Lily woke startled and in pain, as the alarm rang next to her. She had fallen asleep on the dinner table again; she was surrounded with screen pads with different information. She was almost sure she had not turned off the main com last night, and she could feel how the wood lines from the table were marked on her cheeks.
A loud snap was heard as she twisted her neck 'So much better', she stretched and began organizing the pads on the table. It had been almost a month since she started her new job. She was certain the only thing that could compare to the relationship she had with her job was, curiously, MAC racing.
One she had found out she would be Ayr Lite personal assistant, she had mixed feelings about it. She had dedicated her education to administration and management, and the entire last year, she had received very advance courses on well, pretty much the same topics, but she felt like she was ready for anything. The training year had also given her a strange but varied education on different topics as well. In truth, she felt disappointed. It was not that she was not happy, but she could not see how her preparations and skills could or would help a MAC pilot.
She was not ungrateful about the opportunity and the whole training year, she had liked Ayr after their first meeting, but as she had learned she would be his assistant, her head had been in an outroar on the way back home. That was until she received Mrs. Abigail details about her job.
Ayr Lite 'The Gentleman' was not only an excellent MAC pilot, but an avid businessman. He was part of Strive Works, a company dedicated to consulting and training of personnel, the same one which had been the ones to manage Lily's training for a year.
He also was part of Field Mechanics, one of the biggest and most successful service and maintenance companies on farming related equipment and machinery in the planet, and Beta Prime was the biggest agricultural world, in the galaxy. Likewise, he had invested in a medium size transportation company called Evens and Odds, it had been very well received and was growing quickly.
Lastly, he had created a new MAC team that would become part of the MPC this season. Lily suspected this had been the reason that created the job she now had. For what Lily had seen Ayr had been working on creating the team for over a year, but only recently had things really started coming together. The team was if we compared it to an engine, was mechanically finished, and had just been started, now it only needed to be kept running. Problem was, there were just a few months before the season began. Ayr had been pushing everything, but he would not be able to keep doing it, once the season started, and so, Lily felt ashamed about having doubts that her skills would be required, damn, she was now, not sure if she had what was needed for the job.
She now understood why she had received such varied courses during her year of training, and why Ayr had been so happy she had accepted. He had had to wait for a year, for her to be ready. Her initially frustration had changed into admiration, resolve and respect. He had chosen HER, her skills were needed, everything she had learned was needed.
What was supposed to be a week of vacation had turned into something awful, somehow, she believed her studies would give her the ability to solve every problem and somehow make everything more efficient, but she had spent the entire time understating what needed to be done. In a moment the week had passed, she had barely gotten the hang on what she was supposed to do, but now she would have to start "assisting" Ayr, there was no end to what needed to be done, it was truly like driving a MAC with her eyes closed, but she could not deny, that she was loving every second of it.
She massaged her sore neck, 'I truly need to sleep in my bed' She stretched a bit more, picked everything up, tied her hair up and took a deep breath 'YOU GOT THIS LILY'.
"You slept in the kitchen again?" a yawny voice interrupted Lily's psyching up. A six-year-old, was looking at her with sleepy eyes.
"Good morning, Kit Kat, come give me a kiss" the little girl went lazily towards Lily, and she kissed her in the forehead "Not my best idea, but at least we are ready for breakfast, go wash your teeth and face" the kid nodded and went to her room. How quickly you could get use to things Lily remarked, they had stopped sharing a room a few weeks ago.
She opened the fridge and decided to make some scrambled eggs and toast. She placed her com display near the stove as she began cooking. She reviewed the schedule; everything was in order.
"Are we walking to school today as well?" the girl said as she sat on the table behind Lily, she was now completely awake.
"We are, it is only a few minutes walking, it is our warmup to start the day" she heard the loud sigh coming from the girl behind her "Here start eating, we don't want to be late" Lily took the plates with the breakfast, and placed one in front of the girl, and sat next to her.
"Could you make some bacon tomorrow?" the girl asked, as she began eating her food eagerly.
"Fine, I'll get us some" Lily replied to the little kid, her… daughter. She smiled as she saw Kat eating away at her breakfast, she was her daughter, and that was the end of it.
"I like the new house; do you like it mom?" Kat asked while she ate what was left of her toast.
"I do, but I miss sharing my room with you"
"You can come sleep in mine if you like" the little kid offered, all benevolent.
"Thank you, Kit Kat, now, come we have to get ready" Lily hurried Kat, as they picked up the dishes. It took a while to be ready, but they were still on time for school and work. Lily picked her purse and Kat, her school bag. "Hurry, we are going to be late if we walk at that pace to school"
"Then we should not go walking to school" the little girl smiled, and Lily had to hide hers.
