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I nodded. It was nice to be back, actually. Something had clicked back into place inside me, and the world seemed less drab, less drained of life.
“I’ll get you some coffee if you’d like, and then when you’re ready, we can review your day and go over a few of your more urgent messages.” Pamela was standing now, and she pulled open the door to my office, looking a bit uncertain. “I mean, if you’re really back. Like, back to work.” I got the sense she’d been waiting all day yesterday for me to bolt again, but now she was willing to risk believing I might stay.
“I am. Thanks,” I said, walking into the wide space overlooking Santa Monica. It was like seeing it all again for the first time. The day before, after the excitement of the MLB meeting, I hadn’t really taken it all in. My desk, my low leather couch, even my cup full of pens—it was all exactly as I’d left it months ago. It was strange to see this space without seeing Adam here. We’d spent so much time in this office, strategizing, planning. I bit back an ache of sadness and took off my coat, slinging it over one of the chairs facing the desk. “Whenever you’re ready,” I told Pamela.
“I’ll give you half an hour to get settled,” she said, and then turned and left the room, closing the door behind her. I had no doubt there was a buzz just beyond that door. I knew the secretaries were probably talking in hushed voices and that Rob had been alerted to my presence for the second day in a row. Rob should have come bursting through the door, but he didn’t. I returned to the many emails that had been sitting way too long in my inbox.
Pamela returned with the promised coffee and settled herself across from me, where she began reviewing everything I’d missed in a competent, straightforward manner, as if I’d just been on vacation, not away having a nervous breakdown.
Most of the morning passed that way, with my secretary’s clear voice explaining in plain terms not just the correspondence I’d missed, but describing some of the political issues that had floated around the executive floor in my absence as well. When she wound down, I leaned forward and thanked her. “I appreciate you staying in my absence,” I told her. “I won’t be taking off any more time. And you can expect a raise.”
She ducked her head when I said this, surprise coloring her cheeks before she hid her face from my view. I had the sense she didn’t want me to see her reaction to this news. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“I need you to arrange something else as well,” I told her. Then I described the transfer that would need to be orchestrated through human resources, the move of one Holland O’Dell from sales to analytics. “I’ll give you the details of what I have in mind.”
“I’m not sure they’ll believe I have the authority to request that,” Pamela said. She was grinning, though, as if hearing about Holland’s promotion affected her personally.
I gave her a frank look before continuing. I’d undervalued Pamela, but the way she’d stood up to me when no one else would, talked to me like I was a misguided human being instead of some kind of fearful morose monster—that all told me that she could do much more than she’d been doing before. “I’m not going to need a secretary anymore, Pamela.” Her face fell slightly and I quickly corrected myself. “I need you to step up, to be much more than that. We’ll find a more appropriate moniker, but what I need is a right hand. I want you to be more involved in the day-to-day business, to handle things on my behalf so there are almost two of me. The way you did while I was out.”
Pamela was nodding, a smile lighting her brown eyes. She was pretty, I realized. I’d undervalued her in lots of ways, it seemed.
I punched in a key on my phone and had the receptionist transfer me to the head of human resources. “This is Oliver Cody,” I told him. “I have charged Pamela Verity with some new duties, one of which will be to dictate a few personnel changes and some office moves. Please respect her authority when she calls, and if there are any issues, know that they come straight to me.”
“Yes, sir,” the man said, sounding nervous. “Good to have you back, sir.”
I hung up and raised my eyebrows at Pamela, who smiled and nodded. “Thank you, sir.”
“Call me Oliver,” I suggested.
She nodded and left.
I spun in my chair and looked out over the city below. It was good to be back.
