Donna walked into Ortho Speare only two days after the incident, she had chosen to come in through the main entrance and not shoot up the elevator from the parking lot straight to the floor where her office is and that was because she wanted to see Paige. She wanted to know what had been going on in the office during her absence and Paige was the right person to come to.
”Donna!” the woman happily called out to her when she noticed Donna walking to the front desk in the reception area. Paige greeted her with a genuinely happy smile. “Where have you been?”
Donna smiled back and rested one hand on the high counter table. “I just took a break, you know, falling sick and all.”
“So the almighty secretary to Mr. Keith Preston falls sick too, and I thought you were super human.” the woman teased and then laughed. And so did Donna.
“But you are alright now? Or Mr. Preston just made you come back to work?”
Donna shook her head at Paige, waving her hand to signify. “No, no. Mr. Preston wants me to take a week off but-”
“But you just have to mother him on his activities.” she said, smiling sinisterly at Donna who laughed heartedly. “Can’t stay away from work, can you Donna?”
She shook her head. “Honestly, it gets boring and I become idle. I hate being idle.”
“That’s no wonder how you’ve been able to keep the job he had fired many people from. You just fit the role.”
Donna sighed and rolled her eyes and scanned the lobby as she spoke to the receptionist. “But I tell you Paige, it is not an easy feat. Keith can work people.”
Paige narrowed her eyes at Donna. “Keith?”
Donna nodded her head and turned her attention back to Paige. “Yeah…”
Paige slowly began to grin. “I knew it would happen, I knew you too would spark up something spicy some day.”
Donna looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
Paige wiggled her eyebrows at Donna, her smile only growing. “From Mr. Preston to Keith, from boss to lover, from yes sir to yes daddy, oh Donna you are on fire!”
Donna roared in laughter. “Paige! What the hell are you talking about? Keith and I…”
She paused when Paige began to smile and grin widely, winking at her so often. Donna rolled her eyes, shook her head and continued, correcting herself. “Mr. Preston and I have a serious and our relationship is strictly professional.”
“Oh I understand, everything should be under hush hush.” Paige said, drawing a line with her index and them from one corner of her lips down to the other corner with a wink. “Your secret romance with the boss is safe with me, not to worry.”
“Secret romance-” Dona sighed and rolled her eyes. “No Paige, no, there is no secret relationship, there is no lover anything, there is nothing… nothing going on between us.”
But Paige only nodded her head, with the kind of smile on her face that told Donna nothing she said would change her mind from what she had come to believe as true. Donna shook her head and smiled at the woman. Always been a character.
“I’ll leave you to your fantasies, Paige.” Donna said and tapped the desk once as she took a step away from the counter, heading for the elevator.
“Donna.” Paige called her back, a concerned look on her face. Donna sighed and turned back to the woman.
“Yes, Paige?”
“I don’t know if this should be of concern or not but Mr. Preston has been away from the office more often than usual.”
That caught her attention and she turned fully, taking another step closer to the counter. “What do you mean?”
Paige looked around once and leaned in closer. “Well, he’s mostly away and whenever he’s here, he comes in with a bunch of men.”
“Bunch of men?” she frowned and seemed to ponder on that. “You know these men? Seen them before?”
Paige shook her head. “They appear to look like guards around him but you could tell they were much too young to be his guards.”
“Well that’s new… Keith has never had a need for a guard.”
Paige smiled and wiggled her eyebrows at Donna. “Ohhh… it’s back to Keith.” then she laughed out.
Donna groaned and chuckled before turning on her heels and walked away from Paige, she could be a handful sometimes but what she said about Keith and the men constantly around him did pick her interest. She walked into the elevator with that on her mind, rode it to her office floor and walked out of the elevator still with the thought.
As she pushed open the door to her office and stepped in, she could not believe how much she had come to miss working. She let out a breath and flashed a smile, clutched the handle of her bag with both hands, holding it behind her as she walked further into her office, one step at a time.
She placed her bag on the desk and walked round the chair, coming to stand behind it. She noticed the office had been kept clean and even the desk had been wiped clean of the stain. She shut her eyes and a shiver ran down her body. She shut her eyes tightly and shook her head, forcing the images and memories back.
Her eyes flew open with the sound of Keith’s office door being opened. She stood up straight when she spotted Keith walk out, he stopped when he saw her and a frown came to his face, but she knew it was not one of anger, more of surprise.
“Good morning Mr. Preston.” she greeted with a smile, holding her hands behind her like a happy school child.
“Donna?” he was surprised to see her back in the office. “What are you doing back here? I thought I told you to take a couple of days off.”
“And I did.” she replied to him, maintaining a smile.
He shook his head and stepped away from the door, Donna watched as three other men walked out, tilted their head towards her in greeting before walking out of her office completely. Keith waited until they had left before he faced Donna.
“A couple of days is what I said Donna, a couple of days.”
She shrugged her shoulders and took a step towards him. “I cannot stay home and be idle, it just doesn’t feel right to me.”
He sighed and nodded his head. “How’s she doing? Your daughter?”
Donna forced a smile. “She’s still home, my mother is the most agitated. She would stay home for just another week.”
Keith nodded his head and then his eye brows twitched into a slight frown. “And the other guy? The one who drops you off from-”
“Wayne?” she asked, cutting him off and then her expression fell. She shrugged her shoulders again and looked down to the floor. “He’s good I guess.”
Keith blibked once and kept his attention on Donna, by her sad expression and the way she had responded to him, he knew Wayne must have left, he could try to understand her sadness but Wayne was most definitely not the right man for her.
“I was just heading out for a meeting, and since you’re here, pack up, you’ll be coming with me.”
Donna moved quickly as Keith didn’t even wait for her before heading out of the office, thankfully she had not removed anything from her bag, she grabbed it and ran quickly to keep up with Keith.