Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82214 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
“Excellent!” Andrew shook my hand, and I tried to calm my nerves. “We will have to meet with HR when we can get you back into town, but the job is yours, Christie Hannam.”
“Just the technical stuff,” I offered lightheartedly.
He nodded once. “What are you doing this evening? I know you’re not here much longer, so perhaps I could show you a few areas near here worth looking at for housing? Dallas is a great city to live in.”
My red flag went up, and I tried to rein my emotions in. “I have a . . .” A what? My brain emptied as I continued to weigh whether it was even appropriate to take a new hire around town. The interview itself hadn’t been what I expected.
“It’s company policy to provide a chaperone so we can ensure you don’t have any questions when looking for things around here. It’s a big city, after all. Normally, the HR department has a couple of folks who will take you to lunch, but it’s a weekend, and normally I’m not the one conducting interviews.”
“Meaning you’d show everyone the town if you were hiring them?”
He smiled, and his eyes softened. “Meaning I see something really special in you, and I want to make sure you have everything you need to come back to us. How about dinner? We can talk more about our plans so you can be more prepared when you do start work.”
Chapter 16
Ryan
I’d found absolutely zero houses worth buying. Well, I’d found one, but it wasn’t as close to James as I wanted, and I didn’t want to give Darlene any reason to say I wasn’t trying. I’d put in an offer anyway because I knew I wouldn’t have much time to look for other houses, and apparently, it was a seller’s market.
I’d know whether the seller accepted my offer by tomorrow, the real estate agent had said, but we could always increase the offer. I wasn’t sure if that was real estate talk for “Make a better offer” or if it was just how things went. Most of the time, people needed to tell me what to do because there was no way in hell I’d just figure it out.
When I finally reached the office, Missy was the only one there. She said the others had only come in to finish up work they’d left undone, but she was the one coming in on weekends. That didn’t make me feel much better, but at least I wasn’t forcing an entire team to work seven-day work weeks.
Missy and I worked through the long list of qualifications and websites where we posted the job listing. Missy had put together a handbook for newcomers since she didn’t have time to train everyone, which would be a godsend for the new offices.
Even with everything Missy did and continued to do, we needed more help. Neither of us knew enough about business to prepare us for so much change, but at least we were on the right track to keep me off the phone and Missy out of the office on the weekends. Maybe not tomorrow or next week, but we were preparing for it.
I would be nothing without Missy, and I thanked God she was such a good and loyal friend. When things got worked out and ironed out, I planned to give her whatever position she wanted and more than enough pay to go with it.
Missy had kicked me out so she could lock up, so I’d called Christie on my way back. At first, I wanted to ask for her opinion on business stuff—I probably should have done that already. But when she didn’t answer, the voice mail I almost left would have asked how her interview went, so when I finally reached the loft in the warehouse, I really wanted to know.
I hoped Christie didn’t think I was weird for calling her a second time. I almost didn’t, but she seemed to have a tendency to overreact to things, and as put together as she seemed most of the time, I’d come to understand that it was a front. At least, she thought it was.
“Yes, Ryan? I was about to call you back.”
Figured. “Hey! Sorry, I just thought, as your secretary, I should know how your interview went. Everything go okay?”
“Well, Sir Secretary, you’ll have to cancel my meetings this evening. I’m going out for a celebratory dinner.”
“So you got the job?”
“Yes!”
I smiled but didn’t get the chance to say anything before she dove into telling me about the assistant who interviewed her and how his dad was the owner. She said many things that I didn’t understand, but I did understand that she sounded excited, if not a little nervous.
“I guess that means you’re moving here then, huh?”
“I guess it does. Speaking of, I wanted to ask you something.”