Louis knew the family situation well. “Her youngest. She graduated a few months ago. If I could have put her in the mail room, I would have. In the last couple of months I’ve been forced to find positions for three of my cousins. Thank god Ashley didn’t qualify or she would be here, too. Jane has a business degree, though I have no idea how. She doesn’t know how to read a bid.”

“You know there’s a difference between school and the real world,” Louis chided. “Give her some time and I’ll find a better fit for her. I’ll start looking for a proper assistant for you. You know if you would stop promoting them, you might have better luck. Sometimes an assistant is just an assistant.”

Not in his experience. He’d worked with a VP in Chicago, a woman who’d taught him to always ask certain questions of his employees, the most important being—what is your goal? A good boss helped an employee achieve his or her goals, and that was how a boss retained top-tier talent. Still, it would be good to have an assistant like his wife’s. Gertie ran Sylvie’s work life like a well-run ship, and no one got past her. Not even Sylvie’s husband. “I don’t suppose you could find me a bossy older woman who takes no prisoners and protects her boss to the point that she can’t be intimidated by her boss’s charming husband.”

Louis grinned, an expression that made him look far younger than his sixty-eight years. “Having trouble with Gertie, are you? I could have told you not to try to get around her. She’s a dragon, that one. Always was.”

He often wondered if other CEOs realized how helpful being located in a small town could be. Every employee tended to have connections.

He wanted a connection with his wife. “That’s an apt description. She guards Sylvie’s schedule zealously. I never realized how busy a small-town mayor’s life is. She’s up at six and doesn’t get home until dinner, where I have to share her with my mother, and then she’s off to bed because she has to do it all over again. And the weekends are even worse. I thought we could spend a leisurely weekend together but no. We attended a Little League tournament. The entire thing.”

It hadn’t been the romantic afternoon he’d hoped for.