Chapter 3- City
Looking at the time in the corner of her computer screen, Fiona felt her eyes growing increasingly heavy. A yawn forced its way out of her mouth. Yet another late night at work was keeping her away from where she really wanted to be—at home snuggling up to Imogen. It had been about five weeks since they'd received the good news of their impending new arrival, but there had barely been any time to celebrate. The workload picked up tremendously in preparation of the upcoming design release and the young fashionista had to put in twice as much time to make up for most of her employees' seeming incompetence.
She glanced to the side of her desk, spotting a picture of Imogen that had been taken not too long ago, and picked it up, smiling as she remembered its origin—Fiona had returned home late one evening to find her wife passed out on the floor in their spare room, sketch pad in one hand, charcoal pencil laying next to the other. The pages were filled with a bundle of drawings—extravagant ideas on how they would design and decorate the nursery. Completely enamored with the sight of the adorable resting girl, she quickly took out her phone and snapped a picture before waking her up and ushering her to their bedroom. The next day the picture made its way into a silver frame on her disheveled desk.
Setting the frame down to its original position, her heart panged with the guilt of having to be away from home so much lately. It was definitely not how the two wanted to spend the time before their son's arrival, but she rationed with herself that if she could just get through these busy weeks at work now, then she would be able to schedule more time off when he was born.
Looking up, her icy blue eyes spotted her assistant making her way through the glass doors of her office. "Did you finish sending those emails?" she asked as the blonde girl stepped inside.
Setting a stack of papers down in front of Fiona, she nodded. "Yep, and I reworked some of these budget reports too. Turns out Rebecca documented the same silk purchase three times, so I went ahead and fixed that. That gives us a lot more spending room to use on the models' alterations."
"Are you serious? That's the third time Rebecca has done something like that in the past month. I'm going to have to talk to her again." Frustrated with the never-ending mistakes, she let out a deep sigh. "Thank you, Eliza. I really don't know how I'd get everything done on schedule without you."
Eliza rolled her eyes and let out a small, good-humored scoff. "I'm sure you'd manage, Mrs. Coyne. You exaggerate my worth."
Turning her gaze back to face the monitor, Fiona's fingers swiftly began gliding over the keys, beginning her next tedious task of the evening. "I've had four different assistants in the past year. Trust me, I am not exaggerating your worth…and I've told you to just call me Fiona. You're only two years younger than me; 'Mrs. Coyne' sounds so wretchedly ancient."
"Well you are my boss."
"Yes, but I'm your young and fabulous boss. I choose to be referred to as such," she flipped her black curls behind her shoulder with sass.
The younger woman laughed and shook her head. "I guess I can't argue with you, there…Fiona."
"Much better," she approved. "Now go home before I force you to work even longer tonight. Its bad enough that I have to endure these hours; I am not going to subject anyone else to this misery," the socialite joked.
Before turning around, the blonde lifted her slender hand with a slight wave, "Okay, goodnight! See you first thing in the morning." Once her wave was met with a nod, her long legs glided towards the door. Just as it was about to close shut behind her, her fingers reached up and caught it. "Actually…" she paused, "you know what?" Spinning her body back around, she faced Fiona. The brunette looked up quizzically. "Why don't I stay and finish this stuff. You should get home to your wife, and I really don't mind staying later tonight."
"That's an incredibly generous offer, but I can't possible leave you here to do this stuff, Eliza. You'd be here until at least three in the morning." Fiona held her focus on the computer, never breaking her concentration. The quicker she typed, the quicker she could get home under those blankets with her wife, she kept telling herself. "You've already gone above and beyond your assistant duties. Go home," her voice reiterated.
The young woman's yellow heels clacked forward. "That's just it—I don't want to go home. I would honestly rather be here working…" The socialite looked up, furrowing her brow. "Jared moved out yesterday; the apartment just feels weird…and empty right now. I could use the distraction."
"Oh…" Fiona paused from her unfinished invoice, unsure of if she should address the girl's ended relationship with sympathy, or just keep things professional. "Umm…are you sure?" she finally spoke up, deciding on the latter. "I mean we could both stay, and get finished twice as fast?"
Eliza grabbed Fiona's coat and held it out in front of her. "I'm sure," the girl enunciated. "Go home to Imogen. Enjoy as much alone time as you can before the baby comes. Fulfill your 'American Dream' for those of us who haven't found ours yet," she laughed.
Though she was smiling, Fiona could sense the girl's sadness. "Okay," the socialite agreed reluctantly, feeling slightly sorry for her devoted assistant. "But I owe you… big time. I'll find a way to make this up to you." She grabbed her house key from inside the top drawer and stood up.
"Just buy me a drink one day when work slows down, and we'll call it even," Eliza reached down to grab the large stack of papers.
Neither having the time nor the energy to delve into explaining her troubled past, Fiona nodded in false-promise, confident that work would never slow down enough to allow for the deliverance of those drinks. A small raise would be an adequate enough reward, she decided, as she eagerly made her way out of the cold office, leaving both the diligent girl and the pile of work behind. Each step that added distance from the chaos of her career put Fiona that much closer to the happiness of her home in that enormously restless city.
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A/N: Sorry I've been away from this story so long. Been really busy lately, but I DO intend on finishing this. I'll update as I get free-time. Hope you enjoy, thanks for reading!