Chapter 11: Vitoria Cottage
Closing the door behind her, she walked down the small short hall. She opened one door on the dark side of the cottage. Looking through it, she saw the small child asleep on the bed. The blonde woman smiled and quietly closed the door behind her. The blonde woman drifted to the next door, this time on the light side of the house, and opened the door. Looking into this room, her other child was also asleep.
After closing the second door, she stepped away from the bedrooms and went downstairs. Kayla Drake, nee Greene, looked around the small cottage that was located on the grounds of Fantasy Hall, the vast estate of the Drake Family, her in-laws. Looking around the first floor, which was an open concept, she smiled, life was good, or at least better than when she was growing up.
Walking over to the breakfast bar, which divided the kitchen from the living space, she found a note from her husband, Christian Drake. Kayla looked it over and read it slowly, finally nodding. She took the note and folded it up.
"Well the old say goes 'Money never sleeps'," Kayla said, "Also Drakes wake up before everyone else," she finished and laughed.
She pulled her tablet over to herself. Taking a seat on a stool, she unlocked the screen and waited for it to go through its processes. There was a rule in the house that only work cell phones were in the bedroom, private ones were left in the kitchen area. Her tablet, even though she mainly used it for work, fell under its own rule, it stays in the kitchen. Kayla picked an application and waited for it to open. It was her personal email, it was Sunday after all, pleasure before business. Most of what was in her personal email box she deleted. There were a few New Year's Greetings and another sort of message, she answered them. Once she was done with her personal email, she closed that email app.
She scrolled through the apps until she located her business email. Shaking her head, she knew she had to do it. Kayla sighed, with Keith away she had to handle a lot of the day to day work at the label. That meant a lot more work for her, but she could, did, and often handled it. Also, March couldn't come fast enough for her either, where she could get her a break.
"Pie Iesu domine, Dona eis requiem," Kayla said, and laughed, "And now for something completely different."
She checked through a lot of emails, and there was a lot of stuff going on. One was the emailed reported that the support people that were out on the Dark Theater Tour of Nordwind's were back in town for a couple of weeks. Nordwind would be home resting for those weeks and then head out on another leg in Canada and then another pass through in North America. They would go over to Europe for the Summer Festivals.
That meant the documentary film crew was back. Kayla smiled, that solved several issues for her, especially for the biggest pain in the ass on the list of RBR's artists. Reaching over to her personal phone, which was sitting on the breakfast bar.
A few text messages needed to be answered, but after that business. She looked through her phone book and dialed a number.
Kayla's expression changed when the other person picked up, "Hi Brooke, how are you doing this morning? Yeah, my niece, Noel watched the kids last night. We had fun, it was a good time, as usual. So, did I see Tucker come in last night?" she paused, "Yes, I thought so, well, Chris will be back soon, and I'll be heading to RBR. What does that have to do with Tucker? Well, I need to talk to him about doing another job for me. I know he just got back last night; it will be short. Thanks, Brooke, bye," she hung up.
Kayla put the phone down, and that was when she heard two sets of feet banging around upstairs. She laughed, stood up, and started getting the cereal bowls made up for her two children. Once everything was made up, she set them out on the breakfast bar. Kayla went back to her tablet and started reading about the news, most of it trade news.
Finally, a boy and a girl came running over towards the breakfast bar. They were seven and six respectively. Her daughter was kind of a surprise when her son was a baby. During her pregnancy with her, Christian and Kayla called her oops.
"Good morning, Momma," Jory Drake, her son, said, as he climbed on to one of the breakfast bar's stools. He smiled at her, and there was a twinkle in his blue eyes. Jory had gotten the auburn hair of his dad, which was also a trait that came through the Burke's, Kayla's family.
"Morning Jory, did you sleep well?" Kayla asked, looking up from the new on her tablet.
Jory nodded, "Yes Momma," he said.
Kayla looked at her daughter as she climbed up onto the stool next to her brother. "Morning Momma," Fiona Drake, aka Oops, Kayla's six-year-old, said.
"Morning Fi, how are you this morning?" Kayla asked.
"Good Momma," Fiona said.
Kayla smiled and pointed to their cereal bowls, "Eat," she said and looked them over as they picked up their spoons, "We're you good for Noel last night?" she asked.
