“Yes.It was nice to be able to leave Florida’s summer heat and come here.”
Hazel handed him her resumé.“This will explain some of my qualifications.”
He took the paper and set it down on his desk without looking at it.“I heard you quit teaching.Why?”
“It wasn’t a matter of quitting.The principal needed to find a new home for one of his third-grade teachers, and because I was the last hired, he told me he’d have no room for me in the coming year.Rather than move to a different school, I chose to leave.”
“That sounds pretty straightforward.Won’t you miss the kids?I thought you liked teaching,” Mike said.
“I do and I don’t.I certainly didn’t like working for Nolan Deere, the principal.He and I had different ideas about teaching methods.It became a sort of sick joke.”
He studied her.“Why would you choose to work at the Sports Center?”
“Actually, Misty Owens suggested I look into it.She’d heard Ross was looking for someone to help out.”
He shrugged.“Fair enough.What kind of help can you offer us?”
“If you look at my resumé, you’ll see that besides working with people of all ages, I can do administrative work.I enjoy helping a business run smoothly.I did that one summer in college as an assistant and liked it.But my parents wanted me to get my teaching degree, and it seemed like the wise thing to do, a worthy profession and all that.”
Mike’s gaze settled on her.“But if you worked in an administrative capacity here, you’d have to accept taking orders from both Ross and me.How would that work?”
Hazel twitched in her seat and then straightened.“I’ve never had a problem teaching or working for anyone before dealing with Nolan.It’s a personality clash.He even asked me to come back to teaching, when there was an increase in enrollment.”
“So, why aren’t you back?”asked Mike.
Hazel sighed and decided to speak the truth.“Haven’t you ever had a moment when you knew that a change in your life was the right thing?As soon as I was forced to look at what my life was like, I knew I wanted to try something new.This was an opportunity, not a loss.”
Mike’s lips curved.“Sort of like lemons and lemonade?”
Hazel returned his smile.“I guess you could say that.At any rate, I’m excited about the chance to work at the Sports Center.I’ve been reading about it online and speaking to Ross.It seems you could use someone to handle the administrative facets of the business, so you and Ross have time to work with your students.”
Mike sat back in his chair and gave her a thoughtful look.“What would you do or change?”
“Okay, I’ve thought about this and will be honest with you.I think the person at the front desk should be wearing one of the Center’s T-shirts, make no personal comments about other staff, and take the effort to show visitors to their proper locations.It was just a quick observation.”
“We’re really casual here,” said Mike, a little defensively.
“I don’t see anything wrong with that, but a matter of training can go a long way.I think it’s smart to hire high school students.This is a community setting, and though I understand the Center is for the benefit of the entire region, I like the idea of presenting a positive image of Lilac Lake’s participation.”
Mike just stared at her.
Hazel stopped talking, realizing she might have sounded too forceful about it.
“Are you always so enthusiastic about your job?”Mike asked.
“I try to be,” Hazel said, thinking she’d blown it.
“Let me look over your resume, talk to Ross, and he’ll get back to you,” said Mike.“He’s busy with a baseball clinic, or he would’ve been here.”
He rose, and Hazel followed.
“Thank you for coming in.”Mike flashed her a wicked grin.“Can you find your way out?”
Feeling her cheeks grow warm, she said, “I think I can manage.”
She left, unsure of how the interview went.
###
