She Ain't My Blood, But She's My Girl
Chapter 39
Rory and Logan talked about her job change. Logan told her that whatever made her happy, made him happy. He questioned her to make sure she would be happy staying at home and freelancing.
When Rory talked with Dean, her boss. He told her he is sorry to lose her. He even tried to convince her that she could work from home, but she thought that would be too much trouble for the company. Although her husband owned the company, she didn't like nepotism. She helped interview potential replacements. Dean thought that promoting someone from within would be the best way to go.
Rory's official job title is Features Editor but that was a small part of what she does. Rory has two assistant editors that everything from Features flowed through. When she and Dean talked about Rory changing jobs, they decided to make her senior assistant the Feature's editor. This will allow Rory's job to be retitled. This is something that should have been done a while ago. Rory's job consists of reports. She handed all the reports for the business side of the New York Times. When Dean's assistant retired, he transferred the reports part of his job to Rory. She had been helping out. His assistant had been sick for a while. This also allowed Rory to be able to write. She would write articles for the features section of the paper when needed.
Simon Conley was a seasoned reporter. He had taken the same route as Rory. He was a little older. Rory guessed he was probably in his early to mid-'40s. She had been training him for two weeks now. She was frustrated. She thought he had potential, but he couldn't stay off the phone long enough for Rory to explain the importance of the reports. Which ones he needs to check every day, ones he needs to forward to Dean. Ones he needs to generate from the other reports. Rory had come to the conclusion that Simon thought she had a cushy job. Anyone that has ever been by her office knew that Rory was a hard worker. She did not just skate by.
Tomorrow is Thursday. It was the day of the department head meeting. They had a meeting every Thursday. This gives them time to fix any problems before the weekend editions of the paper come out. The weekend editions are the biggest sellers, they have the most advertising, therefore they generate the most money.
Logan was returning from Washington D.C. today. He wanted her to come to D.C. with him, it was only for 2 nights, but she was in the middle of training Simon. Rory was trying to get home before Logan. She picked Mia up from After Care. It was a program for working parents. The children stayed at school. They were helped with their homework, they were enrolled in classes such as dance, tumbling, art. It helped the working parents out.
Mia was busy with her iPad. This is usual. During the 45-minute ride, Logan and Rory would ask Mia about her day, she would tell them. That usually took about 15 to 20 minutes. Today, Mia was quiet. She talked for five or six minutes, then she asked to watch a movie. Rory didn't have a problem with that. She was frustrated. She planned for Simon to give their department head report. This was not going to happen. She would spend the night fixing his mess. Normally, Rory would normally make her trainee fix their own mess, showing them what they had done wrong, but this was beyond his fixing. He didn't even seem to care. She had a doctor's appointment this week. She left him in the office to work on some reports. She had walked him through the reports last week. He didn't seem to have a problem doing the reports. But, after the fifth phone call, she called Harper and told her she was turning her phone off. She had left him to generate one of the weekly reports.
Logan has been asking her how he is doing, Rory told him that she would discuss this with Dean Thursday after their weekly meeting. She told Logan that if he wanted to attend the meeting, she would let Dean know.
They were almost home. She told Mia to put the iPad away, they were pulling in the drive. Mia asked if her daddy would be home tonight. Before she could answer, Logan walked out of the house to meet them in the drive. They both jumped out of the car, well Rory jumped as well as she could at 16 weeks. They were glad to see him.
Mia and Logan were spending time together while Rory went to soak in the big soaker tub in their bathroom. When she got out, she dried off and put on a pair of jogging shorts and one of Logan's tee shirts. They were not expecting company and she had a lot to do. She wanted to be comfortable.
Rory was in the office working on the mess Simon made when Logan entered. He watched her from the door for a few minutes, before she looked up and saw him.
"I was just coming to make sure you didn't drown in the tub," Logan said. He walked over to where she was sitting at his desk. "What are you working on?" He asked as he looked over her shoulder. "You are connected to the HPG server." He said matter of factly. She rolled her eyes and nodded. She was going to have to come clean. She didn't want to talk to Logan about this problem. She should tell Dean her boss about this, not Dean's boss Logan.
He sat down beside her and she sat back in the chair. He watched her, waiting for her to tell him what was going on. It wasn't that he cared if she was working on the HPG server, but there were only a few people that had access to the whole server, most just had access to their department or their paper.
"I"m sorry Logan, I should have asked you before I logged in. I really wanted to fix this before in the morning, then I could talk to Dean. Simon is not working out." She told Logan. He looked at her, encouraging her to continue. "You understand that this is something I should discuss with Dean first." She told him, stalling.
"Get him on the phone. We can have a conference call. Is this the report that Dean sends me?" Logan asked. Rory nodded her head. He sat back and she began to tell him about Simon. When she finished, Logan asked her. "Let's call Dean now. I have an idea, but I want to run it by him first. I don't know why I didn't think about it earlier. I guess I was just leaving it to you and Dean to figure it out." Logan told her. She was intrigued.
She dialed Dean's number. When he answered, she asked if she was calling at a bad time. He told her he was still at the office, so no. She quickly told him that she was with Logan and she was putting him on speaker.
"Please tell me you are not taking my job." Dean jokes. Rory and Logan both laughed.
Rory explained to him that she didn't go running to Logan with a problem. He walked in on her logged into the HPG server and needed an explanation. Rory continued to tell Dean about Simon. She explained that she didn't think he was taking the job seriously. She told him her thoughts on Simon thinking he was getting a cushy job. She then told him about Dean screwing up the reports.
When she finished, Dean told her that he would talk with him after the meeting in the morning, and they could start looking for her replacement again. This frustrated Dean almost as much as it frustrated Rory.
"I have an idea," Logan spoke up for the first time. "I think that Rory should keep her job." He put his hand up before she could say anything. "Hear me out. Rory can do her job from home. This house is wired for the HPG server. She will be able to do the reports that need to be done from here." Logan said matter of factly, he could not understand why this had not been suggested before.
"Logan, I have at least one meeting a day. What am I going to do about that?" She asked. At this point, Dean spoke up.
"I know. You can Zoom. I will promote Harper, put her in your office. She will be able to weed out some of the hand-holding that you do. Harper is capable of handling a lot more than she does now. The meeting that you need to attend can be held in your office via Zoom. You will be able to come into the office for any meeting you would like to attend personally." Dean said.
"I like that idea, Dean. Rory, what do you think?" Logan asked. Rory was thinking. She was biting her lower lip. Logan loved seeing her do that.
"Harper will need to agree. She will also need to hire herself an assistant." Rory sighed. "Let me think about this. Let me talk with Harper. I don't see a problem. Can we meet with you after the weekly meeting tomorrow?" Rory asked. Dean told her that could be arranged.
When they hung up, Rory stood up and hugged Logan. She started kissing him. He draped his arms around her neck and was returning her kisses kiss for kiss. That is until Mia comes looking for them.