Page 14 of Protecting Silver
“Talk.”
“It’s just that Veronica’s been having bad dreams ever since the attack. She said she’s fine, but I know she’s not. Two days ago, I confronted her at two in the morning after she jerked awake and snuck out of the bedroom. I found her curled into the couch with Major snuggled up against her.”
“What did she say?”
“She’s having flashbacks to her own trauma from being thrown in that ravine, and being attacked by that mountain lion.”
“Thank god,” Lorna sighed and slumped in a chair before the desk. “Not that it’s good that she’s having nightmares, or whatever, but I’ve been having the same thing. I’m reliving the nightmare when I was kidnapped and beaten, especially being cut with that knife, but in the dreams, it’s the face of an unknown man, or his face is covered, and I don’t know who’s attacking me.” She frowned and studied Finn intently, before she continued, “Do you think it might be because we don’t know who did this, and Ronnie and I are reliving our own traumas by interjecting the unknown assailant in them?”
“I don’t know, and I’m sorry you’re having nightmares as well, but I’m glad that Veronica isn’t the only one. It makes me wonder what Tymber and Amber are going through. I don’t know Amber at all, but Tymber was held hostage at gunpoint by the man Grady was suing.”
“I’ll reach out to her, see what’s happening. I have a feeling we’ll all be at Silver’s bedside after work today. I know I have to call Andy and let him know I’ll be home late, because as soon as I clock out, I’m headed directly to the hospital.”
“You have anything pressing you’re working on?”
“Not at the moment. I’m still waiting for your approval for what Marc’s going to show you later this week.”
“Then, clean up your desk and get out of here. Talk to Silver about her promotion before the others arrive. Tell her if she has any questions, to call me. Hell, we don’t know if she’ll want the promotion at all. I know she loves her job.”
“Okay, I’ll do that, but what do I tell her if she asks about whether she’d get a pay raise?”
“Tell her five less than you.”
“Excuse me?” Lorna frowned in confusion.
“Tell her she’ll be receiving five grand a year less than you are right now. That’s only because you’ve got more experience, and have been with the company longer.”
“Wow,” Lorna stared at him in shock, then giggled as she jumped to her feet and hugged him. It only lasted for less than thirty seconds, but she was able to get her joy conveyed to him. Finn nodded his head before he exited the office, and had to call Major to follow him. Lorna rushed over to her office and cleaned up her papers, and flipped her phone to voicemail. On her way out of the building, she told the receptionist what’d she’d done, and that she’d be gone for the rest of the day. Since she was used to it, it wasn’t a big deal.
* * *
Silver lookedup when her hospital room door opened, and tried to grin, but ended up moaning when she saw her visitor.
“Don’t talk,” Lorna said as she put her purse down on the end of the bed near Silver’s feet, then rushed to her side, leaned over, and hugged her. “God, you look good to me.”
Silver snorted a laugh, and with her teeth clenched, giggled. “Yeah, right. Pull the other leg.”
“No, compared to the last time I saw you, you look really good. You’re blue, green, and yellow, not black.”
“Thank you?” Silver said it as a question.
Lorna settled on the bed next to Silver’s hip, and took her hand in hers. “I’ve got some news for you. Patch called me and said you were awake and wanted to go back to work. I went to Finn to discuss it with him.” She held up her hand to ward off what Silver might say. “It’s all good. I went to him with a proposal. I was going to do it sometime this month anyway, this just expedited the request.”
“What request?”
“I told Finn that you should be promoted from an assistant to an events coordinator, and that we should hire someone to be our assistant.” Lorna watched Silver’s reaction to her announcement, and when her expression turned from joy to doubt, Lorna rushed to reassure her. “Please, it’s not because of what happened to you. For the last two plus years you’ve worked at Larson’s, you have been invaluable, not only to me, but to the Foundation as a whole. You’re good at your job. I’ve known for several weeks that we’re going to be having more fundraisers this year than we ever had in the past. I was going to go to Finn in a couple of weeks to recommend this, but I went to him today.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“And you’re not doing this out of pity for me? Because I was assaulted? How would this work?”
“Not at all. Finn made sure I stress that you are not being promoted because of what happened to you. You are being promoted because you’re good at your job, and I’m going to be needing help. I’m only one woman, and later this week we have four fundraisers coming across our desk, just as soon as Finn approves of them.”
“I still don’t understand the dynamics of it.”
“You mean like physically?” Lorna frowned at her.
