Chapter 12
Kendall
I sat at my desk for most of the morning, and every time the elevator bell rang I quickly looked up in anticipation. Each time I glanced up, and it wasn’t Peter and Elijah that walked out of the elevator, I got a little downhearted.
I looked around the shipping department and noticed all the others also glanced up from their desks as the elevator rang, just as I had been doing, and each time they all turned back to their desks and carried on working quietly.
My nerves danced around my body the longer the time passed. I sat on the edge of my seat with every hour that passed and there was no sign of them. Suddenly the elevator bell rang, and the door opened, and Peter exited first closely followed by Elijah. He looked normal, yet his eyes looked wide and slightly scared as he looked around and tried to absorb everything he saw as if it was the first time he had been there.
They walked toward my desk, and I stood and walked to greet them.
“Kendall, this is Elijah as you know, and Elijah this is Kendall, your lovely personal assistant,” Peter said.
Elijah smiled and held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Kendall. Peter has said nothing but good things about you.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Sir. And it’s good to have you back,” I replied as I smiled.
“Call me Elijah," he said as he smiled.
Wow, this is a change.
I sensed he was checking me out. It felt good knowing that he looked at me as more than just an employee. I had, after all, checked him out as he exited the elevator, so we were square in that department.
We exchanged a couple more sentences before Peter interrupted us and took Elijah into his office to become more acquainted with his domain. The door closed and a noise lifted up from behind me. I turned, and Travis had quickly come up to my desk.
“What’s wrong with him? Fuck, he seems a little vague and not with it,” Travis asked.
“Well, you may as well know now, and from a reliable source, Elijah has actually lost his memory. Everything is totally new to him at the moment,” I explained to Travis.
“Holy fuck, how lucky we are, and we thought he would blow his stack when he got back. I hope he never gets his memory back, all the grudges he had against people have all been wiped out in one go,” Travis said as he thought about it more.
“Can I tell the others? I always wanted to be the bringer of good news, can I, can I?” he said frantically.
“You may as well, you will all find out soon enough, just keep it quiet and don’t cause any disturbances,” I said as if speaking to a small child. “I can see why you are excited, just remember he’s a person just like you and me. We should take things steady and not expect too much from his situation. The doctors did say it could come back, especially when he’s in an environment which is familiar to him, so until we are sure which way he’s going, be careful,” I explained.
“I suppose you’re right. We wouldn’t want to get used to a new Elijah just to find his memory comes back and find that the dragon has again been unleashed,” Travis said with a chuckle.
“Make sure you explain everything properly to the others and don’t expand on the truth. I know how you like to be a gossip king!” I replied as I winked at him.
“Scout’s honor, I’ll be respectful toward him, but I do hope it’s a long-term thing, we can mold him to our will!” he said with a laugh that belonged to a horror movie.
“Damn Travis, you can be mean sometimes, but cute with it, now get back to work,” I ordered with a grin.
“Yes, miss, sorry miss, I won’t do it again,” he replied as he returned toward the shipping department with a skip in his step.
I was working for around an hour when the door to the office opened, and Peter and Elijah exited. Peter told me he would just take Elijah around the shipping department and introduce him to everyone again and he would be back before they left the office.
Peter introduced Elijah to his staff. I could see they were apprehensive and were unsure of how to take him even though he had no recollection of them apart from what Peter was telling him. It appeared that Elijah was being polite and courteous which was enough to make the open employees feel confused to his complete change in nature.
I saw them walking back toward my desk, Elijah talked to Peter as they walked and I could see from the look in his eyes he had a lot to take in, in such a short time.
“Did you meet everyone?” I asked.
“Yes, they seem a good bunch and were quite polite, yet I felt they were being cautious because I don’t know anything,” Elijah said.
“Forgive me. I’ll be back in one moment; I just need to go back to speak to Jefferson for a moment, there was something I forgot to ask him,” Peter said as he bowed out of the conversation and sauntered back toward the shipping department.
“So, how does it feel? Your quick visit?” I asked Elijah.
It’s fine, but I get tired easily at the moment, maybe it’s too much for one day,” he replied smiling. “I just have to get back up to speed on everything before I’m fully aware of what’s going on." I could sense his confusion.
