Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66929 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
They went side to side instead of up and down.
“Donkeys have slit-like pupils that enable them to see at night better. And to see all four of their feet,” Matilda recited. “Goats, sheep, deer, horses, frogs and toads do, actually.”
“Interesting,” I bent down, picked the damn thing up, and handed it to Matilda. She looked at me with surprise.
“That’s… impressive,” she exclaimed. “We’ve been chasing it for a freakin’ hour. I was trying to put it back into the kennel, and it ran away like its tail was on fire.”
“You just needed the right touch, I guess,” I teased. “But let’s stay here. I already told a few of the guys that we would be here, and they said they were coming. That they had something to discuss.”
“Oh, yeah,” Bain said. “About that. It’s nothing that we need to discuss now. I think we were all under the impression that you were still employing Ellen, and giving our poor little Matilda the runaround. Now that we know you’re not…”
I sighed. “Regardless. They’re on the way already. Let’s just crate him until it’s time to go. Then we can drop him off in my backyard.”
“Drop him off?” Matilda asked curiously.
“Drop him off,” I confirmed. “I was going to ask you if you would mind helping me interview a few people. I got a text from a friend that I work with when I need help. She sent me a list of potential hires. I really, really need one. So I was hoping that you would help.”
“Of course, I will,” she answered. “Anytime. Right after dinner?”
I nodded.
It was important to me that she liked the person that I hired. If she was going to be around as much as I wanted her to be… she needed to like them. Because they’d be running into each other a lot.
Even more important, I wanted her opinion on things that were important in my life. I wanted her to know that she was important to me. That I valued her opinion.
What better way than to involve her in something that was so pivotal to my business?
“Oh my god,” Diana whispered. “He’s serious about her, isn’t he?”
I looked over at the two of them, realizing rather quickly that I needed to get Matilda away from Diana. Or keep her occupied so that she couldn’t corner her and tell her the secret.
Matilda, I was sure, needed to be finessed into being something so important to me. Until I could get her there, Diana needed to cool her jets.
“Shh,” Bain mirrored my thoughts. “If you want to keep them together, you’ll control what you say. Your girl’s a little flighty when she feels cornered.”
Glad I wasn’t the only one that’d sensed that.
Matilda’s parents had done a real number on her.
The sound of motorcycles filled the cooling night air, and we all turned to look down the street just in time to see Cassius, Wake with Dutch on the back of his bike, Aodhan, Kobe and KD turn the corner heading toward us.
It was Cassius who pulled up first, with another scowl on his face.
“Whatever you do, don’t hire her.”
I blinked at his words. “What?”
“The gas station girl,” he grumbled. “She’s going to apply for a job with you. She was telling someone all about it. Don’t accept her. Please, for the love of God, if you care for me at all, you won’t make me deal with the torture of having her around any more than I have to.”
I snorted. “I…”
“We’ll hire whoever is most qualified to help Etienne, and that’s the end of it,” Matilda commented as she closed the kennel door on the wonky donkey. “And I’m sorry to say, if it happens to be her, you’ll have to just deal with it. Etienne is struggling hard, and he needs competent people on his side.”
Amen.
She wasn’t lying, either.
I loved Cassius like a brother, but I needed someone to replace Ellen ASAP.
If that so happened to be the girl he was trying not to be close to… then oh well.
“Now that you have that figured out,” Bain said. “Y’all come inside. Also, don’t let out the spastic donkey. He’s faster than a lightning bolt.”
“He’s a wonky donkey,” I admitted. “But…”
“There’s a book about that that an old grandmother reads,” Dutch interjected before I could finish. “Funny enough, I’ve watched the YouTube video of it about half a dozen times. I still can’t make it through the video without laughing my ass off.”
“You should name him Wonky Donkey,” Diana said. “Now that he’s going to be your brand-new pet.”
I grimaced.
I hoped the damn thing wasn’t too messy and didn’t require too much extra time. I didn’t have it to spare, and I had a feeling Matilda didn’t either.
The next hour, we spent a good deal of time talking about everyone’s work life. In the end, it was decided that Matilda, Diana and I were the busiest. And that, even with trying to get a startup business off the ground, KD was the least busy. Though, that was likely because he had a full set of employees he could delegate to.