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“Do you work here as well?” Mr. Gilherst asked Lanie, clearly undeterred by the prominence of the diamond on her finger.
“I’m just filling in.”
“You’d mostly be working with Leslie, our receptionist, and Sandra, our paralegal, until I’m able to return to the office full-time,” Steven broke in, hoping to ease the tension and direct Mr. Gilherst’s focus elsewhere.
Mr. Gilherst’s face fell, and Steven shot a look at Leslie before she closed the door. If her grim expression was any indication, they were in agreement. Their first candidate was a bust.
Still, the interview must go on. He and Lanie went through the motions, which only further confirmed that Mr. Gilherst wasn’t a good fit for the firm. He had high expectations of salary with no experience to back up the demand and talked as if he would be running the place in Steven’s absence.
When the interview ended, Steven stifled a sigh of relief. Thank goodness that’s over. His chest tightened. If all of their candidates were like that one, he would be even worse off than if he’d just returned to the office full-time himself.
By the time they reached the last interviewee of the day, Steven was ready to throw in the towel. He’d seen one or two applicants he could tolerate, but nobody appeared up to the task. Maybe he was asking too much.
Lanie didn’t seem encouraged either. With a sigh, she dragged the last application in front of her and flipped through it.
“Ah, it’s the Georgetown applicant,” she said with more enthusiasm than Steven could muster.
“He’ll probably want a bigger salary than the first interviewee,” Steven moaned. The situation was hopeless.
“He can’t be any worse than Mr. Gilherst,” Lanie said with a wry smile.
A moment later, Leslie knocked on the door and led a young man into the room. He had wavy dark-brown hair and light-brown eyes. His suit was neatly pressed, and he walked right up to Steven and shook his hand. If he noticed Steven didn’t stand to greet him, or the wheelchair, he didn’t let on.
“I’m Michael Ellerson,” he told Lanie as he extended his hand.
“Lanie McAllister, Steven’s sister.” She gestured for him to sit, and Steven was relieved Mr. Ellerson didn’t seem as infatuated with his sister as Mr. Gilherst had been.
Steven and Lanie took turns explaining the job and what was expected. Mr. Ellerson didn’t flinch when they informed him of the accident and Steven’s limitations, though he did ask some thoughtful questions.
“Will there be a lot of overtime?” Mr. Ellerson asked.
After a quick glance at Steven, Lanie shook her head. “Not necessarily. We do have a substantial workload at present, but we don’t anticipate needing someone to work beyond office hours.”
“And we likely won’t be taking on new clients until I’m fully or at least mostly recovered,” Steven added.
“I only ask because I’m still living near DC, and it can be a bit of a challenge to travel if I miss the train.”
Steven couldn’t help but laugh. “Metro closes at midnight. I can’t imagine we would ever need you to stay that late.”
Mr. Ellerson nodded, relief apparent in his eyes. “That’s good. Some of the law firms I’ve interviewed at in the city implied I’d be on call around the clock.”
“While we can’t compete with their salaries, we can offer a better work-life balance,” Lanie assured him.
“Honestly, that’s more important to me right now. I’ve heard too many horror stories of first-year associates having nervous breakdowns in the bigger firms.” Mr. Ellerson shook his head. “I’d like a bit of a break now school is over.” His eyes widened as if he realized he’d implied something negative. “I mean, not that this job isn’t hard or that it wouldn’t be challenging… I just, er, I only meant—”
Steven raised a hand and smiled. “I worked for a year at a large law firm in Baltimore. Believe me, I understand what you mean, and I can promise you will have that work-life balance you seek here.”
His sister raised an eyebrow at him, and he made a face. Just because he didn’t have a good work-life balance, that didn’t mean he couldn’t guarantee his employees had one.
“Would you consider moving here if the job lasted beyond the summer?” Lanie asked, surprising Steven.
Mr. Ellerson glanced from one to the other and cleared his throat. “I wasn’t aware that was a possibility, but I’m definitely open to it if the position was extended.”
What’s she playing at? Steven managed to keep his suspicions off his face. “Of course, there is always room for growth, and that’s something we could explore with the right candidate.” He wanted to remind everyone no decision had been made yet.
Lanie rolled her eyes at him. It seemed she had made up her mind about Mr. Ellerson and was ready to offer him the job on the spot. While Steven didn’t disagree with her, he wanted more time to ensure they made the right decision.
After they finished the interview, Lanie introduced Mr. Ellerson to Sandra before showing him out. When she returned, she leaned against the doorway and crossed her arms.
