Chapter 41

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“So, he made you the Program In charge?” Marissa was kneading the pizza dough on the counter and Sophie was doing nothing except chomping the corn from the plate.

Ariel and Abigail were playing with the slime that Marissa hated most. Today they got special permission from their mom.

“I hope Dean was happy with this decision. He seems to be in charge of everything in that office, Marissa rolled the dough and punched it several times.

“The problem at hand was not Dean. It was Kate who did some certification courses and was boasting about it. Now she hates me

even more.”

Marissa checked the burner’s flame where the chicken was

simmering on a very low heat.

“There is one more thing I need to share with you,” Sophie moved closer to her friend when Marissa’s voice dropped to a whisper, “I talked to Rafael … I mean Mr. Sinclair and allowed him to meet the

kids.”

“You did what?” for a moment Sophie thought she heard wrong.

Marissa nodded with a smile, “I went to him, first thing in the morning and told him about my decision.”

“Was he happy?” Sophia knew it was a silly thing to ask but she

needed to know the reaction.

Marissa shrugged and picked up the knife.to cut the bell peppers,

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“He seemed emotional. We even cried…” She didn’t tell her that they hugged each other too.

“It’s, ok if you two hugged,” Marissa stopped the chopping and gave

a shocked look to her friend.

“Listen, my friend. You allowed him to meet your kids. This means. you need to keep a balanced and friendly relationship with him. Obviously, you can’t show your… umm… animosity towards him in front of your kids…”

Sophia had a point.

Marissa started chopping the rest of the veggies when Sophia remarked, “Aren’t you putting too many veggies in the pizza?” she scrunched her nose and tried to pick a yellow bell paper piece when Marissa slapped her wrist.

“This is the only way they can eat their veggies. Now help me instead of eating my pizza toppings,”

***

“Mom. I have got a toothache,” Alex came to Marissa when she was preparing morning cereals for her kids.

She needed to leave early today as Dean was supposed to tell her about her duties as an in charge.

Today she didn’t want to repeat her careless behavior. More duties. meant more responsibilities.

Her team might think that she was taking advantage of her newly achieved designation.

“Oh, honey. Show me,” She checked his gums and felt a little

41 41–Darling! Missing Me?

swelling at the back.

“This doesn’t look good,” she murmured while pressing his gums gently with her index finger.

Flint who just stepped inside the kitchen for a cup of coffee saw them standing by the counter, “Tooth ache?”

“Guess so. He has swollen gum here.”

“Why don’t you go to the office, and I can take him…” but Alex was already shaking his head.

“I want to go with mommy,” her kids were already too understanding and cooperated with her a lot.

It was rare that Alex would insist his mom do something like this.

“Don’t worry, honey,” she placed the cereal bowls on the kitchen table and dialed Dean’s number.

“Hey, Marissa. Ready for the presentation?” his excited voice came out of the phone.

“Dean. I am sorry for this favor, but I might be late. My son is having toothache and it looks pretty serious.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Take your time. I’ll inform the boss,” He was about to disconnect the call when Marissa spoke quickly, “No please… no need to tell him…” but Dean couldn’t hear her and had already

disconnected it.

She didn’t want Rafael to worry about something as minor as a silly

toothache for no reason.

***

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Dean noticed Rafael looking at his wristwatch for the umpteenth time. He was presiding the meeting, but his heart seemed to be somewhere else.

Joseph was busy observing the numbers on the slides.

When all the executives got busy on the next projector slide, Rafael asked Dean to come closer using his index finger, “Is Ms. Aaron here? Have you briefed her about the event?”

He asked in a hushed tone. Dean leaned closer to his ear and

whispered back, “No, sir. She would come late.”

Even in this darkness, he could see worry lines on Mr. Sinclair’s

forehead.

“Her son had a toothache, and she needed to take him to a…” Rafael didn’t let him finish and glared at him,

“And you are telling this now?” he at once got to his feet, “ladies and gentlemen. Please carry on with the meeting. I’ll be back in a while,” He gestured for Dean to follow him outside the room.

“Call her and ask her where she is,” Dean did as he was ordered

and waited to get the call received.

“Hello, Dean? I’m sorry but here it seems like everyone in the city is having tooth problems…” there was embarrassment in her voice and Rafael could hear her on the speaker,

“Where are you right now? Let me know your location,” Dean

asked her.

“Why? Oh, ok. We are at the Kanderton Hospital in their dentistry department…” She then tried to console Dean, “It’s ok, Dean.

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Please make someone else in charge. It’s not a good thing to come late or be absent when your boss trusted me with…”

Before Dean could speak, Rafael took the phone from him, “According to our office policy a mom can take an off or can utilize short leaves if her child is sick.

When she heard Rafael’s voice, she got silent.

“Yes, sir.”

“Hmm. Good!” with that, he disconnected the call and gave it back to Dean, “Call the Kanderton hospital’s dean and ask him to treat my ki… her kid immediately. They should dispatch a dentist at

once.”

“Yes, sir,” Dean bent his head, “By the way, is there any rule about. the mothers and their kids… you just mentioned…”

Rafael was beaming when he responded, “There is no such rule but make it within five minutes and get it signed by me,” he patted Dean’s shoulder and got back in his office. Leaving a surprised Dean behind with a silly grin on his face.

When the meeting ended, Rafael received the report from Dean confirming that the changes to the company rules had been implemented according to his wishes.

Not only that but a dentist had already treated his son’s gum and now Marissa could easily return to the office after the lunch break.

With a relaxed smile, he leaned back in his seat and his phone started ringing.

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“Yes?” He answered it without looking at the caller ID.

“Darling! Missing me? I called home but they told me you are still in Kanderton. What’s so special about that place?”

Valerie? How did she get the time to call me? She never bothered to call during any tour.