Nobody finds they dream job
right after college right? At least that’s what Greer kept
telling herself. You have to get into the workforce and pay some dues
before that dream job can be yours. At least that’s what she
told herself every morning when she started her routine job search.
You might have to take a job you don’t really love in order to
find one that you do later on. You might have to live at home with
your parents for a few years because your entry-level job only pays
enough for the gas in your tank to get to that job every day. Or if
you’re one of the lucky few, you go to work for your family.
Greer Hastings felt as if she’d signed a deal
with the devil. As the elevator paced up and up, she could feel her
heart sink down. She’d thrown in the towel. She shifted from
one foot to the other again. The man standing next to her pulled out
his iPhone. It was the second time since they’d gotten in the
elevator that he’d done that. He appeared anxious. Greer could
definitely relate.
“This is Campbell,” he suddenly said.
Greer looked over at him, surprised he’d
introduced himself.
“Hi, I’m Greer.”
“Yes, I need those papers on my desk in one
hour. Carter will be here at noon. Yes.”
Oh God. He’s on the phone.
Greer could feel her cheeks turn bright red. She’d
only just noticed the Bluetooth headset in his ear. She shifted
again, looking at the ground.
Just let me die.
“Okay, tell Kelsi to watch out for Carter. I’m
almost to the office.”
The man put his phone into his pocket once more.
“I’m sorry, did you say something?” he turned to
look at her.
“I…uh,” she started.
God he’s beautiful.
The man had bright blue eyes with blonde hair that
was pushed perfectly to the side.
“Uh, yeah. I’m sorry. I just thought you
were talking to me. Didn’t see your headset.”
The main smiled, “That’s alright. Hard to
see it, I guess. I’m Parker. And you are?”
“Greer. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Ah. You’re Hastings’ daughter. I
heard you were coming.”
The elevator came to a stop and the doors pinged
open.
“Get us a cup of coffee, would you?”
The man stepped out of the elevator and into the
lobby, leaving Greer utterly speechless. She stood there and felt a
wave of self-loathing wash over her. She contemplated going home and
crawling back into bed and dying. She wanted to run and hide under a
rock until she retired.
“Greer? Are you Greer?”
A woman about Greer’s age called to her from
behind the desk in front of the elevators. Greer slowly stepped out
and approached the desk. The man had already disappeared.
Figures. What a lovely gentleman.
“Yes, I am Greer.”
“Wonderful! I’m Kelsi,” the woman
stood up to walk around the large desk, revealing her very tight,
black dress that didn’t leave much to the imagination. She
extended her hand to Greer.
“Nice to meet you, Kelsi. I guess I’m
just waiting for my dad.”
“Indeed. Coop just got out of a meeting so
he’ll be up here in just a few minutes. If you’d like to
take a seat, I’m sure it won’t be long.” Kelsi
gestured to one of the large, brown club chairs near the elevators.
As Greer sat down she thought about how much had
changed at her dad’s office since she was little. Margie used
to sit at the front desk- a little, old lady who had loved Greer. She
used to keep candy in her desk and would share it with Greer whenever
she came to visit.
Her father walked into the lobby, surrounded by
people on iPhones.
“Grant, get me sales numbers by two. And Joe,
I’ll be needing those drawings to get those approved as well.”
Her father was clearly in his element.
“And gentlemen, don’t forget this
Saturday is our annual pool party. Bring your wives and families.
Charlotte is really going all-out this year. That’ll be all,”
he waved them away with a smile.
The men laughed and turned to leave the lobby. Greer
waited patiently for her father to notice her presence.
“Greer!” her father wrapped her in a big
hug.
“Hi Dad,” she smiled.
“Good to see you made it okay.”
“I’ve only been here a thousand times.
But things do seem to have changed a bit,” she eyed Kelsi who
was filing her long, red nails.
“Yes, well Margie had to retire at some point.
You were away at college,” he looked down at his phone.
“I see. Uh… Dad?”
“Hmm?” He was engrossed in an email.
“Yes?” he looked up, hesitantly.
“Some guy in the elevator just asked me to get
him coffee.”
He lit up. “What a splendid idea! You can get
everyone a coffee. We’ll just get you settled in and then I’ll
have Barb show you where to go!”
Greer sighed. This is what she’d been reduce
to: coffee girl. She had a Bachelor’s degree form a
well-reputed university and this is what she was going to do with it.
Awesome. She followed
her father as he showed her around the office. It was probably the
first time she’d ever really paid attention to the environment
at her dad’s office. There was a conference room with a giant
whiteboard where Greer had spent many hours after school playing. The
room looked less magical now. The kitchen no longer had a drawer full
of snacks that Margie kept fully stocked. As they continued out of
the kitchen, her father stopped at a small office.
