C is for Carter

I sat down at my desk and found a possible reason the door had been standing open. On the desk was an application for the receptionist job, filled out by Lauren. Her neat, bubbly script stood out in blue ink on the white paper, and I stared at her name for a moment before scanning through the rest of it. Truthfully, it didn’t matter what she wrote in there. She could have claimed to have graduated from Yale with a degree in murder hornet breeding and I would have hired her.

I picked up my phone and called her right away. I couldn’t just give her the job. I had to go aboveboard and make everything as official as possible. As much as I wanted to just tell her to come and clock in, I needed to go through the motions first.

“I guess you got my application,” she said when she answered.

“I did,” I said, grinning and leaning back into the chair. “When can you come in for an interview?”

“Well, when are you guys doing them? I can always reschedule my shifts if need be. I am the shift manager,” she laughed.

“Well if you’re free, I can do it today,” I said, hoping I didn’t come off too eager.

“I can do that,” she said. “I actually have the day off, so I can be there whenever.”

“Can you be here in, say, an hour?”

“Sure. See you then.”

I hung up and jumped to my feet. I was going to need to figure out that coffee machine immediately.

An hour later—on the dot, Lauren pulled into the parking lot.

I opened the door and watched as she checked her makeup in the mirror before getting out of the car. She didn’t need to worry. She was gorgeous anyway. Then again, I might have been biased.

Wearing a simple black skirt and a white blouse, she looked professional and put together. It was the kind of look you expected a receptionist to have, the more I thought about it. Simple, functional, and nonthreatening, yet still attractive. Of course, I could imagine anything was attractive on her.

“Morning,” I said as I held the door open for her. She grinned as she passed me and went inside.

“Morning,” she said.

Lauren stepped in and looked around, taking in the place.

“It’s a work in progress,” I said apologetically.

“It’s nice. I like it.”

“Come on in, take a seat over here.” I walked past her and motioned toward the couch in the living room area. “I figured we could do the interview over here.”

“Sure,” she said, following me and taking a seat, adjusting the hem of her skirt. It rested just above her knees, and I had a hard time not staring.

I began running through the questions of the interview, doing my best to keep my eyes on the paper and listen to her responses rather than looking at her. She was mesmerizing. I wanted to watch the way her lips formed the words, to imagine how they would feel pressed against my own. When I finally reached the bottom of the sheet of paper on the clipboard, I sat it down in my lap and flashed a smile at her.

“Well, that’s the last question,” I said.

“Oh. I hope I did well.”

“I’d say. I want to offer you the job.”

“Wait, really?” she asked. “Like, right now?”

“Yes,” I said. “I’ll be honest, I would have hired you even if you weren’t the only applicant.”

A rush of heat went across her cheeks, and I caught it, making my heart thud in my chest and a smile spread so wide it physically hurt my cheeks.

“Thank you,” she said meekly.

“Can you start today?” I asked, not wanting to give her a chance to back out. “We could really use someone around the office kind of immediately, and I can spend the day showing you what we would need you to do and how to fill out the paperwork.”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I have to put in my two weeks’ notice at the diner.”

“No, you don’t. Not unless you plan on going back to work there. Do you?”

“God, no,” she said, then covered her mouth in embarrassment. “I shouldn’t say it like that. I enjoy the job. It’s just…”

“They don’t treat you well,” I said. “I heard that the owner has checked out and things have gone downhill.” She looked at me quizzically, and I shrugged. “Harleigh mentioned it.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess she would know,” Lauren said. “It didn’t always use to be like it is now. I used to love my job.”

“That’s how things go sometimes,” I said, nodding. “But here you will have me as a boss, and I promise I won’t ever take you for granted. Regular hours. Good pay. Benefits start next month. You’d be an essential part of the building of the company. What do you say? You can work a half day today as training, and I’ll pay double for your training day. Full day’s pay, half the work. Come on.”