by Dawn Doyle
“Oh. Ok. I get it.” Ryan looked down at the table for a moment before turning and saying something to Riss.
Nick knew he understood. The psycho bitch had done that to Alex and they’d never even gone on a date. He’d hated her but she didn’t take no for an answer. He knew that all too well.
Nick stayed quiet and Ryan left him alone for the rest of the evening, before he left to go back to his apartment.
He took two sleeping pills and showered, letting them digest before they took effect. He got into bed and had another night of blissful, dreamless sleep.
*****
Chapter 3
Emily got up in the morning, excited for her interview at Lake Ventures. Her stomach was filled with butterflies and she was so nervous she felt a little nauseated.
“Oh God, I hope I don’t throw up”. She said out loud to herself.
She quickly got a shower before drying and styling her hair.
She chose an outfit, a black pencil skirt, a plum silk blouse, and a pair of black Mary Jane shoes.
She walked past Holly’s bedroom and she could tell that Holly and Alex were ‘up’.
I need my own place!
Emily didn’t know how much she could bear knowing that her little sister was getting it on with her fiancé in the room right next to hers. Not that it reminded Emily that she wasn’t getting any, and not that she wanted to anyway.
Emily reminded herself that she was done with men, as she walked downstairs to the kitchen.
“Hey Ems. Are you excited for your interview?” Her Mum asked, getting out another cup to pour tea for Emily.
“Hiya Mum. Yeah, I’m dead excited. I can’t wait. If I get this job, I’ll be able to move out.” Emily noticed the frown on her Mum’s face. She obviously didn’t like the idea of Emily moving out. “I know I’ve just got here, but after living with family for so long, I could do with my own space. I’m getting too old to be living at home.” She said, trying to get her Mum to agree with her reasoning.
“Well, Holly and Alex said they’re going to be getting a place of their own soon too. The place will be empty.”
Emily forgot about Holly and Alex moving out too. They’d mentioned looking for somewhere that they could ‘study’ in private when college starts in September and Holly had said Riss and Ryan were looking for an apartment too.
“I’m sure we’ll be back to visit a lot, Mum. You know what it’s like. Kids move out and end up spending more time visiting than at their own places. You’ll be kicking us out!” Emily tried to make light of it but she could see her Mum wasn’t happy about her girls leaving.
“I know you said you’ve just got here, Em. But when we moved, it felt like you’d already gone. We missed you so much and now that you’re here, for good, I was hoping you’d stay around a lot longer.”
“Oh Mum.” She said as she hugged her. “If I get the job, it’ll be a little while before I’ll have enough money anyway. I can afford the deposit and the first two month’s rent, but that’s it. I wouldn’t be able to get furniture or feed myself if I went now. It’ll be at least a month before I can even start looking again and I won’t be going far anyway.”
“Holly said you looked in Northgate. That’s pretty far.” Kim said with a sad look on her face.
It was breaking Emily’s heart that her Mum wanted her stay but she couldn’t wait to leave.
“Yeah I did. I didn’t realise how far away it was. The apartment was nice but a few people were already looking at it. Anyway the office I’m going to is on 4th Avenue, by the Seattle Library. That’s not far away. We could always meet up for lunch.”
“I guess so, love. Oh, I’m standing here feeling sorry for myself that my girls are all grown up. I’m happy for you, Em. I really am. If you want to move out, then that’s fine by me. But I just want you to have a good think about it first. Don’t just grab the first apartment you see because you can afford it.”
“I won’t Mum. I’ll be careful”
It had taken a while for Emily to convince her Mum not to help her pay for a place. Kim was adamant that Emily wasn’t going to live in a ‘bedsit’ when there was a nice home right there for her to stay in.
The house was nice. Big even. Four bedrooms, a huge garden that Holly had landscaped, and a hangout room.
It wasn’t just nice, it was gorgeous.
Emily would have liked to have a place like that for herself one day, but since Jeff got his hands on her, that dream had vanished along with her self-esteem.
Now, she was slowly building herself back up. She’d qualified, getting an almost perfect score, with a degree in business and she’d worked hard to get there. She hadn’t let anything get in her way from her studies. No men and no partying… except for a few celebratory drinks when submitting of the final assessments, and a part time job that hardly required any concentration at all.
It had paid off.
She was where she wanted to be.
With her family and, hopefully, working for a company that invested in businesses to help them start up, or helping them get back on their feet. That was what she’d wanted to do with her degree.
Eventually, she wanted her own company, but being an assistant for somebody already established was good enough for now. Even though she had been Jeff’s ‘assistant’ his business was to buy businesses that were on the market, get them back up and running and then sell them on at a profit.
Which he’d lied about.
Even though Emily had made a success of that, she thought her skills would be better used to help businesses instead of buying them out.
Emily finished getting ready for her interview, gathering some of her details of her work and her graduate certificate, before she headed out the door. Getting in to her Mum’s car, she set the sat nav and drove the fifteen minute journey to Lake Ventures on 4th Avenue.
