Читать книгу Marry in Haste - Heather Allison - Страница 9

CHAPTER THREE

AS THE men and women arrived for the meeting, Abby showed them in.

Both Laird brothers greeted them. Jay was a flirt and a backslapper with a contagious laugh and none of the intensity that surrounded his brother.

Jay made her smile.

Parker made her nervous.

He expected perfection and she was determined to give it to him. The pressure of wondering when she was going to make a mistake, as she surely would, was wearing on her.

“Here you go, Mr. Danvers.” She handed coffee to a man wearing a bolo string tie held by a clip with a diamond cut in the shape of Texas.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” he boomed. “How’s school?”

“I took my final exam last Thursday.”

“Got your grade yet?”

She shook her head.

“You let me know, now, y’hear?”

Abby smiled. Diamond Don Danvers was a character. He loved playing the quintessential Texas oilman where all the younger women were his “sweethearts” and all the younger men his “boys.” A wildcatter from way back, he’d earned the right to his showmanship. Everybody knew Diamond Don—he made sure of it. Abby had a soft spot for him because he’d stopped and introduced himself the first time he’d noticed her sitting at her desk by the elevator. It didn’t matter to him that she was just a secretary, and it didn’t matter to him that Parker and his entourage had hiked down the hall. Diamond Don took the extra minute to learn who she was and ever after asked her about school.

Carrying his coffee, Diamond Don approached Parker and Abby shook her head, thinking that there couldn’t be two individuals more different in temperament.

Except maybe Parker and his brother.

She hovered around the credenza waiting to see if she should refresh the coffee before the meeting got under way.

“Shall we get started?” Parker asked, though the way he spoke, no one interpreted it as a question.

Recognizing her signal to leave, Abby started for the door. Since Parker taped the meeting, he didn’t need her to take notes, but she would remain in Valerie’s office in case he buzzed her for anything.

“Good God Almighty, Parker.” Diamond Don’s voice cut through the murmurs of people getting settled around the table. “What have you done to your coffee, son?”

Abby froze.

Diamond Don took another swallow and grimaced.

It was then that Abby noticed the full mugs sitting in front of everyone.

“Tastes fine to me,” Jay announced, and swallowed, though he blinked rapidly and avoided her eyes.

Abby’s palms iced as she looked toward Parker.

Staring into his mug, he twirled the liquid around the edges.

“It’s a new bean I’m trying.” Parker addressed the group. “Indonesian Green Volcano. I’m thinking of investing in the farm where it’s grown.”

“Green Volcano.” Diamond Don shook his head. “Tastes like volcanic ash, all right.” He set his cup aside. “I’d give this one a pass, son.”

Fervent murmurs accompanied Diamond Don’s pronouncement.

“Make a note not to order that brand anymore, would you, Abby?” Parker glanced at her before turning his attention to the agenda. “And have Barbara or Nancy make us some more coffee.”

Abby nodded and escaped.

Back in her office, she shut the door and leaned against it, her eyes closed while she unwound for a few moments. Inhaling, she noticed that she could smell Valerie’s perfume. The scent had permeated the office reminding Abby as nothing else that she was only a temporary Executive Assistant.

Abby didn’t want to be reminded that she was only temporary. Someday she wouldn’t be temporary. Crossing to her desk, she made a note about the coffee, asked Nancy to make more, then made another note to spray Valerie’s office with nice refreshing pine scent.

Slipping off her pumps, Abby buried her toes in the carpet pile. During the next hour and a half, her telephone was blessedly silent. Either Nancy or Barbara handled all the calls that came in. Abby sorted through all of one box and was making headway on the second when her intercom buzzed.

“Yes, Mr. Laird?”

“Abby, it looks like we’ll be eating lunch here.” Parker’s voice was as composed as ever, though this development just shot his schedule all to pieces.

“I’ll order sandwiches,” she said.

“That’ll be fine.”

Abby stood and stretched her arms over her head. It had been a long morning and she knew she was in for a lengthy afternoon.

Picking up the telephone, she reached for Valerie’s Rolodex. The huge round card file wasn’t in its customary spot. No wonder there had been so much room on the desk. Abby looked on the window ledge, then by the computer, behind the monitor, on the file cabinets, in the file cabinets and in the desk drawer before giving up.

“Do either of you have Valerie’s Rolodex?” Abby asked Barbara and Nancy from the doorway.

Both women looked up from their computers and shook their heads.

“It’s gone.” Abby looked around their office anyway.