"We are walking missy, I love talking with you as we go to school, and as we get back, now tell me, has Samantha learned how to whistle?" The little girl hesitated but only for a second before, she began walking along with Lily, and began explaining how Samantha sucked at whistling.
Lily had made Kat change school last year when she was hired by Strive Works. The school was very good, and it had been very close to work. The new job, however, was a bit farther away, but it was still just 10 minutes from Kat's school to the office by public transport, so she had no need to change schools.
Lily reminiscent as they kept walking to school, how things had gone after she received her new job. Once she had reviewed the details about her new job, she had scheduled a meeting with Ayr, her benefits, salary, and accommodations were something unreal. She felt it was too much, but Ayr showed her the offer had been made based on what other companies paid to work similar to what she was expected to do, in the end Ayr had politely refused her… refusal.
With her new financial situation, She and Kat could finally move out from where they were. She had always been frugal with her expenses, she liked to save, but she could never hold much when it was related to Kat. Sure, not all her clothes and toys were last models or expensive labels, but she was a bit spoiled.
When she had started looking for a place to move, she had casually talked about it with Ayr, in turned out that he owned several properties in the area, something that as she got to know him better, had stopped surprising her. He had invested in a new development on the edges of Ruan City, very close to where the MAC team Headquarters were, and he believed his investment could be used by the team.
In the end, Lily had been one of the first members of the team to use the housing. She had asked for a modest place, but since it was at the edge of the city, she had received a lot more space for her money and, she had received an employee discount of course, she had argued, but once more Ayr politely refused her refusal, as he had invested with the idea of facilitating accommodation for the team.
"You do not have to take the gravrail for work mom" Kat said as they arrived at the school.
"But then how would we have our walking talks, no pun intended" Lily laughed at her own joke not many people knew what a walkie talkie was, and her audience had not received it well, 6-year-olds were a though crowd. The little girl thought did not mind the joke and was thinking for a counter argument regarding the gravrail.
"Hi Kat, see you inside" another girl called the kid as she entered school with her parents, and that was all that was needed for Kat to lose her focus.
"Okay mon, see you later" Kat wanted to run towards her friends, but Lily grabbed her before she could run, and kissed her.
"Have fun, Kit Kat, I'll pick you up later" the little girl returned her mother the hug and ran inside school a bit embarrassed, Lily stood there a moment until her pcom rang, she looked at it, it was almost 8, the message was a confirmation about the reservations for the team new pilot.
She walked quickly to the gravrail stop, she was lucky she arrived just as one was arriving. Gravrails passed every few minutes but she liked arriving early at work. As soon as she took a sit, she began reviewing the schedule and messages in her pcom.
10 minutes later, she was passing the main gates of the team H.Q., the workshop, Ayr called it, but they needed to give the place a proper name. Ori the security guard waved at Lily and she returned the gesture.
"Good morning Ori" a deep voice startled Lily, she knew who it belonged to "Good morning to you as well, miss Lily, is everything all right?" Lily turned to greet Ayr Lite the pilot, her boss, the one person she had been hoping to avoid today.
"Oh, Hi Ayr… Mr. Lite, I mean" she managed a bit embarrassed and trying to hide her guilt "Yep, everything is fine, had breakfast and all, see you inside sir" she babbled out and sped as fast as she could walk without trying to look comically funny or to make someone believe she had explosive diarrhea. She knew Ayr would not follow her, but he would ask again, dang it.
"Man, I think I need to have a better breakfast, she sure has some energy, don't you think Boss" Lily had still managed to hear what Ori told Ayr before she could get inside the main building, she felt her ears burning with embarrassment.
Once inside, Lily went straight for her office. She quickly took to her com console, and placed today's schedule on the back display, and her mail on the front one. She exhaled, calmed down and tied her hair up. There was much to be done, and according to the schedule she would not be meeting Ayr until past midday, and perhaps she could avoid him, yep, perhaps she should really review the schedule and optimize it.
She gave a quick review of her mail and noticed something that was urgent, she moved one of Ayr's meetings to accommodate more time with Mr. Meir he had requested some time for today, with that she might not meet Ayr for the day, all she had to do know, was not leave her office, which meant she would have lunch here, 'Nice Lily, solid plan, you'll just have to avoid your boss for now on, and that's it'. Well, she would try for as long as she could.
After rescheduling, she revised the urgent needs from the team, but everything seemed fine. One of the first things she and Ayr had done, when she started working, was to create a clear way of communication form his other business. He did not participate directly in most of them, but he kept watch on them, and from time to time, his input was needed, with that in mind, they established reports that Lily would made for him to review, in a way she was a filter, she summarized the contents, and keep watch on things. Once they had worked on it, they had managed to liberate a lot of time for Ayr to focus on the team management. Since the season was about to start the amount of work was incredible, this is where their time was spent.
