I nodded. “I’ll be gone.”
“The only reason I’m granting you that much is because I’m headed to wine country tomorrow. After that, I’ll be attending several charity functions and won’t be home very often.”
She stared down at me with contempt in her beautiful eyes, in her thinned lips. “Why couldn’t you have married into wealth like I did? Then you’d be set for life.”
“I guess I’m not that lucky.”
“Darling, you make your own luck.”
***
My first day of work.
I’d dressed meticulously in a bronze-colored skirt and blazer with a gold blouse and sensible, high-heeled shoes. I’d put my hair into a professional and tidy bun, and completed my attire with a long, gold chain that fell to my waist.
“You can do this,” I said to my reflection early that morning. “You can.”
After my short bus ride to the downtown high rise where my new employer maintained his office, I rode the elevator up to the fifteenth floor amid other business professionals. I was hired as the real estate company’s receptionist, and would go through a morning of training.
Nervous, I watched the elevator’s numbers climb, ignoring the need to wipe my sweaty palms on my skirt. At the floor I needed, I stepped into a carpeted hallway lined with doors leading into offices of various companies. I paused at office number fifteen-oh-two, and hesitated with my hand on the door’s handle.
Let me keep this job,I prayed to a God I wasn’t sure I believed in.Help me to escape Roxanne, please.
Then I opened the door and walked in.
“Good morning, Hayley. Don’t you look lovely.”
Unused to compliments, I ran my fingers nervously down my jacket. “Uh, good morning, Mrs. McMillan. How are you?”
“My dear, only my bank calls me Mrs. McMillan.”
The matronly office manager, the lady who hired me on the spot after my interview, smiled with warm and utter kindness as she stepped around the desk that would soon become mine. She, too, piled her graying hair into a professional bun and wore a dark brown pantsuit with flat shoes. Owning a pair of spirited hazel eyes, she looked me up and down, even as she took my hands in hers.
“I’m Willow, my dear,” she said, still smiling cheerfully. “We’re rather informal around here. Would you like coffee before we get started?”
Warmed by not just her welcome, but by her compliment, I smiled back. “That sounds great.”
She gestured toward a short hall behind the reception desk. “Alaric won’t be in until this afternoon, but the rest of the staff will arrive soon. Come along, we’ll get coffee from the break room. I made it fresh myself.”
Alaric Desjardin was the company’s owner, and I had yet to meet him. During my first visit, I’d been introduced to the full-time salesman, the part time salesman, the accountant, and Willow herself. I was to replace the receptionist, who’d gotten married and moved to New York.
“The phone and computer system are fairly easy to use,” Willow explained as she poured the rich smelling coffee from the pot. “As we’re a small outfit, the phone doesn’t ring constantly. You’ll enter listings into the computer, monitor the website and write blog articles. Alaric or I will make suggestions on what to write about.”
“That sounds interesting.”
Willow chuckled. “Our last gal hated the blog writing. Claimed it was too much like being in school.”
“I actually enjoy writing,” I said, then took a sip of the hot coffee. “Have plans to be an author someday.”
“You’re a smart gal,” Willow exclaimed, beaming widely. “I’m quite certain you’ll make a wonderful writer.”
Me? Smart? Most of my life I’d been told I’m stupid and don’t have the brains of a garden snail. To be called smart was almost a joke.Surely Willow will change her mind about that by the end of the day.
“Bring your coffee,” Willow said, “and I’ll show you around.”
There wasn’t much to show me. Mr. Desjardin’s big office sat at the end of the hall. Willow’s own office was next to his, divided by a glass wall. Cubicles lined the hall’s perimeter and most of those were empty. I supposed that Mr. Desjardin would one day expand his operation.
As the full time salesman, Richard, and the accountant, a sweet lady only a few years older than me, arrived, Willow was busy teaching me the ropes. As she’d explained, the phone system was fairly basic. The computer was easy, and Willow gave me passwords into the real estate’s site, as well as the company website’s back door.
