Today was Friday, her first full day in the city, and on Sunday, she had her first television appearance. Even seasoned professionals’ heads would’ve been spinning at that pace.
The elevator I’d been on let me off on the executive floor and I pushed all worries about whether Leah was really ready for what was waiting for her aside. Our floor receptionist, an older woman named Alice who had the disposition of a rottweiler—mean and protective to strangers but sweet as pie to their people, mostly anyway—waved at me when I walked past her.
“Good morning, Mr. Oliver.” She smiled. “He’s in his office. Got here about half an hour ago. I’ll send in some coffee.”
“Thanks.” I grinned back at her before heading down the glass-walled corridor toward Jefferson’s office.
The upper floors of our building were like a maze of glass, hanging walkways, sweeping staircases, and live plants decorating the floors and countertops. Killen Cosmetics had been headquartered in this building since it had gone up, but it was a surprisingly modernist design for an older building.
It was like the Killens always just managed to be one step ahead of everyone else. It was a quality of theirs I admired, and one I was trying my best to learn from the old man. Unlike the generations before him, who had produced heirs to pass the company down to, Jefferson had always been too focused on the business to have any children of his own.
It wasn’t a widely known fact yet, but he’d be turning the company over to me when he retired. Shortly after we met, he’d taken a liking to me. I hadn’t realized it at first, but he’d started grooming me to take over for him years ago.
In that time, we’d grown closer than just a boss and his second-in-command. I looked up to him. Admired him and valued his advice and opinion more like he was a father figure instead of the CEO of a massive company.
Which was why, when I walked into his office after greeting a few more of the early birds and found him looking pale and drawn, my stomach clenched and nausea rolled through me. “Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
Jefferson sat behind the massive partner’s desk that had belonged to his father and his grandfather before him, but he didn’t cut such an imposing figure behind it today. He had the corner office, and the early morning light streaming in through the windows on two of his walls only seemed to highlight the exhausted circles beneath his eyes.
“I’m fine,” he said, his voice raspy. “Is she here yet? Our girl. You remembered to pick her up from the airport?”
“I did.” I shut his door behind me and went to take my seat across from his, placing my ankle on my knee as I cocked my head. “I’m still not sure it was a great idea to bring in someone completely inexperienced on a project that will be moving as fast as this one, but she’s here.”
“She’s the one,” the old coot said, as adamant as he’d been since the second he’d laid eyes on her. “We have the decorator coming in today to help her with her office, right?”
“Yes, we do.” My eyes narrowed as I studied him, noting that his face seemed a little swollen and his eyes were a tad glassier than usual. “Are you sure you’re okay? How are you feeling?”
He sighed, pressed his lips into a firm line, and shook his head. “I’m not feeling quite as well as I could be. I think I might be coming down with something, but I’ll be fine. It’s a big day. It’s important for me to be here.”
“No, it’s not,” I said as gently as I could without him accusing me of going soft on him. “What’s important is to take care of yourself. Leah will be fine. You don’t have to be here while she’s meeting her assistant and seeing her office.”
“Perhaps not for those things, but we need to make sure that she knows what’s going to be expected of her and is ready for her appearance on Sunday.”
“All of which I can take care of,” I said. “After I drive you home. Come on. It’s time to go. You’ll feel much better after you’ve gotten some rest. I’ll have the doc come by your house this afternoon to check on you as well.”
“That doctor might as well move into my house for all the visits he’s been