| Subject: Priority Mail 473 |
Author:
Nikita507
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: Saturday, August 04, 07:03:54pm
In reply to:
Nikita507
's message, "Priority Mail 469+" on Wednesday, July 25, 06:47:58pm
Whitney was surprised that the lights were already on in the studio on this Monday. She had a couple people coming in to review photos later in the afternoon, but Mondays were normally days that Nikita only allowed people to come in to view photos. Lately, because the weekends had been so busy, Mondays’ were off days. Nikita wouldn’t even allow the Office Manager to work on Mondays, scheduling Amelia for four ten hour shifts Tuesday thru Friday.
Whitney regretted not checking her voicemail and email at this point. Obviously something had changed during the rare full weekend off and she felt horribly guilty for not knowing what changed. She was relieved to see that the door was still locked, which meant that no one was due to visit the studio quite yet.
“Hello?” Whitney gently called out in case whoever was in the building was on the phone. She locked the door and walked back towards the offices, seeing that the office light was on. She pushed the cracked door open slightly more and pressed her lips together.
Nikita was at the desk with her head prompted up on her right hand, asleep.
“Nikita?” Whitney called out as she knocked on the door gently. She heard Nikita jerked and she pushed the door opened as Nikita blinked her eyes. “Uh?”
“Hi, Buffy…” Whitney spoke again as Nikita pushed her head up and shook it firmly. “Oh… Whitney…”
“What are you doing here? Weren’t you dropping Adam off at soccer camp right after lunch?” Whitney asked as she kept the door open and settled in the chair in front of Nikita.
“Oh… you didn’t hear, did you?” Nikita asked and Whitney raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been disconnected since Thursday evening… I’m sorry if I should have…”
“No,” Nikita jerked her head from side to side. “Davenport sprained his ankle Saturday night at the wedding he was doing… so I had to go to the charity walk yesterday and the Christening…”
Whitney winced. “Did it ruin your plans?”
“My plans with Michael were for Friday night,” Nikita replied and she slightly blushed. It was clear that Michael and Nikita got their alone time on Friday night. “But I was going to do some of the processing of photos yesterday from home… so I didn’t… so Davenport was taking Adam to soccer camp… and I think Adam is happier with that decision.”
Nikita picked up her mug and frowned. “I don’t know why I’m so tired… I took a nap when I got home yesterday.”
“Why was Adam happy that Davenport took him to camp? He wanted you to take him,” Whitney asked as she watched as Nikita stood up and started another cup of coffee. Nikita rolled her eyes as she leaned against the counter top. “Ah… I cried and hugged him before I left today… he practically had to push me out of the door… he said he would have been embarrassed I did that to him at the camp.”
“And why is Davenport taking him and not Michael?” Whitney asked as she watched Nikita pull the coffee away just as it was getting done. She was rubbing her head and Whitney felt guilty for coming in here and waking Nikita up. Whitney should have just started to do her work.
“Michael has been doing something for Nat… I’m sure that I could help him but he is trying not to involve me because I’ve become so successful,” Nikita sourly spoke as she returned to her desk. Her cup felt so heavy and she sat it down to stare at it. “I’m honoring Michael’s wishes and not getting involved in it. So he has been working… and some sort of test was going to finish running around lunch.”
“Which is about right now,” Whitney pointed out as she leaned forward. “When did you last eat, Buffy?”
“Some cereal with Sabina…”
“Hasn’t she been getting up at like six?” Whitney inquired and Nikita swallowed hard while she nodded her head. “We don’t know why either.”
“Kids,” Whitney sighed as she leaned back as she didn’t want to make Nikita worry more. “You are exhausted… and you are working too hard.”
Nikita now picked up the coffee and swallowed some of it down. She placed the cup down and sighed. “I guess I shouldn’t have become so good.”
“You should have said no,” Whitney pointed out with a shake of her head. “You used to refuse anything with children…”
Nikita nodded her head as that was true. “I have no reason to do that now… I got Sabina back.”
“You can say no because you are the boss and you need some downtime,” Whitney declared forcefully. She watched as Nikita turned her head towards the screen. “Look, Buffy... you are a great photographer but what people are hiring you for isn’t so much the taking of the pictures… it’s the edits and cropping… and you can do that without having to take the pictures.”
“Only if the pictures are good to start with,” Nikita quipped and Whitney crossed her legs. Observing Nikita it was like she was moving in slow motion. She needed to go back to sleep. “How about you bring in Dmitry? You liked his work.”
“And he said no,” Nikita frowned as she shook her head. “Davenport will be back for this weekend. He only sprained the ankle and Ellie just wanted him to give it a few days rest. It’s his left ankle and he is going to be back to normal tomorrow.”
“Even with Davenport, you need help here. There is no reason for you to cover three events this weekend… even with Lisa helping you,” Whitney spoke as she sometimes felt that it was so hard to deal with this stubborn woman when she made it in her mind that she had to do something. “Buffy… you have three events yourself this weekend… Davenport has two and I have two… you could have one if you brought on Dmitry… he is back from the war zones…”
Nikita pressed her hands together and looked at Whitney. “I have four events this weekend.”
“No,” Whitney shook her head back and forth. “Three… the photo shoot of the hunting dogs on Saturday morning, the Laundry wedding Saturday afternoon and evening, and then the castle birthday party thing on Sunday.”
Nikita nodded her head and then forced a smile. “I took on a 75th Birthday Party at the nursing home at dinner on Sunday.”
“Buffy!” Whitney snapped as she shook her head. “No… Absolutely not.”
“You are booked…. Davenport was booked.”
“That’s when you say No,” Whitney pointed out, not knowing that the woman who was going to have the birthday was someone that Nikita had saved from a purse mugging while she was being the Angel, before she was found by Michael. The woman wouldn’t know Nikita, but Nikita knew her and her only daughter wanted Nikita to be the photographer. “I didn’t.”
“Dmitry will say yes to me, Nikita. He is just not used to you being in charge. He is used to waltzing in and doing what he wants… he didn’t expect to be interviewed.”
“I don’t think he liked being introduced as Tarzan,” Nikita tilted her head to the side as she forced out a smile at Whitney. “I’m going to be fine, Whitney. I’m going to finish this work here and I’m going home to take a longer nap. You’ll see.”
“What are you working on?” Whitney inquired as she tried to view the screen, but Nikita reached over and snapped off the monitor. Whitney frowned. “You don’t have a deadline today or this week to deliver what you are working on, right?”
“I like to get things done quickly.”
“You tell everyone two to four weeks… making it closer to the two weeks,” Whitney stood up while she realized that she did not win this fight, but she had decisions still to make. One was that she was going to call Dmitry either way. Nikita was working too hard and the signs were there that she was going to crash. Whitney knew that Nikita was dedicated and that was to be celebrated. But being the boss didn’t mean taking everyone else’s lives as being more important than your own needs.
Whitney was then going to call to Michael’s and Nikita’s to get in touch with Reagan. Nikita was going home to sleep and if Sabina was there, she wouldn’t sleep. After Whitney made sure that Nikita was going to get rest this afternoon, she was calling Michael.
Michael had better get back in control of this, because he was the only person Nikita would probably listen to about this crazy schedule she had for herself, and he probably wasn’t aware of it.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 