“Well if there is anything you need, just let me know, I have a good idea of what goes on here on most days, so if anyone should know it would be me,” I replied.
“So, you are not just a recep-” Elijah started to say.
“Receptionist? No, I’m your personal assistant. Whatever you want, I grant your wish… so to speak.” I gave a smile.
“Ah, so you are the brains, and I’m the brawn,” he replied with a warm smile.
“Yes, you could say it like that!"
I couldn't believe he didn't remember anything.
“So, what do you want to know about the job? Is there anything specific?” I asked.
“I want to know everything, but not right now, I feel like my brain could explode, I have just left the hospital, so I need a little adjustment time to get back into being familiar with just normal life. Let alone the pressures of work,” he explained.
I felt sorry for him. “I understand, just let me know when you are ready, and I’ll bring you up to speed with whatever you need to know,” I replied as I reached out my hand to his arm.
“Well, it’s funny you should say that. I wondered if you fancied discussing the job over dinner tomorrow night, especially if you have such a good insight into the daily operations and how the staff operates. I already noticed, you seem to be the go-to person that everyone can talk to,” he explained as he smiled with beautiful lips.
“What gave you that impression?" I asked hoping we could talk longer.
“I noticed you as soon as I exited the elevator, you just seemed to ooze something, it’s hard to put my finger on, but you have a good personal composition and a warm and caring personality. I’m not sure how you came to work here, but I feel it was for all the right reasons and because I had treated you well?" His words were genuine.
“Oh, things were fine, and the other staff just use me to buffer you against too much information. They are always concerned you will have information overload if they bombard you all the time,” I replied with a little white lie.
“On that note, I have my fingers crossed that you would accept me. So, Kendall, would you like to go to dinner tomorrow night with me so you can bring me up to speed then?"
“Er, that was out of the blue and totally unexpected, but I would love to go for dinner tomorrow night and discuss work with you,” I replied with a shocked look on my face. “You want me to book somewhere?”
“No, it’s fine, I’ll do it. I have to learn to stand on my own two feet again,” he answered. “Just don’t blame me if the place is not so nice. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to go out on a date.”
“So, it’s a date? I thought it was a work thing,” I laughed as I gazed at him with a blushed face.
“It’s, not a date, date, it’s just, um, you know what I mean. I’m just nervous. It’s like starting everything afresh. You know, even though I have probably done it before.” He had a rosy glow about his face.
“It’s okay, I was just messing with you, a bit of an ice breaker that’s all,” I said grinning.
“I know, it should be up to me, but I have no clue of what places are good, I’ll ask Peter on the way home if he knows any places where I used to go before.”
"Aha, I could tell you what I like, but that would take the surprise out of it, so, I’ll leave it all up to you, and then you can whisk me off my feet,” I replied as butterflies danced around my stomach.
Peter had just left the shipping department and was headed back toward us. He had a smile on his face and a spring in his step, it must have been because he was pleased Elijah was chatting to me so easily considering his memory loss.
“I see you two are getting on well,” Peter said as he approached.
“We had a good chat and sorted a few things out,” Elijah replied as he winked at me.
“Good to hear, at least you have a nice friendly face that you will know,” Peter said.
“If I’m in any doubt, I’m just gonna run straight to this desk, it will be my safe place," Elijah said laughing.
“So, where have you been all this time anyway, bro?” Elijah asked.
“I just had to run over a few things with Jefferson, nothing to concern yourself with,” Peter replied.
“So, you ready? I have a bit of a headache starting, I could do with a little lie-down and some quiet, I feel a little overcome by all of this,” Elijah said as he held my desk firmly.
“Sure, I’ll just grab the stuff from your office, and we’ll get you home then you can relax for a while,” Peter added.
Peter grabbed the things from the office and returned to collect Elijah.
“I’ll call you tomorrow about dinner and what time to pick you up,” Elijah said as he smiled at me. I was stunned at his transformation and attracted to him.
“Sure, no problem, I look forward to it.” My body tingled.
I stood at the window and watched as they walked across the lot deep in conversation. Elijah had suddenly become, warm, considerate, polite and a pleasure to talk to. The only thing that remained from his old self was his physical attributes and his good looks. I now looked at him totally differently.
Wow... could he have become my perfect man overnight?