“You would be amazed how many people take that for granted. I don’t.”
It must have been my tone. More serious, less snarky. But he seemed to understand I wasn’t being flippant.
He reached out over the desk and plucked my resume back out of my hand.
“If you’d given me a paper cut, I would have sued,” I told him.
He ignored that and took a moment to actually read it.
“You waitress now?”
“I did, yes. At a diner.”
“And you left because…”
He’d caught me lying pretty quickly the last time, so I lead with the truth. “Remember those parameters I spoke aboutearlier? The manager wanted me to break a few of them. I chose not to and he fired me.”
“You were fired,” he repeated.
“Yes.”
“For not doing what your manager asked?”
“For not giving him a blow job after closing. Yes, that’s why I was fired.”
Startled by the use of such a sexually blunt term, he frowned after a second. “You know there are laws…”
My head tilted and he stopped talking.
I was twenty-two. Desperate. I clearly had no money. There weren’tlawsfor me and he knew it.
“This is a mistake,” he muttered to himself.
It wouldn’t be the first one he’d made when it came to me.
“This is a waste of your time, my time…” His fingers tapped along the edge of his desk. “Fuck it. You’re hired.”
He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a folder.
“In here is your employment contract, your NDA, as well as the name and number of the headhunter I’ve been using to recruit candidates. Call her at that number, she’ll walk you through the paperwork so you understand what you’re signing. Be here and ready to start next Monday at eight am.”
I swallowed and took the folder. This was the part where I offered my undying loyalty or said something noble like I wouldn’t let him down. Or he wouldn’t regret this. However, he didn’t seem like the type who needed that kind of fluff.
“Coffee order?” I asked.
“Grande nitro cold brew with vanilla cold foam.”
“Caffeine much?” He scowled. Right. No commentary needed. “Solid choice.”
“Monday, Flowers. And don’t be late.”
A small salute to acknowledge I’d heard him, and I was out of there before he could change his mind.
I waited until I hit the parking lot before I let the truth of what had just happened settle in.
Forget the coincidence of it all. The man had no memory of me and I’d made it through the past year by doing my very best to not remember the day before.
A job. I had a job. An actual job. He’d said I was hired.
