Ha. I’m not going to fall into that trap. “Uh, she suggested I ask you what you need.”
He sighs, and doesn’t answer immediately. I swallow past a lump in my throat and force myself to stand tall.
It’s just my luck. I’m going to lose my job on my first day. I wonder if Heather will find me something else to do, or if this will be it. She must know Dr. Malone’s difficult, so she can’t blame me for this.
She shouldn’t blame me for it, but maybe she will. No one ever said life was fair.
I knew this job was too good to be true. The pay’s pretty good for an assistant, and if I can get through the three month probation period, I’ll have great job security.
But if I can’t convince Dr. Malone I can make his life easier, I might not last a week. And if I can’t find another job, I’ll have to move back in with my parents, and I really don’t want to do that again.
“That purse is too heavy for you,” Dr. Malone says abruptly.
“I can handle it, thanks.”
“Miss Parker,” he says with a sigh. “You’re tilting your neck to compensate for the weight, and it’s putting stress on your cervical spine.”
“Don’t worry, I’m stronger than I look. I’m not going to be your next patient.”
Instead of answering, he stands and holds out his hand for my purse. I slip it off my shoulder and give it to him, and our fingers brush.
I’m suddenly very aware of him as a man, and a powerful one. The sort of man who expects a woman to give him her purse if he holds out his hand.
And I guess there’s a reason he expects it, because I handed him my purse without hesitation.
But it’s an understandable decision, I think. Dr. Malone is unlikely to be a purse thief—he doesn’t strike me as the type of man who’d want a thrift-store cardigan, or any of the other junk I’m carrying around. And if he managed to hack the passwords for my debit and credit cards, he wouldn’t get much of a payoff.
And the fact that he set my purse on his desk must mean he doesn’t expect me to leave right away. I have a little more time to plead my case.
I take a deep breath and meet his eye. “I’ll be an excellent assistant, Dr. Malone. I’m reliable and organized?—”
“Organized?” he asks, with a speaking look at my overstuffed purse.
“The purse isn’t reflective of my organizational skills.”
He smirks a little. “You mean you can usually find your wallet?”
“Of course.” It’s mostly true. I can usually find my wallet when I’m carrying my smaller bag.
“I’m sure you’re very qualified, Miss Parker, but?—”
“Oh, I am,” I interrupt. “I have a diploma in Medical Office Administration, and I have an excellent reference letter fromDr. Lisa Harrington. I was an office assistant at the Harrington Medical Clinic for almost a year, until they shut down.”
Dr. Malone frowns. “I heard about that. It sounded like a mess.”
“Yeah, it was.” The Harrington Clinic was run by a husband and wife team, Drs. Paul and Lisa Harrington. Three months ago, both the clinic and the marriage fell apart when Lisa learned that Paul was having an affair with his personal trainer. Paul moved to Ottawa, and Lisa joined a local clinic that didn’t need another office assistant.
So I lost my job, and I quickly learned that none of the other clinics in Somerset were hiring. The first time I applied to the hospital, I didn’t even get a reply; the job market’s incredibly competitive right now.
So I finally went back to Lisa Harrington and asked if she had any other leads. I think she felt sorry for me, so she put in a word with Heather Larkin, an old friend from school.
And Heather assigned me to Dr. Drew Malone. Who’s looking at me like he doesn’t quite know what to do with me.
“It’s not personal, Miss Parker,” he says with a sigh.
“It feels personal.”
He sighs again. “Look. It really isn’t you. Heather’s been nagging me to hire another assistant for weeks, and I’ve said no.”
