Chapter Six

BOSS LADY

The evening with her friends turned out to be just what Sierra needed, with Lou and Elena’s little drama becoming the main topic of discussion, she was glad she wasn’t the topic of discussion, because while Brent had broken her heart, she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to sit through a typical “bash-the-ex” session which they usually had when one of them went through a breakup in college. 

In her eyes Brent wasn’t a bad person, she still loved him as much as she had before he broke her heart and because of that, she was still learning to think of him as the villain in the story. 

Her friends had all left early, needing to get back to their lives, which left Sierra with only one thing to do to put off calling her parents and that was to clean up. So after tidying the living room and kitchen, she reset her fridge and reorganized the bookshelf, taking a much-deserved shower before she placed the call to her parents. 

“Hi, darling!” Her mother answered in her usual bubbly tone.

“Hey, Mom, how are you?” Sierra asked generically, hoping her mom wouldn’t pick up the lack of enthusiasm in her tone. 

“I’m good honey, so is your father, though he might not be if he doesn’t take out the trash that I asked him to hours ago.” She said the last part in a louder more threatening tone, “discreetly” getting the message across to her dad who was no doubt watching baseball in the living room.

Sierra laughed at her mother’s antics, feeling the familiar warmth that always spread through her when she saw her parents together. In this case, she didn’t have to see them in person, because when she closed her eyes she could see the whole scene play out just like it has so many times in the past. Their love was the benchmark she always wished to attain, something she recently seemed to have lost the chance at doing. 

“I wonder if my daughter knows how cruel her mother is to her father.” Her dad commented teasingly, knowing full well that Sierra loved hearing them bicker. 

“Well if she doesn’t already, I could always give her a preview.” They poked fun at one another. 

“That’s enough, you two!” Sierra laughed, pulling her mother’s attention back to her. 

“Oh honey, you know how much I love pushing his buttons.” Sierra chuckled lightly and nodded even though she couldn’t see. 

“Of course, if you don't, who will?” Sierra asked and heard her dad scold her for encouraging such behavior. 

“I did no such thing, father, how could you ever accuse me of such?” Sierra feigned hurt and pictured her dad rolling his eyes. 

“Your mother’s daughter indeed, but enough of that, to what do we owe the pleasure darling? It’s unlike you to call on a Sunday afternoon, at this time you would usually be buried deep in a book or out with Brent.” Her dad observed, knowing his daughter too well even though they lived in different cities.

Sierra sucked in a deep breath, readying herself to bite the bullet, “That’s actually why I called. Brent and I broke up.” She held her breath as her parent’s silence stretched out. 

“The son of a-” The rest of her father’s words were muffled by her mother’s hand.

“Oh honey, I’m so sorry, what happened?” Sierra sighed out loud, her parents were the hardest to tell the story to, but when she was done she felt a huge weight lift off her shoulders. 

“Sierra, I’m coming over there right now to kill him. How dare he say my baby girl isn’t enough!” Her dad proclaimed angrily, she imagined he would be mad, but still, the action warmed her heart. 

“Dad, I’m okay and you don’t need to come down here and kill him.” Before her father could speak, her mom’s voice perked up. 

“Right, your father has tuitions this week, but I’m driving up there tomorrow, end of discussion.” The seriousness in her mother’s voice made it hard to argue with, but Sierra hardly wanted to protest, secretly she was glad her mom was coming. 

“Mom, you don’t have to do this..” She tried weakly, but her mother shushed her. 

“Sierra, your mother is right, she will drive up tomorrow and I’ll join you both this weekend.” Sierra suddenly felt the urge to cry, but the last thing she wanted was to worry them more so she quickly wrapped up the call, citing that she would prepare the guest room for them before she hung up. 

They were the protective type, not overbearing, but she never questioned their love for her and always made a point to show her how proud they were of her. With her mother being a retired elementary school teacher and her father a retired biology professor who now tutored students privately, compassion and love ran in their veins. 

***

The following day her mother arrived even before she left for work, given that it was only an hour’s drive with traffic, she was glad she got to hug her mom before she had to go to work.

She had yet to break it to anyone that she’d taken a job in Singapore for six months and it worried her that they would think she was running away. Her parents had always taught her to stand tall and face adversity with determination, never to turn her back and ignore a problem, hoping that it would go away. Deep down she always somehow sought their approval, which is why when she parked her car in the basement of the research facility, she decided that she wouldn’t mention it just yet. 

“Hey, boss lady, how was your weekend, get up to something special with your man? Don’t think no one noticed you slip out early on Friday.” Her personal assistant teased, falling into step with her as she walked to the elevator.

