Page 87 of Sins of the Father

I lean forward. “Go on.”

“I don’t think you appreciate my talent.”

She cannot leave me. I will be screwed.

“Shira, why would you think that? I totally appreciate you. It’s why I’ve made sure you kept working with me for the last eight years. And I tell you all the time, thank you, don’t I?”

“Right, but I could be doing more. In my last review, you said you were going to start delegating more responsibility to me.”

“I have.”

Her face hardens. “No, you haven’t.”

My gut drops. “I haven’t?”

She shakes her head and sternly replies, “No. You take on everything, and half the stuff you do, I could be doing. Instead of working all these hours, you could cut it way down, and I could handle things. But you don’t trust me, and I told you in my review, if I didn’t start getting more responsibility, then I would need to leave. My brain is capable of more.”

“Don’t quit. I’m sorry. I’ll delegate more.”

She sighs and tilts her head.

“I will, I promise. Please, don’t leave. I’d be lost if you left.”

“You promised me in my review, and it’s been five months.”

I scrub my face. “Shira, I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t trust you. I do. And you totally saved my ass yesterday. I wasn’t joking about adding the zero to your bonus.”

“I need to keep advancing.”

“I agree.”

“You’ve been a great boss, but—”

“Today. Pick whatever you want off my task list and have at it.”

She pauses. “Really?”

“Yes. Carving out some hours from my work day wouldn’t be a bad thing. Choose what you want.”

“I get to pick?”

“Yes.”

“Pull up the organizer, then.”

I hit a few buttons and tilt my screen so we can both see. She takes a third of my items off my plate. By the time five comes, I’m already working on things scheduled for the following day.

I go out to her desk. “Do you need help with anything?”

“Nope.” She beams. “Everything is done. I sent my work for your review.”

“I already saw it. Flawless.”

“Thank you. I just emailed you what I want to do for the rest of this week’s list.”

“Okay. Have at it.”

“You don’t want to look?”

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