Page 55 of Boss from Hell

“Is my son there?” Mrs. Frost’s haughty voice demanded.

My spine straightened. “Uh… no. He’s not here, Mrs. Frost.”

“Where is here?”

“I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“I recognize your voice… where do I know you from?”

“Um… we met the last time you were in New York. We had dinner together.”

“Lillian?”

“Yes.”

“What are you doing in his office while he isn’t there?”

“I’m his PA.”

“You work for him?” she asked incredulously.

I closed my eyes. “Yes.”

“And you sleep with him?”

“Yes.”

“It’s completely inappropriate behavior. I would have thought my son would know better,” she said disapprovingly.

“Would you like me to pass on a message if he calls?” I asked politely.

“Yes. Tell him to call me. Tell him I’m disappointed in him.”

Then the line went dead. Ouch!

I leaned back against the leather chair and swiveled around.

Well, that was that.

At lunchtime, my sister texted me that she would be at Mom’s place and asked if we could meet there for coffee. I said yes, glad to have something to do after work. The less time I spent with my own thoughts the better.

I drove straight to my mother’s house and found that my sister was already there. I raised an eyebrow in surprise. Rosewas never early for anything. I parked my car and headed to the front door. Rose answered the door, her face breaking into a wide grin.

“Hello stranger,” she said as we hugged each other.

“You’re wearing perfume. That’s a huge change. Usually, you smell of bread and spices.”

“And dirty diapers,” she added, wrinkling her nose.

I laughed. “Never that.” I followed her into the house to the kitchen where Mom was nursing a mug of coffee.

She smiled when she saw us. “It’s been so long since I saw you two girls together. It reminds me of when you were little and I would dress you in similar outfits.”

“Yeah, please don’t remind me of that. We hated it, didn’t we, Lillian?” Rose said, sliding onto a stool.

“Well, you hated it. I didn’t mind.” I served myself some coffee and sat down with my mother and sister.

“How was your trip to North Carolina?” my mother asked.