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Tillie:What?
Me:I was helping out. He thought I wanted the job permanently. So he hired me!
Tillie:He did not.
Me:He did!
Lila:We’ll all be together again! Isn’t your apartment lease up soon anyway?
Tillie:It is.
She’s right. I was planning to take a one-bedroom in the same complex. The leasing agent said they had some. I simply had to look at the floor plans and choose.
But I haven’t yet.
I pace Drew’s office, trying to think this through. I make the half circle several times before the phone rings.
The woman out front must pick it up, because the light goes solid, then blinks out. She accidentally hung up again.
This drives me crazy. This is Drew’s clinic!
Drew hasn’t told me to go out front or to do anything beyond help as I have been, but I open the door to peer into the hall. I don’t know my way around. But I retrace my steps back to the lobby. The woman slams down the receiver in frustration. “I can never figure this thing out.”
There are two people standing by the desk, waiting to be checked in.
I come up beside her. “Hey, Drew suggested I answer the phones today to help. Don’t worry about them at all. I will pick up every line.”
She spins in her chair. “Are you from the temp agency? I thought they hadn’t gotten back to him.”
“No. I knew Drew growing up. He needed help, so I said I could fill in.”
“Praise the Lord,” she says. “I’m Vera. I normally run diagnostics. Phone systems are not my thing.”
I glance at the people patiently waiting. “You check them in. I’ll get the phones. We’ll work on transitioning me to the front desk completely once this rush is settled. Maybe during the lunch hour?”
Vera nods. “That would be great.”
I hope I’m not saying anything out of turn. But I sense that the entire staff is winging it at the moment.
And Iaman assistant head teller. I can take charge.
I go back to Drew’s office and answer calls until Vera pokes her head in. “No one should come in the front door for the next hour. I can show you around the desk and how to check people in. I talked to Dr.Daniels. He says you’re an amazing self-starter and our new receptionist. I’m so relieved.”
Oh no. Now Vera thinks I’m staying. “We haven’t ironed out the details yet. But show me everything.”
I’m hoping to speak to Drew soon. I sit in Vera’s chair as she runs me through some of the basic operations.
She punches on the keyboard. “Don’t ask me what to do for everything, because I don’t know. This isn’t a spot I ever sit in. Maria might know more.”
“Maria?”
“She’s the head tech. She knows everything about this place. Possibly even more than Dr.Daniels, since she’s a holdover from the vet who owned this clinic before. Maria will be the one who can get you up to speed.”
Good. I’ll learn everything, and then I can train the new person without disrupting the rest of the staff’s duties. It will be an easy transition of power, considering the chaos Drew is experiencing. He’ll appreciate me. He’ll recognize how much I’ve gone out of my way to help them.
And then we can explore our unfinished business. He claims he ends every romantic encounter with a single hookup. I’m not so sure. I think Drew Daniels has more to him than he lets himself believe. In fact, maybe I could take my full vacation at work right now. If I can be around him for a week or so, maybe I’ll figure out if I’m right about him, and then, if we have any lasting chemistry. If not, I go home, back to my job, get my smaller apartment, and close the door on this sidenote to my longtime crush.
As lunch passes while I take a crash course on the front desk operations, I’m grateful for the granola bar I always keep stuck in my purse. I don’t see Drew. He never comes up from the back, and when the clients start arriving again at one o’clock, it’s a steady stream of work.
