Married This Year 3: Adventures In Hiring

by Tracey Pedersen

  “I just didn’t want it to go unnoticed. I want this job and I think I’d be great at it, from what you’ve explained. Please consider me seriously before you make a decision.”

  “We definitely will. Thanks for coming in, it really does show dedication.” Emily couldn’t be mean to her; the girl was just so damn cheerful.

  They escorted her out and met back in the conference room to compare score sheets.

  “Besides the birthday bribery, what do you think?” Emily asked.

  “Well, she’d definitely be pleasant to have around, though she may turn out to be a bit of a chatterbox. She’s very young but we are employing a basic accounts person in this one. It’s nice to have some variety in the office age-wise. New ideas are always good.”

  “I agree. Let’s short list her.”

  “We only have one more to interview for accounts don’t we? Do you think we’ve seen enough people?”

  “Yes, definitely. I don’t believe in continuing to interview when you’ve found suitable applicants. It’s like looking at wedding dresses when you’ve already bought yours and it’s hanging in your cupboard. There’ll always be something better.”

  “Interesting. Okay, she’s a yes if the next one isn’t better. Good.”

  “Let’s hope whoever we appoint to the accounts manager role, likes chirpy young ladies in their team.”

  ***

  The third job applicant turned out to be the most exciting of all. The conference room had a previous booking so they held it in Cooper’s office instead.

  Stacy Cook was doing well. She was articulate and gave all the right answers to their questions. She continually wiped her hands across her skirt, showing how nervous she was and when it came time for her to ask questions, her hands visibly shook. “I’m drawing a blank.” She stared at them, wide-eyed. “I’m sure there’s something clever or insightful I’m meant to ask here but I just can’t think of anything. You covered all the details I would normally want to know.” She smiled at them both and Emily took pity on her.

  “That’s okay. There’s no rule that says you have to ask questions. If you think of anything after you’ve gone home, feel free to call me.” Emily slid her card across the table. Stacy wiped her hand again before she took the card and dropped it into the handbag she’d placed beside her chair. Cooper thanked her for coming and she stood and shook both their hands.

  She took a step to her right and the toe of her shoe caught in the handle of her bag. Suddenly she was flailing through the air and she fell heavily against the side table. As she continued her downward trajectory, she knocked a photo frame from the table and it smashed onto the floor, the glass breaking into several pieces.

  “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” she howled, before dropping to her knees.

  “It’s okay, just leave it.” Cooper was quick to take her elbow to help her up. “We can clean that up.”

  “No, no. I’ll do it. I’m so clumsy. So sorry!” She rubbed her hand along the carpet, trying to scoop up the glass. A large piece stuck into her palm and cut through the skin. Emily jumped up as blood spurted from Stacy’s hand, some of it dripping on the floor.

  “Oh my goodness.” Emily pushed a box of tissues across the desk. “Let me go and get a first aid kit.” She rushed to the kitchen, leaving Cooper to deal with the bleeding, and now bawling, woman. When she returned Stacy was howling and trying to wipe blood off the shoulder of Cooper’s suit. He was saying soothing words to her and managed to finally get her into a chair, where she covered her face and let out huge wracking sobs.

  Cooper and Emily stared at each other, both with helpless expressions. They offered her tissues and repeated that it was totally fine. When she finally had herself under control, they took care of her hand and Emily walked her down the stairs and out to her car. She promised to call when they had made their decision. As she stood and watched the car drive away, she cringed as she heard a backfire echo down the street.

  That girl has had one difficult day!

  Cooper flopped into the chair opposite her desk the moment she was back upstairs. “Have you ever had a day like this?”

  “Nothing surprises me any more. But no, today was a one-of-a-kind experience. I’m exhausted.”

  “Me too. Imagine if we’d booked more than three!”

  She pursed her lips. “You don’t have to rub it in Cooper. You were right, okay?”

