And when he thought of the trials he’d gone through to find and hire Ruth in the first place, he shuddered at the idea of having to recruit a new assistant he could trust to do a good job. Before he’d found Ruth, he’d tried two other assistants who both turned out to be worse than useless, giving him more work to do rather than less thanks to their carelessness when interacting with his readers online.
He shuddered just remembering some of the messes they’d created and that he’d had to sort out. When he hired Ruth and discovered her to be smart, sensible, and more than capable of handling the tasks he gave her, he’d almost wept with relief.
But now he’d have to find yet another assistant to step into the breach.
His complete lack of enthusiasm for the recruitment task that lay ahead must have been obvious from his expression, because Olive gave him a thoughtful look.
“It sounds like you’re in quite a muddle, Mr Stone,” she said. “Between your assistant unexpectedly taking this leave of absence, entirely understandable though it may be, and youhaving to deal with a lot of administrative work that you’d much rather leave to someone else, it’s clear that you are in a bind.”
“Well, it goes without saying that my main concern is that my assistant gets better soon, for her own sake, not mine. But it’s also true that I was relying on her more than ever right now to deal with various marketing and correspondence tasks, because I’m working to a deadline for my next book.”
Realising he was sharing his internal thought processes with two strangers, Travis snapped his mouth closed. It wasn’t appropriate to vent like this. He offered the two women an over-bright smile. “But no matter. I’m sure it will all sort itself out easily enough.”
“Hmm, perhaps,” Olive said. “Although if you’ll indulge me, I think I might be able to help.”
Travis blinked, not expecting this response. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I happen to know of someone who is very good with administrative and organisational tasks and who is looking for some temporary work for a few weeks,” Olive said, a sparkle now in her eyes. “I believe she’d be the perfect person to help you with these jobs that your assistant can’t take care of while she recovers from her injuries. Her name is Courtney, and I feel sure she would do a marvellous job for you.”
“Uh…” Travis had no idea how to respond. “I, er, that’s kind of you to suggest someone. Has she worked as a personal assistant or an author assistant in the past?”
Olive frowned. “I’m not sure. I don’t think so.”
“I think it might be best if I search for someone who’s worked for authors and publishers before, so they can hit the ground running.”
“Naturally, you should do what you think is right,” Olive replied. “But surely there’s no harm in at least having aconversation with Courtney and discussing the job and finding out if she might be the right fit?”
“Um…” Travis searched around for a way out of the conversation that didn’t seem rude, but couldn’t find one. The kindly woman was only trying to help. “What sort of other experience does she have?”
Olive lifted her chin and smiled. “Until recently, she worked as an office assistant for a furniture store, dealing with customers and suppliers and keeping the whole place running very smoothly indeed. I would imagine if she can keep a busy office in a busy shop organised, she could help deal with your various tasks, too. She’s currently visiting family right here in Hamblehurst and has some free time on her hands and would, I’m sure, be thrilled at the opportunity to work for a few hours and earn a little bit of cash.”
“Why isn’t she still working at the furniture store?” Travis asked, fearing he smelled a rat.
“Unfortunately, the business closed down. Courtney is quite upset not to work there anymore. She loves putting her skills to good use to earn a living.”
“This Courtney… she’s a good friend of yours, is she?” Travis said.
There was a brief pause before Olive answered and an odd flickering of something behind the older woman’s eyes that Travis couldn’t pin down.
“Courtney is a very good friend of mine, yes,” Olive said at last. “Why don’t I drop by and speak to her on my way home and ask if she’d like to meet you and find out more about this job?”
Travis felt thoroughly ambushed by the woman. And yet, he was sorely tempted by her suggestion, too.
When he thought about all those social media notifications piling up on his author profiles, and with Ruth no longer available to take care of it all for him, he felt his skin crawl withanxiety. He was only just making up ground writing his new book after decamping from London to escape the construction racket inside his apartment building, but all the solid progress he’d made would be for naught he if had to start handling the marketing and correspondence tasks that Ruth had dealt with before her accident.
Would it really be such a terrible idea to agree to a quick conversation with this friend of the nice lady, Olive, and see if there might be a speedy fix to help him out of the sticky patch he’d landed in? If it turned out that this friend of hers—Courtney, did she say her name was?—was up to the job, it would save him the hassle of spending time and energy recruiting and training someone new. That alone made him want to give it a try.
“Do you really think she’d be able to help?” Travis asked the woman. “Do you think she could handle the social media stuff and the email work?”
“I see no reason why not,” Olive replied.
“I need someone who’s trustworthy and sensible and can hit the ground running.”
“I feel sure Courtney can tick all those boxes for you, and more.”
Travis glanced at Ellie the librarian, who’d remained quiet throughout this exchange. “Do you happen to know Olive’s friend? Are you able to vouch for her?”
“Sorry, I’m afraid I don’t know her,” Ellie said, but followed this up with an encouraging smile and added, “However, Icanvouch for Olive and her judgement. If she thinks her friend can help, then I’d be willing to give it a go, if it were me.”
