Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 82: Keeping Up Appearances

Chapter 82: Keeping Up Appearances

If anyone were to ask him how his weekend had gone, Derek’s answer would be something along the lines of "It was very productive. I attended a few functions, played some golf, and at the end of it I made quite a few useful connections, and they should all prove to be very beneficial in the future," And while he had done all of that, and had not told a single lie in the statement, he would have been lying by omission.

The truth was that Derek’s weekend had been awful, and all of the events that he had attended had been a way to get his mind off the situation with Emily. And that when he had gone to play golf, he had been in terribly bad form. More interested in attacking the grass than in actually hitting the ball.

The whole time all that he had been thinking about had been Emily. How she was? Where she was?

Was she at home, curled up in a ball, crying her eyes out? Not likely, she was probably out at a party somewhere telling strangers what an awful boss he had been and how much better her life was without him in it. Such thoughts’ had him attacking the green with more vigor.

And more than once over the weekend, Derek had fought the urge to just blow up Emily’s phone with calls.

"That would be stalking, Derek, you are already toeing the line with the stunt you pulled with her resignation letter. Do not make things worse," He would tell himself each time he caught himself looking at her phone number.

And when he had not been talking himself down from calling her, he had been talking himself down from getting into his car, driving to her apartment and just hitting the horn until she came out.

"No, Derek, we are not doing that, that is also stalker-ish," He’d had to remind himself countless times over the weekend. But in the end, he had made it. Though that probably had a lot to do with him clinging to her coat, the one she had given him to scream into the night the power plant crisis had begun. Derek had meant to give it back, truly, he had just wound up taking it home with him instead, and now it was all that he had left of Emily. Thanks to the coat, he had hung on through the weekend, somehow convincing himself that she would come back for it. But now it was finally Monday.

A dreary, depressing Monday with no Emily in sight. And she would never be in sight, because she had quit. Coat or no coat, she was not coming to work.

"I am overstressed," She had said.

He had overstressed her to the point of quitting and now he had to deal with blue Mondays forever.

Already having a bad day just by walking it to the building, Derek’s day did not get better when he finally made it to the office. In fact, it got worse.

Padma, the head of Human Resources was waiting for him, sitting in Emily’s chair like she belonged there.

The disrespect bothered him, but more than that, at the sight of the woman Derek’s stomach dropped. And when she spoke, his anxiety skyrocketed.

"Good morning, Mr Haven, I am here about the issue concerning Miss Molson,"

She knew, didn’t she? But how? Derek had been alone when he had deleted Emily’s email. And since then he had been very careful to make sure that he never mentioned it to anyone, so how had she known?

Oh...Emily, of course. She was probably there in the building down at HR, having come in bright and early to get her things in order.

"What about her?" Derek asked, though he already knew the answer.

"I want to know why she is downstairs talking about quitting, while HR knows nothing about it," Those were the words that Derek was waiting for. And walking past Padma towards his office, he readied himself for them, and their consequences.

To set a good example of accountability, he would have to step down as CEO, and maybe report himself to the police...

"I am here about her temporary replacement while she is on leave," Padma said, following behind him. Derek whirled around so fast he nearly bumped into Padma.

"What?!" His dread was completely replaced by shock. Luckily for him, Padma misread his reaction.

"Come now, Derek. She is going to be gone for weeks, you cannot be without a PA for that long, someone needs to fill in," Which, now that she mentioned it, Derek saw no reason for anyone to fill in for Emily. It was her job, her office, hers, no one else.

"I can do perfectly fine on my own," He set his jaw, and Padma frowned.

"Derek, be reasonable..." She began, but he cut her off.

"I am being reasonable. I can read the calendar and plan my own day-to-day just fine. I can manage on my own for a short while," He really hoped it was a short while, if Emily did not come back, he had no idea what he would do.

"Oh, really," Padma gave him a disbelieving look.

"When is your meeting with the vice president of Company M?" Derek’s brains stalled. Hadn’t he already met up with Nathan?

"When are you due for your press briefing with the mayor regarding that affordable housing project?" He had a press briefing with the mayor?

"What about your-" He held up a hand to silence her.

"Alright, fine, I get it, Emily does a lot of work and handles things that I cannot even begin to fathom," And all without ever missing a beat. How was he going to function without her?

"It is not like she quit, Derek," He took a pained breath, but Padma was still talking, so she did not hear it.

"Just let us find you someone to temporarily fill her shoes, okay?"

All that he could do was nod, afraid that if he spoke up, he would somehow find himself confessing that Emily had quit.

"Good, HR already has a few people in mind. We will brief them today, and tomorrow we will conduct interviews, to see who can fit as a temporary PA to help you out. Have a good day, boss," She left after that, and Derek sank into his chair, staring at nothing.

A temporary PA, he did not want a temporary PA, he wanted a permanent one. He wanted Emily.