A Sister's Heart

Chapter 3

VERONICA

Veronica Hart had had one hell of a morning, realising that a positive mental attitude really could help you to achieve what was perceived to be impossible. Noticing her head of PR across the hall, she waved, catching his attention. “Rick, meeting in one hour, okay?” Rick gave a small nod of acknowledgement then carried on to his own office down the hall.

Satisfied, Veronica returned her attention to her emails. Since she had last checked them half an hour ago, a dozen new ones had appeared in her inbox. She opened them one by one, replied to those that required it and was just about to type a response to the last one when her cell phone buzzed. The caller ID stated that it was her sister, Ivy. She answered straight away, knowing that it must be important since she had called in the middle of the day. “Ivy?” No answer, Veronica waited a moment before trying again. “Ivy, what’s wrong?” She asked, coaxing her sister to divulge. Still there was no response, but Veronica could hear her sister’s sobs on the other end of the line. “Ivy talk to me. Tell me what’s going on!” By now, she was desperate to find out exactly why her youngest sister had called in such a state. The two of them weren’t that close, but she still cared about Ivy, and if something was wrong, she needed to know.

When Ivy finally spoke a few moments later, Veronica froze in shock. Those two simple words that her sister had said had hit her like an emotional wrecking ball and although she could still hear Ivy talking, she wasn’t really taking any of it in. She did pick up on the fact that Diana had already been informed, which got her mind racing as to why her other sister hadn’t called her, unless Ivy insisted. That was something Ivy would do.

After hanging up with Ivy, Veronica simply stared into the distance, unable to focus. Each time she swiped away a tear, it seemed like three more had taken its place and no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t stop them. And before she knew it, almost an hour had passed, and Rick was giving her the five-minute warning for their PR meeting. “Okay. Thanks.” She managed. He didn’t take any notice of the tears still streaming down her face or stick around long enough to realise that she was, in fact, not okay.

Just over a half an hour later, the meeting was over, and Veronica’s thoughts drifted back to her mother’s death and how she needed to be at home. She knew what she needed to do. “Rick, Amanda, could I talk to you both for a moment please?” She requested, and they both obliged; reseating themselves as Veronica closed the door behind the others. She hoped that this would go smoothly so that she could be on the next flight out of JFK to Pittsburgh. “Shortly before this meeting, I received a phone call from my sister back home who informed me that my mother died this morning.” She had barely gotten the words out when the tears started gain. Doing her best to dab them away with a tissue, she spoke again. “I have to go home today, back to Pittsburgh. Obviously, I know this is not the best time to leave but I have faith that the two of you can pull this together for us.” Her two colleagues gave a disbelieving look in each other’s direction, clearly not as confident in themselves and their boss was.

“Of course. What do you need us to do?” Amanda asked. She was a hard worker who had a lot of respect for Veronica, but she wasn’t the brightest. Both she and Rick already had their phones out ready to take notes.

“I’m glad you asked. Amanda, I need you to take care of my meetings and my calendar for the next few days and when I touch down in Pittsburgh and gage the situation, I may ask you to continue to do so for a bit longer. Rick, I’m putting you in charge of the Ad campaign for the new product. I have faith in both of you, and please, only call me if it’s an emergency.” Veronica knew she was asking a lot of the pair of them, but as she dabbed at her eyes again, she realised there was no one she trusted more, and she firmly believed they could handle it. “Now, I really need to get going.” Amanda and Rick both understood, and with their assignments clear, they let Veronica gather her things and leave.

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Author's Note - Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think x