Barbara clicked a button on the tape recorder and took off her headphones. “What do you mean, it’s gone?”

“I can’t find it. I’m supposed to order sandwiches.”

Barbara got up from her desk. “Nancy, you’ve got that deli number, don’t you?”

Nodding, Nancy flipped through her own file. “I’ll call in the order, but which assortment?”

The three women stared at each other. Valerie’s Rolodex contained personal information about everyone who did, or had done, business with Parker Laird.

“Who’s in the meeting?” Barbara asked.

“Well, Diamond Don.” Abby tried to remember the rest, but her growing panic wiped their names from her mind.

“So we’ll have at least one roast beef,” Nancy murmured. “I thought I saw a woman in a red suit go by.”

Fighting to control her runaway emotions, Abby nodded.

“That’ll be the corporate lawyer handling the El Bahar setup. And I saw Jay...” Barbara looked off into space. “It’s probably the same bunch who met last Monday.”

Nancy nodded. “I’ll order the same sandwich platter.”

“Make sure Diamond Don’s roast beef is rare,” Barbara reminded her.

“Gotcha.”

Breathing easier, Abby leaned against the file cabinet. “Thanks.” Only now would she admit to herself that she’d been afraid Nancy and Barbara wouldn’t support her. If they hadn’t been so helpful, Abby might have done something stupid like interrupt the meeting to ask Parker what kind of sandwiches to order.

Looking distracted, Barbara walked into Valerie’s office. Abby followed her and watched as Barbara looked in all the same places Abby had.

Nancy appeared in the doorway a few moments later. “Find it?”

“No, and I don’t think we’re going to,” Abby said, a queasiness settling in her stomach.

Barbara looked at her. “You think Valerie took it with her?” she asked bluntly.

Abby sank onto the desk chair. “Don’t you?”

“Why would she do that?” Nancy protested. “It doesn’t make any sense. She knows we’ll need her notes to—oh.”

She and Barbara exchanged a look and Abby knew they were remembering their conversation in the ladies’ room—the one about Abby failing. She was remembering it, too.

By taking the old Rolodex, with its years’ worth of notes and observations, Valerie had seen to it that Abby couldn’t possibly slip seamlessly into her place. All Parker’s hotel preferences, special instructions, favorite restaurants and the wait staff in those restaurants, even who took what in his or her coffee and names of spouses and children—all the little details that contributed to an extra edge in Parker’s business dealings were in that Rolodex.

“I don’t suppose any of the information was computerized?” Abby asked.

Both women shook their heads.

Think, Abby commanded herself, though she wanted to shriek—preferably at Valerie. “Then we’ll have to recreate Valerie’s notes.”

Nancy rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Staring at her toes as they dug into the carpet, Abby swiveled her chair from side to side. “The thing of it is,” she began with elaborate casualness, “not having the information in Valerie’s files makes us all look bad—including Valerie.”

“How do you figure that?” There was a belligerent defensiveness in Nancy’s voice.

Barbara was silent and Abby guessed that she was figuring things out for herself.

“I’ve only been working in this department since March and you’ve been here how long?”

“Three years.” Nancy tilted her chin up. “So what?”

“I know you’ve worked here longer.” Abby looked at Barbara, who crossed her arms. “Naturally, Mr. Laird expects you both to know more about the routine than I do, because if you haven’t learned anything after working here all those years...” She allowed her voice to trail off as Barbara and Nancy exchanged looks.

“We’d look either stupid or lazy.” Nancy propped her hand on her hip and shook her head in disgust. “So how does that make Valerie look bad?”

“Because she hired us,” Barbara answered.

“And because she’s the manager,” Abby added. “In the management course I’m taking, we learned about delegating and about making provisions for when you’re out of the office. That way, everything functions smoothly. Did you know that there isn’t a Policy and Procedure manual?”

“There doesn’t have to be,” Nancy said. “The policy is to do what we’re told. The procedure to do it as fast as possible.”

Barbara laughed, but Abby didn’t. “What if Valerie doesn’t have the Rolodex, or what if she decides she likes Greece so much that she doesn’t want to come back?” Abby didn’t wait for a response. Besides, everyone knew Valerie would be back. “I’m turning my notes into a manual so one of you can take over in case I’m not here.”

By the time she finished speaking, both women were nodding in agreement.

“I’ve made my own notes,” Nancy offered, with the first genuine smile she’d directed toward Abby since Valerie had announced that Abby would be her replacement. “I’m the one who usually makes the phone calls.”

“Great.” Abby beamed at her.

