He nodded, drumming his knuckles on the doorframe. “Yeah, someone should be here anytime this afternoon.”
“Perfect. Will you make sure a few copies get made?”
“Yes, ma’am, as long as whichever one of you is here will get the original from maintenance.”
Both counselors nodded.
They stood talking for a few more minutes, then went back to their days.
Staring at the cluttered office in front of her, she closed her eyes for a moment, willing it to all disappear, but when she opened her eyes, it was all still there.
“Ma’am?” a voice sounded behind her.
She turned to find a middle-aged man standing behind her. His name tag, a green one, said Ed. In the upper right corner was Upper Sparrow, in the bottom left was Kerrie’s name and then “house adviser” in the other.
“Oh, hello. I’m Ms. Reese.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m Ed. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Upper Sparrow’s house adviser. Well, I guess Upper and Lower, since we don’t have enough clients in the house for two rightnow. Anyway, Jayvon walkied me and asked if I would show you where you could find garbage bags and cleaning supplies for your office.”
She glanced at the bulky yellow walkie-talkie on his hip. “House adviser? I’m sorry. I’m still getting used to all the titles and jobs around here.”
If she could have seen his cheeks from under his wiry beard, then she was sure he would have been blushing by the duck of his head and rub of his neck. “That’s fine, ma’am. It can get a little confusing. A house adviser is nominated by the clients in their house as a spokesperson of sorts. We communicate with the counselors on issues we have as a group, we run morning devotional and evening group and take attendance for both. We also bring you the clients’ notes for Group and Video.”
“Wow, that’s a lot of responsibility.”
He puffed up at her words. “Yes, ma’am, it is. It feels good, you know. I feel like it’s getting me back in shape to go back to work. Plus, the guys see enough in me to vote for me. That’s respect and trust right there, and trust is hard to come by here.”
The look of pride in his eye made her momentarily forget the mess waiting for her. “I’m glad you’re finding it beneficial. And thank you for helping me.”
“No problem. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where the supplies are.”
He was nice and respectful and made her feel at ease.
Working at an all-male facility could be difficult for female staff. She was always on alert for issues that might arise. Once, when she had just graduated from college, she started working for a mental health clinic as a case manager. She would go into clients’ homes to help improve their daily living. About a year in, she was at the home of a client she’d known for the whole time she worked there. He had started to decline despite her making sure he received the monthly shot to treat his psychotic symptoms. Unfortunately, she had let her guard down. She knew better than to go inside the house instead of staying on the porch. His mother called, and he went off yelling at her instead. He blocked the door, and for twenty terrifying minutes, she was stuck in the house of a man twice her size and not in a good headspace. When he finally calmed down enough, she was able to get him to move. After that, she vowed never to let her guard down again.
The employee bathroom doubled as a storage area for cleaning supplies. It was organized well. She found trash bags, then thanked him before heading back to her office.
It was no less of a mess despite her internal pleading for a miracle.
The room was probably bigger than it felt. In its current state, it was as if it were the size of a shoebox. The desk was covered with papers, old food wrappers, and somewhereunderneath was a dusty keyboard, a mouse she would definitely be scrubbing down, and a monitor. There were also filing cabinets with papers coming out of them and a small table and chairs, but the table was also covered. At least the chairs were clear.
She looked over at the desk. “I guess this is the best place to start.”
Though she didn’t expect her office to be in pristine condition for her when she arrived, she had at least assumed it would be empty, or at least mostly. It wouldn’t have crossed her mind that it would be in this shape. It was as if this Wilson man had just walked out. The lack of professionalism in that just astounded her.
The stack of papers that needed shredding due to confidential information was quickly turning into a mountain. She was forced to start filling a trash bag with them just to contain them. She looked around but could not find a shredder. “Surely an office has a shredder.”
“Talking to yourself?”
Reese jerked up from being hunched over a drawer in one of the filing cabinets. Unfortunately, she hadn’t realized that she didn’t shut the top drawer all the way until her head made contact with the corner of it. A jolt of pain radiated from the back of her head, causing her to close her eyes while grabbing the spot. She wavered back and forth as the pain made her woozy. “Fuck!”
She felt hands grab her head, pushing her own away. “Damn, you hit that hard. Are you bleeding?”
Fingers separated her hair, searching for the spot of impact, but all she wanted was for the pain to stop and the stranger to get off her. Anger quickly overtook her senses. She shoved at the person. “Get off me.”
“I’m just trying to help.”
“Try knocking next time,” she spat, rubbing her head. It was then that she turned to see who the intruder was. Her heart stopped as she recognized the tight T-shirt and blue jeans. She had thought about this woman more than a few times since the day she first saw her. Too bad her temper was still flaring in her gut. All she could do was glare.
