by Bria Daly
He had started to storm off when he heard the car door click, open, and then shut. He turned again and saw Sera get out of the car stretching her lovely body to a mere five feet, if that, and walk right past him towards his office building.
With her back straight and chin up, she marched quickly, looking proud and as if the last ten minutes had never happened.
She was ahead of Jeff when he saw Todd and Alan open the door to let her in. The look they gave him said he was still the villain. He flipped them again and decided this could easily become his new Monday greeting.
Sera was stepping out of his office when Jeff stormed in. She was trying to get out as he was trying to get in, and the next thing he knew they were sidestepping each other in an effort to go where they wanted, trying really hard to not make bodily contact. Finally, Jeff raised his hands in the air and stepped aside pointing her in the right direction.
Her back was still to him when he broke the silent dance they had just performed.
“I blew my top. I’m sorry." Then looking down and putting his hands deep into his jean pockets, he added, "Please stay for a minute. I'd really appreciate it."
Sera froze where she was and turned around to look at Jeff.
Jeff was caught off guard. Those were some of the saddest and prettiest eyes he had ever seen.
"Sera, come in, because if you don’t come out of this office smiling, those three jackasses I employ will never let me live this down, and for the record, you didn’t mess up my desk, I did. I can't make heads or tails of some of that paperwork sometimes. I'm lousy at the business part of this job, I don't know how to keep an office organized, I didn't know that file cabinet could actually hold anything in it, and more than anything," Jeff paused and smiled, "I’m really lousy at customer service."
Sera was looking down at the floor and didn't say a word, but Jeff wasn't done.
“I do some of the best landscaping and stonescaping in town. I just wish I didn’t have to do it to earn a living because it really takes all the fun out of it.
“What I’m trying to say is I’m sorry. Here," Jeff pulled his desk chair out and pointed for her to sit down. “Why don’t we pretend you just walked in and let’s try to settle our differences once and for all, unless you want to see me in the headlines: Landscaping boss buried alive by his three employees.”
“You’re too nice.” Sera answered. “That’s your problem. You have to look at your clients as a name on a contract, not as people with lives or families with personal problems like mine. You should have a secretary dealing with this, being the bad guy, and then you could focus on what you like, what you really enjoy, giving you a chance to be creative and have fun doing it. What’s the use in owning your own business if you’re not even having fun? Money isn't everything." Sera looked up at him and pointedly added, "Even when you don't have it. Your secretary could organize your office allowing you to get more prospects and new jobs. You'd be able to take on new jobs and still enjoy some free time with your family, or your wife and kids, whoever is important in your life, and even then ..."
Sera stopped abruptly and suddenly turned a very bright red. When she looked up at Jeff, he was standing with his back against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, and had a very big and somewhat wicked smile on his face.
“Snap! I did it again, didn’t I?” Sera told him in a rush.
“You knew exactly how to apologize. That was really well done by the way. And what did I just do? I told you what I think you’re doing wrong and let you know how you should live your own life.
“I should go. Call me up and tell me what I owe and somehow, I’ll find a way to pay you back. I'm sorry I wasted your time.” And as an afterthought, "By the way, you're pretty good at the customer service stuff," she added with a weak smile as she turned to leave.
Jeff put his hands up in the air in a motion to stop her in her tracks. “Oh no you don't. You’re not getting off that easy. I may look like a moron, but I can’t simply let you go without leaving me a deposit or some type of legal document stating that you will make good on your account. Can you type?”
“On a computer?”
Jeff motioned her to stay and started toward Mitch's office as he overheard some shuffling of feet walk away in different directions. As expected, they were eavesdropping again. She was right, he had to get the office in shape, but first he had to point out to his employees that there were at least half a dozen jobs in need of supervision and these morons were just standing around, listening in on his conversation.
“Hey Sera, come here. Mitch has a PC in his office that I’m sure has a word processing program on it. I don’t know how good it is. All I ever see Mitch do is play solitaire or minesweeper.”
Jeff heard Mitch's deep voice say, “Ouch, that hurt,” as they made sure Sera found her way to Mitch's office. Jeff held the chair back for Sera to sit down and she immediately exited a FreeCell game that was on the screen, proof of what Jeff had just said. She accessed My Documents, and opened a blank document to start typing.
“What exactly is it that you want me to type? Do you want me to create a new contract or a pay schedule for the money I owe? I can probably do that better on Excel.”
“If you don't mind," Jeff told her with a smile, "I’ll dictate and you write. Okay?”
Sera uncomfortably adjusted her bottom on the chair’s seat and focused on the keyboard. Placing her fingers on it just so, she was ready to start.
She actually looked like she knew what she was doing, but Jeff's two index fingers were all he ever used, so he wasn't sure how fingers were supposed to be positioned.
When Jeff finally began dictating, her fingers started flying over the keys as words were spat out onto the monitor, leaving little time for him to think up words fast enough for her to type.
“Okay, I think that's it." He had only seen her falter where he knew she probably would, but she had regained speed immediately after.
"Please read it back to me,” he said in his most professional voice.
