The Secretary and Her Boss

Chapter 20

I was up before sunrise, having slept for a total of three restless hours. Laurence was still asleep, which left me with the time to change out of the stupid silk nightgown, book Laurence his own room — so he could keep his unnecessary and medication-induced thoughts to himself— order room service for him so he wouldn't have to move too much, leave medication next to the side of his bed, and head out for my morning meeting with Michale before our second day of shooting.

"You look like you need a third cup of coffee," Michale said, sitting back down at the table at the small restaurant connected to the hotel and gently pushing the cup of coffee toward me. We sat on the patio, watching the sunrise as we ate breakfast, the breeze a mix of humid heat and cool ocean mist.

"Thank you," I murmured into the coffee cup, enjoying the way the liquid warmed my insides.

"You poor thing. Did the hospital trip take a long time?" he asked, taking a bite of his fruit salad.

I nodded, trying to ignore everything that came after that trip. It would start rumors, and I didn't want people thinking that I slept my way into my position. "Let's talk strategy for the rest of the shoot days," I said, doing my best to keep my face expressionless.

Pulling out my trusty binder— filled with daily color coded schedules, itemized lists of props, contact information for every member of our team, and location details— I layed it out on the table. "Today's shoot is by the pool and should be easy enough prop wise. No changes there." I talked through the following days briefly before talking about our final day. "The rainforest shoot. I've added bug spray to the list of items we need to purchase. It will take us an hour to get there, so we need to account for that on our daily shoot schedule."

Michale looked down at my binder, brow raised. "I know all of that information already. The bug spray however..." he shuddered as if picturing dozens of models getting eaten alive by mosquitos. "Good call."

I rubbed my temples. "Right. Sorry. Tired."

Michale waved his hand, plucking up a melon with his other hand. "Don't worry. Most people in the 'calling the shots' role don't sleep well during their first week of shoots. You'll find your stride." He gave me an encouraging smile. "Just eat, be kind to yourself, and take it one item at a time." He glanced back down at my binder. "Not... all the items at a time."

"Right." I said, shoveling a forkful of gallo pinto and scrambled eggs into my mouth.

"Excuse me," a new voice said. I looked up to see the hotel's front desk receptionist standing at the edge of our table. "Are you Miss Autumns?"

I nodded.

"Mr. Royal requested I deliver this to you. And to let you know he has checked into his new room."

She placed a small box down before me, a small note folded in half, taped to the top of it. I remembered the box from the night before. One that the receptionist had been holding while talking to Laurence.

Did he buy me something yesterday?

The receptionist left without a word and I blinked down at the box, wondering what it could be. After a moment of hesitation, not wanting any more surprises from Laurence, I opened the box and couldn't seem to hold back the smile that forced it's way across my face.

Michale raised a brow as I held up what was inside. "A phone?"

Opening the note, I noticed that his handwriting wasn't his clean, familiar script. It was wobbly, no doubt from attempting to write it with his left hand. I could see him getting irritated, face pinched in concentration as he attempted to make the words clean.