  “I’m not trying to rub anything in. I’m just saying imagine how crap today would have been if more crazies had been scheduled.” The look on his face made Emily laugh and she relaxed. Something she hadn’t done in his presence since he’d arrived last week. “I know you’ll say it’s inappropriate and that you’re not interested, but do you want to get dinner with me? The apartment is boring on my own and I’m tired of eating frozen pizza.”

  “Damn, I was going to suggest we get a pizza. Oh well.” Her lips twitched as she made fun of him. “Maybe I can make an exception and we could get a pub meal?”

  “Perfect.” Pleasure filled his voice and his face. “I have a few emails to answer then let’s get out of here.”

  “I’ll need at least thirty minutes. Plus I’ll need to organise someone else to lock up.”

  “Sounds good. I’ll see you when you’re ready.”

  Dinner with Cooper. What the hell am I thinking?

  Chapter Seven

  Dinner with Cooper was a lot more pleasant than Emily would have liked. He’d always been fun and more than one date had ended in them laughing uncontrollably together. Just like old times, they were soon laughing and joking together tonight.

  “How’s your parrot?”

  “He’s great. You’ll see him tomorrow. I’m having pest control done at my house and they said not to leave him locked inside all day the first day. So I’ll bring him to work.”

  “I noticed the stand in the corner of your office.”

  “I don’t bring him in often and lately I just haven’t had time to bother about it. Everyone loves him, though. It makes the office a chatty place whenever he’s there.”

  “How’s your crazy friend Jordan doing? Did she ever manage to settle on one guy?”

  “First, she’s not crazy. You use that word a lot and I suspect it is highly inappropriate. Jordan was just trying a new way to meet the right man. Second, her and Luke are engaged.”

  “Luke? I met him the night of the toilet-bowl-around-the-neck incident didn’t I? They seemed like they were just friends.”

  “Yes, well, Luke felt a bit stronger than that and Jordan finally realised she felt the same too. It took all year though! He asked her to marry him on New Year’s Eve so she almost reached her goal.” She popped a mouthful of roast beef into her mouth and chewed. “We’re counting it as a win.”

  “Definitely. So she ditched the toilet bowl guy, what was his name?”

  “Richard.”

  “That’s it. He seemed fun.”

  “Yep, turns out a bit too fun. She wasn’t the only one.”

  “Wow. How could he do that to her? If he was serious he should have finished up with the others.”

  Oh, this from you!

  She paused before she answered. “I guess some people like to keep their options open. One of his options was his wife.”

  “Wow!”

  “Yeah. Jordan said a lot worse things than that.”

  “Have you ever cheated on someone?”

  Have you?

  “No, why would you ask me that?”

  “No reason. I’d never do that so I wondered.”

  “You’d never go out with one woman while you were dating another?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Have you ever? Even once?”

  “Nope.” He sipped his drink and watched as she put her cutlery down. “I don’t want to ruin the friendly atmosphere we’ve got going here by discussing our private life, but when you and I met, I immediately curtailed my activities with anyone else.”

  Sure you did!r />
  “Really? Why?”

  “Because I thought we had something. I thought you felt it too. Turns out I was way off base.”

  She bit her lip, and considered telling him what she’d overheard and asking him to explain it to her. Nine months had passed, though, and now they were working together. Nothing good could come of making him confess that he was seeing someone else back then. Work would be awkward and she still had many weeks of working with him. Best to change the subject.

  “You’ll need to get your suit dry cleaned.”

  “Luckily I brought more than one with me for just such an occurrence.”

  “No one could have predicted today. We didn’t even compare our score sheets.”

  “I left mine on my desk for tomorrow. I thought she was a great candidate but she was so nervous. If that was just interview nerves we can overlook it. If she’ll be like that every time there’s a problem or a hard decision to make, then she’s not a good fit.”

  “I agree. Let’s do the other interviews and then get her back for a second if we need to.”