“Good morning Cilla, I have a meeting with Mr. Pierce, I’ll see you in the office a little later.” Purposely ignoring her inquisition, Sierra took a different elevator as a silent dismissal tactic. Her colleagues knew Brent from the various work functions he’d attended with her, but the last thing she wanted was her private life splashed across the office. She had a reputation to uphold and in order to do that it meant ignoring the pang in her heart when she was reminded of her earlier misinterpretation.  

“Sierra, come on in.” She caught Mr. Pierce as he stepped back into his office with a cup of coffee in hand. 

Sierra took a seat at the table, placing her handbag on the floor beside her and the folder that he’d given her the previous week on the table in front of him. 

“Signed and delivered.” Arthur looked at her with surprise. 

“I must say, Sierra, given your initial hesitance I wasn’t expecting such a quick response from you, let alone a signed contract.” Sierra smiled tightly, after getting off the phone with her parents last night she took the time to read through the contract and sign it after she found no reason for amendments, it was quite straightforward. 

“Let’s just say the obstacle which led to my hesitance has been removed so I didn’t see any reason in stalling on the process.” Arthur nodded in acceptance and paged through the contract and signed each page as a witness.  

“As of today you have exactly three months to hand over any projects you might be working on or overseeing and pack up whatever you would like to take with you, I will arrange for your stuff to be shipped two weeks before your departure date so you can get ready in the meanwhile. Are there any other questions you might have?” Sierra thought about it for a moment before answering. 

“No, but if I do think of any, I will be sure to let you know.” Arthur nodded. 

“Well, then I will not keep you, my assistant will be in contact with all the finer details. Thank you, Sierra.” Sierra smiled and stood up, taking her bag in her left hand. 

“No, thank you, Mr. Pierce.” With one last nod, she exited his office, mentally planning how the next three months would play out.

“Cilla, gather everyone in the boardroom immediately, I will join you all shortly.” Cilla frowned at her boss’s strange behavior, it wasn’t like Sierra to be so clipped with her. 

After depositing her personal items in her office, Sierra gathered all the files she’d been compiling related to the projects she was overseeing and walked to the boardroom. 

“Good morning guys.” Sierra greeted informally, cutting off the chatter amongst her team, it wasn’t often that Sierra called such meetings and she could see the confusion on their faces. “I called you all here this morning because I have an announcement to make.” She set the files down at the head of the table and stepped back.   

  

“I have been asked to lead a six-month-long project in Singapore and I’ve accepted the offer.” She dropped the bomb which was followed by whispers from the crowd, “settle down. I am not leaving for another three months, but when I do, I need to ensure that you all are prepared to continue without me. The Osborn project has been your baby from the start so you all know what you’re doing there, but I’m going to need someone to take the reigns on the Zeneca and Cahill trials. Any suggestions on how we can go about this?” Sierra waited for her team’s input, she always found that if they felt they had control over the situation, they were more receptive to the changes and taking on more responsibility.

“Why don’t we split up into two groups, each group takes one trial and we can work out schedules from there?” Chris suggested he was Sierra’s second in command and usually took charge of the group when she wasn’t there or busy with something else that stopped her from giving them her full attention. 

“I like that idea. You all know which of the two trials you’ve gotten more exposure to and since there’s fifteen of you, Zeneca to the left of the room and Cahill to the right, everyone except Chris.” People shuffled around the room, by the time they were done there were eight on the side of Zeneca and six on the other. 

“Anyone willing to reconsider?” she directed her question to the left of the room and watched as Emma shrugged and walked over to the other side.

“Great! You guys vote on a leader amongst your group who will communicate with Chris and Cilla regarding progress and scheduling. My suggestion is to take at least two days in the week to focus on the trial and the other three on your research.” The workload wouldn’t be exponentially worse for them, but getting used to the idea of not having her guidance would take a bit of adjusting. “Any questions or concerns?” Everyone looked around before few hands went up. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, what project will you be leading there?” Sierra smiled. 

“We’re researching an ancient diabetes treatment used by locals, hopefully, we can turn their home remedy into a futuristic treatment in modern medicine.” The group erupted into excited whispers. 

“Is it a plant or-?” Sierra nodded.

“Yes, though I am not familiar with all the details yet, I do know that the plant was used to treat patients that had a myriad of health issues, it was only until recently that it was discovered to actually be a treatment for undiagnosed diabetes and we’ve been given permission to research it.” Everyone looked excited for her.

“This is so exciting, but why are you only going for six months though, surely it will take longer to understand the capabilities of such a foreign thing,” Chris asked. 

“It’s a seasonal plant and while it can be preserved for future research, the point of me traveling there is to understand how the locals used it and understand more about the plant in its indigenous environment.” Questions about her adventure flew around the room and their enthusiasm made her even more excited for what was to come.