Connexion

Part 75

Her lips twitched. "More wine?"

He shook his head, he glanced over, "Do you have brothers? Sisters?"

She shook her head. "I'm an only child. I was brought up by my grandmother."

He did not meant to ask why, but he flicked a look at her and asked "Was that ok?"

She shrugged. "It was what it was."

"Cryptic!"

"I was lucky to have my grandmother, but obviously I would have loved to have my parents in my life. So, not cryptic, just the way it was." Just then the phone rang. "Excuse me." Jena got to her feet and headed for the kitchen and the phone extension. With the windows open, it was easy to hear her end of the conversation.

"Andrew. Hi." Pause. Long pause. "Anything I can do? Do you want me to come there?" Again another long pause. "Ok. Right." Pause. "Yes, don't worry." Pause. "Don't worry. I was just looking at the schedule. We can handle it." Pause. "Ok." Pause. "It's fine. Let me know if there is anything I can do." Long pause. "Yes. Yes. Don't worry about us. We can manage. You know that. It's ok" Pause. "You take care, too. Bye."

He understood why Jena hadn't returned to the deck when he heard her next call. "Hi Sally. Sorry to call so late." Small pause. "A slight problem for tomorrow. Yes." A small pause. "Andrew's mum had a relapse." Another small. "Yes. Very sad. He's at the hospital with her." Pause. "Yes. As we expected." Jena sighed. "Yes. Final stages, I think." Pause. "Yes. We will." Long pause. "He won't be in probably for a good few days. We will have to discuss it." Pause. "But in the meantime, I know you were expecting me to help with the Reed's cake, and I'll still try to help you, but it might be prone to interruptions." Pause. "No, I'll do that at home. I can do the accounts and other paperwork at home, in the evenings, was doing the schedule at the moment. The problem is the front of house stuff. Just wanted to let you know my assistance may be piecemeal tomorrow." Long pause. "Thanks Sally. Thanks." Pause. "He said no, not at the moment. I did offer." Pause. "Yeah, we should. I'll go first thing in the morning and take him breakfast, if you can manage lunch time, we'll talk with the other two and see if we can get some sort of roster going." Pause. "Yes, he'll need us." Pause. "Ok. Yes. Thanks. Love to the kids. Bye."

It was a couple of minutes before Jena returned to the deck.

"Sorry, couldn't help but overhear." Caleb announced as she took her seat and retrieved her glass of wine. "Bad news."

"Andrew, you've met him: My manager, cum receptionist, cum book-keeper, cum general administrator."

"Yes. I have met him."

"His mother was admitted to the hospital. Final stages. The hospital will probably move her to a local hospice."

"Final stages?"

"Her liver packed up a while back, she's been on borrowed time for a while now, she was an alcoholic." Everyone in the company knew that Andrew's mother was on borrowed time: they now need a plan to support Andrew.

Caleb watched her eyes and saw various emotions. She was sad, but at the same time was trying to work out a plan. "You're very self contained aren't you?" He threw her a questioning look.

"Pardon?"  There were lots of things to sort out. Someone would have to deal with reception, the problem is no-one is available, unless we ditch jobs, she thought as she silently reviewed the files in her mind. 

"I was just commenting that you appear very," he shrugged as he thought about the most appropriate word, "resilient, but more than that." He finally stated. Caleb narrowed his gaze and looked at Jena, he smiled ruefully and asked candidly, "How old are you?"

Jena frowned, wondering if she'd missed part of the conversation. "I don't see the relevance of my age. Or your need to know it! Or my social status or personal status or anything about me!" Jena retorted, her mind was on other matters. Time to phone the agency and ask for a temporary worker to manned the reception. The team could discuss it tomorrow, and she could deal with the accounts in the evening, but they would need a temp to handle calls and clients. She rubbed her forehead. She knew she was looking at the schedule because of the Sophie/Isaac's cake cancellation, but to rescheduled Andrew's work was not just about juggling time slots, it was the fact there were going to be huge gapping holes in the schedule.

"I'd say early twenties." 

"I'm twenty-eight." She told him, knowing he could find out in any case.

She was two years younger than him. "Sophie's twenty one." He mulled aloud. "Perhaps still time for her to shoulder responsibility."

"Probably." Jena said not focusing on the topic. "Will all due respect, Mr Harland..."

"Caleb." He corrected. Then he looked at Jena with speculation. She was pretty sure she was not going to like what he had to say. "You have an issue with staff at the moment. I assume you have given Andrew compassionate leave."

Jena huffed, "Yes. Of course."

"Sophie could work as a temp for you!" He announced, then he added, "You and Sophie are on opposite ends of the spectrum."

"What?" Obviously she comes from different social stratum but that did not mean they were on the opposite ends. 

He held up his hands. "No offence." He shrugged, "You sound like you have shouldered responsibility for a while, Sophie has never had to shoulder any responsibility, not even for herself, even for a second. Until Isaac."

Why was he trying to foist his sister onto her? "I see. But why can't she work as a temp for you? You own a large company. Any current vacancies? I'm sure you can find a spot for her?"

He chuckled. "That would defeat the object of the exercise. If she worked for me, people know her as the boss's sister, she'd be bound to get preferential treatment. Or she will change her working terms and conditions to suit her."

"What makes you think she could work for me? She might try the same at my place, trying to change her working terms and conditions to suit her!"

"She knows you will not accept that! She's just not been given the chance to use her ability. She's got good social skills."

Jena snorted remembering Sophie's bridezilla behaviour about the cake.

Caleb continued, "Show her what you want done, reception stuff, and general admin, I agree she won't be able to do your bookkeeping or accounts, but the customer contact stuff she could do."

"Social skills?"

"Most time, she has good social skills. Usually a charmer, like the rest of the family!" He smiled. "You could offer her a job?"

"And take on another problem? I don't think so." Jena shook her head. "And your family's charm is erratic!"