Too Late for Regret (Annalise and Roger) novel Chapter 153

Ana’s POV

Rita was right behind me when I arrived at my father’s company first thing in the morning. Laney was setting up the conference room when I found her and asked I asked if we could speak for a minute. She was confused about why, but she nodded and led me to the break room for coffee, and then to her office.

“Laney, I couldn’t stop thinking about you since I heard your story yesterday. You are an inspiration to others, and I wanted to see if I could help you out in any way. I put some thought into it, and the first thing I want to do, is offer you a vehicle. The one I have is two years old, but there are three of them. One for you, and the other two are for your brothers,” I told her, but she was already refusing the offer.

“Laney, wait before you make a decision. They change the fleet out every two years at my husband’s company. The SUVs are awell taken care of. I just wanted to do something to help you out as much as I could, if you will let me,” I quickly told her.

She looked shocked before saying, “I appreciate the offer, Ana, but I have a car. It’s a little older, but it’s got

me here all this time. I can’t afford insurance for three vehicles. I have other bills I need to cover.”

“I understand, and that’s the other reason I’m here. I would like to pay off your debt. Medical, house, or student loans, I would like to take the weight off of you. I also wanted to give you a little extra, to use as you would like for home improvements, or anything else that you need. Mom and I were wanting to do this together. You can use it to pay for the car insurance. Your brother Micah works, so he can pay his own. You can pay Andrews until he can get his own job. He will need the vehicle to get to work anyway, right?” I reminded her.

I don’t want her overwhelmed. I could see that my words made sense to her. I could also see that she didn’t want to accept the help, and she is warring with herself. She knows she needs the help I’m offering.

I need to get her to understand why I want to do this for her.

“Look, this is a no strings attached deal. You already work so hard, and believe me, I know just how annoying Seth can be. Consider it hazard pay for having to train him. He didn’t excel in college, as he was too busy partying, but he’s very intelligent. He catches on quick, but your hard work is truly appreciated. You were dealt a tough blow losing your mother like that. You took on raising your brothers without complaint. I’m in a position to be able to help, please, let me help you,” I offered.

She had smiled when I mentioned Seth being annoying, but her face went back to unreadable. I didn’t know if she was willing to accept my offer, or not. I knew she saw the logic in my pointing out that needed to have a vehicle of their own. She and Micah have been riding to work together. She had to get here early, and he catches up on sleep in his department before clocking in. She has to wait for him for an hour at the end of her shift, so their both here over ten hours a day. Having their own vehicles would solve a lot of issues for them both.

“Micah can pay for his insurance. That will help enough. Andrew can wait until he gets a job, to drive. His

friend picks him up for college. That is enough, Ana. I don’t need you to do anything else for us. I’ve made it this far, and Micah has been helping with the bills since he started working here. I appreciate your thinking of us,” Laney finally answered.

She didn’t want to owe me anything. The SUVs were enough for her. I wanted to do more, but I didn’t want to push her. She had thought it through, and decided on what would help her brothers out the most. Her first thoughts were for them, and that made me want to help her even more. I saw my father crossing the room, and heading to his office next to Laney’s.

“Excuse me,” she said as she got up to go back to the breakroom to grab my father’s coffee.

I stood up, and checked the size in her suit jacket hanging on the coat rack, a ten. Same as Gwen, and they looked to be about the same hourglass shape. If she won’t take money, I can go another route. Every time I’ve seen her, she is in the same variation of clothes, black dress pants, or a black pencil skirt. She has the black jacket I just checked to wear with them.

I’ve only ever seen her wearing a white shirt button down shirt with them. She probably has two of them as well. I already know that all her disposable income goes to taking care of her brothers. Her purse has seen better days, and I made a mental note to replace that, too. I looked around her office, getting an idea of her, and what she likes. I see a lot of lilac in her office, and have to believe it’s her favorite color. She returns after speaking to my father after dropping off his coffee.

“I’m sorry, I need to take care of my work before Seth arrives,” she told me. “Thank you for wanting to help, it means a great deal that you would even consider helping us out.”