The building was really tall, and had to be at least fifty stories high. It was black and had a shine to the brick work that made it look new and modern. The front windows were huge and the glass doors, in the centre, were the same size. The tiled paving in front matched the colour of the building and the planters had beautiful flowers and decorative shrubs in them.
Holly would like that.
Looking at the directions that the woman, Diane she said her name was, had given her she knew to take the lift, or ‘elevator’, to the fifteenth floor. Going through the glass doors, Emily looked around at the interior. It was pretty empty except for a huge counter area with the security guards sitting there with their monitors.
People were coming and going through a set of doors that opened as they swiped through with their badges.
“Hi. I have an appointment with Diane Marshall on the fifteenth floor.” She said to the huge security guard who had been staring at her as soon as she’d walked in. His piercing blue eyes gave her chills as he looked her over. She felt like she was being studied for a science project.
“One moment, Miss.” He said as he picked up a phone and punched in a few numbers. “Hello, Diane. This is Mike at the front desk, there’s a young woman here to see you.”
He looked at Emily, waiting for her to identify herself.
“Emily Edwards.” She said and he repeated it into the receiver.
“Ok Miss. Edwards. Go through the doors and turn right. Take the elevator to the fifteenth floor and Diane will meet you there.”
“Thanks…Mike.” She said before turning in the direction he’d pointed.
Emily rode the lift and when the doors opened, a woman, who looked to be in her fifties, was standing there waiting. She had a chin length bob haircut, blonde with a few darker streaks put through. She looked smart and business like, but her smile radiated warmth and friendliness. Emily felt at ease with her straight away.
“Hello. Welcome to Lake Ventures. You must be Emily. I’m Diane.” She said as Emily stepped out of the lift.
“I am. It’s nice to meet you.” Emily said, shaking the hand Diane had he
ld out for her.
“Come this way, sweetie. We’ll have a chat in the conference room. Unfortunately, Mr Lake wasn’t able to be here today so I’ll be going through some things with you.”
Diane led Emily past a small work area on the left. She knew it was Diane’s desk as it had her name on it. They walked a few feet when the area opened up and a larger work station, without a name in the far right corner near the windows, was visible.
“That’s where the assistant works.” Said Diane with a smile before opening a door on the left. There was another door a long the same wall that would be in the line of sight of the assistance desk, should the door be open.
“This is the conference room. Next door is Mr. Lake’s office. Please, make yourself comfortable.”
They sat and Diane asked Emily a bunch of questions about her job at Jeff’s company. Thankfully, she didn’t ask why she’d left, just the details of her next job.
After leaving, Emily had taken a part time job answering the telephones for a TV shopping channel. It had paid well and, with the commission, she was earning almost the same amount as Jeff had been paying her. That’s when she’d realised the extent of his deception. Not just screwing around behind her back, but she should have been earning four times more working for him.
Emily explained that the job suited her better for her studies. Diane nodded in agreement as she wrote down a few notes.
“So you’ve moved here with family? How are you liking it so far?”
That question threw Emily. It wasn’t something she was expecting at a job interview.
“Um…I like it. My family moved her around seven months ago. I stayed in the UK to finish my degree. I graduated last month.”
“Well, I hope you like it because Mr. Lake wants you to take the position.”
“What?” Emily couldn’t hide her surprise. Diane smiled and was chuckling at her shock. “Really?”
“Yes. In fact, he took a look at your resumé and told me to call you and have you come in for an interview. Well, not really an interview, just a few questions to get to know you a little. He thinks you’d be perfect for the job and, to be honest, I was sceptical because you’re highly qualified but I have to agree I think you’d be great here too.”
“Oh my God!” squeaked Emily, putting her hand over her mouth. “Seriously? That’s… wow, that’s excellent!” Emily couldn’t contain her excitement. She stood and hugged Diane, who was a little surprised at Emily’s sudden movement, but quickly returned the hug. “Thank you!”
“Oh, sweetie, don’t thank me. You should be proud of yourself. You’ve obviously worked very hard and I’m glad you’ll be joining the company. Anyway, I better give you the details…”
Diane explained that the company had been formed five years previously, by Mr. Lake alone, and it was kept fairly small. He had liked to keep the departments low in number and had everyone accountable for their own work, therefore no departmental managers. Instead, there would be meetings either once a month, or whenever it was required, with him and Emily as his assistant would be attending them too. Also, the position wasn’t a typical assistant role. Emily would be seen more as an extension of Mr. Lake, reporting directly to him.
“You start on Monday and I’ll introduce you to the staff in the other departments and show you where everything is. As you obviously don’t need training you’ll have the week to get yourself familiar with the work, will that be ok?”
“Yes, that’s plenty of time. Thanks Diane.” Emily said as they walked back out of the room and towards the lifts.
“I’ll call Mike to take your picture now, and set you up with a security card. It’ll be ready for when you start.” It was Diane’s turn to pull Emily into a hug before she rode the lift back down to the ground floor.
Emily walked over to Mike who gestured for her into the small room to the side of the desk, to take her photo for the security card.
