“What they need is to leave a sick woman alone.” I watched out the window as we drove away, a fake smile on my lips as I cursed my life.
“I hate to point this out, but they are here because you’re here. They want you, or your brother, not Selene. If you truly don’t want to worry about them bothering her, you could take up some more of your engagements.”
“Keep my distance?” That drew my attention back to Tabitha. “We just talked about how I was her only family.”
“Yes, but if you’re not making stops there, then the media attention will dissipate.”
“I don’t know.” I frowned. Someone needed to be there with Selene. She shouldn’t be alone at a time like this. “I’ll give it some thought. Maybe we can work out some kind of middle ground.”
“It’s definitely worth a thought.” Tabitha looked at me with direct eyes. “I just want what is best for the both of you.”
“It’s my hope that she’ll be well enough to go home soon. That will cut down on the media.”
“That’s true.” Tabitha looked back down at her phone.
I had thought Selene’s clipboard was annoying, but I was finding that Tabitha’s use of her phone was insane. I was starting to wonder if she was playing some type of Tetris-style fruit game, or planning world domination. As much as she played on the thing, she could be controlling MI6 for all I knew.
“For now let’s focus on taking care of the appointments that are in the area and reschedule the rest. I don’t want to be far if Selene needs me.”
“It’s admirable that you care so much for her. I know she cares for you a great deal.” Tabitha looked up and smiled at me.
“It’s mutual.” The thought warmed my heart. I hated that just a day before I had thought about having a younger assistant. At this point, I’d give anything to have Selene and her clipboard sitting next to me as we figured out the details for a speech or how to engage a particularly difficult audience.
“Well, if we narrow down everything to an hour driving distance, you’ll still be able to hit several of the important events.” She flipped through the clipboard. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of putting Selene’s notes into my phone. It just makes it easier to sync my calendars together.”
“That’s fine. I’ve been trying to convince her to do that for a while.” I watched the lights going by and smiled to myself. “You’d think I was trying to get her to write stuff in blood.”
“She’s the same way in the office.” Tabitha chuckled. “Our filing system is a scary beast. So much paper and folders floating around. We have a special first-aid kit for paper cuts.”
That drew an unexpected laugh from me. “I bet you guys hate it.”
“Well, it would be nice to switch everything over, but we’d all tell you that her system works. And she always says—”
“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” I finished.
“Exactly.” Tabitha set her phone down and looked at me seriously. “And that’s exactly what I came bumbling in and did. I’m sorry for overstepping boundaries. I truly did mean well.”
“No, it’s okay. This is a trying situation for all of us.” I sighed. “I should have been more patient. I’m sorry.”
“No, you were right. I came in, clipboard blazing, and tried to be a superhero. But you don’t need a superhero.”
“I don’t know, I don’t think I’d turn Captain America away.” I smiled.
“Well, it looks like you already have a knight in shining armor.” Tabitha wiggled her eyebrows.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “I don’t know about that.”
“Well, he could save this damsel any day.” She held up her hands when I turned quickly to look at her. “Just saying that he would look good riding in on a white horse.”
“David would look good riding in on a donkey.”
She tittered loudly, which made me laugh. She had a horrible laugh, but it felt honest and sincere. “I think you’re right. You should snap that up.”
“We’ll see.” I looked back out the window. We were almost back to the hotel and I still needed to do some work before bed.
Her phone beeped and I could hear her clicking away in response. I wanted to ask her who she was talking with, but there was no polite way to approach that subject. And in all honesty, it could have absolutely nothing to do with me. She could be talking to her family, canceling plans with her family or a significant other.
“I should have asked before now, but do you need time to handle anything back at the palace? You had to leave on really short notice.” I offered an apologetic smile. “I don’t even know if you have any family or children.”
“No children.” She smiled. “And my boyfriend understands that this is my job. If he didn’t understand, he wouldn’t be my boyfriend.”
“I can understand that.” I nodded my head. “But if you need to catch up on anything, I’ll be fine. I can manage on my own.”
“Of course you can!” She sat up straighter. “But I really am okay. Everything that I was working on in the office is being handled by one of the other assistants. Being ready for the unexpected is part of our job.” She leaned forward conspiratorially. “In fact, we’ve all gotten kind of stale. It’s good to shake it up a little from time to time. Though I wish it hadn’t been at Selene’s expense.”