Ayr had began building the team in parts, the engineering team was the backbone and at first they worked with the sole idea of designing and building the MACs for the team. Afterwards came a lot of additional things, supplies, transport, handling of parts and spares. The engine was running but many gears were missing, and they were filling them out as quickly as possible. They were creating control points and assigning key positions, and it had been paying out.
The goal was to have the team running just as the announcement of the team by the MAC committee was made public. If Ayr wanted to focus on piloting, they needed to work very hard now, so they could work… normally later, it sounded wrong, but Lily liked the idea 'Yep, my work is definitely MAC racing but blindfolded'.
She finished reviewing the information and was making the reports for Ayr. She checked with the newly appointed HR manager regarding the contract details for the new pilot and passed what was classified information regarding a list of candidates for the third pilot, this one had been made by Ayr, and Mr. Meir would be sending his tomorrow. As she finished sending some mails, she noticed someone had delivered her lunch to her office, and proceeded to eat alone 'Smooth, Lily, a few more hours, and for today, no sing of Ayr'.
"Thank you, Mrs. Abigail, you are a life saver, I'll go tomorrow to talk about the prospect with you" Lily closed the call, on her com. After the second week working with Ayr, they both arrived at the conclusion that Lily needed an assistant. She had felt and incredible amount of relief that it had been Ayr who had suggested it, she had been thinking about it, but how could and assistant ask her boss for an assistant.
In the end Ayr had offered it, but she had noted that Ayr, sometimes refrained himself for suggesting things to her, he seemed to be still assessing her personality. He was very careful not to say or do something that might upset her, in this case he feared she might feel underestimated by suggesting the assistant. A "Gentleman" Mrs. Abigail had said, and it came naturally to him, she liked that, but nowadays she was not so sure about it.
She had seen him talking with Mr. Meir, and Chief Engineer Roik, Ayr was very open, and he involved himself a lot more with them, and Lily could not help but feel a little jealous of it 'Well, it's a win for me, I feel a little less bad for avoiding him'.
She finished the last mails, reviewed the next day schedule and log off her com console. Lily opened her office door as careful as she could, slowly took a glance outside, once she was sure no one was around, she smiled and sped for the exit.
"Would you like me to give you a lift, miss Lily?" her skin crawled at the deep voice behind her. 'You are a grown-up Lily, you can do this, just don't look him in the eye'. She turned smiling to find a preoccupied Ayr "I do not mean to impose on you, miss Lily, but please, is everything all right?" their eyes met for a moment, and Lily saw he was truly worried. 'DAMNNNNNN IT'.
"Do you like the new house, miss Kat?" Ayr asked, and somehow, he was now carrying Kat's school bag.
"I do, Mr. Ayr it is one of my new favorite things" Kat replied grinning "Would you have dinner with us?" the little girl asked, but she turned to her mother for and answer. For a moment Lily turned to Ayr, and their eyes met again, he smiled.
"I am sorry Kat, I have and errand to make" He replied before Lily could "Perhaps another time?, and you can tell me all about you other new favorite things, what do you think about it?" he was good with Kat, Lily noted, does he have any other kids in his life?.
"Fine, but I can tell you about them right now" Kat replied, and Lily saw her daughter taking a glance at her, and Lily felt a chill on her bones "I love our new gravcar, but we never get to use it" there it was, the thing Lily had tried to avoid all day, she had manage to keep Kat talking all the way about school, and she had bombarded Ayr with work details as they had been on their way to pick up Kat, but now, it was out in the open. Ayr and Kat both turned to look at her.
"Oh" that was all he said, Ayr's eyes were hiding his thoughts, a perfect poker face, his pilot face. He would not ask about it, she knew it, he was being polite about it, she had avoided him all day, hiding inside her office, but why? She knew he would not pry, but part of her had wanted him to cross that line?. He cared and worried for her, she was certain, he had waited for her at work, he had even arrived early. She remembered, how Mr. Meir and Ayr talked, that was it, perhaps she had to open the door for him, or point at it and he would cross it. She looked into his intense eyes.
"Is there a problem with the gravcar, miss Lily?" Lily's thoughts were broken in a moment.
"Nothing" she admitted, and she noticed how Ayr nodded and was about to return to his pilot face "It is just, that I don't know how to drive" He smiled wholeheartedly at her.
"Would you like to learn, miss Lily"
"Will you teach me?"
"Awesome, please teach me as well Mr. Ayr" Kat replied jumping at the idea. Lily could not help it she started laughing, and Ayr laughed as well.