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“Do you know what happened?”
“No. Neil won’t talk to me. He doesn’t want to put anything on me while I’m recovering. Anyway, what matters is that you’re there now.”
I wondered if Christine knew about the whole Amelia Crook thing, but I didn’t want to bring it up to find out.
“Anyway, I just called to give a few pointers, as it’s your first day and all,” she said.
“That would be helpful. I don’t know what I’m doing right now.”
“I’ve worked with Neil for a long time. So trust me, I know a thing or two. First tip, bring him a coffee every morning as soon as you arrive. Large, black, no sugar.”
I opened my notebook and grabbed a pen to jot the tip down. “From a cafe or from the coffee machine here?”
“The coffee machine is fine. He consumes it for the caffeine fix, not the taste.”
“I see. What next?”
“Remind him of his upcoming appointments for the day and let him know if there’s anything urgent he needs to respond to. After that, he might assign you some tasks, which can vary from day to day. If not, then you’ll spend most of the time managing his inbox, phone calls, and visitors, responding to what you can, taking as much off his plate as possible. Aside from that, you will need to keep the task management system up-to-date at all times, which is a big job in itself.”
“What kind of tasks will Neil give me?”
“Anything. Proofreading a document, compiling a presentation from his notes, buying a gift for a client, booking travel or restaurants… Things like that. Once you’ve been at it for a while, you’ll pick up what needs to be done on intuition. He won’t even need to ask.”
“Okay. Anything else?”
“When his door’s closed, don’t interrupt him unless it’s something urgent. When he’s stressed out, give him space.”
“Trust me, I’ll be giving him plenty of space.”
Christine chuckled. “You’ll get used to him. I promise. Think of this job as doing everything you can to make his life easier and reduce his stress. If you can do that, he’ll come to treasure you.”
“I think I get it.”
A noise startled me out of the phone conversation, and I realised Neil had just re-entered the room. He came to the front of my desk and loomed over me, his eyes shooting daggers.
I lost track of what Christine was saying. All my attention was on Neil.
“Is that Christine?” he asked.
I nodded.
He yanked the phone right out of my hand.
“Rest,” he barked into the phone, before slamming it down into its cradle. He proceeded to glare at me as if I had committed a deadly sin.
“I didn’t call her. She called me!” I said in self-defence.
“It’s true,” Petra said from the other end of the room.
“Oh, I believe you,” Neil said. “But that doesn’t excuse what you’ve done. Do not, under any circumstances, talk to Christine. Not for however long it takes for her to recover. Do I make myself clear? She’s just given birth, for God’s sake. She’s done here.”
I was dumbstruck. All I could do was nod my head.
Having made his point, Neil stormed into his office and shut the door behind him.
“Whoa,” Petra said. “I haven’t seen him get that angry before.”
Whoa was right. The pure fury emanating from him was spectacular. It would have upset anyone on the receiving end of it. And yet, I was in awe. The power he commanded without so much as raising his voice… He had rendered me breathless. I had goosebumps.