  “Good idea. You know I nearly held Lacey’s baby this morning. She was super cute.” He looked wistful. “To think I passed up that chance because I was worried about getting vomit or snot on my suit.”

  Emily snorted through her drink. “Oh my god, stop it! How did that work out for you?” she laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks as he grinned at her.

  “I don’t think it’s nearly as funny as you do.”

  She continued giggling as he watched her with a mixture of amusement and bafflement. Finally she was able to draw a breath and take another sip of her drink.

  They ate their meal, and then she asked the question that had been burning inside her ever since their most eventful interview wound up. “Who was in the photo in your office? That was yours wasn’t it, not left behind by someone else?”

  He quieted down and she focussed her attention on him. “That’s my mum.”

  “You bring her photo everywhere you consult?”

  “Not usually, but she passed away a few months ago.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Cooper.” Instinctively she reached out and wrapped her hand around his. “That must have been awful.” He looked at her hand but made no move to remove his own.

  “It was. She used to call me over and over and I used to get annoyed with her. She’d been in a nursing home for the last twelve months. She’d call me, crying to ‘go home’ and begging me to come and get her. I wanted her to stay at my place but she needed round the clock care, which I couldn’t provide. I planned to get a nurse but she had a fall before I could organise it and the hospital said the best place would be the home.” The words were pouring out of him like he couldn’t stop talking. Emily rubbed her finger over his thumb while he spoke and ignored the tear that glistened in the corner of his eye. “Anyway, I got a call one night. She got out of bed alone and had another fall. She hit her head and passed away.”

  “That’s so sad.”

  “I feel really guilty, you know?” He looked up at her. “All those calls where I told her I loved her and we’d be together soon, and I didn’t make enough time to visit her. I was busy with my life and there never seemed to be enough time. When I did visit sometimes she didn’t know who I was and that was hard. She used to text me and it was just gibberish that I dutifully replied to.” He sat back in his seat and Emily looked hard at him for the first time. He’d aged since they’d been together. Nothing drastic, but the signs of stress and grief were etched into the tiny lines around his eyes and his mouth. No doubt he’d have had a few new grey hairs showing had he not been surfer-blonde.

  She had her own dose of guilt to add to his, though. She suddenly knew who he’d been talking to the day she’d overheard those phone calls and watched him text all through lunch. There was no other woman. Emily had stupidly assumed the worst and she’d punished him for it. Worse than that, she’d punished herself. They’d had a promising relationship and it had been her who had ruined it. Not him.

  In that moment, staring across the dinner table at him, she’d never been less proud of herself.

  Chapter Eight

  “There you go Andrew. Good boy. Stay on the stand.”

  Sasha and Jenny crowded into Emily’s office. “Oh, it’s been so long since you brought him in. Can we still feed him?”

  “Yes, you can feed him. He has seeds there in his bowl.”

  “Hello Andrew.” Sasha crooned to the bright green bird. “How are you doing?”

  “Fiiiiiiiiine!” his low voice replied, and both women fell around laughing.

  “Man, I love him. I wish I had a talking bird.”

  “It’s a lifelong commitment. My mum taught him to speak twenty years ago when I was small. He may be inherited by my children, yet.”

  “Wow. That’s so amazing. Here’s a seed Andrew. Do you love seeds?”

  “I love you!” he squawked and more laughter followed.

  Soon he was imitating their laughter and Emily shooed them out of her office. “Enough, ladies. You can play with him later while I’m interviewing.”

  “Ooh, I’ll be back. I remember in the days when this office was actually fun we could play with him for ages.”

  “Yes, but then I caught you teaching him to swear, remember Jenny?”

  “I remember no such thing.” She smirked and gave the bird a scratch on the neck before going back to her desk.

  Emily cleared her email and checked her calendar for the day. Three interviews, as per Cooper’s daily request. Plus she had a safety meeting, a short operations meeting and an appointment with a distributor. Lacey’s first day was tomorrow and there was paperwork to be prepared for her, too.