“I, Sera Henderson Sinclair," Sera cleared her throat and looked up at him before continuing, “will pay back the debt of expenses incurred by Mr. Jeff Mason in the amount of $5,768.00 (see attached), for materials purchased for the purpose of landscaping my home at 134 Hillcrest Ln.
I understand the debt will increase to its full amount of $14,000.00 if the project outlined on the estimate sheet is indeed completed by Mason Landscaping.
Full debt must be paid by March 15, 2014, or matters will be pursued by legal action taken against me."
Sera looked imploringly at her newest legal threat and then to the words on the screen before her.
“That’s only six months away. I’m not sure if I can pay it all back by then, no matter how hard I try.”
Dismissing her comment he motioned for her to keep typing.
“Where were we? Oh yeah,” he cleared his throat. "Jeffrey Mason, owner/manager of Mason Landscaping accepts payment of said debt in the form of employment by Sera Henderson Sinclair.
“A portion of Ms. Sinclair’s salary, not to exceed 20% and in accordance with current employment rates, will be deducted every month, for six months, until said debt of $5,768.00 is fulfilled."
“Go ahead and put the signature and date lines on the bottom to make this legal. I can get one of the three stooges to witness or someone else.”
Sera didn’t do as she was told, and instead asked, “You’re offering me a job?”
“No, I'm not sure ‘offering’ is the word I’d use. I want my money's worth one way or another and unless you win the lottery, it doesn’t look like I’ll get paid any other way.”
Jeff was caught off guard as Sera jumped into his arms and gave him a hug.
“When do I start?”
“I believe you just did.”
“So what are my hours?” The look of excitement on her face was priceless, as was Jeff's look of confusion. He faltered for a second while
trying to shake off the warmth of the quick hug and respond in his most professional voice.
"I’ll expect you here at 7:30 every morning, you’ll get an hour off for lunch, two fifteen-minute breaks, and you can leave at 4:00. I don’t consider it unethical or think it’s harassment to expect to find coffee ready for me when I come in to work at 8:00 every morning. Your duties will include answering phones, filing, taking care of the billing, payroll, ordering materials when I ask you to, and dealing with the clients on financial matters I need you to take care of.
“I think that about does it. Today I’d like you to continue with what you’ve already started.” Jeff’s lips moved slightly as he made an effort not to smile before he continued, “But before you do, I like my coffee strong and black with no sugar or cream.”
As he turned, Jeff saw that his business partner and his two employees had gone back to their offices and back to their work. He might be wrong, but he thought he noticed a look of respect when they glanced his way. Sometimes it paid to lay the law and let them know who was boss in this place. Nope, this Monday hadn't been as horrible as he thought it would be after all.
Feeling quite proud of himself, he decided to take off for a bite to eat and let everyone cool down a bit before he began training Sera. He was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something. A little hesitantly, he went back to where Sera was stacking up papers and separating them into piles.
"One more thing, before I go," he added while trying to keep his voice down so the others wouldn't hear, “I forgot about your kids. Does this work for you? If not let me know if we need to make some other arrangements." Mitch had just walked in and rolled his eyes, and Todd and Alan could be heard chuckling from the other rooms.
So much for gaining their respect.
Chapter 4
Sera waited until it was almost noon before she called her sister-in-law, Deb. In the two hours that followed from the time Sera was hired at her new job, to finally sitting down to make the call, Sera had already filled an entire cabinet drawer with alphabetized statements and was starting another. Right now however, her number one priority was to call Deb and let her know what was going on.
Sera punched in the number from memory and waited several rings with no success. They could be outside, but she knew Deb had to be home unless there had been an accident. Another possibility was that Deb hadn't heard the phone ring. Sera looked at her watch and shook her head. Emma's colic attacks hit pretty much on target every day, but she still had some time left before she slept it off and re-energized for another screeching fit.
The doctors had explained that colic was still a mystery in many ways, but the good news was that children outgrow it. The bad news was that Emma should have outgrown it by now, and because she hadn’t, she qualified as one of those special cases. UGH!
Emma's colic had started at exactly two weeks of age, which was pretty typical. Her episodes were predictable in length and times, as most cases are, and at this point, Sera had it down to a science. Mothers of colicky children plan their lives around these times; they know when to sleep, when to make a phone call, and when to go out without putting everyone within listening distance at risk. For the past six and a half months, Sera’s life had revolved around Emma’s screeching schedule and trying to keep the family finances from completely disappearing.
When the colic had first started, Sera had been terrified. P.D. had been such a quiet, calm, and smiley little boy. Melle had been a little more active, but still, a very easy baby over all, and Charlie was incredibly sweet and giggly. None of them had ever wailed or thrown fits. Emma on the other hand, let’s just say she wasn’t the type of baby most people wanted anywhere near them.
Emma was beautiful, but would have been the perfect poster child for all the reasons to encourage birth control. Sera had had her checked out by more than one pediatrician, and they all concluded it was colic, a pretty nasty colic, but simply colic. The best they could do for her – for the mother, that is - was to give Sera her a mild sedative to calm her nerves when things got out of hand. But with four kids, who could afford to take a sedative and possibly be knocked out no matter how tempting it was?
