But if someone calls me and wants me to do an interview, I’d be a fool to say no, she thought.
Her mom came into the room and sat down beside her. She carried a book in her hand and she looked at Paige, a bit of confusion in her eyes. “What are you up to?” she asked her gently. “Staring into space?”
“I’m just thinking,” Paige replied with a smile. “My friends suggested I should try to get any job I can, but that means giving up on my dreams.”
Instead of reading her book as she’d planned, Paige’s mother set the paperback down on the coffee table and turned a bit in her seat so she was facing Paige. She took her daughter’s hands in hers. “Don’t think that way,” she said. “Don’t think of it as giving up your dreams. Think of it as working towards achieving them. Not everyone is lucky enough to do what they really want to do right out of the gate. But if you work hard, and you keep your eyes on the prize, you’ll get there. I know you will.”
Paige’s eyes filled with tears as she smiled at her mom. It was comforting to know her mother had her back as well, and what she said was true. There was nothing preventing her from working as an administrative assistant while still applying for event coordinator positions. She may have less time to apply and go on interviews, but she could make the time and effort if she really hoped to succeed.
Paige stood up and hugged her mom before heading into her bedroom so she could sit at her desk and apply for some more jobs. She’d applied to a few things at Iris, Kat, and Emily’s places of work but she felt like it was a good idea to keep at it on her own as well. She never knew what might actually stick for her.
The following morning, she checked her email and was surprised to discover one from Iris’s job. It was a science lab that specialized in gene research. Paige leaned forward in her desk chair, staring in surprise at her computer screen as she read over the job description she’d applied for and the message from the human resources manager. She wrote a quick reply back, indicating her enthusiasm about the position and her availability.
Soon, she had a phone interview and then, two days later, an in-person interview. She was quite nervous because this role was so different from her previous work experience, but she felt confident in her abilities. She was a fast learner and she was anxious to work and learn new skills. She just had to convey that to the human resources manager who was conducting the interview.
She made sure to shower and eat a filling breakfast beforehand. Her office attire needed some work, but she put on some black pants and a maroon top, feeling like a professional. She didn’t tell anyone about her interview lest she jinx herself. She’d been burned that way before. Paige borrowed her mom’s car – knowing her mom wouldn’t mind – and drove to the lab.
The building was squat and made of red brick, with a clinical look to it. She instantly felt intimidated as she examined it, walking up and going through the white front door of the building. A receptionist in the lobby smiled at her as she approached. “May I help you?”
“Hi,” Paige said in a cheery voice. “Yes, I’m here to see Tessa Mills for an interview?”
The receptionist checked the list of scheduled appointments in front of her. “Yes, I have you down on my list. Please sign your name here.” She passed a form across the desk for Paige to sign.
Paige signed her name on the sheet, placed the date next to her signature and passed the form back.
“Thank you,” the receptionist said. “Take the elevator on your left to the second floor. You’ll find Miss Mills in suite two hundred.”
Paige did as she was told and went upstairs to find the correct office. Once she was in the right place, she realized there was no administrative assistant because she was going to be trying to fill that role. As it was, she had to wait for the receptionist downstairs to alert Miss Mills to her presence. She took a seat on the couch in the waiting corner.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of heels against the gray granite floor. Paige looked over at the direction of the clip-clopping sound and smiled when she saw the tall woman, dressed in a professional suit dress, smiling back at her.
Before the week was done, Paige Lancaster was the new admin assistant at GeNome Labs. She’d never anticipated having a career like this, but she was very excited to start now. She was also so ready to meet up with her friends and let them know about her new position.
They met up at a 1950s-style diner that specialized in breakfast foods. Paige could barely keep from dancing as she entered the restaurant, sliding into the booth beside Iris, who of course already knew her news. Kat and Emily blinked at her, confused but smiling because clearly something good had occurred.
“I got a new job,” Paige said, practically singing the words out. “I’m the new admin assistant at Iris’s work! I’m overwhelmed and I don’t know anything about genealogy, but I’m so excited!”
Iris chuckled. “Well, first of all, babe, it’s not really genealogy. I’m glad you didn’t say that in your interview.”
All of them laughed, even Paige. She was too happy to even feel embarrassed. “Oh,” she said. “Well, it’s important for me to learn this. I’m still in training.”
“That’s quite a departure from what you’ve been doing,” Kat pointed out. “Were you interested in science?”
Paige shook her head. “Not really. But I was interested in having a job.”
They all giggled again. “I can’t blame you for it,” Emily said.
She ordered frothy milkshakes all around and then they each ordered their meals as well.
“So, are you going to give up on the events stuff?” Kat asked her, stirring a rippled fry through her generous puddle of ketchup on her plate.
“Nah,” Paige replied, moving her paper straw slowly through her thick chocolate milkshake. “I’m probably going to do a lot of weekend work still. I want to keep my name out there, you know? Being an admin will give me a lot of the experience I need to push myself forward, but I’m not giving up on my dream career.”
