“So, Mary Margaret Flynn,” he said. “You’re officially part of the Murphy, Rannigan team.” She smirked at his use of her full name. He grinned. “Maggie. More specifically, you’re part of the elite 50th floor. We’ve already discussed your library duties. A couple of times a day, you should get the cart and gather up books people are finished with and return them to their proper places. Sometimes people take them back themselves and just leave them on a table, so look for those, too.” Maggie was writing notes in the folio.
Michael continued, “Every morning we meet as a team in the conference room to touch base on what everybody’s working on, where they are in the process. We have coffee and pastries for the meeting. That’s another rookie job. Getting the coffee and pastries.” He opened a drawer and took out a credit card, sliding it across the desk to Maggie.
She reached to pick it up. It was an American Express ‘Black Card’ she saw. Well of course it is, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes.
“Use this for those kinds of purchases,” he was saying. “We usually get coffee and stuff from Starbucks on the corner.” Maggie grimaced unconsciously. Michael cocked his head. “What’s wrong? Not a Starbucks fan?”
Maggie, eyes wide, tried to backpedal. “No, Starbucks is fine, I mean, if you like...” she trailed off.
Michael was curious. “If you like what?”
“Well, I mean, if you like corporate, big box kinds of sh...stuff,” she answered.
His grin was wry. “What would you suggest?” he asked, leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingertips together.
“For Pete’s sake, this is New York. There are terrific mom and pop bakeries on practically every block. The food is better and you’re supporting the local economy rather than lining corporate fat cat pockets.”
“Keeping in mind that corporate fat cats are precisely our clients,” Michael replied evenly, suppressing a grin, “this seems to be something about which you feel strongly.”
“I just think you can do better than Starbucks, that’s all,” Maggie said.
“Tell you what, Mags, you bring in what you think is best tomorrow and we’ll see how it goes,” he said with only a trace of a smirk.
Mags? Beats the hell out of Mary Margaret, I suppose. “It’s a deal,” she said, smiling. “You’ll be happy, I promise.”
Michael went on to say that she would also be responsible for taking lunch orders. “You pick the place and let them tell you what they want. What you say goes, I don’t want you running all over town to suit everyone, and besides, most places will deliver here.”
“Do you have a suggestion for my first day?”
“Do you have anything against the Lexington Grill?” he asked with only a trace of irony.
“Lexington Grill,” she repeated, writing it with her notes.
“In addition to your rookie responsibilities, there will be times I ask you to proofread briefs, go over depositions, find precedents, even accompany me to court on occasion. We’ll try to ease you in,” he said.
Maggie smiled. “Great! I’m ready to work hard. I like to feel that I earn my keep.”
“I’m sure you will,” Michael said. “It’s later than I planned. You might get on the lunch order now.”
Maggie stood. “Will do, boss,” she said walking to the door.
As she reached for the knob, he called out to her. “You know, we have something in common,” he said.
Maggie turned around and smirked. “Besides being lawyers, graduates of NYU School of Law, and aficionados of great live music?”
Michael gave a pained smile. “I’ve thought about it since your second interview. We’re both alone in the world. I never knew my father and my mom died when I was a kid. Nobody came to see me graduate, either.”
All the color drained from Maggie’s face. “Oh, God, Michael, I’m so sorry. I was being a smartass, I didn’t realize...”
He waved a hand at her dismissively. “No worries. I’m glad to know you’re a smartass. I was thinking you were a little uptight.” He gave her a genuine smile. “Glad to have you on board, Mags. Get going with lunch.”
Chapter 10
Maggie walked away from Michael’s office feeling like a first class idiot. What in the world possessed me to be so flippant? she wondered miserably. At least he hadn’t seemed bothered.
