Amanda's Guide to Love by Alix Nichols Read Free Book Online

smiled. “I was just kidding with you.
Anyway, back to your chum . I can’t believe the Puri approve of your
friendship.”
    “They’re totally OK with it.”
    “They’re more than OK,” Marco said.
“They’re close to adopting her into the clan. I’ve heard them talk about
proclaiming her some sort of honorary Gitane .”
    “I forgot to tell you,” Rosanna sat
down next to Kes and grabbed his hand. “Joseph will be back next week. You
should stay for his homecoming party.”
    Her eyes were bright with the joy
of her husband’s imminent return from a seasonal job in neighboring Spain.
    “He was gone for less than two
months,” Kes said. “What’s the big deal?”
    “It’s the first time we’ve been
apart in fourteen years,” Rosanna said. “It’s been super hard for both of us
and the kids. So the next time those Spanish farmers want his help, it’s either
the whole family—or even better, the whole clan—or nada.”
    Kes shook his head in wonder. “You
guys are still as taken with each other as when you eloped all those years
ago.”
    “I guess.” Rosanna grinned. “I went
with my gut feeling at the time, even if Tata and Mama thought I deserved
‘better’ than Joseph.”
    “Do you think I should do the
same?” Kes surprised himself by asking. “Go
with my gut feeling?”
    “Is this about a girl?”
    He nodded.
    She grinned. “Absolutely, little
bro.”
    Well, if Rosanna’s words weren’t a
sign from Saint Sara that he should pursue Amanda, then he didn’t know what
was. If this entire conversation wasn’t a message from the Black Madonna, then
she was no more than an oversize doll, and he , a
superstitious halfwit.
    Which he was not.
    Therefore, it was a
sign.
     
    * * *
     
    The woman on the other end of the phone interrupted Amanda’s well-practiced pitch. “Yes,
your CV is very impressive. We’ve studied it carefully. ”
    “Then you must have noticed how I
rose through the ranks thanks to my hard work and skills.”
    “We have, indeed.” She cleared her
throat. “The problem is you’re overqualified for this job.”
    Of course she was. But she needed
to work—and good positions were too few and far between. “Isn’t it a good
bargain for you?”
    “No.” The woman’s voice was firm
now. “You’re ambitious and competent. You’ll expect to grow quickly, and when
it doesn’t happen fast enough for your liking, you’ll get frustrated.”
    “I can handle my frustrations.”
    “Amanda—if I may—this is a junior
position. You’re young, but you’ve already held managerial positions at ENS.
This job is wrong for you . . . and you’re wrong for this job.”
    Amanda bit her tongue to hold back the insult she would regret
later and hung up. Imbeciles ! They didn’t realize what an exceptional
favor she was doing their shitty little firm by applying for that lowly analyst
job. She was a top-level professional with a sterling record as regional
project manager in Thailand, then regional sustainability manager for Asia , and then overall sustainability manager slated for
policy and development manager.
    An employer would have to be crazy to
pass up someone like her for a job below her previous pay grade.
    That a-hole Julien must have called
everyone in the industry to blacklist her. She could find no other explanation
for her failure to land a job—even a lower-grade one—for an entire month. With
a CV like hers, she should have been snatched up within a week. And it wasn’t
just her opinion. Every headhunter she’d talked to had said the same
thing. A month ago, they all assured her she’d be back on track in no time.
    Lately, they’d been more evasive,
more inclined to talk about the economy that hadn’t picked up yet, the soaring
unemployment rates, and the scarcity of managerial positions in energy and
power. One even suggested Amanda might want to consider assistant jobs in
another sector.
    Ha! She’d rather sell her apartment
and move in with Mom