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“Bella will make sure to contact Naomi this afternoon. I would like the two of them to work closely together if you can allow for that?” I smile at Bella while I listen to Ryder boast about how he's willing to do whatever he needs.
“Great. I'll have her get in touch. I've got to run; someone important just walked into my office.”
We say our goodbyes and then I give Bella my undivided attention. She smiles at me, but I can tell by how the smile doesn’t reach her eyes that it’s lacking enthusiasm.
“You could have stayed in bed all day. I would survive,” I say, leaning back in my chair.
“That's not very adult of me. I shouldn't have drank so much last night.”
“Why did you drink so much then?”
“It was more so a way for me to keep busy. The girls kept bringing up relationships, or you, and I would take a sip instead and feign disinterest.”
“They'd bring me up? Why?”
“Because you're the big bad boss. An animal. And a hot commodity. The general consensus is that, while you are a complete dick, you are very desirable. Women like an asshole sometimes.” She shrugs.
“Are you saying that I'm not?” I tease her.
“Oh, you are. I just had to cage my jealousy last night. It was hard.”
“And booze was the key.” I nod, understanding why she got so drunk.
“On a side note, Micah from Software is cheating on his wife,” she says quietly.
“Oh, that’s not news. He's likely hooked up with half of his staff.”
“Ew, gross.” She crinkles her nose.
“Who is it now?” I ask, curiously.
“Megan,” she whispers.
“I don't know a Megan.” I shake my head.
“She's blonde, works in IT. An admin, I think.”
“His wife finds out about all the affairs and she gets back at him by doing the pool boy or something. It's a game they play. An eye for an eye,” I disclose.
“Why don't they just get divorced?”
“Neither of them believe in it, I suppose. I'm not sure. I do my best to stay out of other people’s personal stuff.”
“This new company relationship contract, he won't sign it.”
“He would have to sign one regularly with the revolving door he has.”
“Is there anything that can be done?” she asks with hope.
“I'll talk to Maggie. She should be aware of his extracurriculars. We did mention that we would have to do transfers or even terminations in situations like this.”
“I just don't want him to be the cause of another policy going into effect and potentially affecting us.”
“I won't let that happen. Now, let's talk about work. I feel like we're breaking the rules here,” I say, trying to get us back on track.
“It's my fault. I'm not myself today.” She straightens her posture and taps her notepad with her pen.” Okay, bossman, hit me!”
I give her the contact information for the collaboration with Ryder Tech and give her some small tasks to do for research to fill her day. Once we're finished, I head to HR and check in with Maggie about Micah. I’m more than a little annoyed that I'm being forced to abide by this new rule and others are ignoring it.