She thought about his words. We’re both alone in the world. She knew exactly what he meant. When her father died, she felt completely alone. She’d thrown herself into her undergraduate studies to distract herself from those thoughts. Law school had somehow been better. She’d bonded with her group of friends. She thought of Casey and knew they’d be close for the rest of their lives, the same with Ben. They were her family. Graduation had been a reminder that they wouldn’t be together forever, but she hadn’t allowed herself to dwell on the notion. She sighed and busied herself with the lunch order.
Everything went smoothly until she got to John Hemphill’s office. He was meeting with Ellen Standifer when she knocked on the open door. “Knock, knock,” she said brightly. “I’m Maggie, the newbie. I’m getting lunch requests. We’re ordering from the Lexington Grill.” She looked from one to the other.
“I remember you,” Hemphill said. “You’re the one from NYU.”
Maggie smiled. “Yep, that’s me. I’m settling in with my rookie assignments. What would you like from the Lexington?”
“I don’t want anything from there. Just get me a salad from Field of Greens,” Standifer said.
“I’m sorry,” Maggie said, “Michael picked Lexington today. We can do Field of Greens tomorrow if you like.”
Ellen Standifer narrowed her eyes. “A little presumptuous, aren’t we dear? Mr. Rannigan picked Lexington,” she corrected. “I want my salad. And you need to understand your place.” Hemphill turned to see Maggie’s reaction.
She felt her face redden and it pissed her off. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. “I completely understand my place here. Michael and I spent the morning discussing the matter at length. And I work for him, not for you. If there isn’t anything to your liking at the Lexington Grill then perhaps you’ll be happier placing your own order at your convenience. John?” She turned to look at Hemphill, whose mouth hung open in shock.
“Uh, I’ll have the garden burger,” he said.
Maggie flashed him her most confident smile. “Thanks!”
She did her best to put the exchange out of her mind. Lunch was ordered and delivered and afterwards Maggie busied herself with collecting heavy leather volumes from the various offices and returning them to their appropriate shelves in the library. She discovered that some associates preferred working in the conference room and she gathered books from there as well. That was where she met Dan Alverez who was happy to no longer be the newbie.
“Welcome to the 50th floor,” he said warmly. “If you need anything, let me know. I’m just glad to be off book and food duty.”
She laughed along with him. “It’s not so bad so far.”
The day passed quickly and it was close to six o’clock when she rounded a corner in the library and saw Michael leaning casually against a table, arms crossed in front of him. “Hey Mags, how’s it going?”
She smiled at him. “Great. I think I’m getting the hang of the layout of the shelves. I thought I might make one more sweep before I call it a night.”
“How was your first day? Did you have any problems with anybody?” he asked, deep brown eyes boring into hers.
Shit! That bitch went and reported me, she thought, and once again she felt her face redden. It had happened so many times throughout the day she’d lost count.
Maggie lifted her chin and returned his intense gaze, feeling slightly defiant. “Problems? I didn’t have a problem with anyone. I followed your instructions and did my job to the absolute best of my ability.”
Michael continued his intense gaze, his expression thoughtful. After a moment, he spoke. “You know, Ell
en can be a bitch sometimes. I could speak to her.”
“I’m a big girl,” Maggie said. “I fight my own battles.”
“Fair enough,” he said. He stood to go. “You can leave the rest of the books for tomorrow. It’s been a long day. Come on. I’ll walk out with you.”
Maggie returned to her office to gather her things. She slid her new folio into the beat up leather bag and slung her purse over her shoulder, turning off the light and pulling the door closed behind her. Michael was waiting by the elevator. “Can we share a cab?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “Thanks, I’ll just take the subway.”
They rode down to the lobby in comfortable silence and headed toward the revolving door that would deposit them out onto Park Avenue. Michael turned to Maggie. “It was a good first day,” he said. “See you in the morning.” She waved and headed off in the direction of the subway. “And Mags,” he called after her. She turned to look at him. “I can’t wait to see what you bring for the meeting tomorrow.”
She grinned and nodded. “You’ll love it! Good night, Michael.”
