He Sent You

TWENTY THREE

Aiden

I shut the door behind me, my thoughts are all over the place, but the last thing on my mind is fucking work. But my phone has been blowing up silently in the car and in the café and I know I can't leave them unanswered.

The first person I call in my PA.

"Aiden, where the hell are you?!" She answers in a huff.

"I've got a family emergency I am dealing with, it has come about whether abruptly, I need your help sorting through emails."

"Aw, Aiden. Tell me what I need to do." She says. I know she understands, because its very rare I take off any amount of time off work -very rare.

"I need you to go through and figure out the most important contract emails, and forward them to me, so I have the most important at my finger tips, next I need you to answer any complaints and or questions best to your ability, if you cannot just tell them I've stepping away to deal with things and forward them back to me and I'll answer when I can. My email is so cluttered that I can't filter through it myself. And finally I need all today's and tomorrow's meetings pushed until next week, unless they're super important then I can possibly do a video call." I blurt out to her in one breath and I inhale and wait for her answer. I check inside and see Junie standing with her head in her hands, I want to comfort her but I know I can't I need to figure things out first.

She doesn't answer right away, but I can hear her writing things down. "Yes, sir. I can do this." She says almost as if to convince herself.

"I have faith in you completely. And I need you to contact my lawyers as soon as possible, today would be best." I say.

"Ok." I hear her scribble it down.

"Anything else?"

"I need you to let the floors know via email that I am away today and tomorrow and if any problems arise to contact you and you can contact me."

"Alright. Is everything ok?" She asks, concern coloring her tone.

"I hope so." I tell her honestly. But truthfully I have no idea what I've gotten myself into.

"Ok, if there's anything else, just call me!" She tells me.

"Ok, I appreciate this Linds. We'll talk about pay increase when I get back." I hang up before she can argue and walk up to Rick and rap on the window.

"Everything ok?" Rick says rolling down the window, I lean against the door.

"No, not at all."

I tell Rick the whole story leaving nothing out, but I tell him as quick as I can cause the only things weighing on me is if Junie is ok, and I just really want to see her.

I finish the rest of the story and I watch Rick slowly react. "Wow, Memphis, you've gotten yourself tied around the neck, here." He says.

I look down ashamed. "I know, I don't know what else to do, my feelings are running away from me, and I know I can't leave her here alone, there's more to this story than she's letting on." I tell him.

"Honestly, I think you're doing the right thing, and it's about time you've found someone that makes you feel like this. Just be careful." He tells me, honestly. "You better get in there with her and make sure she's processing this ok."

I nod. "Will you wait here?" I ask.

"I think I'll take a drive around the block to see where they may have went, maybe offer them a ride and see if I can get more info out of them." He says.

"Good idea, talk soon. Give me about an hour."

He nods and puts his shades back on and push off the car and watch him peel away from the curb.

I walk back to the door and quickly walk in to see Junie jump up from the couch.

"Its just me." I hold up my hands in defense.

She settles back onto the couch to finish folding clothes into her yellow suitcase.

"You ok?" I ask, but the minute it's out I regret saying it, because she glares are me.

"No, I'm not ok, I have to move in with my boss, answer to people assuming shit at work, and on top of that I now need to worry about not only myself but you, Rick, Marshall and pretty much everybody at work." She says, her voice breaking at the end.

I take a seat beside her, and put my arm around her frail shoulders. She relaxes against me, and it's a great feeling. "I get it, it's a lot of stress, but I promise you, it will get better, it'll all get sorted out and you'll be back before you know it. Lets get over this mini bump in the road." I tell her.

She runs a hand over her exhausted face and then zips her suit case close. "Have you talked to Marshall?" She asks, getting off the couch and making her way to the kitchen.

"Not yet, I'll talk to him over supper, maybe we can all grab pizza? He likes going for pizza." I tell her, I already know Marshall will be more than happy having a guest he can quiz stay with us, but I think pizza will seal the deal.

"Sure." She says grabbing the plants off her window sill and putting water in them, then she proceeds with closing all the blinds and running upstairs for a extended amount of time. When she returns, I'm scrolling through the important emails that Lindsay forwarded to me, I look up to see another smaller suit case at her side, and she's gathering her bigger suit case and her work bag.

"What?" She asks fiddling with the strap.

"Nothing, you ready?" I ask her helping her take her bags to the door.

She nods and follows me.

"Where's Rick?" She asks peering out the mini window beside her door.

"He went for a drive around the block to see where they might be staying." I tell her honestly, there's not reason to lie anymore.

"Oh."

Rick pulls into the driveway and gets out to help us with the bags in the trunk. He doesn't say anything he just nods slightly in my direction as Junie is getting in, and I nod back knowing he knows something but to keep it private.