Martin thinks I should go home. It's dark outside now and it's getting late. Noah is silently sitting next to me, holding my hand. He knows better than to try and convince me to leave again. Unlike Martin... Martin should know better, but he's unrelenting."Eden, your grandma won't forgive me if you don't get some rest.""I'll sleep here," I insist."Eden," his voice is gentle as he comes towards me, "your grandma needs you."Finally he's speaking sense. He's right my grandma needs me here with her."But not here," he continues, frustrating me immensely. "She needs you at the company tomorrow."What is he talking about? I'm just an assistant. I'm not going to work. There's no way in hell. The company needs Martin more than it needs me right now. I know hardly anything about the company except what I've learned in Noah's team. Hardly any of which actually relates to the running of the company. I guess, I might know more about the company's expenses than anyone other than Noah and
Eden's POV:Noah's being amazing and if I was feeling a little bit less exhausted, I'd be all over him. Literally. But I'm not okay and the perfect gentleman that he is, he doesn't expect me to pretend to be.Instead, he leads me into my apartment, telling me to go and wash up as he wanders into my kitchen to start cooking something. He's not really thought this through. I would have thought he would have worked it out by now that my fridge is usually a little on the empty side.As I undress and step into the shower, I almost laugh at the idea of his disappointment when he realises that he won't be able to cook that dinner he's promised me.I hurry to wash myself, not wanting to waste a moment of my time with him. He's been nothing but a complete gentleman and I can almost guarantee that he'll be leaving as soon as we've finished eating together. I might be completely done in and desperate for a decent sleep but that doesn't stop me wanting more than just dinner.We've been so bus
Noah insists on driving me in to work in the morning. I'm not sure it's his best idea. It's bound to just cause gossip. Not that he seems to care.It also means I have to get up earlier than I'd like because Noah needs to head back to his place to shower and change. That's something I can get behind though, even if it does mean getting up when it's still dark outside. I've never seen Noah's apartment. He always comes to mine so the chance to see a little more of his world is definitely not something I'm going to pass off on.Noah drives us there while I text Martin to check on my grandma. Martin's reply arrives quickly and is far shorter than I would like. He simply says that she is still sleeping.I almost tell Noah to turn the car around so I can return to the hospital.Taking a deep breath, I try to encourage myself not to get distracted. As much as I might want to be with my grandma, the thing I really need to do is find out who killed my parents. That's if someone did in fact
Eden's POV:The rest of the day goes relatively smoothly. I focus on my work, doing my best to avoid the team where I can. It's even worse when I leave our department to run errands. People who I've never spoken to before today are stopping me in the hallways.Some people ask after my grandma and I have to come up with realistic lies. I can't think of any logical excuse for why my grandma would miss the memorial for my parents. When she comes back to work and hears that everyone thinks she's had a severe case of food poisoning, she's going to kill me. I may have been a bit more graphic in my descriptions than was actually necessary, my mouth running away with itself as I tell them about her 'projectile vomiting.'I'm restless though, eagerly anticipating the moment when the work day will come to an end so I can go to the hospital to check on my grandma.I can only hope that Noah isn't planning on working late tonight. After just one day off, I know that there's a massive pile of wo
Over the next few days I do everything I can to focus on my work. My time is split between work and the hospital, although grandma keeps trying to send me away.People frequently ask after grandma.For the most part I'm able to maintain the story that she's suffering from food poisoning but that excuse has a expiration date. And everyday people seem to be more impatient to know when she'll be coming back to work.I'm sitting in Noah's office, discussing his schedule on Friday afternoon, when there's a knock at the door. Martin enters the room and I get to my feet. I prepare to leave, thinking that Martin is here to speak to Noah but I'm taken aback when Martin turns to me."Sit back down, Eden," he says softly, coming to sit in the seat next to mine. "We've got a problem."Oh dear. I don't need to know what the problem is to know that I'm not going to be happy about it. If I've been asked to stay then it must be to do with grandma."The department heads are growing restless," Mar
Eden's POV:Arriving at the hospital, I make my way to my grandma's ward. I've rushed here, straight from work, hoping that I might actually manage to spend time with my grandma before she falls asleep.The nurses are sitting at the nurses' station, typing away on their computer. When they spot me coming towards them, they both give me a wide, welcoming smile."Miss Clancy," the first one says, "it's good to see you again."It's practically the same words, verbatim, as what the nurse last night and the night before said by way of greeting.She falls into step beside me, as I continue down the ward to my grandma's hospital room."She just fell asleep, unfortunately."Big surprise there. It's always the same. I come every day and she's always asleep. If I didn't know she'd just had a heart attack, I'd think she is trying to avoid me."No problem," I say, my voice deflated as I enter the room.Grandma looks frail and weak, far too small for her hospital bed. I don't like this at
Eden's POV:Against what I believe to be my better judgement, I don't mention anything to grandma when I visit her the next day or the day after that. Instead, I prepare myself mentally for returning to the company on Monday morning.Just thinking about working in my grandma's office, taking her place, feels wrong.Martin is waiting for me when Noah and I get off the lift. I'm surprised to see him so early. I know my grandma usually starts work early but her 'early' and Noah's 'early' are two very different things."I've drafted up an email to send to the department heads," he begins without bothering to wish either of us good morning. Good old Martin. Straight to business. "I need you to give it a glance over. You'll still need to sit down with them at some point but this should sate their appetite for information for a day or two until you're settled in."I hope he's right. I'm not looking forward to this at all.Noah gives my hand a gentle squeeze as we walk down the corridor
Noah's POV:I know Eden is scared out of her mind that she's going to mess this up. She told me so enough times last night when I dropped her off at her apartment. But you wouldn't know it from looking at her. She's got a confident look on her face and her shoulders are squared, ready for whatever crap the others are going to throw at her.She's pretty impressive but I might be biased.Everyone takes their seats around the table where Mrs Clancy usually holds our team meetings, Eden taking the seat at the head of the table. There's a tension in the air and there's definitely some animosity coming from James and Lewis. It's pretty evident in their matching smirks. They think they have the upper hand.James opens his mouth to speak but Eden gets there before him."I understand that someone has been spreading malicious rumours that Clancy's Comforts is in financial difficulty," she says without hesitation. Her voice is strong and it carries over the silence in the room. "Of course, t