Chapter 11
Michael leaned back in the cab and watched as they passed Maggie walking down the street on her way to the subway. He thought back on the day, smiling as he recalled her passionate argument on the virtues of patronizing local business. She must have aced her litigation classes, he thought, shaking his head.
When Maggie left his office that morning to order lunch he’d gotten busy returning calls and going over notes he had for tomorrow’s case, a former child actress who’d been caught shoplifting expensive silk lingerie at Bergdorf Goodman. He figured he’d be in court most of the day, taking Hodges and Standifer with him.
In the back of the cab, he smiled to himself once again. At least Ellen Standifer would be out of Maggie’s way for the day. What was it about women? He had never understood why women could never seem to get along with each other.
His thoughts drifted to the moment an apoplectic Ellen had come storming through his door about half an hour after Maggie had left his office. “That girl you hired has to go!” she’d demanded.
Michael had looked up at her in surprise. “Maggie? Why?”
“First of all, Little Miss NYU had the nerve to refer to you by your first name,” she said, eyes wide.
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh? How was she supposed to refer to me?”
“Well, Mr. Rannigan, of course. I mean, she’s been here all of five minutes and she acts like she owns the place. You’re her boss for God’s sake!”
“I told her to call me Michael,” he replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Standifer opened her mouth and closed it again soundlessly. “Well,” she eventually spluttered, “after that she refused to order a salad for me from Field of Greens. You wouldn’t believe the tone she took with me.”
“I said that we’d order from Lexington today,” Michael told her. “Look, Ellen, it’s her first day. I’m sure it’s a little overwhelming. Give her time to settle in. But keep in mind, she’s not your personal assistant. I told you the same thing when Dan first started working here. She’ll order from one place a day. If you want something different, order it yourself. She has other responsibilities.” He raised an eyebrow indicating the final word on the subject. She’d left his office in a huff.
The rest of the day had flown by. He’d seen Maggie twice that afternoon, the first time when she brought his lunch. If she had been upset about Ellen she hadn’t mentioned it. Later he’d glimpsed her trundling a cart load of books back to the library.
At a quarter to six, Karen had popped her head in his door. “I’m going home, Michael. See you tomorrow.”
He’d been seated at his desk, the room lit only by the glow of his computer screen and the Z-Bar desk lamp he’d acquired from the Museum of Modern Art last spring. Outside the windows, the city lights were beginning to blink on.
“Is it that time already?” he stretched, lowering his reading glasses. “Good night, Karen.” He focused once again on his computer.
“By the way, Maggie’s still here,” she said. “Just thought you’d like to know.” She fluttered her fingers at him and closed the door.
Again he felt a twinge of irritation. Why would Karen think I’d like to know that the new hire is still here? He glanced at his Rolex. It was nearly six. Surely she knew that she could leave at five. He continued working for a few more minutes.
Maybe I should talk to her about the whole Ellen thing, he thought. He left his office to look for Maggie and found her office was empty but the light was still on. He walked down the hall to the library where the doors were open. He didn’t see her but he could hear among the stacks. He had to smile to himself. She was humming Big Yellow Taxi. He leaned against the nearest table to wait for her.
She looked surprised to see him there. “Hey Mags, how’s it going?” he greeted her, giving her the opportunity to tell him about Standifer. Only she didn’t. When he pushed the issue she told him that she could take care of herself.
The cab dropped him off in front of his building and the doorman greeted him. “Good evening, Mr. Rannigan.”
“Ramon, how’s it going?” he nodded. Stepping into the elevator he turned to see a middle-aged couple who lived on the seventeenth floor heading his way. He quickly pushed the button for the twenty-first and sighed with relief when the door closed before they got there.
As he reached his floor, another image popped into his mind. At the end of his orientation tutorial, he’d told Maggie about his family background, the father who’d abandoned him and the alcoholic mother who’d left him orphaned in his teen years. “We have something in common.”
