lot of eyes from the cafeteria will now be on us. “How’s it going, burrito debtor?” he asks.

I can’t help but laugh. It makes me immediately relax enough to enjoy his company. “Quite well, so far,” I reply, and don’t bother to add the ‘could be better’ part of the sentence. It turns out however that I don’t have to.
“Establish any sort of rapport with your boss yet?” he asks.
I’m about to brush the concern off but then I see the glint of true concern in his gaze. “Can I be honest?” I ask.
“Of course.”
“It won’t come back to bite…“ I quickly catch myself “I mean, it won’t be used against me in the future, right?”
He laughs, and the boisterous burst startles the toddler strapped to his torso. “No, it won’t come back to bite you in the ass. And no need to censor yourself either on account of this one, we say ass around her all the time. She’s still unimpressionable.”
I laugh again as I gaze at the blue eyed toddler.
Her head is covered in dark tufts of curly hair and her limbs outstretched as she fights to be free of her father.
“She’s so beautiful. What’s her name?”
“Hazel,” he replies, “but back to your frigid boss.”
“Alright,” I respond but quickly drop a disclaimer. “And I didn’t call him that, you did.” “Of course.” He smiles and sends me a wink.
My gaze moves to his bowls of salad. “Don’t you need to eat though? I don’t want to keep you.”
“These are for my wife,” he says. “She’s visiting me today and loves our Greek salad, so she’s going to take them back to work with her. Now will you stop changing the subject and talk to me about your boss?”