“Greer, this is Barb. She’s the new
office manager. You’ll report to her when I’m busy.”
Barb got up from her desk and shook Greer’s
hand. She was very tall, slender woman. Her dark grey hair was pulled
back into a tight bun. She didn’t smile back at Greer. She only
regarded her over the top of her reading glasses.
“It’s nice to meet you, Barb.”
“I prefer Barbara. Mr. Hastings is forgetful.”
“As are you, Barb. I prefer Coop,” he
laughed.
Barbara didn’t respond. Greer could feel the
tension radiate from her new supervisor.
Note to self: don’t ever call her Barb.
“We’d better be off. She’ll come
see you after lunch, Barb!” her father sang as they continued
down the hall.
“So you’ve met mostly everyone. Here’s
accounting. This is Phyllis, our accounts manager. You don’t
want to get on her bad side. She makes grown men cry,” Coop
whispered loudly.
“Oh, Coop! Don’t scare the poor girl. I
only make them cry if they deserve it,” she smiled.
Her laugh lines told Greer that she probably was a
little less serious than Barbara. Phyllis’s eyes lit up. Greer
remained quiet as her father chatted with Phyllis about some
company’s overdue account.
“Well, I’m sure you will convince the,
one way or another,” Coop laughed, “I have a meeting in
just a few minutes, Greer.”
He looked down at his watch, “Correction, I’m
late for my eleven o’clock meeting. Greer, why don’t you
speak with Barb about that coffee? You can bring them into the
conference room.”
Her father turned quickly and was off down the hall.
“You need help?” Phyllis asked.
“No, I think I’ve got it. Just have to
remember where Barbara’s office is,” she laughed.
“Down the hall on the left. Her office is
right by the kitchen. Let me know if you need anything!”
“Thanks.”
Greer made her way back down the hallway toward the
kitchen. Just as she passed the kitchen door someone collided into
her side. A sudden warmth spread over her. No, not warmth…
heat. She looked down at her red wool coat now covered in scalding
liquid. She looked up, still in shock, to find the same guy from the
elevator.
“Oh! So sorry. Oh… it’s you
again. Well, I am sorry you’re now wearing the coffee I asked
you to get two hours ago.”
“Excuse me?” Greer could feel her blood
boiling. This guy just threw coffee all over her and then had the
balls to complain that she hadn’t gotten his coffee earlier.
“You were taking too long. And now I’m
even more late. Forget it.” He reached back into the kitchen
and gave her a paper towel roll. “Clean yourself up. I’ll
pay for your coat to be dry-cleaned.”
Greer yanked the paper towels from his hand and
forced a smile. “Thanks.”
“You should really watch where you’re
going. You could get hurt,” he called as he walked down the
hall toward the conference room.
Duly noted.
Greer couldn’t believe this guy. He acted like
the hottest shit there ever was. She dabbed at the stains on her
coat; her favorite coat. She sighed. There was no point in trying to
save it. It would have to be dry-cleaned. And he’d be getting
the bill. If only she could remember his name.
“What happened to you?” Barbara asked,
coming out of her office.
“Oh, you know, someone just threw their coffee
on me,” she replied, peeling the coat off, “I think it’s
a lost cause.”
“Nonsense. Give it here. I’ll see what I
can do,” Barbara examined the coat, “Yes. There may be
something I can do. Now, let’s not cry over spilled coffee.
Let’s go to your new office and get you all set up.”
“Oh, Barbara, my dad said something about some
coffee.”
“I’ll handle that. I think you’d
had enough coffee for one day.”
Ah, maybe Barbara does have a sense of humor.
Greer’s office was a few doors down from
Barbara’s. It was small, but bright. The one large window on
the back wall overlooked all of Chicago. Greer had a desk and chair
already, but would have to put in an order for any other furniture
she wanted. And she could decorate it however she wanted.
“I’ll get Syd up here to do the
nameplate outside your door. He’s our maintenance guy. He’s
a little deaf so make sure you speak slowly and loudly to him.”
“He’s deaf and they trust him with heavy
machinery?”
“Well, he won’t sue for hearing loss at
least.”
Greer laughed.
She does have a sense of
humor.
“Now, enough of this messing about. Your first
assignment is to get your email up and running. Your father does
almost everything by email. I’ve already notified Tech Support
and it should be good to go. But you know computers, they never
actually work. Once you’re all set up, send me an email and
we’ll get something set up for lunch.”