“When the personnel department put you on their system, I’ll be able to print your card. It’ll be ready by Monday.” He said in his deep voice as he looked Emily up and down again.
“Ok. Ta Mike.” She said as she turned and left. Looking over her shoulder as she got to the doors, Emily saw that Mike was still looking at her.
Weirdo.
Emily was ecstatic that she’d been given the position. Even before she’d been interviewed too! She couldn’t wait to tell her family.
As she drove home, she called Holly. Emily knew she’d gone to Riss’ with Alex and the rest of the group that morning but she couldn’t wait to tell her.
The phone rang a few times before Holly answered.
“Hiya Em. Is everything ok?” Holly sounded worried.
“Yeah! Holly… I got the job! I was offered it straight away. They only wanted me to go in and have a talk, because they wanted me to take the job regardless.” Emily said excitedly.
“Oh my God that’s amazing! Em I’m dead happy for you!”
“Hol, tell Em to come over!” Emily heard Riss shout from the background.
“Riss said to come over. Will you come? I want to hear all about it.”
“Yeah I will. I haven’t got my stuff but I’ll pop round for a little while. See ou in a bit.”
Emily got to Riss’ house and Riss’ Mum opened the door for her. She walked to the pool room and went in.
“Em!” Holly shouted and everybody turned to say hi.
Emily stood frozen at what she saw.
Holly was in the pool.
She wasn’t panicking.
Alex had hold of her with her arms and legs around him. They were in the shallow end but he was crouching so that the water was up to her shoulders.
Holly noticed Emily’s expression and beamed at her.
Holly had a fear of water and would panic if the water went above waist height. She wasn’t even able to come away from the side of a pool, if she’d actually gotten in at all. To see her with the water up to her shoulders was amazing.
“Alex won’t let me fall.” Holly said dreamily.
“She’s doing great, isn’t she?” he asked, looking at her with love in his eyes. So much so that it hurt Emily’s chest.
They were so good together and she was so happy they’d found each other.
“Hol, that’s boss! Oh my God, I never expected to see you in this room again, let alone in the pool.”
Alex took Holly to the side to help her out. The others got out too.
“Congratulations Em!” Holly said as she walked over hand-in-hand with Alex. “I’d hug you but I don’t want to get you wet. Tell us what happened.”
Emily told them about the ‘interview’ and meeting Diane. The strange security guard and getting her photo taken for her card. As she was talking about Diane, she noticed Ryan’s smile.
“What?” she asked, getting paranoid.
“Oh, nothing. Just thinking about something, that’s all, and congrats on the job. I bet it’ll be awesome.” He said, smiling again. Emily wasn’t sure but she could swear he was trying not to laugh.
Emily walked into the building on her first day at the office. Butterflies in her stomach and hands shaking, she walked over to Mike, the huge security guard. He watched as she approached and the other guard turned to look where Mike’s gaze was. He smiled too.
Don’t say anything. It’s your first day. Just smile back and be nice.
“Hiya, Mike. Is my security badge ready?” she asked politely. Emily kept the smile on her face when she really wanted to give Mike a piece of her mind for staring.
“Here you go, Emily.” He said, looking right at her with his blue eyes. Emily had to look up to see them. The guy was huge. Well over six feet tall, wide shoulders and arms. He reminded her of a rugby player.
“Ta.” She said as she held her hand out for her card.
Mike gave it to her and let his fingers brush hers as he did. She frowned, he smiled wider.
Emily pulled her hand back, quickly and turned towards the doors s
he needed to go through to reach the lifts.
Don’t do that again, dickhead.
Emily was annoyed at what Mike had done. Even though it was only a brush of the fingers, she didn’t like it. He made her feel uncomfortable with the way he’d stared at her and when the other guard had turned to her too, she knew Mike must’ve said something to him by the way he reacted when he saw her.
She shook it off and pressed the button for the fifteenth floor.
“Hi Diane!” she said as she exited the lift and walked to Diane’s desk.
“Emily! Hi sweetie! Let me show you where to put your things and then I’ll show you the other departments that work for Mr. Lake.”
Diane linked Emily’s arm and took her to the assistant’s desk to put her things away in the drawer. She looked out the window and gasped at the view she had from her station. She wan’t very high up but she could see quite far from where she was. Mostly a lot of the other buildings but she could look down onto the other people busily going about their day.
“The view’s great from here isn’t it?” Diane asked from beside her as if reading her mind. “Ok, let’s go Honey.”
Emily was introduced to the accounts, marketing and personnel teams. They all seemed friendly enough and Emily especially liked Julie. She was the head of the personnel department and also a friend of Diane’s.
“You’ve already met Mike and Joe, so there’s no need for introductions there.”
“Joe?” Emily asked He must have been the other guy with Mike.
“Yes. He’s the other guard who works with Mike. There are another two guys who work the evening shifts but they occasionally change over. Watch out for Mike though. He’s a bit of a ladies’ man.” Diane said with a wink.
“Oh, no worries there.” Emily snorted a laugh.
None at all.