My Royal Romance

Chapter 3: Working from Home

“Hey, sweetie! How have you been?” Dad’s voice is a welcome sound and makes me feel at home. I sit back and pull my legs underneath me on the big chair I’ve chosen to work from today.

“Hi, Dad,” I smile at the screen and give a little wave. We’ve signed onto the meeting earlier than the rest of the team to talk about some things before diving into the work. “I’m doing alright, considering. It’s been really stressful here but we’re managing.” I let out a breath and smile again, a real smile. I braid my wet hair quickly then throw the braid behind me and it smacks my back with a wet slap. I didn’t have time to dry my hair fully before the meeting but this will help define my curls better when it’s dry.

“How is Lucas? My new son-in-law, do I need to call him King Lucas? Or Your Highness?” Dad chuckles and it makes me laugh too.

“Technically, the King and Queen are referred to as ‘Your Majesty’ and the rest of the royals are ‘Your Highness’,” I explain, telling him the proper phrases but also teasing because I would never expect him to call either of us by the proper titles.

“Ah, well, Your Majesty,” Dad does a little half bow from where he is sitting at his desk. I chuckle and bow my head as well.

“How’s Mom?” I ask and Dad grins.

“She’s great,” Dad tells me. “She misses her daughter, of course, but Brandon and Leslie have been coming over frequently to fill the void. Little Matthew has gotten so big, but he still demands the same amount of attention, even more actually. And your mother is beyond thrilled to give it to him.” Dad pauses and I know he wants to ask me something, or say something.

“What is it?” I sit up and narrow my eyes at him.

“Now remember, this isn’t coming from me, this is coming from your mom,” Dad begins then pauses again.

“What?’ I ask, laughing a little but still nervous.

“She wants to know if there are any royal grandbabies on the horizon?” Dad looks a little embarrassed to be asking me the question. His cheeks turn pink and I can’t help but burst into laughter. “Not that we don’t think Matthew isn’t royal. Don’t ever repeat that. She just wants to know about grandkids on your side. I did tell her that you just got married, and Lucas was just crowned King. That is a lot to handle and a lot to process before you can even start thinking about making babies. Right?” Dad looks at me to confirm that he is correct in his assumption.

“Yes, oh god. Yes, or no, I guess,” I laugh, loving this interaction. “You are definitely correct. There is way too much going on to even think about having children. I shouldn’t admit this to my dad but even though Lucas and I are married, that doesn’t mean we know everything about each other. In fact, sometimes I feel like we know very little,” I sigh and sink back into my chair. Dad looks concerned but I can see his mind shifting to business mode as the time draws closer.

“You’re right, as your dad, that is not something I want to hear. Everything okay?” Dad asks, wanting to know if anything had happened to make me feel this way.

“Oh, yeah. It’s all fine, just a lot going on in a very little time frame. Don’t get me wrong, Dad. I love Lucas, I really do. He’s become my best friend in such a short time, but it feels like I’ve known him forever,” another sigh escapes my mouth, but this time it’s a more loving one.

“I can tell,” Dad says and I look up at him. “You look like you’re in love. And I can tell from your actions,” He chuckles. “From the brief interactions I had with Lucas, I can tell how much he loves you as well.”

“I know,” I say and I do know it, even when sometimes I have doubts. I drift a little, thinking about Lucas while Dad busies himself preparing for the meeting. I only realize how much time has passed when I hear the ‘ding’ indicating others have joined the meeting.

“Good Morning everybody,” Dad greets the team then winks at me. “Good afternoon to some. Thank you all for joining today. I won’t keep you long. I just wanted to get things started for Mandy’s first day. Although she is in a different time zone, I think it’s six hours ahead of us, right?”

“Yep,” I nod then let Dad go back to his introduction.

“Well, anyway, she may be ahead of us but she is going to be playing catchup for a couple of weeks to get on board with this project,” Dad looks over his notes and nods his head. “Mark, as the team lead, I hope I can count on you to help Mandy get up to speed and then move forward promptly.”

“Of course, Mr. Carnegy. I have already devised a plan to help her get up to speed as quickly as we can. Then we have tasks that she can complete on her own that shouldn’t require our assistance, which will be great so she can work at a normal time there. We have also decided to rearrange some particular meetings for a time that would benefit both parties. It was really no trouble at all and worked out better for our clients!” Mark addresses the situation with a smile and although he does ramble a bit, he gets the point across and I think it won’t be too bad working for him.

“Alright, that sounds great. Thank you, Mark,” Dad nods his head, accepting the update and then he checks his watch. “Alright, well, I have another meeting with the financial team so I’m going to sign off and hop on that call. Good job everybody. Bye, kiddo,” Dad smiles and signs off, leaving me alone with my new team.

I know most of the team because they’ve been working for my dad for a while. I interned with the company in high school and of course, visited my dad at work occasionally. Mark is the newest member but he goes over his credentials to introduce himself and explains that the team hasn’t been together for very long so I haven’t missed too much.

“Well, I appreciate all the work you did to help me get caught up. I am a fast learner and should be ready to help out in no time!” I smile, sitting up straighter in my chair. Mark nods his head in approval and the rest of the team is all smiles.

“Alright, I’ll be online if you need anything but let’s have a one-on-one at the end of the week to touch base,” Mark says after the rest of the group has signed off the call.

“That sounds great. Thanks, Mark,” I offer another smile and he smiles back and then salutes me. I don’t know if he is making fun of the royal aspect of that’s just a signature sign-off for him. Either way, it’s pretty funny.

“Welcome aboard, Mandy,” Mark says and then he signs off, leaving me staring at a blank screen.

Alright, time to get started. I sign into the application for the company and find my email already set up and running. I scroll through a few automated emails then scroll back to the top and find a checklist sheet from Mark. The sheet has everything that I need to learn before I will be any help to the team. I scan the list then sit forward in my chair, crack my knuckles and start on the first objective of the list.