AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hello,” Penny Parrish greeted Nicole as she walked into the shop. Penny and her husband sold beautiful crystals and polished rocks, but had added a coffee bar to bolster their profit margin.
“Hi,” Nicole replied. “I desperately need caffeine.”
Eric Parrish was already in the coffee bar. “Your usual?”
“Yes.” She handed him the insulated mug she’d brought.
It was amazing how well the Parrishes remembered their regulars’ preferences. Eric was the elder of the couple by sixteen years. Though now eighty, he showed no sign of wanting to retire. While Nicole admired his persistence and hoped to be equally as sharp mentally and physically at his age, it posed a potential issue for the agency. The Parrishes had a long-term lease in the location where she and her partners wanted to expand the agency, but that was something to worry about in the future.
The bell over the door tinkled and Jordan’s voice startled her. “Hey, Nicole.”
She swung around to face him. “Hi.”
“Chelsea told me you’d gone for coffee. I thought I’d pick some up, too.”
“The Crystal Connection has the best around.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Penny said.
Eric handed Nicole the cup filled with her favorite medium roast and she added a small amount of sugar with a larger share of cream. After learning how she liked it, they always left room for her preferences.
“How are things going at the agency?” Penny asked while entering the purchase into the computer register. For regulars, there was a running tab that got paid once a month.
“Great.”
“I met your new office manager. She seems nice.”
“She is.”
Nicole didn’t mention that Jordan was Chelsea’s brother. She waited while he paid for his order and they walked back together.
Chelsea looked up as they came through the door. “The general phone line has done nothing but ring since you left,” she said. “Some of the callers asked for you, but I took messages instead of sending them through to voice mail. Is that okay?”
“Definitely. Callers should be screened for the ones who have a relationship with the agency and for anything you can handle yourself. Besides, it’s faster for me to check written messages. Some of our clients can spend several minutes on voice mail trying to explain what they want without ever getting to the point.”
“The message slips are on your desk. None of them seem urgent, but you’ll want to check in case there’s something I missed.”
“Thanks.”
Leading the way back to her office, Nicole waved Jordan inside. He glanced around the room she’d designed for quiet elegance and functionality.
“Very polished,” he said. “The agency must be doing well.”
“Moonlight Ventures has always been a solid concern, and as I mentioned last week, we are working on expanding the business. Until my partners get here, that part is slow, but it’s part of our plan.”
She saw no reason to discuss the growing profits at the agency.
He sat in one of the comfortable chairs at the end of the office, away from her desk. Nicole recalled a seminar she’d once attended; the leader had talked about taking control of a situation by choosing where to sit in the room. But to protest Jordan’s choice of seat might seem petty, or make it appear she was on the defensive. So she just went to her desk and picked up the messages Chelsea had mentioned. Three were from people pushing to become clients of the agency. Chelsea was correct that nothing was urgent. That was a good sign. Some people thought everything was a crisis and it would be a godsend if Chelsea had enough judgment to tell the difference.
Seating herself on the opposite side of the small circle of chairs, Nicole smiled evenly at Jordan. Luckily she had oodles of practice looking comfortable in the most uncomfortable of circumstances. “Is this our first formal interview?”
“Yes, though I’d also like to see more of what you do in action.”
She’d anticipated that and had a few ideas that might bump him further out of his preconceptions. “That’s fine,” she agreed, “provided it doesn’t violate anyone’s privacy.”
