New in Town

“You've proven to me that you can't handle running your own company!” Adam's voice boomed through Kadie's office.

Jebrone and I sat outside in the waiting room giving Kadie and Adam some privacy. We both sat crouching forward with our elbows on our knees and our hands holding up our face, cringing every time Adam's voice got too loud.

It was only moments ago Kadie convinced Poppy to come down to her office. She told her that her contract was ready to be signed. Adam, who came up with the plan, came bursting in and caused a scene in front of Poppy, refusing for Kadie to sign her. Kadie played along and went back and forth with Adam until finally he kicked Poppy out of the office. He insisted on having the situation play out this way to make sure Poppy knew it was him who didn't want to sign her and not that Kadie was just using her. He knew if Poppy ever found out the truth Kadie would be chopped liver.

After Poppy stormed out of the office Adam asked the two of us to step out of Kadie's office so they could talk. Of course Jebrone and I being the nosy people we are left her office door cracked open.

“I'm taking over the company.” Adam said in a more relaxed tone.

Jebrone and I shot a look towards each other. There was no way Kadie was going to be okay with that.

“What?” She growled back at him. “We're in this 50/50, Adam.”

“Kadie, I've spent my entire life working with my father and my grandfather building empires. I have experience with this shit. The way you're running things is going to make your company crash and burn, and I'm sorry, but I didn't come this far to have my name attached to a failed business.”

The growling sound from Kadie grew louder.

“Don't worry princess" I raised my eyebrows and looked at Jebrone. I'd never heard such a condescending tone dripping from Adam's voice. "you'll still be the face of the company, but everything needs to be approved by me.”

“Adam!” Kadie finally snapped.

“No, Kadie.” He cut her off. “I want to see you become successful, I really do. You're not focused on your vision. I'm going to teach you the same way my father taught me.”

There was radio silence coming from the room. Jebrone turned around to check if the door was still cracked open.

Adam came briskly walking out. He clicked the button for the elevator and went on his way. A few seconds later Kadie came mopping out of her office.

“Fuck Poppy Leroux” She calmly said as she sat next to Jebrone. “That bitch messes things up without even trying.”

-_-_-_-___________-_-_-_-

It was Monday morning and I was debating whether I should actually get out of bed to go to Connor's office or not. I mean it's not like he would've minded that I didn't show.

I forced myself up and into the shower, changed into a decent outfit, and headed on my way.

“You're late” I flinched as I heard Connor's voice behind me.

I had just walked into his office and it was barely three minutes past the hour.

“Oh, come on” I shook my head. “Three minutes doesn't even qualify as being late. You're always suppose to round down.”

His eyes scanned through a file that had been left on his desk. “You're always suppose to round up, but okay.” He said as he did something I hadn't seen him do in a long, long, time. He smiled and, for a split second, laughed.

I did one of those dramatic double takes that I'm sure made me look like a cartoon. Did he really just smile and laugh? Did he really just smile and laugh at something I said?

“Look at this...” He continued to stare at the file as he gestured for me to come over. He pointed to the patient history. “Read this. You're going to need to know this before we go see the patient.”

He handed me the file and walked over to the opposite side of the room. I left it on his desk as I hoovered over to finish reading.

As I was closing the folder I noticed a photograph that laid under it. I looked up to see what Connor was doing. His attention seemed to be on finding something in his filing cabinet. He wasn't looking so I tugged at the picture.

It was a picture of a young Asian boy holding a baby, just barely smaller than him, in his arms.

“That's Kolab.” Connor startled me again. I looked up when I heard his voice. He walked around his desk to the side I was standing on. “And that's his sister Mailai” He picked up the picture and smiled at it. Okay seriously, what's gotten into him?

“Is he...” I looked around, not knowing what to asked. “A kid your sponsoring? Adopting?”

“No” He put the photograph back down and proceeded on with perusing through his filing cabinet. “His sister had a flesh eating disease. She was one of the orphans I was treating while I was in Cambodia. Luckily the medication I gave her worked. So, Kolab sent a letter, with the picture, updating me on his sister's condition.”

“That's amazing.”I folded my arms and leaned my hip on his desk.

“Isn't it?” He smiled again as he finally pulled out what he was looking for. “It's a rewarding job. That's why I love it.”

I couldn't help but think. This was the first time in, I couldn't even remember how long, Connor and I were able to have a conversation without wanting to rip each others heads off. Hearing him talk about his trip to Asia and helping those orphans kind of made me feel like I should put everything we'd been through in our past.

There was a knock at the door.

“Come in” Connor shouted.

“Good morning, Honey!” A tall, blonde, bombshell came walking into his office. I felt my jaw drop ever so slightly. She was the female equivalence of Connor. She was gorgeous with her flowy hair that looked like she'd just gotten a blow-out, but there was no way possible she could have because it was so early in the morning.

“Good morning!” Connor smiled back. She walked up to him and gave him a kiss. His hands were placed just on the small of her back, and I'm sure if I weren't there it would have been placed even lower.

“Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know someone else was here.” She took a step back and looked at me waiting for an explanation.

“Right” Connor pointed to me. “This is the student I'm mentoring, Lynn.”

“Oh, right, right.” She nodded. They obviously talked about me. But not in enough details judging by his response.

She held out her hand for me to shake. “Lynn Lee” something in me urged to correct Connor even though I hadn't gone by Lynn Lee since leaving Texas.

“Nice to meet you, Lynn Lee. I'm Danielle.” She smiled, showing off her unnaturally pearly white teeth.

“Dr. Fitzgerald will be completing her residency here at my office.”