company wouldn’t be easy.
I rolled up my sleeves and undid my tie a bit more. What did Brian want? I was in a bad mood already. I got up from my chair and walked towards the door.
“Brian!” I said as I opened the door and walked back to my desk. He appeared on my door and leaned on its frame. He looked better than he had in the past month. Maybe knowing that Monday was approaching and his assistant duties were about to be over made him feel a bit at ease. Still, I had no idea what he was doing in my office and I voiced my thoughts.
“…I want you to interview someone,” I looked up confused. Interview? For what? “Yeah, it’s for the personal assistant job.” Ok…. I had chosen a personal assistant. Hadn’t I? I tried to wreck my brain to remember if we had agreed on that or if it had been a conversation I only had in my mind. I went over the few assistant related conversations we’d had while telling him what I thought we’d agreed on. He went on and on about a girl he wanted me to interview even though we’d already hired another one. I was waiting for a convincing argument but all I got was a weird smile. Either he was trying to tell me that the girl was hot or that she was perfect for the job. Either way I agreed to see her.
“Fifteen minutes. That’s all I have,” I said pushing the computer away and shaking my head. I needed to push my bad mood away. I hated meeting someone in a bad mood but sometimes it couldn’t be helped.
One minute later I saw her stepping into my office. This was no girl and definitely didn’t look like an assistant. She was a woman dressed in a way no assistant of mine ever did. I had no idea what it was about her; she was wearing a skirt and a shirt but there was something about them that didn’t look….ordinary.
I stood up and shook her hand trying to see if Brian got the message that I didn’t know her name or hadn’t heard it, which was the same thing. He didn’t see me, he was too busy talking to the girl from the door frame. ‘Lucinda Stuart,’ I heard from both of them at the same time. It’s a good name, a strong name.
I asked her to sit down while I did the same and looked up to see Brian smiling at me. I still had no idea why I was talking to Miss Stuart. Maybe it was because she was hot.
“Brian… Do you have her resume?” I asked him because he still didn’t get that I was trying to tell him with my eyes that I needed it. Of course, he didn’t have it because for the past month Brian had been a wreck. It might have had to do with the fact that I asked for things he didn’t understand.
Miss Stuart took a resume out of her purse that really looked like a tote bag, why did women carry those things around instead of purses these days? Huge! I took the resume and heard Brian babble on about how she might be perfect for the job and it’s then that I understand what all the smiling was about. He wasn’t trying to tell me that she was hot. She was, though, the strawberry blonde hair, green eyes and red lips stood out but what really had Brian smiling was that he thought that she might be perfect, more perfect than the mousey girl with a MBA.
I nodded to let Brian know that he could leave and then I began reading her resume. Trying to. I was barely skimming through it because what really interested me was the woman I had in front of me. She seemed confident and professional. I wondered why she wasn’t applying for more suitable positions. Why personal assistant? All my mental rambling stopped abruptly when I saw Little Black Book on her resume. Not only had she worked in company that I tried to buy, but she had been the Vice president of Administration. I raised my eyebrows.
“So, Miss Stuart, Little Black Book, uh?” I looked at her. Yes, this was a confident woman. She told me about her 5 years working at the company and I had to say that I was more confused than before. Why was she here?
“We tried to buy it,” I said still going through the resume, this time trying to read what it said.
“I know,” I heard her say “I advised them not to sell.” That definitely got my attention. I looked up and I couldn’t help but smile. She advised them not to sell. What was she doing here? She quit her job, even though her advice had been the right one because the company had amazing growth in the last two quarters. She was right; the damn company grew like it was on steroids. She should have been promoted, not allowed to walk out the door.
“Why did you quit?” I finally asked and I think I saw a shadow of a smile. It bothered me not knowing what was going through her mind. I was used to knowing everything about everyone.
I listened closely as she answered my question in the most amazing and honest way. It was refreshing, she was not bullshitting me and I was quite impressed by that. So, she got tired of being who she was and wanted a change, or so she said. It was a valid and legit reason to seek a change in her career but, really, being a personal assistant wouldn’t give her any time to herself. Oh! It suddenly dawned on me that she might think that working for me would be easy. It would be the opposite of easy. I could be one tough motherfucker; I didn’t mean to, it just happened. After I asked her if she thought that being my assistant would let her have any free time she came up with an answer that had me yawning at first, I know it won’t be easy ,blah blah blah; busy schedule,e blah blah but then she said something that truly got my attention:
“… I will get to be myself, not Miss Stuart, Vice president of administration, 24/7,” That, that was the exact moment I decided she was going to be my assistant. I don’t know why but the fact that she admitted in a job interview that she had been faking who she was made me want to know more. I took it as a challenge to know who she really was.
“No, you get to be Patrick Maynard’s assistant,” I said looking for a reaction but she said that she was fine with that in a very calm voice. Well, that was it. She was my new assistant.
I stood up and walked towards the door, “Brian!” A few seconds later he was in the office and I let him know that we were hiring Miss Stuart. She seemed a bit confused and just repeated a few words or nodded silently in agreement. Brian seemed to be in heaven knowing that I was going to have a very apt assistant and I was getting off his back.
“Thank you, Mr. Maynard,” she said extending her hand and I shook it.
“Thank you, Miss Stuart,” she didn’t know that I was truly thanking her because, all of a sudden, my life seemed to have a challenge. I wanted to get to know the real Lucinda Stuart and that was what I was intended to do; strip off every layer until I got to know who was the person hiding behind ‘Miss Stuart’. I saw them leave and then I realized I had two assistants now.
“Brian!” I said from my office door. Brian and Miss Stuart turned to look at me, “remember to tell the other girl…. The mousey one with the MBA, that the job is no longer hers.” Brian nodded and I saw no regret on Miss Stuart’s eyes. She didn’t feel bad for taking someone else’s job. I had no idea why, but I liked that.
I went back to my chair and felt restless; I busied myself with some other spreadsheets until I got a text from Brian.
Liked her? He texted, followed by an idiotic emoji.
Loved her. I sent the text.
Great!
I’m sending the authorization for you to sign.
Bring it back with you so I can file it.
He sent three texts one after the other and I just sent back a thumbs up emoji.
I opened Brian´s mail and the authorization attached to it. I read it, pretty much standard documentation.
Employee: Lucinda Stuart, I wrote.
Authorization: Patrick Maynard.
There. We were stuck with each other for a while.
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