was doing something that wasn’t right, this woman is now a ghostlike wraith.
“You wanted to see me.” I suddenly remember there was a reason for me being here. I’m prepared to pay anything, give her anything she needs, to ease herself back to normal. I need her. And now, more than ever, with my life beginning to fall apart, it seems I really could do with a spoonful of her no-nonsense medicine.
“It wasn’t too important. I didn’t need for you to rush over to me.”
“Hey.” My eyes are soft as I look at her. “It’s not a problem. I wasn’t doing anything. I just want to see how you are.”
“I can’t come back.”
“Can’t come back?” I echo, my heart sinking because I think I know what’s coming.
“To work for you.”
My shoulders sag. “Not now, of course not, but in time you’ll be fine. There’s no rush. You can come back whenever you feel ready to.”
“I can’t, Brandon. I don’t want to.”
I stare back in disbelief. How can this be a life-defining moment for her? “Is it money?” I pay her handsomely, way above the market rate, because what she does for me is priceless. “You’re due a raise and a bonus.” I flash her a hopeful smile, and I’m stupid enough to think that this might get her to change her mind.
“It’s not the money. I’ve been thinking a lot about things while I’ve been here, and I don’t want to come back. The corporate world isn’t for me anymore.”
“Travel? Is that what you want to do? Because I’ll hold your place for you. Maybe you just need some time off.” She sinks further into the seat, rings of tiredness frame her eyes. “Don’t say anything,” I tell her. “Don’t make a decision yet.” She’ll change her mind. She’ll get out of here and be a hundred percent back to normal, and she’ll want to come back.
“My doctor said he doesn’t know how bad my partial amnesia will be. It might be long-term but it’s difficult to predict right now.”
“That’s fine. That’s okay,” I say, gently. “We’ll deal with that. We don’t need to talk about it now. We can discuss it later.” Anything she needs, I’ll agree to.
“I wanted to tell you now, Brandon, so that you can start looking for someone to replace me.”
“I can’t replace you, Emma.” My voice turns hoarse. “You’re irreplaceable, don’t you know that? I have a temporary PA and she is useless.” I get up and pace the room, my insides tying into knots as I recall all the stupid mistakes of this week that the new temp has made. “She’s not you.”
Emma smiles. “Don’t be so harsh on her. There is a lot to juggle in that role.”
I want her to come back but I can’t force her to do something she doesn’t want. I can’t continue to be that selfish bastard I have always been.
“What’s going on over at Redhill?”
She wants to know about Kyra. Where do I start? My plan has changed, and I have fallen in love with the type of woman I would never even give a second glance to.
I place a hand at the back of my neck. “It’s okay.”
“Just okay?”
“Yeah.”
“What are you not telling me, Brandon?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re not looking me in the eye.”
I glance at her. This is why I need this woman to still be my PA. She knows, just by looking at me, and she hasn’t even seen me in a while, but she can tell there is something.
This is why she cannot be replaced. I shrug, because it seems better not to open my mouth and say something that she can latch onto and derive the entire truth from. “I’ve got it under control,” I say quietly.
“Got what under control?”
I can’t lift my face and look at her, because she will know.
“Brandon?”
“I’m going to tell her.”
“Oh, Brandon. Did you do something to hurt that poor girl?”
I lift my head. It’s written all over my face, and the cloud of disappointment on Emma’s face is reflected back at me. “Tell me you didn’t ...tell me you didn’t try to seduce her.”
I shake my head. Technically, we didn’t.
I’m not a playboy. I don’t seduce women, but she knows of my orchestrated plan to woo Jessica, and it’s not such a gigantic leap of the imagination to think I’d do something underhanded with Kyra. After all, I’m the man who gets anything he wants. I stare at her, wondering how she knows that anything