One Wild Night

Once Tom returned to his office he dialed Harry's line and asked him to meet him in his office at once.

The first thing Harry noticed when he walked into the office was Lucy's absence, and the next was the frown on Tom's face, "Did you send your assistant out?" 

The crease on Tom's brow deepened, "Lucy? No. Why?" Tom asked curiously. 

"I'm just surprised that she isn't on her seat. You know she hardly leaves her office, so I was just wondering where she went to. Anyway, why did you send for me?" Harry asked, changing the subject. 

"Call her and find out where she went to," Tom instructed. Or did her secretary fail to deliver the lunch as he instructed, and she went to get her meal? Tom wondered. 

"Okay," Harry said and dialed Lucy's line. 

Lucy who was just about to introduce herself to Anita, paused when her phone started ringing and she noticed the call was from Harry, "Excuse me," she said to Anita as she turned away from her. 

"Hello, sir," 

Harry placed the call on loudspeaker, "Miss Perry, the CEO would like to know why you're not on your seat," He said, making Lucy's heart skip a beat. 

Was it just her, or did everyone else feel this way each time the CEO's name was mentioned? Lucy wondered. Maybe it was because of how harsh he had been the first time they had spoken. 

"I only stepped out to have lunch at the cafeteria," Lucy explained, trying hard not to stutter as she spoke. 

"Hold on," Harry said before placing the call on mute and looking at Tom, "She said she is having lunch at the cafeteria," Harry explained. 

"I'm not deaf. Didn't her secretary deliver the lunch I sent to her?" Tom asked Harry with a frown, and Harry rolled his eyes before unmuting the call. 

"I thought I saw your secretary taking a lunch pack to your office?" Harry asked, and Lucy winced.

"Yes, she did. I wasn't sure the CEO would appreciate me eating in the office so I decided to eat at the cafeteria," Lucy lied, and Harry nodded. 

"Okay then, you should hurry up and get back to your office. In case of next time, you can eat in your office, I'm sure the CEO prefers that to you being so far away from him," Harry said before hanging up. 

"Now that we've cleared that up, why did you call me?" Harry asked curiously.

"I ran into Anita at the cafeteria a moment ago," Tom said, making Harry frown. 

"Anita? What was she doing here? Don't tell me she found out about you?" Harry asked with round eyes. Harry had only heard of Anita but he had never met her since Tom felt it would be suspicious for a handyman like him to present someone like Harry as his friend. 

"She didn't find out about me, but according to her she came here to have a meeting with Mr. Harry," Tom said, and it finally clicked in Harry's head.

"Don't tell me Miss Miller from Oceans airline is your Anita?" Harry asked in surprise.

"First of all, she isn't MY Anita. To answer your question, yes. Her name is Anita Miller. What is her role in Ocean Airlines? Is she someone we can relieve of her duties?" Tom asked, making Harry raise a brow. 

"You're not someone to mix business with pleasure, apart from your recent craziness, though. So why are you thinking of doing that?" Harry asked. 

"I'm not mixing business with pleasure. I'm only trying to avoid the kind of trouble I think someone like her might bring with her. So answer my question," Tom repeated. 

"Unfortunately, you can't avoid this trouble. If you remember correctly, Mr. Wyatt gave you some conditions before agreeing to sell Ocean Airlines to you, and one of them includes the names of some staff you have to retain. She is on the top of the list, and that is why I decided to meet with them to know them personally," Harry explained. 

"I suppose you've found out what her relationship is with Mr. Wyatt?" Tom asked, knowing that Harry would have done all of that before inviting her over. 

Harry gave him a nod of agreement, "Sure. She is his niece, so you can see that you can't fire her... At least not yet, and not without a very good reason," Harry added. 

"I see. And what do you think about her? I mean professionally."

"I think she is very intelligent and ambitious, although she kept asking about the CEO," Harry said with a grin. 

"Yeah, she asked me too," Tom said with a sigh, making Harry chuckle. 

"Now I know why you're worried. Anyway, I will keep my eyes on her, don't worry too much, and just focus on goofing around, since that seems to be your specialty this period," Harry said with a chuckle as he headed for the door. 

"You're lucky you're my best friend, else you'd be out of the job by now," Tom muttered under his breath, making Harry turn to look at him. 

"No. I think you are the lucky one. Who else would be able to have your back as I do? Huh?" Harry asked with a cocky smile.

"Just get out of my sight before I fire you," Tom threatened. 

"Please do. That way I can finally tell Miss Perry all that my mouth has been itching to tell her before I retire. I will also sing to Anita all that she needs to know about the CEO. That would surely keep you busy," Harry said with a wink before walking away. 

Meanwhile, at the cafeteria, both ladies were staring at each other, and Anita had a big smile on her face as she wondered what luck had dragged her newest bestie to her table. She had been surprised when Lucy had asked if she could join her table because she didn't like to eat alone. But she had been even more surprised when Lucy introduced herself.

"So you're saying you are the CEO's personal assistant?" She asked Lucy, just to be certain it wasn't a misunderstanding. 

"Yeah. I resumed the office just a few days ago," Lucy explained, wondering why the lady seemed more excited about her position than she was.

"That's so cool. So I guess Tom is your driver?" Anita asked as she sized up Lucy with her eyes even though a smile was pasted on her lips. She had to admit that Lucy was as beautiful as Tom had hinted, but she could also tell that Lucy was naive. 

"Yes, he is. He's a very nice guy, isn't he?" Lucy asked with a wide smile. 

"Sure he is," Anita agreed with a nod. A very nice guy, but not just for her. She could do better than a driver. 

"How do you know Tom? Is he your friend?" Lucy asked curiously. 

There was no way she was going to tell Lucy that Tom was her ex, "I won't exactly call him a friend. He is just someone I know," Anita said with a smile. 

Someone she knows? Did that mean she was the one? Lucy thought excitedly, "I see. So what about you? I mean your department in the company," Lucy asked, shifting the topic from Tom.

"I-Global airline... Formerly called Ocean airline," Anita explained.

"Oh!" 

Maybe this explained why Tom didn't know her name or her department? Because she wasn't stationed here? Why was she at the cafeteria then? "I didn't realize the staff there now had their office here," Lucy said with a small smile. 

"No, we don't. We just had a meeting with Mr. Harry, and I decided to grab lunch before leaving," Anita explained, and Lucy smiled in understanding.

"By the way, do you know I always thought that any lady that works directly with the CEO must be the luckiest woman in the world? How do you feel about working for him? Don't you just love him?" Anita asked with an innocent smile, wanting to know what Lucy really thought about the CEO. 

"Lucky? I don't know about that. Heaven knows I'd gladly let someone else take the job, if the CEO permits it," Lucy said, making Anita raise a brow. 

"Why? Is he not your type?" 

"I'm just not interested in him that way," Lucy said with a shake of her head, and Anita relaxed before giving Lucy her first genuine smile.. Now that she was sure Lucy wasn't a competition, she could work on becoming friends with her.