“I know a thing or two,” Barbara added. “I’ll start a file.” She headed toward her office, then stopped and glanced back at Abby. “I really hate looking incompetent.”

“Of course, we’ll be making Valerie look good, too,” Nancy grumbled. “And it was mean of her to take the Rolodex.”

“Maybe she didn’t do it on purpose,” Abby said.

Both women gave her a look.

“And maybe she did.” Abby grinned and they all shared a laugh.

Before following Nancy back through the connecting door, Barbara pointed to one of the black boxes. “Is this box sorted?”

“Yes.” Abby hadn’t wanted to mention the pile of work. If she hadn’t had to stop and prepare for the meeting, she would have distributed it before now. “Could you use someone from the typing pool downstairs? With Valerie gone, we’ve effectively had our work force cut by twenty-five percent. I don’t want to get behind.”

“Good idea.” Barbara scooped up the pile of papers. “If we nab some leftover sandwiches, Nancy and I can stay through lunch and have typing work ready by one-thirty.”

Abby nodded, grimacing as a thought occurred to her. “What kind of sandwich does Mr. Laird like? I didn’t even think to ask.”

“Weird sandwiches,” Barbara answered. “He likes to be surprised and the deli experiments on him.”

Parker Laird liked to be surprised? The same Parker Laird who fanatically scheduled his days in fifteen-minute blocks?

“Tell her about the mushrooms,” Nancy called from the other office.

“Oh, yeah. Last time, they sent grilled portabella mushrooms and tomato on sourdough.” Barbara sighed. “Heavenly.”

“A mushroom sandwich? I’ll take chicken salad, thank you very much,” Abby said.

As soon as Barbara disappeared into her office, Abby closed her eyes and exhaled. She’d handled this hurdle and convinced Barbara and Nancy to support her. She’d acted managerial. Her business professor would have been proud.

But it was Parker she wanted to please.

Thanks to Jay, he was already forty-five minutes behind schedule. His brother was going to have to learn how to facilitate meetings if he had any intention of returning from El Bahar within a year.

Lunch remains were scattered across the conference table and people had lingered, gabbing aimlessly for at least twenty minutes after all business had been conducted. Parker had allowed ten minutes for socializing prior to the meeting. He failed to understand why it was necessary to supplement the allotted time during business hours. It was inefficient.

Jay was inefficient and nothing Parker did seemed to change his ways.

Parker eyed the frown on his brother’s face and felt the minutes tick away.

“Surely it isn’t necessary that I attend the—” Jay broke off and scooted the gold and black invitation toward him. “Chamber Music Preservation Board Awards luncheon.” He grimaced. “How many of these things are you on, anyway?”

“We are on dozens. Thank Mother.”

“Then let her go.”

“She is.”

“Then you go.”

“I’ll be at a Zoological Society fund-raiser.”

“Trade you.” Jay grinned.

“Ordinarily that wouldn’t be a problem, but continuity is a factor here.”

“English, please.”

Parker leveled a look at him. “You’re leaving next week, so be a good boy and accept the pretty plaque.”

“And what did I do?”

“You donated fifty thousand dollars to refurbish the Green Room at Allen Hall.”

Jay gave a low whistle. “I’m very generous.”

Parker spared a brief smile. “The Symphony Guild is wining and dining you tomorrow night.”

“Why?” Jay looked pained.

“Because you’re leaving next week and they hope you won’t forget them.”

“Why? Is their Green Room shabby, too?”

“Not anymore.”

Jay heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Parker, how did I get a reputation as a classical music lover?”

“By donating generously to the arts in Houston. Mother is very pleased.”

Jay narrowed his eyes. “You sicced those stuffy music people on me, didn’t you?”

Parker met his gaze. “I ran out of wall space for plaques.”

Jay drummed his fingers on the conference table. “Tell me, am I free any night this week?”

Parker noted that Jay had not brought his agenda with him—the cordovan leather agenda Parker had given him. Typical. He consulted his own planning book, where he was keeping track of Jay’s schedule. “Let’s see. Thursday is the Aria Society.” He looked up. “Another farewell dinner.”

“It could be worse. It could be the whole opera group.”

“That’s on Friday night. A performance in your honor.”

“Oh, joy.” Jay groaned and dropped his head to the table.

“Now tonight... You’ll enjoy tonight. The University of Houston Jazz Ensemble. Dinner and dancing.” Parker was planning to go to that one himself. Dancing meant contact with women. Parker knew better than to allow Jay unchaperoned contact with women so near to his departure for El Bahar.