Jory nodded, "We were, and we played games last night," he said.
"Yeah Momma, we played games and watched movies," Fiona said.
Kayla smiled and poured herself a cup of coffee. Coming back to the breakfast bar, she took a sip of her coffee. She went back to her tablet, as her two children ate their cereal.
After a minute, she put down her tablet and looked at her kids. Shaking her head and sighed, "Okay, guys finish up. We're heading to Red Bedroom," she said.
"Yay!" the two children said.
Kaya grabbed her phone and pressed a number. When it connected, she spoked, "Hey, Chris, sorry to bother you. I must head in early. I know chaos, but Keith won't be back 'til around March. I know, I'm the only that knows enough to get things to straighten out. Love you, bye," Kayla said.
Once everyone was done eating, Kayla did a quick clean up and got everyone upstairs. Kayla made sure her kids have dressed appropriately for the weather; she went to her room. Once everyone quickly changed, she herded them downstairs and loaded up into her CrossOver. She drove from the Fantasy Hall estate all the way to the Scott Building, listening to the radio, which was talking about Brooke's party last night.
Kayla always smiled when she saw the building. It was newish, built seven years ago, but the design was made to look like it was an old waterfront building. Kayla always dreamed of getting Red Bedroom big enough for its own building, and she did that, and six years ago they moved here. The grand opening was two years before what became known as the Annus Horiblis, but she did get it open.
Pulling her vehicle into her parking space, she looked at the sign in front of it. The sign read, "Reserved for Kayla Drake, VP of Business Operations", this caused her smile to grow just slightly larger. It was her first executive position. Kayla got the kids out of the car and got them into the building and out of the bitter cold. She hadn't experienced this biter of cold since she moved from New England.
The building was rarely empty, there was always something going on. Usually in the recording studios on the first floor and in the other wing, but the office space did close. Kayla smiled as she scanned in through the inner door, her kids did the same, Kayla had issued them their own passes.
"Morning, Ms. Drake," The Security Guard behind the desk said.
"Morning Caden," Kayla said.
"I didn't expect to see you this early," Caden said, and he looked over, "Or with the Little Ones."
"Well, until Mister Scott gets back guess who is the Fire Brigade," Kayla replied.
Caden nodded, "I see your point, have a good day and Happy New Year, Ms. Drake," he said.
"Same to you, Caden," Kayla said, and when the elevator doors opened, she got in, followed by Jory and Fiona.
They rode the elevator to the third floor. Getting out they walked towards Kayla's large office. There were four executive suites and she had one of the nicer ones. As she opened the door and went into her inner office, she looked over the classic design that she chose for the furniture. Kayla smiled, as her two kids, but veterans of these weekend trips went to the cabinet that was kept with coloring and drawing stuff to entertain them. They collected what they wanted and took a seat at the conference table.
Kayla got behind her desk and dialed a number and waited for it to connect. "Hello Binks, Kayla Drake. Yeah, what does it mean that it wasn't done? Well get it done, that's why you're out there to support the band. I don't care we need, more importantly, the band needs to generate a word of mouth buzz. I don't care how, but I will tell you this, they are managed by Devon Rutledge, do you want me to let her know what happened, who screwed up, and then arrange an introduction? Good, now get that fixed, and I'll support you on this end," Kayla said and hung up.
Kayla looked over to see her kids playing. She smiled at them when they looked up at her. They waved to her. Kayla waved back. Finally, after a minute she checked her watch, she was one of the few that still wore a wristwatch and noted it was about the right time. Reaching over, she picked up her desk phone, again, and pushed a few buttons to get the name she wanted out of the digital phone book.
It rang a few times and waited for the person on the other end to pick up. "Hi Candi, sorry I was hoping for your voicemail. No, I didn't know you were working out. Yeah, the time difference could be disorientating, and so can your schedule. So, Happy New Years and how was your shift last night? Oh, sorry. Anyways, hope all goes well with that. So, now to why I called, Tacit Blue is playing the strip tonight, you want in? Okay, good, how many guests? Okay, I'll be here for a while. As many as you want, take advantage, just spend freely at the bar, your friends at the Merch Table. Okay, talk to you later, bye," Kayla said and hung up. Resting her hands on the desk, she smiled. Now, that's how you handled business.