AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I was right about Cindy expecting me to be on time. I cringe a little. I hate disappointing a client, even if it is just about my arrival.
“Oh, sure.” Lisa smiles and sits back down.
“Come on back.” Cindy waves me toward her.
I grin, trying to look happy to see her although my heart is still heavy with Kate’s problem and Kiley’s dead engine. My eyes drop from Cindy’s to look past her into the office behind her, and my jaw loosens. Luckily, my poker talents keep my face from reveal my shock.
Her office was even worse than I expected.
Chapter Two?
“Sorry.” Cindy frowns.
“Girlfriend, this is why I am here.” I say, sans the shock. How does she work in this mess. More importantly, how does she keep track of anything? No, more importantly where do her clients sit when they come to see her?
“True.” She waxes a smile. “This is why I immediately sighed a contract with you.”
I put my arm around her and try to walk two-by-two further into her office. Glancing at the two guests chairs piled high with files that are bound by rubber bands, several of them, competing only with the floor beside it that towers with identically bulging files that are leaning against the piles jutting up over the armrests of the chairs. I do my best not to shake my head. I glance around for a filing cabinet. There are two, the drawers do not close all the way and papers peek out over the metal front. I assume they are in the same shape as her floor. There’s a pile supported by the wall on top of the metal cabinet, also. Every horizontal surface, including desk, chairs and floor, are covered in manilla files.
I take in a deep breath and pretend to roll up imaginary sleeves. “Okay, tell me what all this is.”
“Client’s files,” she says, her voice laced with shame.
I squeeze her with the arm already around her. “Sure, but tell me what order you currently make of this. Because I know you have some system.”
She smiles. This time it is genuine. “Well.” She sighs. “This is last year’s taxes, that I just need to file, but as you can see I have no more room.” She waves her arm like a show hostess. “This is this year’s taxes that I’ve completed, and this is what I am working on for clients who have filed for an extension. And these—” She sighs. “Are my clients who I do monthly bookkeeping for. At least it’s a smaller pile.” She chuckles.
“Yes.” I nod, but I’m thinking, sorting the many ideas that are flooding my mind for where to begin. “Okay. So what’s going on with the two filing cabinets.”
“That is really my archive.”
“So, back taxes from a few years ago?” I ask as I lift my phone and take several “before” pictures for my portfolio.
“Yes.” She replies quietly.
“Okay. Is there any problem with getting another filing cabinet or archival boxes from the company or is that sort of thing your expense?”
“No, Nancy allows for a supply budget for each of us.” Then Cindy hangs her head. “I guess I just haven’t taken the time to use it.”
I smile my winning and confident smile. “Well, girlfriend, then we’ve got a shopping list to purchase first and then we can get busy organizing your office.” I pause. “Taxes are saved for three years, right?”
“Right.”
“So, how far back do these go?”
“I’m not even sure.”
“Okay, we’ll start there. Is there a shredder here, or do you use one of those shredding companies to dispose of the older documents?”
“We have a shredder, there is a disposal company that picks up the bags of shredded stuff and burns it for absolute security.”
“Good.”
Cindy looks up at me with such surprise, I realize for the first time she really didn’t think it could be done. “Are you busy now, or can we make a trip to Office Depot?”
“Sure, but the closest one is in Rapid City.” Cindy says with hesitation. Her fingers come together in a nervous twisting as if she were knitting yarn between them. I put my hand over her tell and smile.
“Is there any office supplies available locally?”