An hour and six calls to Tech Support later, Greet
had her email mostly working. Barbara knocked on the door,
“I got your email and so did the rest of the
office.”
Greer flushed, “I haven’t quite gotten
the hang of it yet.”
“I see that. Never mind. What should we get
for lunch? Your father likes to cater on Mondays and Fridays.”
A small bonus for working for her father. She’d
barely have to pay for lunch.
“In the future, you will set up lunch for
everyone. But today I’ll do it. What about Giordano’s?”
“They cater?”
“They do for us.”
The rest of her afternoon was fairly uneventful.
Greer spent her time figuring out the company email and shadowing
Barbara. Greer found that she’d be doing a bit of everything
around the office. It wouldn’t be so bad. As long as no one
ever asked her for coffee again. Just before five an email popped up
on her screen from her father.
Greer,
Hope your
first day went well. I heard you had a run-in with Parker. He said
you’d
had an unfortunate accident involving coffee. Sorry to hear it. Send
me a copy of the bill to have it dry-cleaned. It’s
the least we can do. Good work today. See you tomorrow.
Coop
Good grief. Parker. Right. Parker. Well Parker,
you are at the top of my list.
“Everything okay?” Barbara peeked in.
“Oh. Yeah. Just spam mail.”
“I have your coat. Good as new.”
And it was. Greer marveled at Barbara’s work.
It was like it was brand new.
“My grandmother owned a dry-cleaner. I picked
up a few tricks.”
“Thanks so much! You saved me a lot of
heartache.”
“You’re very welcome. Why don’t
you go ahead and get going? Nothing’s really going on here.
We’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Great! Thanks for everything!”
***
As Greer became more involved at work, the days seems
to go by faster. Before she knew it, it was Thursday already. She’d
spent most of the week working in the filing room. It was her first
official work assignment. The filing system hadn’t been updated
in years and it was her job to fix it up. It was also her job to make
sure all employees followed the new filing system.
She was almost halfway done with the filing cabinets
Thursday afternoon and she felt pretty good about it. It was tedious,
monotonous work, but she was picking up more information about the
customers and the types of products her father sold. Nothing too
earth-shattering, but at least it was somewhat interesting.
As she was filing another folder, she heard the file
room door creak open. She peeked out form the row and saw Parker. He
hadn’t noticed her yet so she watched as he absentmindedly ran
his fingers through his hair and sighed.
“Damnit. I’ll never find that purchase
order. There’s got to be three millions cabinets in here.
Fuck.”
Parked opened the first cabinet and stared at it for
a moment. He closed it and moved on to the next one. He began to
rifle through the folders within it. He wasn’t wearing his suit
jacket that afternoon and Greer could see how well he took care of
himself.
God, he’s built. A guy like that always
knows it. And Parker definitely knows it. But God he’s sexy.
Her mind wandered, thinking about him and the way his
slacks hung off his hips and the way his hair was so effortlessly
pushed back again.
No. No. No. Get ahold of yourself, Greer. You
hate him. He’s vile. But like a sexy vile. No. No. NO!
Greer snapped out of her daydream when she heard a
big thud at her feet.
SHIT!
Her eyes met Parker’s. The file she was holding
now lay in a mess on the floor.
SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! DAMNIT!
Greer scrambled to collect all the invoices that
she’d just dropped. She prayed he would just leave her alone to
die in her embarrassment. But no such luck. Two black, leather shoes
came into her vision and she looked up at him slowly.
“Jesus. You scared the crap out of me! How
long have you been here?” Parker extended his hand and Greer
reluctantly, kind of, took it.
“I’m sorry. Not long. Only a minute,”
she lied.
She stood up and clutched the folder to her chest.
Parker smiled.
“You okay?”
She nodded, “Yep. Just clumsy today.”
“I see. Well, since we’re both stuck in
here maybe we could help each other? I’m looking for an invoice
pack with a purchase order in it that I need. It’s from 2010
and the customer is Webber.”
He took the folder from her and straightened the
papers.
He wants my help? Is he
actually asking me for help?
“Hmmm, well I haven’t gotten to the W’s
yet, but I think Webber is over here.”
Parker placed the file folder on top of the cabinet
nearest to him and followed her to the back of the room. Greer
surveyed the long row of cabinets and found the one with Webber in
it.
“You said 2010, right?”
“Right.”
“Looks like you’ve got quite a few to
choose from. This might take a few minutes. We should probably take
the folders to the table. That way we can spread out and look through
them,” she suggested, hauling a few large file folders out of
the drawer.
At the table, Greer and Parker surveyed the scene.
