Page 1 of Be My Valentine

Chapter 1 / Kate

If you want to see a rainbow

You have to learn to see the rain

(Paulo Coelho)

“Miss Donovan! In my office! NOW!”

Kathryn Donovan stood up from her desk at the far end of the room: new girl, last desk. She squared her shoulders to the barrage of stares from colleagues she had known for almost two weeks. She was the lowest link in the food chain, but her name certainly had to be the most well-known, for the simple fact that she was shouted at by the big boss every other day when she was lucky, or several times in one afternoon when things went wrong, exactly what was happening at that moment.

Kathryn gathered what little dignity she had left after surviving the first telling off, not even twenty minutes after her entrance, and walked to Attorney Arrow’s door: the youngest partner at Holmes & Arrow.

She approached the dark desk almost holding her breath.

“You wanted to see me, Mr. Arrow?”

“What’s this?” A file lay open on the wooden top and papers scattered to Kathryn’s feet. She hastily bent down to pick them up, praying that the pages were numbered.

“The Anderson file, sir, the one you asked for.”

Mark Arrow raised an eyebrow arrogantly.

“Cartwright, I asked you for the Cartwright file.”

“No.” She retorted without thinking “I’m sure…” The words died in her throat. Her new employer’s blue eyes glared at her. Kathryn imagined turning into a pile of ashes, she already imagined herself in a sad anonymous steel urn, the cheapest type, given what she and her mother were going through.

“Are you saying I was wrong?”

“No, sir, my mistake, I’m sure of it. Excuse me.”

“Do you realize you’ve been here almost two weeks and you still haven’t learned anything?”

“Yes, sir. I will improve.”

I’ve been here ten days, actually.

“I hope so, or when your six months are up you will get a bad reference from this firm, am I clear?”

“Very clear, sir.”

What the hell am I going to do with a law firm reference?

“I’m going to get the Cartwright file. I’ll be right back.”

“Miss Donovan, one more thing.”

You really want to finish me off?

“Yes, Mr. Arrow.”

“Your hair: you can let your hair hang loose wherever you like, but not in the office. I expect it to be tied back.”

“But my colleagues…” She was incensed again. For the second time her urn appeared, this time with the plaque: “Kathryn Donovan, Kate to her friends, cremated at her workplace because of her loose hanging hair.”

“I’ll get right on it, sir.” And out she went at lightning speed.

She ran to the archives to get the right file, then stopped at Margaret’s desk, a pretty blonde woman with green eyes. Kate had discovered that her beauty was no match for her kindness, and Margaret was indeed beautiful.