Her friends all nodded their heads, understanding where she was coming from and agreeing it was a wise decision. Paige knew them all well enough by now to know they cared about her and wanted her to be happy. “To new jobs and new chapters,” Iris said, holding up her milkshake glass.”
The rest of them carefully lifted up their glasses in unison. “To new jobs and new chapters!”
Rather than clinking them together – because that would have made a mess – they were satisfied enough by just lifting them a fraction off the tabletop. They all sipped their delicious, cold drinks. Paige felt like she’d finally been allowed into some kind of an elite club. Her friends all had full-time jobs at companies and she no longer had to feel like the odd one out. It was great. She couldn’t even begin to put into words how thrilled she was. She just hoped she wouldn’t find a way to screw it all up.
As soon as she got home a little later that night, Paige took a nice, long shower before getting into bed. She wasn’t used to going to sleep so early, and of course she was all jittery for the start of her new job, but she knew she was going to need to change her sleep schedule – among other things – if she was going to have any chance of doing well at this normal, nine-to-five position.
Her first day at GeNome Labs was certainly an interesting one. It was fairly stressful as well, but Paige knew she should just take a deep breath and pay attention to everything she was being trained to do. She asked a few questions to clarify, which made her feel more competent. She wasn’t pretending like she understood it all just because she wanted to impress. Sometimes, when she didn’t understand something, she’d feel so stupid and down on herself, but she pushed through it. Everyone starts out feeling overwhelmed and a little confused, she told herself as she took her fiftieth deep breath of the day. No one who works here is perfect, not even the scientists who I’m sure are so smart. They all had to be trained at some point.
Paige had to wonder if she should’ve become a motivational speaker. She wasn
’t always so good at giving herself such solid and thoughtful advice. She supposed it came with having profound friends and parents.
She sat at her sparkling new desk, typing onto her brand new computer, and she felt a little sad still. She’d given up on what she wanted to be doing in order to do something so, well, boring in comparison. She knew she shouldn’t complain; there were a lot of people who needed a job and would’ve jumped at the chance to do this one. But it wasn’t where her heart lay. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to commit to being an admin assistant for the long run. It was difficult for her to put her all into something she wasn’t passionate about. But, in the meantime, at least it made her days go by faster and she was getting paid well. The benefits certainly didn’t hurt.
She just knew she should continue to apply for event planner roles, which wasn’t a fun thought considering she’d just gotten out of the intense job search. It would be more leisurely now, but she still felt a fire inside of her. Maybe this drive I’m feeling can be put to good use in the job hunt? One of the good things about her new job was she was sitting at a computer for eight hours and could therefore devote some time to checking job sites. The only thing was, she had to make sure not to do it too much or too often or she was liable to get fired.
Paige was just closing out of a jobs tab when her boss Ms. Mills came strolling over to her, Starbucks to-go cup in hand. “Hi, how’s it going?” she asked her pleasantly. There was no reason for Paige to believe her boss knew she’d been browsing for a new job – especially so soon – but she was feeling particularly paranoid because it was so soon after being hired. She didn’t know her boss well yet, or the rules about applying for other things while on company time.
“I’m doing well,” Paige replied. “I think.” She chuckled a bit, mostly out of nerves. “I just finished the TPS report you asked for.”
Ms. Mills nodded, still smiling at her. “Excellent, thank you. Please make sure you also print it out for me so I have a hard copy for the meeting.”
“Oh, right,” Paige said. “Of course.” She hastily went back to her open document and hit print. Her fingers were shaking, not slightly enough for her liking.
“Paige,” Ms. Mills said, gently placing a hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. You’re doing a great job here so far.”
Taking another of her patented deep breaths, Paige smiled and nodded her head a bit. “Thank you, ma’am.”
Ms. Mills’ smile only grew. “Please, call me Tessa.”
She was being so nice to Paige; it was making her feel even worse about the fact she’d been trying to find a way out of this job. “Okay… Tessa,” Paige replied.
You don’t have to feel bad about taking care of yourself, she thought, being her own motivational speaker again. You’ll work here until you find something better suited to you. And you’ll give two weeks’ notice. There’s no crime in looking out for numero uno.
She wondered if this was why she’d avoided doing something which diverged from event planning; she didn’t like disappointing people, even if it was in the name of furthering herself.
Now that she’d acted so strangely towards her new boss, Paige felt an even stronger push to get out of there as soon as possible. Once she returned home that evening, she sat at her computer and applied for some new event coordinator jobs, finding a few great ones she could easily take on during the coming weekends. She felt much better about how things might turn out. Then, of course, she had to go to bed to resume work the next morning…
Finally, the weekend traipsed into view. Paige kind of regretted not giving herself some time off after her first week at GeNome Labs, but she hadn’t suspected feeling fatigued from a desk job. At least the event coordinator gigs would allow her to move around, and flex the muscles she’d worked so long to build up.