“Just consider my offer. It comes with no strings attached. I just want to take some of the weight off of you. Dad always brags that you are the best executive assistant that he has ever had. He never brags about anyone, so that is high praise indeed. We want you to be happy here, and know that you’re appreciated. So just think about what I said, I meant every word. I believe that if you’re in a position to help, that you should,” I told her as we walked out of her office.

“I appreciate the thought behind it, and the offer. I know you’re trying to help. We all heard about the abuse center you built. You’re doing so much to help others, but the offer of the SUVS is more than enough,” Laney replied.

I just needed one more piece of information before I left. So as she turned to return to her office, I asked, Laney, what shoe size do you wear?”

She frowned and looked down at her ballet flats and said, “An eight? Why?”

“We wear the same size, I was just curious,” I replied. “Have a good day.”

I was on a mission now, and I texted Gwen to meet me at our store in the mall. I showed her a picture of Laney, and explained to her what I was doing, and Gwen was immediately on board. We started with the professional line. I picked out five outfit’s quickly. Black and dark gray outfits were chosen first. We included pants, skirts, and a matching jacket. I also did a cornflower blue set as well. Her blue eyes are really going to stand out, and the purple undertones in the blue should make it a favorite of hers.

“Her chest is larger than mine. I think we need to go up a size in the shirts to keep a gap from showing with the buttons,” Gwen suggested.

“Good point, that’s true,” I answered.

She was right, Laney had a good figure, and I added some thin belts to the growing pile. I think her waist was slimmer than a size ten, but she went with something less formfitting. She always tried to be professional. My line was a little slimmer then what she was used to, as the waist was more narrow and then allowed for the hips and derriere to have more room. I believe that if Laney were here to choose, she would go up a size to a twelve.

But I can already see Seth’s interest in her. He’s just too scared to move forward. He’s probably scared at what Dad might say about it. Dad would be furious to lose Laney over Seth clowning, but just the fact that Seth is going slow this time around, makes this different. I watched them interact with each other. He’s not used to a woman arguing with him. That alone, makes her different from every other woman he’s met.

She’s not falling at his feet, or taking his crap, and I love that about her. She’s used to dealing with her younger brothers, and it seems like she’s treating him like a kid too. Mom had mentioned their unusual dynamic to me about a month ago while she was visiting liam with Dad. He shook his head at her words.

“If I didn’t know better, I would think he was falling for her,” he said. “Their arguing is becoming more, animated. Seth really enjoys working her up, just like I used to do to you, Alicia.”

That caught Mom and me by surprise, as Seth doesn’t fall for anyone. He just plays the field, always suiting up, and making sure no one comes after him with a baby in tow. He doesn’t do relationships, at most, he keeps them around for a month tops. He knows the score, anyone would be thrilled to become his wife. Which makes it tough for him to be able to find someone who loves him, for him. Being a Caldwell makes it almost impossible to wade through the dating field to find to find the hidden jewel.

The same thing happened to Charlie because he was a Billingsley. It’s hard to know who to trust. So Mom and I wanted to try to help nudge them together. Laney is perfect for him. I initially wanted to do a makeover for her, a haircut, and a spa day, but I was too excited to wait. That was where we were going to start as a reward for her helping train Seth. Instead, I took off on my own. I just wanted to do something nice for her. She didn’t ask for help, but once I got started, I couldn’t stop.

Gwen picked out a best seller, a black leather purse, and matching wallet. It was the same purse I used, functional with clean lines. We grabbed two pair of heels, one three inch, and a one inch pair, along with another pair of ballet flats. I wanted to give her options, and the three inch pair, were very comfortable as I wear them myself. I had Gwen grab two lounge sets, one in lilac, and one in a light pink, and we had the items rung up.

I felt very accomplished. Three bags full of everything she needed, including matching sets of underwear. That part we had to guess. I’m adding a note to tell her to let me know if they need to be exchanged if I got the wrong size for her. I’ve been a designer for a while now, and I think I’m pretty close. I know what a boost of confidence you get with new clothing, especially the pieces that other’s can’t see. My brother is definietly going to notice the change immediately, if she decides to accept my gifts and wear them to work.