He was glad that at first she’d thought he was joking, actually. Sharing the intimate details about his early life had left him feeling uncomfortable. Most of his lovers had no idea about his upbringing and he’d opened himself to an employee, a virtual stranger.
What the hell was I thinking, telling her those things? he wondered as he let himself into his apartment. I need some company. He picked up his phone to scroll through his messages. He was in luck. Gretchen had texted from her hotel. Gretchen, he smiled.
He felt his cock grow hard just thinking about her long Nordic blonde hair and ice-blue eyes, her firm round tits with their perky pink nipples. A lingerie model, Gretchen and Michael had met while he was on vacation in Madrid last summer. He thought about the last time he’d seen her. She’d worn an expensive barely-there black corset with garters and sheer black stockings. In black stiletto heels she’d performed a strip tease before telling him to watch as she fucked herself with a large pink dildo.
According to her text, she was in town for a two-day photo shoot. He dialed her number. “Gretchen, how are you, beautiful?”
Chapter 12
Maggie wasn’t sure why she hadn’t mentioned to Michael that she was meeting the other new hires for drinks at Doc Watson’s. She supposed she didn’t want him to wonder if she was talking about him. Nate had texted her shortly after five to say that he and the others were heading out. She’d replied that she planned to keep working until she was finished and to let her know if they left the bar. She’d also texted Ben to see if he’d meet her there. His new office was only a few blocks away.
As she reached the black awning in front of the pub she heard someone calling her name. “Hey Flynn, wait up!” Ben grinned as he strode up to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. “So how’s tricks?” he asked her.
“Not too shabby, how about you?” she asked as they made their way inside.
He grimaced, running a hand through his thick brown waves. “Well I made it through the first day without any major fuck-ups. I hope I’m not bored to tears by real estate law.”
Inside, Maggie spotted Nate and the others on the far side of the room. They’d pushed together a pair of high-top tables and he motioned for her and Ben to join them.
“Hey there!” Maggie greeted the group. “This is my fri
end from law school, Ben Kauffman. Today was his first day too, working in real estate law at Johnson, Biddle.”
Nate shook hands with Ben and introduced him and Maggie to everyone. “Maggie, Ben, this is Brenda Mejia, Jason Foster, Tony Pronti, Liz Abernathy, and Felix Vasquez. Everybody, Maggie and Ben.” They pulled up two more stools and Maggie ordered a round of Guinness for the table.
“So you’re the one on the mysterious 50th floor,” said Jason as all eyes turned to Maggie.
She stalled by sipping her pint. Try to remember first names because there’s no way you’re going to remember everyone, she thought. “Yeah, that’s me,” she admitted.
“You were hand-picked by Michael Rannigan? What I wouldn’t give to be picked by that man,” Liz commented. Brenda nodded in agreement.
“What are you going to be doing up there? I heard that 50 has all the famous clients,” Nate said.
Maggie shrugged. “I didn’t see any clients today. And they have me doing lots of grunt work. You know, filing, shelving books, that kind of thing. It’s not that special.”
“At least we all have each other,” Jason said motioning to everyone. “Do you know the people in the other cubicles?”
The park view from her office window popped into Maggie’s mind and she felt guilty. “I met some of the associates who work on 50. They seem nice,” she hedged. Thankfully the conversation drifted to the tasks the others had undertaken on their first day.
Ben leaned to speak into her ear. “Somebody’s not telling the whole truth, girlfriend. I can always tell.”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Maggie answered.
The gathering broke up around 8:15. Maggie and Ben walked out into the warm summer night. “We’re celebrating,” she told him. “I’m springing for a cab. After all, I’m gainfully employed.”
“Perfect,” Ben agreed. “And now you can tell me what you didn’t tell everyone else. I’m always up for juicy gossip. Especially if it involves the divine Mr. Rannigan.”
Rannigan's Redemption: Complete Collection Page 5