There were at least fifteen large folders to go through for the year
2010.
“Any chance you know the month in 2010?”
“Nope. Your dad asked me to get the pack and
all he said was 2010 and Webber. I asked for more information but he
told me that I have a four-year degree and that’s what he pays
me for,” he laughed.
“Yeah, that sounds like my dad. He’s
under the impression that his time is far more valuable than anyone
else’s. He’d probably reschedule a meeting with the
President so he could take a conference call.”
Her father was a bit full of himself. He was a very
successful man so he did have a right to be proud.
“Oh well. That just means I get to hide out in
here with you for a while,” Parked nudged her elbow.
Okay, I’m sorry but is
he now flirting with me?! No way. Who does he think he is? He was a
complete jerk to me on Monday.
Greer didn’t respond immediately. “Umm,
Parker?”
“Yeah?”
“What are we even looking for specifically?”
she laughed.
“Oh yeah. An invoice pack from 2010 with some
shop work on it. Your dad needs the attached purchase order so he can
have another drawing done. “
“Well that’s specific, There are
hundreds, if not thousands of invoices here with shop work on them.
He really couldn’t tell you any more about it?”
Parker raised his eyebrows. Of course her father
hadn’t said more about it.
As they searched through the papers, Greer could feel
awkwardness creep into the silence.
Just talk to him. This will
be far less painful if you can talk to him.
“So Parker, tell me a little about yourself.
You haven’t been here long or I would have met you before.”
“There’s not much to tell. I graduated
from Illinois State two years ago and my Uncle Rob offered me a job
here.”
“Wait, Rob is your uncle?”
“Yeah. He’s my mom’s brother. But
we lived down south my whole life. My mom’s still there.”
“That would explain why I haven’t met
you before. You weren’t at any of Rob’s pig roasts.”
Parker laughed, “Pig roasts?”
“Oh yeah, they are terrible. Rob hires this
company who come out and set it all up. He loves it. I could
definitely live without it. But there’s music and dancing and
umbrella drinks, so it isn’t all bad.”
Parked smiled. His teeth were perfectly straight and
perfectly white. And when he smiled his dimples made Greer a little
lightheaded. His smile was definitely infectious to say the least.
“What about your dad? What does he do?”
“My dad died about ten years ago.”
“Oh God, Parker I’m so sorry. I had no
idea,” she instinctively reached over and toucher his shoulder.
He eyed it for a moment.
“It’s okay. It was a long time ago. He
was killed in a motorcycle accident. Hit by a car head-on when was
turning. The other driver didn’t see him.”
“That’s awful. I’m sorry. Were you
close?”
“Yeah, he was my best friend. We used to fix
up old motorcycles together. He raced the, when he was my age. I
always thought I’d do the same. But my mom insisted on college.
So, here I am!”
“Well, you can see how well going to college
did me,” Greer groaned.
Parker regarded her with a questioning expression.
“What? You didn’t think that this was my
dream job, did you?”
“Well this can’t be the worst job ever.”
“You sound like my mother,” she teased.
“Your mom is a smart lady.”
“She is. And you’re right. This isn’t
the worst job ever. But it’s not what I thought I’d be
doing either. It’s not what I hoped I’d be doing.”
“And what did you hope for?” he asked,
leaning toward her a bit.
“Well, I went to school for writing. A stupid
decision, I know. I actually haven’t written much since
graduation last year.”
“What have you been doing since then?”
“I spent last summer with my aunt in Seattle.
And then I took a year off. I lived with my parents and worked part
time. Then my dad had this great idea that I should come work here.
And so, here I am!”
Parker smiled again, “Here you are.”
Greer and he sat for a moment in complete stillness.
“We’re not getting much done,”
Parker whispered.
Greer cleared her throat. “You’re right.
Time to find that needle in this haystack!”
Countless invoice pack and one “Ah-Ha”
moment later, Parker was helping Greer pack up the folders again.
“Seriously, thanks for the help. Who knows how
long this would have taken me.”
“It’s no problem, really. I’m here
all week,” she laughed, closing the file cabinet drawer.
“Yeah, me too.”
Parker turned around and headed to the door. Greer
followed slowly, stopping to sit at the table again.
“Well, hey kid, see ya round. I’ll let
your dad know how well you did,” he opened the door and turned
to face Greer. “And, uh, if you get a minute I could use that
cup of coffee you own me.”
He smiled slyly and slid out the door. Greer could
hear him whistling down the hallway. Greer couldn’t decide if
he was being an ass or flirting with her. Either way, she was quite
sure she was going to get herself into trouble if she didn’t
watch him.
***
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