Page 4 of Mister Lane

With a thankful grin, I handed it to him. I snatched up my small bag and hopped out of the car. After glancing down at myself one last time to double check that I hadn’t spilled anything on myself, and satisfied that I still looked okay, with maybe a couple of new creases on my new dress from sitting in the car, I looked up at the doors and took a deep breath. I wasn’t sure I was ready for my first day at my new job.

“You’ve got this, Miss Emily.”

“Thanks, George.” I grinned up at him, and after a quick, spontaneous hug of thanks that startled the old man, I walked determinedly towards the door. I gave a smile and a wave to the doorman as he held the door open for me. I strode over to the desk and stopped in front of the security guard to give him my name, and waited as he typed it into the computer. He glanced up at me a couple of times as he was typing. Finally, he reached into a drawer, pulled out a blank badge, and told me to stand in front of a small camera mounted to one of the computer screens. After taking my picture, he put the white plastic badge into a machine, and I watched, fascinated, as it quickly printed my name and picture on it.

“This is your name tag. You don’t have to wear it on your clothes, but you do need to keep it on you at all times. This name tag is your access card and badge. It works all the elevators and stairwells. If you don’t have it, the elevators won’t work. We keep security pretty tight around here. You are not to let anybody else on, and you are not to ask anybody else to let you on— that is a security breach. If that happens, there will be strict disciplinary actions, and you could get fired. Understood?”

Wide-eyed, I nodded my head. “Yes, I understand.” I studied the badge when he slid it over to me and saw my name with my job title, along with the small picture that luckily didn’t look bad at all. There was a clip on the end of the badge, but with the way my dress was made, there was no way to clip it on.

“Some people wear lanyards, like these,” he explained, holding out his own, and I nodded. It was a good idea. I’d have to find one somewhere. “Like I said, you don’t have to wear it, but you do need to keep it on you if you ever leave your floor. You’ll need it to scan the elevator.”

“Yes, Sir,“ I said again. I patted the side of my dress inside and was relieved when I realized that it had pockets. “Thank goodness for dresses with pockets,” I laughed awkwardly.

His lips twitched with a small smile. “My wife always gets excited when she finds a dress she loves with pockets. All right, I need you to sign this document stating you understand the rules.” He slid the paper across the counter, and I quickly signed my signature on it before setting the pen back into the waiting cup full of similar pens with the Lane Industries logo on them. “You’ll want to take the elevators over there,” he pointed to the same bank of elevators I’d taken the day before. “You’re on the 25th floor. Your ID gives you access to the entire building as the CEO's personal assistant. Congratulations on your new job.”

“Thank you!” I beamed at him. “Have a great day!” I said and waved, then turned and headed towards the elevators. Islipped the badge out of my pocket and scanned it against the small square black box, and watched as the little light turned green right before the door slid open. I stepped in and grinned to myself as I hit the 25th floor. And then nothing happened. I quickly realized I had to scan my badge again inside the elevator just to make that floor light up. It was going to be a lot to get used to.

The elevator moved quickly from there. Before I knew it, the door slid open, and I was standing in front of a small entryway that was every bit as lavish as the room that I was in the day before, if not even more so. There was a smaller waiting room to the right, with just a two-seater couch, a couple of chairs, and a table in between. There were several plants in front of a huge window overlooking the city. Across from the sitting area was a beautiful desk, and two women were sitting there, staring at me with mixed expressions.

I assumed the desk was my new work area. I was nervous, but doing my best not to show it. One of these two women had to be Veronica, who was assigned to train me for my new job. It was so intimidating how everybody in this building was so beautiful.

“Hi, my name is Emily Fontaine. I’m the new personal assistant.”

One of them smiled at me, though to be honest, it didn’t seem quite genuine. Maybe she was holding back her assessment of me until she got to know me better. The other one just looked me up and down, and then glanced over at the other person.

The one who had given me the tight smile spoke up after a long, painful few seconds of silence. “I’m Veronica, I’m the one who is supposed to be teaching you how to do your job.” She turned to the other one and gestured with a thumb over her shoulder. “This is my friend, Susie.” Susie just gave a half wave, then flicked her long, glossy, brown hair over her shoulderbefore glancing away again. They both stood up, and I reached out my hand to Veronica.

“It’s nice to meet you, Veronica.” She stretched out her own hand and allowed just the brush of her fingers against mine.

“Yes.” She cleared her throat, then looked at the clock and exclaimed in a surprised tone that seemed a bit exaggerated, “Wow. You’re late. I’ve already met with Mr. Lane. He’d like some coffee, so if you could go into the break room and grab some for him, that would be a great way to get started. He likes one cream and one sugar. There’s a blue cup on the top shelf. Use that one for Mr. Lane and then come back here. The break room is two doors down the hall on the left.”

“Okay.” I glanced down at my purse, which I was still holding, and then darted my eyes around the room, trying to figure out what I would do with it.

Susie sighed, then Veronica said, “Here.” She opened the bottom drawer of the desk. “Just drop it down here next to mine.” A pretty pink Birkin bag was sitting in the bottom drawer of the large wooden desk. I hesitated to set my thrift store cloth bag next to hers, but I had no other choice, so I dropped it down.

“Okay, thank you. Two doors down on the left, right?”

“Blue cup, top shelf,” Veronica reminded me.

“Okay.”

Susie snorted and then glanced at Veronica. “All right, I’m going back to my floor. Call me if you need to talk about…” she paused, then glanced at me before finishing, “anything.” She flipped a wave at Veronica, then walked to the elevators before scanning her badge.

Chapter

Five

Emily

My shoulders slumped as I walked into the break room. The entire interaction hadn’t felt like I’d gotten off to a good start. It seemed as if they already didn’t like me from the moment I walked in. I was sure I didn’t fit in. They were so elegant in their designer clothes, shiny hair, and pencil-thin high heels. I paused in my thoughts. I was sure that the dress I was wearing was every bit as expensive as theirs. My shoes were expensive, too. My hair wasn’t sleek and shiny, but it was nicely put up. They were no better than I was, and I needed to get over whatever hang-up I had about myself. I thought about what Mrs. Gunter had said the night before. I didn’t need to change for anybody; I was perfect the way I was. With that thought in my head, I squared back my shoulders.

Walking over to the cabinet above the coffee pot, which seemed a little more elaborate than what I was used to and was definitely intimidating, I opened the doors and studied the array of coffee cups. There were many to choose from in different styles and colors, but there, on the top shelf, I did see a darkblue coffee mug. It seemed strange that the man would want that specific mug when there were so many other ones. Why did it have to be kept separate from all the others? I shook my head. CEOs could be weird, I guess. Maybe all that power goes to their heads? With that thought in mind, I reached as far as I could on my tiptoes, but I could barely reach the bottom wood planking of the shelf. There was no way I could get the cup.

With a sigh, I dropped back to my heels and glanced around. For a break room, it was pretty bare. There were no tables and chairs, just a small fridge. The countertop, the coffee pot, the drawers, and the cabinets. That was it. Nothing to stand on. No stepstool.

With a groan, I hitched up my dress and hopped up onto the counter onto my butt. Then, in a move I hadn’t done since I was a young child, I carefully maneuvered until I was sitting on my knees, and then, using my grip on the shelves, hoping that they were strong and sturdy and wouldn’t come loose if I put my weight on them, I pulled myself until I was kneeling and could reach the cup.

“This is so ridiculous,” I muttered to myself. “I am not leaving this cup up here. If his majesty doesn’t like having his cup further down, then he’s just going to have to get over it or get his own damn coffee.”