Unfinished Business

Chapter Twenty-Six

Meeting after meeting after meeting. I swear, I am going to pull my hair out. I'm settled in the head office, sitting at my desk, looking over papers and making some final calls for the opening. Aiden is seated at the small meeting table on the other side of the room, working with the offices back home in Seattle. Bret is sitting on the couch by the door and Jenny is sorting out papers in front of me.

The phone rings again, and it's the caterers for the opening. They finalize the head count and the menu that they are serving for the night, and ask to make sure that I don't want any changes. This is the third time they are calling and it's just irritating me right now. I slam the phone down and slouch back in my chair.

"Gah! These people are so incompetent! It's like they need their hands held for every little single thing they do!" I complain.

Jenny looks at me apologetically. Looking at my watch, I see that it's well past noon. I feel a bit hungry, but I can't leave the office. It seems like Aiden can't either since it looks like he's speaking intently to someone.

"Jenny, take Bret with you can grab some lunch for us, please?" I ask her.

"Of course. Anything in particular you want Kat?"

I think, and I know what I'm craving for. "There's this really good deli a few blocks from here. There's also a good bakery not far from that." I grab my purse and hand my card to her. "Just charge everything on there. Make sure you get some food for you two as well. And get anything from the bakery."

She takes the card and heads for the door, nodding at Bret to follow. As they leave, I sit back on my chair again, turning in circles. It has been a long morning. I stop turning and watch Aiden. Nonna's advice comes back to me. I need to bring things back the way they were. I don't like this space between us.

Aiden gets off the phone and sits back in his seat. He stares at the laptop in front of him, as if trying to figure something out.

"Quit with the staring Katalina," he suddenly says, irritatingly.

"I wasn't staring," I deny. "I was waiting until you were finished so that I could ask what you might want from the deli for lunch."

"Just tell them whatever. I really don't care." He sits back up and starts typing something.

"I don't think they have that on the menu," I try and make a joke. Start off light and build up to it. Apparently he ignores my joke completely. I text Jenny, telling her my order and to get the same for Aiden.

After looking at all the papers again and signing the ones that needed signature, I spin in my chair again. Oh my God, I am so bored. But I can't leave the office in case something comes up. Jenny said that there was a line so lunch is going to come later. Great.

Grabbing some printer paper, I fold paper airplanes and throw them around my office, seeing which ones can stay in the air the longest, or go the furthest distance. After twelve different designs of planes, nothing much was accomplished. I looked up some designs and tried those. Finishing up the one in my hand, I threw it. It turned and did a loop, and for that I was excited. But then it hit Aiden in the head.

I covered my mouth to hide my laugh. He looked up from his laptop and turned. I saw his surprised look when he saw all my paper planes scattered around the office. He turned to look at me, but I went back to start a new design.

"You're making a mess," he pointed out.

I shrugged. "It's my office. It's not like my planes are bothering anyone."

"Don't you have any other businesses to attend to Katalina? I don't think your childish antics will get a lot done. And I'm sure that people who would see this won't think that a girl like you would be ready to run a Fortune 500 company."