Page 17 of The Rebel

I sucked in a breath. Oh God, he was going to bring up this morning again, I was sure of it. He was going to say he couldn’t forget it, that he still wants that coffee date.

Wow! Where on earth did that train of thought come from?That was the opposite of what I needed to happen.

“This is how things will go. You’ll be with me at all times, and I’ll tell you what to write down. Mostly to-dos, either for me or for you.”

Well, that went differently than what I’d imagined. I felt as if I’d jumped into a cold pool. I guess he had no intention of rekindling what happened earlier.

Why did that bug me?

“Perfect.”

How could I be disappointed that my boss was behaving like a boss and not like a major flirt? I needed to get a grip.

I took a deep breath as I got out of the car. I couldn’t understand why I was having so much trouble pushing this morning to the back of my mind. It was no big deal. Anthony certainly seemed to be able to completely compartmentalize, so why couldn’t I? After all, he’d been the one to hit on me first.Heasked formynumber.

Yeah, but you gave in pretty easily, didn’t you?a voice said in the back of my mind.

There was no need to chastise myself any longer. I was going to do my job impeccably, and that would be enough.

On the property, there were several tents and small stages at various points of construction. Anthony headed to a small cabin with determined strides. I was struggling to keep up with him.The man was much taller than me, so his legs were proportionally longer too.

“First things first, this is where the location manager is stationed day in, day out,” Anthony said, pointing to the cabin. “If you ever come here without me, go straight to him.”

“Noted,” I assured him.

“Gregory, hi,” Anthony greeted the man as he came out of the cabin.

“Hey, Anthony,” Gregory responded. “I was wondering when you’d stop by.” He was looking at me.

“This is Daisy.” There was a pause, and then he said, “My new assistant.”

Gregory looked incredulously at me and then back at Anthony. “Hi, Daisy. Nice to meet you.”

“Is everyone going to be ready on time?” Anthony asked, glancing around.

“Yes. We’re cutting it close because of the shitty weather last week, but everyone will be ready tomorrow evening.”

“Is there an event program I can download somewhere?” I asked.

“Yes. I even have printed copies here.”

Gregory went back into the cabin and came out with a folded sheet of paper. I read through it and instantly understood why the festival was so popular. They had some big names, and the entry price was fair considering how much music you got for the money.

I pocketed the sheet of paper, listening intently to Anthony’s conversation so I didn’t miss out on anything. This was fun. He had an interesting job, so shadowing him would be fun for me too.

There were plenty of food and beverage stops along the way. This was a huge operation. No wonder Anthony wanted to come here in person and check on how it was going.

“Are you going to stop by during the concert as well?” I inquired.

“We’ll see.”

For the next hour, I followed Anthony around as he spoke to two dozen people. He asked pointed questions, and he was clearly on top of everything. I was impressed with the level of detail. I’d assumed he simply oversaw the whole thing.

I learned soon enough what things I was to jot down. Anthony sometimes clued me in by gesturing at me, but others were just intuitive.

At the end of the tour, three hours later, I hada lotof notes.

“Right, Gregory, that’s all,” Anthony said as we returned to the cabin. “I’ve kept you long enough.”