Chapter 13 — Olivia

Erika and I hit it off after that night in the restaurant. So much so, that we’d agreed to meet up for coffee the following week. I could see that Alec and Erika were very much in love, even if they did have five kids. I admired them for that. I didn’t have any friends. I explained to them that once Mom got sick they all disappeared. They didn’t want to be friends with someone who talked about nothing but their mom’s dementia all day long and didn’t want to go out, not even for coffee. It meant I had to leave her alone, and I was afraid to do that.

As for inviting friends over, that wasn’t an option. I was afraid that Mom would turn on them and be afraid that there were people in her house ready to kill her. It’d happened a couple of times and I decided that it was selfish of me to want friends to come and visit. So, I stopped and slowly but surely, they stopped keeping in contact.

There was one thing that Ross wasn’t getting and that was another pretty young secretary. He’d given me the chore of finding him a secretary and that was exactly what I intended to do. Besides after having to pay off Scarlett for not pursuing a sexual harassment lawsuit case against him, he had to know better than hiring a pretty, young thing again. I didn’t feel threatened about him having a young secretary again, then again maybe I did, and this was part of the reason that I was making sure he wasn’t tempted by another secretary.

Interviews were being held, and I made sure that notices went out on the Internet and the agencies about the type of candidates that Ross needed.

Part of me felt bad for making this decision. I loved him and our relationship needed to be built on trust.

“Maybe this isn’t a good idea, Erika. After all, I need to be able to trust Ross. Relationships need to be based on that and Ross and I are more than dating; we’re officially an item, so he knows better than to repeat mistakes of the past. With his previous secretaries, he wasn’t in a relationship. Not like now.”

She looked at me with her dark eyes as we had coffee before I went up to start interviewing the candidates. We were sitting in a table in the corner of Starbucks, hoping that neither Ross nor Alec spotted us in there. For some reason whenever they saw us both together talking, they started to get nervous. I was just happy that Erika was nice. She was a bit controlling, but I did feel at ease with her and besides, it was nice to meet up with a girlfriend, something that I missed dearly.

“Stuff that. Men like to be controlled and not in a way that’s obvious. So, you don’t tell him what to do. You just make out that it’s his idea.”

“But Alec’s always bitching to Ross about going to the 'Fifty Shades' club.”

She nodded. “I know, but he needs to do that to look like a man in front of Ross. He can’t tell him what’s really going on.”

“What’s that?”

Erika laughed and said, “It was my idea to go to the 'Fifty Shades' club the first time. But I only wanted to go to one event. It’s Alec that’s been dragging me to them every fucking week.” She sighed, but I wanted to know more, because now she had me curious.

“Men want to control women.”

I thought that she was exaggerating a bit, but Ross was the first proper relationship that I’d ever had. I’d been with men, sure, but always with the thought that my career was number one and that love was a fool’s game.

“Did you just say…?”

Erika nodded. “You need to let them be the ones that think that they’re in control. Then, while they’re not looking, play the victim. Make out that if they don’t go along with it, then they’ll upset you. If that doesn't work, then make out that you’ll leave.”

“Now that’s a bit drastic. We’ve only just started dating.”

She laughed. “Really? So, you don’t think there’s any future for you both?” Erika crossed her arms and made me feel nervous as she waited for my reply.

“I like to think that there is.”

“You’re kidding me. I see the way that you look at him and the way he looks at you. Let me be frank with you.” She moved closer across the table. “Before you came along, Ross hadn’t been with a real woman. Sure, girls and playthings; and a couple of friends that I’d introduced him to, and he didn’t treat them kindly. I don’t want to talk bad about him, but he treated women as if they were some kind of relief. He would fuck them and leave them, and I know that underneath it all, he’s a gentle giant, you should see him with my kids. Alec told me that he even wanted to meet your mom. Come on, Ross! He never liked dating, let alone meeting the parents.”

I had a flashback of him saying that he wanted to meet Mom and how it had made me feel. But then Aunt Veronica had insisted on them both watching 'Billionaires' and once again Ross had decided that every Friday night was their 'Billionaires' night. Ross found it hilarious how billionaires behave on TV compared to real life. He didn’t realize that they were practically one and the same.

“I know.”

“So, fight for him, Olivia, and get those old ladies or men to interview for the position and when they’re done give one of them to Ross. He told you to hire someone,” she lifted her eyebrow.

“Yes, but he doesn’t know that they’ll be over fifty.”

“Oh, what’s a little surprise now and again, when you’re in love? Put on a sexy number and pour a glass of champagne and tell him. He’ll be too infatuated to even hear what you’re saying.”

I laughed. “Just like some of the candidates.”

We both raised our cups and saluted to the Outer Reach program that I found online for people over fifty who can’t get back into employment. It was against the law to discriminate against someone’s age, but with rising taxes and inflation, some of them needed to get back into work. That was hard to do when you were over fifty. I had a couple of ladies and one guy whose résumés looked perfect. I just hoped that Ross would see it my way.

Then again, as Erika had politely highlighted, I just needed to make him think that it was his idea.

As I got back to Ross’s office, they were waiting outside. Ross and Alec were supposed to be at some kind of golf tournament with a couple of potential clients; Ross was at a loss as to what to do when the takeover took place, and he’d decided that maybe he would try making golf a hobby. They should have left when I was in Starbucks with Erika, but Ross always managed to make a surprise visit. I sometimes wondered if he did it to it to check-up on me.

And predictably enough, he strolled into his office.

“Are those my potential secretaries?”

I nodded.

“Good, just choose the right candidate.”

“You don’t mind…” I was just about to ask him about their age.

“No, just like a mature wine, they get better with age. That’s what I found with you.” Then he walked back out again. Was he complementing or insulting me?

I thought about the wink and gesture he’d made when he left. I decided that he was complementing me, and disregarded Erika’s idea of dressing up all sexy and surprising him; after all, I didn’t need to. Ross was fully on board with the idea.