“Six months? That’s nuts. Isn’t three months standard?”
“Probably, but I agreed to it. My boss has a reputation for firing people. Not many make it past the first three months anyway. She’s tough and demanding. I was doing great. Thriving. Not so much as a warning on my record yet. She fired ten assistants in the year before she hired me.”
“Let me get this straight...” He put his cutting board in the sink to soak. “You voluntarily went to work for a tyrant?” He shook his head.
“She’s not a tyrant.” Rill started rolling out the bottom crust. His words were another blow.Okay, maybe her boss was a little unreasonable at times. That didn’t mean she was a tyrant.Sure, she was a bit short-tempered and liked her coffee exactly so. She worked super long hours and expected Rill to be there when she was, but that’s how it was when you were trying to build a company. Rill wanted to impress her, so she worked the extra hours without complaint and without overtime pay. Rill was the first at the office every morning and the last to leave at night. No big deal. It was a great job. Being too tired to have friends and personal relationships was worth it.
Before long, Rill would be able to get her own apartment. She was saving as hard as she could. Every spare cent went into a term deposit. Just as well she never found the time for apartment hunting if she was going to lose her job.
“Do you miss Snowy Hollow?” The question was soft and compelling, yet it landed on her heart with a breath-stealing thump.
She put the crust into the pie tin and trimmed the edges before answering. “In some respects, I do miss it. I miss the fresh air and small-town life. I certainly miss Auntie O. But in the city, there’s the opera, theatre, late night shopping.” Okay, it wasn’t New York, but being able to shop until nine at night beat Snowy Hollow stores closing at five-thirty every night except Thursday.
“And are those things important to you?” His voice was heavy with doubt, as if he couldn’t understand needing late shopping and a choice of theatrical shows.
A couple weeks ago, she had tickets to an Irish dance troupe, but missed it because she had to work overtime. She had yet to make it to the theatre, or the opera, but the late shopping hours were necessary. She was rarely able to hit the stores during the day. She wasn’t a fan of online shopping, and late store hours had saved her more than once.
She was looking forward to having extra time to herself while helping at the inn. Perhaps she could catch up on her classes. Luckily, they were online, go at your own pace classes. She was enjoying them, but rarely had enough time to complete the lessons.
“Are the theatre and opera important?” he repeated.
“I like knowing they’re there.” The defensiveness in her voice betrayed her.
“And have you used them a lot? How many operas have you been to? I don’t recall Ophelia mentioning any.”
She glared at him and he winked. His raised eyebrow asked for an answer.
“Okay, none. But I could if I wanted to.” He’d been talking to Auntie O about her? Why would he do that?
“You mean you could go...if you had time off work?”
“Can you add some onion and garlic to the chicken, please?” She rolled another crust. She’d make two quiche and a couple of cream pies for dessert.
“Real onion, dehydrated, or onion powder?”
“Real if we have it.”
“On it.” He pulled a small onion from the drawer and quickly cut it up.
Luckily for her sanity, he dropped his questions and they finished cooking while talking of inconsequential things. He was interesting to chat with. He knew a lot about a wide variety of topics, and they had similar taste in movies. On books, they differed. He loved thrillers and she adored romance and cozy mystery.
