Alexia’s POV “So, Bri. What advice can you give me about this place? Are there any problem people, or is everybody pretty cool here?” I couldn’t stand the silence at the moment. After everything Brandon just unloaded on me, silence would do nothing but keep me in my head and that’s the last place that I wanted to be right now. “Ummm. I wouldn’t necessarily say that we have any problem people, per say, but there are a couple of folks that might try to be problematic in your department. It won’t be because they dislike you as much as they dislike that they didn’t get your job. If you ask me, though, there isn’t a person in your department that deserves to be anything more than an assistant.” Bri said in such a way that I had to keep myself from snickering. “So, what I’m hearing is that I’m going to be dealing with immature jealousy?” Man, I hope that these people aren’t going to be like that. I have been in charge of my fair share of research groups, but I prefer adults over childre
I have seen my fair share of research labs, but this place has me at a loss for words. The thought process that went behind the layout alone, is amazing. When you first walk through the double doors, you come into a room that has ten to twelve cubicles, as Bri called them. I mean, they are cubicles in the sense that they don’t have doors and the walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling, but that’s where it stops. These cubicles are huge. I figure that the average cubicle is about twelve square feet. These are double that easily. They each have a desk equip with a computer, printer, and a desktop safe. Then there is another table stocked with things like beakers, test tubes, pipettes, petri dishes, and what looks like one of the OMAX microscopes. I don’t think that I have worked at any other lab that had separate areas for their research staff. It makes me feel like I might have made the right decision after all. Bri pulled me out of my head, just as a brunette woman started walki
Alexia’s POV The last few days have gone by rather uneventfully. Thomas has been extremely helpful in showing me how everything works around the lab and helping me find my footing with everyone. I haven’t had any other issues with anyone since the little test from Mika. I think the suspension and official write-up may have solved that. She hasn’t given me any issues for the past couple of days. I can’t say that we got off to a great start, but I can say that I am impressed with her work. Her research is great, from what I’ve seen so far. I haven’t seen much of Brandon since he showed me the steps I needed to take to send in Mika’s write-up, either. I’m not sure if I’m happy or disappointed about that. Mark drops by every so often. Apparently, me helping solve the big issue with the one prototype means that he needs my opinion on all of them now. I don’t really mind much. It helps break up the monotony of looking at computer screens and microscopes all day. That’s not all I do, but
Brandon’s POVMy alarm woke me up at five o’clock, which should have given me plenty of time to make my morning shake, go on my daily run, and get the truck loaded for our trip before the guys got here at seven. I guess luck wasn’t really on my side, though, because my phone rang while I was in the process of making my shake. Looking at my phone, I saw that it was my mom calling me. I don’t think that she has ever called me this early, so I knew that it probably wasn’t good.I wipe my hands and immediately answer the call.“Hey, mom. Is everything okay?” My heart dropped as I heard her sobs on the other end of the line.“What happened, momma?” I asked her again.“It’s Kathy. She was in a wreck this morning on the way to work. She’s not doing good, Brandon. Lexi and I are at the hospital waiting on any news. Your dad is in the operating room with her.” She finally tells me after she is able to calm down enough to talk.It took me a few seconds to take in what she just told me. The
Alexia’s POVI didn’t say anything as Dale led us toward the room where they put my mother in to recover. I was still trying to wrap my mind around everything that happened this morning. I felt guilty about her accident because I had asked her to come spend the day with me. Her birthday is coming up soon and I wanted to take her shopping for something nice. I knew that I should have just gone and picked her up. She had insisted on driving herself, though. She said she had a business meeting to go to later, so she would just leave from my apartment and go straight there. I called her assistant to let her know that she needed to cancel that meeting. I still needed to call my brother and sister to let them know what was going on. They were going to be mad that I didn’t call them sooner, but they would have to get over it. I was still confused about Brandon being here. I won’t lie and say that I’m not glad that he did come, because I was very glad that he did. I had been on the verg
Alexia’s POV“Your mom woke up, sweetie. She wants you both to come inside. Lexi, I want you to prepare yourself. She doesn’t look good. Almost the worst I have seen.” Helen gave me a look that told me everything that I needed to know. Mom was in bad shape, and she didn’t want me to have it trigger anything for me.“She wants me to come in, too? Did she say why?” I squeezed Brandon’s hand to reassure him, even though I felt nothing even close to sure.“She still considers you family, Brandon. No matter what happened between us. Just like your mom and dad treat me like family.” I smiled at him before smiling at Helen and Dale.Brandon nodded his head a little before reaching for the door. “Are you ready?” The question felt so loaded, and I definitely wasn’t ready but that didn’t matter in this moment. I had to go in no matter how I felt.“Not even remotely ready, but let’s go.”Brandon pushed open the door and waited for me to walk in the room. I took a deep breath and tried to
Alexia’s POV “How can you say something like that?” I asked the arrogant and infuriating man sitting across from me. He sat there looking at me for a moment before giving me an answer. “What would you like for me to say, Lexi? That I’ll just go and tell my Commander that I don’t want to go. Do you think that would work?” I shook my head trying to keep the tears that were threatening to fall down my cheeks, from doing so. “I don’t know, Brandon. I know that you can’t tell him that, but I wish that you didn’t have to go. I don’t know how I am going to handle not being able to talk to you any time I want to.” Brandon stood up and came to sit beside me. “I get it, Lex. I do, but I have my orders. We knew that it could happen eventually. It’s been a year and a half since I joined. You know that. I’ll call and write every chance that I get. You’re my best friend and no amount of time or distance will ever change that.” “I’m going to miss you so much. I better be the second call that y
Alexia’s POV ‘Breathe. Just Breathe.’ I thought to myself as I started getting ready for my day. This was going to be one of those days that could either be one of the best days of my life, or one of the worst. I slowly made my way into my bathroom to take a shower. I had no clue what I was going to wear or what I was going to do with my long auburn hair. I was determined to make an impression that was going to last a lifetime. I finished my shower, wrapped a towel around my hair, put on my robe, and then headed towards my closet. As I was looking at my lackluster clothing options, I decided to wear my black pinstriped pant-suit, emerald green silk blouse, and my black kitten heels. After curling my hair, putting on a little bit of makeup, and getting dressed, I checked out my appearance in my full-length mirror. “Wow.” I mumbled out loud. I hardly even recognized the woman looking back at me. My auburn locks looked like a waterfall cascading down and stopping just above the small