She drove her mom’s car to one of the events where she was supposed to act as the ringleader. It was a fairly calm affair – a cocktail party to celebrate someone named Beth’s retirement. Paige had done most of the preparation work ahead of time via email and telephone. When she arrived, she was dressed in a nice little black dress, hoping she looked nice enough to at least be taken seriously.
Taking the hotel ballroom’s microphone into her hand, Paige’s face lit up with unfelt friendliness for people she was never going to see again. “Hello and welcome to Marty Schultz’s Retirement Party!” she announced in a cheerful voice to match the expression on her face.
The party was mostly standard, with cocktails and games. Paige helped the people who were ‘throwing’ the party choose the activities, the venue, the decorations… She was proud of how it had all turned out. She wished she could bring herself to care more about it, but she chalked it up to being tired from a busy first week at the GenNome office. Once she’d made the necessary introductions and other important announcements, she sort of hung back at a table near the front, cool fruity mocktail in her hand, and watched everyone having a good time.
She wished this could just be her life. Everything would be parties and networking if I could do this all the time…
“Paige?”
She inwardly jumped in surprise at hearing someone calling her name. Looking towards the source, she nearly dropped her nice glass onto the emerald, carpeted floor of the ballroom. Before her stood Ms. Tessa Mills. The other woman seemed just as startled as she was.
She smiled at Paige, a less poised and more doubtful sort of smile. “What are you doing here? Do you know Marty?”
Paige blanched slightly. Her resume listed her freelance work, but she’d neglected to mention she was still doing it… She’d thought perhaps she wouldn’t keep it up long, when she sent her application off for her admin assistant job. Is this a bad look for me? Have I broken a contract or something? She couldn’t remember anything about it when they’d chatted during her interview, but now she wasn’t sure…
“Um, no, actually,” Paige said to Ms. Mills. “I work some weekends as an events coordinator… I hope that’s all right.” She didn’t want to have to quit, but she would if her new boss wished for her to only focus on the lab. She didn’t see why it would be necessary, but she knew some places of employment could be less flexible than others.
Tessa raised an eyebrow, and smiled. “Oh, it’s no problem. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting to see you today. It’s a pleasant surprise, though.” She let out a laugh. “I’ll remember you have this skill in your pocket. You know we sometimes have events, too.” She winked.
Paige felt a wave of relief flow through her. She’d been about ready to beg and grovel in order to keep her job, but now it turned out her boss was more than accepting. After all, everyone had their little side projects, right? “Oh my gosh, thank you so much. I promise it will never interfere with my work.”
Tessa beamed – back to the friendly smile from before, at the office. “You worry too much, hon. I’d never fire you over having a second job. Especially not in this economy.”
Paige smiled a more confident smile back at her, relaxing slightly and taking a sip of her drink. All she ever really wanted was praise from her boss, most importantly while she was still so new at her job. “I’m grateful,” she said. “I really do appreciate you giving me this opportunity.”
She was going to feel bad for leaving GeNome, if no other reason than because she really liked Tessa. Not every boss was going to be as understanding and laid back. Paige almost wondered if she should refine her work search so she could find a place with a similar work-life balance and culture. She was learning so much already, and she felt like she owed Iris an edible arrangement or something in thanks.
As soon as she got home from the event, Paige got her phone and texted her friend. “Thank you SO much for helping me get this job!” she texted. “I owe you one.”
“LOL,” Iris texted back. “Having a nice weekend? You shouldn’t think about work during your days off or you’ll go crazy.”
“Noted,” Paige replied. “But I’m just so exc
ited. OH! BTW, I just ran into Tessa Mills while I was working at an event. I thought she’d be mad but she seemed almost impressed.”
She watched the little typing icon on her phone as Iris composed a response. “What’re the odds of that? But nah, she’s a calm person who gets that we all have lives outside of the office. She’ll understand when you move on, too. Just make sure to give her your two weeks notice.”
“I wouldn’t ever dream of not giving my two weeks,” Paige replied. “I don’t think this job is the right one for me in the long run, but man is it nice to have a place to go every day, and things to do. And money!”
She looked on her computer for some more event coordinator roles she might be able to fill, just in case. She was hoping she wouldn’t have to keep doing the freelance thing forever, because stability was what she most craved. Now, at least she had the stability, she just wanted to find the right position within it. Tessa made it seem as though an events coordinator role might open up for her, but she wasn’t going to hold her breath.
Chapter Five
If Doug thought things might settle down at the ranch after his mom and aunt’s big food fight on the lawn, he had another thing coming. If anything, they acted even worse towards each other. He wondered how they’d ever worked together on the ranch, considering the animosity they clearly felt. He didn’t know what had caused it, but it was much too far along for him to simply cure with some strong words and tough love. He’d felt guilty at first about putting up job listings behind their backs, but now he felt like it was just the right thing to do. He was a business owner, after all. He couldn’t let the business down just because his family was getting into fights and not getting along.
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