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Collins blinks rapidly. My guess? She’s trying to decide if chastising me will encourage me.
“Your memory issues are getting increasingly worse, huh?”
She glances at the ceiling. Probably praying for patience. “Twenty,” she grits out.
“Coming right up,” I reply cheerfully.
I count the numbers aloud until I have the right amount, then head for the door.
She hurries after me. “I can take those.”
“You sure are possessive of your folders,” I state, slowing my strides so she can catch up.
I hear a huff. Thankfully, the smile’s off my face by the time she draws even with me.
Automatic lights flicker on as we walk. Every desk we pass is empty.
Acquiring an office on this floor is equivalent to making partner at a law firm. It’s the goal you work toward, an achievement you can rest after. After years of long hours, most other employees are trying to make it home in time for dinner with their families.
“It’s quiet,” Collins comments, glancing around. “Is it always like this?”
“I’ve only been here a week longer than you, Mo—” I clear my throat, hoping that syllable got lost in the sound. “Everyone’s trying to enjoy the end of summer. Or they’ve got kids headed back to school. It’ll pick up more later into the fall. Everyone on this floor worked hard to get here. They’re enjoying the benefits.”
Almost everyone, I add under my breath.
“You don’t think you deserve to be here?”
My eyes jump to Collins.
She smirks. “My memory might be going, but my hearing’s excellent.”
I smile reluctantly. Her joking would thrill me under other circumstances. But I’m embarrassed she heard what was meant to be an inside thought.
“I don’t think Idon’tdeserve to be here. But I … I wish I’d started in an office a couple of floors down. That I wasn’t the boss of employees who had worked here since before I was born. But I also know people would treat me differently no matter what. Not a single person used my dad’s old office after he left. It was being saved for the next Kensington. Could have been Lili. Ended up me.”
We’ve reached Collins’s desk. I set the folders down in a neat stack, pulling one of the new pens out of my pocket and spinning it around a finger.
“Unless I ask for your help with something, you don’t need to stay past five.”
“I work faster when it’s quiet,” Collins says. “Just wanted to get ahead of a few things before tomorrow.”
I nod. “Okay. Night, Collins.”
“Night,” she replies.
Back in my office, I loosen my tie before sinking back into my swivel chair. I stare at the legal pad covered with scribbles and a depressing number of strikethroughs that made a new pen necessary.
Tomorrow’s the second meeting with Beauté—the makeup company my father is interested in acquiring. I had a meeting yesterday with the team I’m helming to discuss strategies, but ultimately, it’s my call how we try to acquire them.
There’s a knock on my door when I’m halfway through a fresh pageof ideas.
“Come in,” I call out, attempting and failing to ignore the burst of adrenaline. It has to be Collins.
Sure enough, she appears a second later.
“I thought you were leaving.”
She nods. “I am. I just wanted to finish the notes from the Viridian Ventures meeting first.”