Chapter 359 Keep It Between Us
As she had fallen asleep late the night before, Roxanne slept deeply but was awoken by her phone ringing early the following morning.
Unable to marshal her thoughts into coherence immediately upon waking up, she reached out blindly around her pillow for a long time before locating the source of the noise.
Upon obtaining her phone and squinting at the screen, Roxanne answered groggily.
Colby sounded very anxious on the other end. “Something’s happened, Dr. Jarvis.”
Wide awake suddenly, Roxanne sat bolt upright. “What is it?” she asked hoarsely.
“A shipment of medicinal herb supplies we expected to receive this morning is still nowhere to be seen.” Colby looked grave.
The medicinal herb supplier the research institute partnered with was usually very punctual in delivering their supply.
If a morning delivery had been promised, the research institute would have received the goods at the beginning of office hours. The shipment was delayed particularly long that day.
If the medicinal herb supplies were not delivered on time, many projects would be shelved in less than two days. Their progress would, as a result, be interrupted, and the research institute would suffer a hefty loss.
Roxanne froze. “Have you given our business partners a call?”
As she spoke, she turned on speaker mode and swiftly washed up while she listened to Colby’s report.
“I did,” Colby answered despairingly at the mention of the problem. “Some of them didn’t even pick up. Those who did were vague and refused to offer a decisive answer.”
He preferred it if they had just told him they did not want to be partners anymore. Their beating around the bush was so discouraging that he did not even dare seek other suppliers to order the medicinal herb supplies.
Roxanne’s heart sank as she scrambled to get dressed. “Noted,” she replied. “I’m coming over right now.”
Without another word, she hung up.
The children were already seated at the dining table when she came downstairs.
Benny had recovered sufficiently to attend kindergarten that day, and Archie and Benny could not wait to see Estella at school.
The boys looked expectantly at Roxanne when she came down the stairs as they wanted her to give them a ride to school.
Roxanne noticed the boys’ expectant looks. “Something happened at the research institute,” she said apologetically. “I must hurry over. Ms. Lane will send you.”
Though crestfallen, the boys were used to their mother’s hectic schedule. “Drive safely, Mommy,” they chorused with understanding nods.
Roxanne assured them hastily and hurried out the door without waiting for their reply.
She had planned the night before to hand her work over to Colby before taking the children abroad.
Her work at the research institute would have made Harvey proud as she had resolved many issues for the research institute upon her return and had also taught the researchers in the institute a lot of modern techniques.
She did not expect such an incident to destabilize everything she had planned.
Roxanne sped the whole way.
When she arrived at the research institute, Colby was already waiting at the entrance.
“Do the researchers know?” Roxanne asked at once as she arrived briskly before him.
Colby shook his head. “I haven’t said anything to them. I don’t want them to panic.”
Roxanne heaved a small sigh of relief at his words. “Let’s keep it to ourselves for now. We’ll try our best to think of something. Run me through the problem.”
Colby agreed.
The pair made their way quickly into Roxanne’s office as they spoke.