Peter hadn't been terrified when it all started like Sera was. Not afraid that something might be really wrong with their baby, he was just annoyed. If someone suggested that Peter might have stayed longer had it not been for Emma, all Sera would say was “Thank you Emma.” She would make sure not to burden the poor baby with guilt for something her stupid dad did.
It was really hard to remember now, but Peter had been fun at one point. Peter wasn’t the most patient person in the world and wasn’t really suited to be the dad of four kids, but since the only qualifications are sperm, he proudly accepted his fate – to a point.
Before the kids were born, Sera and Pete had done everything together. School, studying, games, parties, breaks, and even meals were always with Peter; life was good.
That didn't change for Sera. As far as she was concerned, life was still good. It was different, but good. Motherhood was awesome. She felt her contribution to the world was great, and her kids were the best. She blossomed during her pregnancies and loved every minute of it. Life was good. And now, at least she didn't feel like she had to constantly protect the kids from Peter's impatience.
Peter's biggest issue was that he and Sera had very little alone time, which basically translated to sex. Gone were the days when Peter came home for a nooner, or they had a quickie while the roast was cooking in the oven. Peter complained that they couldn't even go to a restaurant anymore, but that wasn't exactly true. It was true that they couldn't go to the nice French restaurant they used to love, but they could definitely still do noisy Italian. Peter didn’t want to share his wife with anyone, not even his own children.
That wasn’t entirely true though. Peter liked Sera when she looked good and he could show her off. Then he didn’t mind sharing her for the world to see. By the end of her pregnancies, his excuse was that she probably felt uncomfortable going out. The truth was he hated it when she looked like a blimp.
Sera tried dialing again and this time Deb picked up after the third ring. As soon as she heard her sister- in-law on the other end she immediately felt sorry for her. She sounded like she was totally out of breath. Not only did Deb's voice sound tired and strained, but in the background, Sera could hear Emma’s high-pitched wail and knew exactly what Deb was up against.
Deb was gasping for breath when she screamed "Sera, where are you?" Sera didn't think she heard fear in Deb's voice, as much as the fact that Deb's hearing was just a tad strained.
“I'm at work. Are you all right?”
“Oh yeah. Aha, I’m great.”
“You’re out of breath.”
“Oh, well that, I was just exercising.”
“Bull. You hate to exercise, not to mention the fact that you have four kids with you under the age of six, which makes it impossible to do anything as fun as suffering great pain with major sweating.”
“All right, all right. No, I wasn’t exercising, how do you do it Sera?”
“What are you talking about? You have four kids too."
“Yeah I know, but you have Emma!”
Sera laughed at her sister-in-law. Emma was a handful, but if anyone could handle her, other than Sera herself, it was Deb.
"Wait a minute. Did you say you were at work?"
"Uh, yes. I should have talked to you first, but this sort of just landed on my lap, so to speak." Sera smiled as she looked at the pile of papers she was holding while she talked to Deb.
"Listen Deb. I’m sorry, I really am. I'm sorry about this and everything else. You guys have been the best friends I could ever ask for now that Peter's gone. You're not just family and you know it. I hate this. I know it’s not easy with Emma and Charlie, in addition to yours, but I was hoping you could help me find someone to watch them for a few hours a day. I may even be able to come up with some work I can
do from home to cut down my hours ..."
"Whoa, hold it. You have a job?"
"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to watch my kids all the time."
“Hey kiddo, this is temporary and you can forget about paying someone to take care of them. Chad and I will do what we can to help you and you know it.”
Sera sighed, “Don’t make offers you will regret."
"Whatever. So about this job ... Where is it? And how did this happen? You never said you were interviewing for a job."
“Well, I didn't exactly, consciously, or really interview for this job."
"What the hell are you saying? English please, and dumb it down. I’m used to kid talk."
Sera smiled at her sister-in-law's straight-to-the-point attitude. She had always loved that about her. In fact, she loved everyone in Peter's family and wondered how Peter ended up the way he did with such great people in his life. Sera teased Deb about it and always said she had married the wrong Sinclair; Deb was one hot little number and she could cook, but Deb was a Sinclair only by marriage, like Sera was.
"I’ve been working at my new job since 9:30 this morning. Remember I told you I was trying to settle some financial matters this morning? Well, first on my list was a guy who called me last night. Actually, he was returning my call. Anyway, it was a $14,000.00 landscaping job Peter had set up,” Sera paused and rolled her eyes while she heard Deb growl in response. “It was something I didn’t even know about until a couple of weeks ago. Well, I owe him a ton of money for material, and he offered me a job to repay it. I get a decent salary for the next six months. Plus at the end of that time, my financial obligation is fulfilled, and as far as employment goes, I can decide what I want to do afterwards if he’s still happy with what I’m doing. It may help me pay off some other debts as well."
"You know we'll help you ..."
"I know, I know, but your brother-in-law did some pretty stupid stuff, and it's going to take more than a village to fix what he screwed up."