  Cooper wandered past the door. “You’re in early.”

  “The early bird eats the worm!” Andrew screeched from the corner.

  “Oh, hello Andrew.” He approached the parrot and fed him a seed as Emily watched from the corner of her eye.

  If only you knew the deep and meaningful conversations I had with Andrew about you after we broke up.

  “Do you remember Cooper, Andrew?” he fed him another seed and looked over at Emily as she stared at her computer screen. “Do you think he remembers me?”

  “Coooooopeeerrrrrrrrrr!”

  “Ha! He can say my name!” he looked at her again. “How does he know that?”

  “Cooooooperrrrrrrr is gone.” Andrews voice was low and sad.

  Uh-oh!

  “Cooooooperrrrrrrr is a bad boy.”

  Emily pursed her lips and tapped out a reply to an email, while simultaneously wanting the ground to swallow her whole.

  Shut up bird!

  “Cooooooperrrrrrrr isn’t coming back.”

  “Wow. He has all these phrases and he just puts my name at the start of each one, huh?”

  “I told you he was chatty.” She said brightly as she willed him to leave her office.

  “Cooooooperrrrrrrr is banned from this house.”

  “Okay Andrew, I get the message. I thought you liked me dude.” Cooper laughed and walked toward the door before addressing Emily. “I’ll see you in the conference room at nine for our first adventure of the day?”

  “Can’t wait. Would you mind closing the door so that Andrew doesn’t annoy everyone?”

  “Sure.” He glanced at the bird and she relaxed knowing her purgatory would be over in just a second.

  Before Cooper pulled the door completely shut, Andrew said in his saddest voice yet, “Cooooooperrrrrrrr broke my heart.”

  ***

  Emily avoided making eye contact with Cooper as they settled themselves at the boardroom table. Tiffany Kirven was seated opposite them, looking like she was born to work at Simpsons Stationery.

  The introductions passed without incident and Emily launched into her planned questions. After several days of interviews she was already sick of the questions.

  “What’s your greatest weakness?”

  “I use
d to struggle to be on time, but I’ve worked on that and now I give myself a lot more time to get places.”

  “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

  “Well, I’d like to have learnt a lot about the business and be contributing to a lot of improvements. Personally, I hope I’ve managed to squeeze in a few more overseas trips by then.”

  Then the last question, delivered by Cooper. “Out of all the candidates, why should we hire you?” He held up a hand before Tiffany could answer. “Please don’t say it’s your birthday. We’ve already heard that one.”

  Emily burst out laughing and Cooper looked sideways at her. “She couldn’t do that in the actual interview where that answer came up.” he said, nodding his head toward her, and Tiffany joined in the laughter.

  “It’s definitely not my birthday, and I didn’t meet any of the other candidates, but I can tell you that I enjoy my job, wherever I work. I’ve always found that I fit in well with other staff and I’m quick to learn any new tasks.” She smiled at both of them in turn. “I take a lot of notes so I generally don’t have to ask the same question over and over. You said you have quite a few roles to fill. I’d be an asset as I could be trained quickly and be less of a burden than someone less experienced.”

  “Perfect.” When Emily spoke, relief was evident in her voice. “That’s exactly what I like to hear. I think you’ll be hearing from us very soon. You only have to give one week’s notice, right?” She stood and stretched out her hand and Tiffany and Cooper followed her lead.

  “Yes, I—” as she reached for Cooper’s hand her skirt caught on the armrest of the chair she’d just vacated. She let out a loud ‘oh’ and then her arm shot up and she fell backward, almost in slow motion. Before Emily or Cooper could move, her chair toppled over and she was flailing with her legs across the chair; her skirt over her waist. Emily pushed Cooper aside and rushed to her rescue. The poor woman’s underwear was showing and she tried to save her the embarrassment of Cooper having to assist.

  “Are you okay?” she helped her to the side as Cooper righted the chair and they placed her back in it. “Does it hurt anywhere?”