“Your family has the ability to keep the company solvent?”
“Holmes is my mother’s maiden name; I use it for business to be taken seriously on my own merit. If you come work for me, you’ll find out soon enough anyway but my father’s Ford Turner, CEO of…”
“Turner Incorporated and Turner Media—the world basically,” she said looking at him in shock. “You don’t seem…I mean…never mind.”
“What?” he said giving her a long look that said ‘go ahead’ to her quite well.
“You don’t act rich…like the jerks who take one look at me and dismiss my IQ for my bra size,” she finally got out a bit hesitantly still but was comforted when he simply smiled in reply.
“I’m glad because I don’t want to be one of them. I want to be taken seriously which is why I didn’t use the Turner name for my business.”
“Wow, well I can tell you one thing, you’re not like them and that’s a really good thing because if you were, I wouldn’t be saying a tentative yes right now.”
“Seriously? You’ll do it?” he asked, his surprise making her like him further, at least he wasn’t arrogantly assuming she’d do it simply because she knew the truth of his family.
“Trust me nothing and no one can be worse than Henry. Just one question, where’s the office?”
“Want to see it? Unless you have plans…”
“None tonight, I figured I’d be at the office until ten or later cleaning up the mess Henry made after his argument with his almost ex-wife.”
“Well then, let’s take a tour,” he said turning the truck around in the parking lot and heading the other way. Her heart dropped a bit when they finally pulled up in front of it. There was no way she could make it here on time between the train and bus, and walking this far was out of the question.
“What do you think?” he asked after they’d looked inside the building.
“It’s amazing; you can actually find your way through it without getting lost.”
“Unlike your office? I swear I thought we were being led into hell or something when they showed us through there.”
“Now try finding it on your own on your first day there and when you’re exactly on time you still get yelled at for being late. This place is great Jordan whoever designed it knew how to incorporate everything needed. Light, space, outlets that aren’t ten feet in the ground.”
“Thank you,” he replied with a hint of a grin.
“Wait, you designed it?” she asked seeing the light slip through his gaze.
“Guilty, my father wanted me to go to business school or become a lawyer like my older brothers, but I always wanted to be an architect. I graduated in May with my masters and the first thing I did was build this place. I offer both construction and architecture services.”
“How old are you? Sorry it’s just you don’t seem…”
“Twenty-five, I used an accelerated plan in high school and by the time I started college I was technically a sophomore. Then again, I’m sure you get that too, I mean just looking at your face, you barely look old enough to vote let alone turning twenty-one…I checked I’ll admit it,” he added when she sent him a curious look.
If he only knew how right he was, she thought.
“So, do I have a new employee?” he asked when she stayed silent.
“I…”
“What is it Melinda, the checking on you?”
“No, that’s fine,” she admitted because if he’d already checked on her then he hopefully wouldn’t do it again, and it also meant her lies were solid enough to have him on board with her supposed age. “It’s just I don’t think I can make it in from my place with the train schedule and then all the way to the office on the bus or on foot before one.”
“Well then you’ll just have to enjoy another one of the perks of the job.”
“What’s that?” she asked conscious of his smile.
“A company car, we’ll go out and pick one up for you. That way you’ll be comfortable driving it and it’s a tax write off for me. There may be times when I need you to bring people to work sites, pick up deliveries,” he explained and Mel had to hold back a smile of her own at his seemingly quick thinking. Something about it said he hadn’t fully intended to offer her a car up front but she wasn’t going to turn it down if she didn’t have to pay for it. “Trust me you’ll enjoy the car more than one of the work trucks and that way you can get here when you need.”
“Can’t argue that, can I?’
