In Love Again by Megan Mulry Read Free Book Online Page B

or things have slipped through the cracks. I’m the buck…everything stops here.” She used her thumb to point at her chest.
    Claire smiled. She liked Roberta already.
    The room still had the beautiful period details of the building intact: the tall reception floor ceilings, at least twelve feet high, the pale blue walls and bright white moldings, the hardwood floors. Into each corner, a triangular desk, made of practical, no-nonsense white Formica, had been built.
    Hilary pointed to the far corner. “Seniority, I’m afraid. You get one of the desks that faces away from the window.”
    “Oh, I don’t mind at all. I’m so excited.”
    The other three women looked at her like she was a little bit off.
    “I mean,” she hesitated, wondering if she would be overstepping some unspoken rule by confiding too much. Three faces waited for her to finish. “You might as well know. This is my first job.”
    “Your first job in New York or in the design business?” Hilary asked.
    “No…”
    Roberta had taken a sip of coffee and nearly snorted it through her nose. She sputtered, “You mean…this is your first job, ever ?”
    Claire blushed. “Yes.”
    “That is awesome!” Erin finally chimed in from the far corner. She had just finished with a spreadsheet and had closed out the screen, swiveling to face Claire full on. “You must be so excited.”
    “I really am. Thanks.” Claire turned to the corner desk and trailed her hand along the white surface, pulled the chair out, and sat. “Wow.”
    The other three laughed, and Roberta and Erin turned back to their work. Hilary brought her chair over to sit next to Claire, then spent the next hour telling her passwords, how to enter orders into the system, how to access Boppy’s schedule. She was given a corporate email address, added to email distribution lists, and shown myriad other details.
    “That’s probably enough for now. I could use some help with inputting all these orders. Why don’t we start there, okay?” Hilary asked.
    “Sure.”
    Hilary handed her a sheaf of yellow invoices. “Just be careful, because we have some bulk fabric orders that have to be billed to separate clients. I’m right here if you have any questions.”
    Claire began carefully, terrified that she was going to make an error. After an hour or so, her stomach growled, and she looked at her wristwatch to see it was almost two o’clock.
    “Hilary, may I step out for lunch?”
    “Of course, anytime. You don’t need to ask permission. There’s a good soup and sandwich place right around the corner on Third Avenue.”
    “Thanks. Do you want anything?”
    “Sure. If you don’t mind, I’d love a large latte…if it’s not too much trouble.”
    “Of course not.”
    Claire walked out into the sunny, brisk air and had to repress the urge to jump up and down and squeal like a little girl. Instead, she reached into her purse and got her cell phone. She clicked on the preset for Bronte’s New York cell phone number.
    “Well?” Bronte answered without preamble. “Why haven’t you called me until now? I was going nuts!”
    “I got the job, Bron!”
    “Oh my god! I think I might cry! I am so eff-ing happy for you! Did she just put you to work that very second?”
    “Pretty much. I’ll tell you everything tonight. I just ran out to grab a sandwich and then I’m going back to finish inputting some invoices.”
    “Listen to you! Already invoicing clients!”
    “And I get to go out to Litchfield, Connecticut, next Saturday to meet with a client. It’s just all too exciting, Bron. I can’t even begin to thank you.”
    “I didn’t do anything, silly. You did. I’ll talk to you later. Huge congratulations again! Yay!”
    And then Claire heard the shuffle of Bronte babbling with Wolf, the eager toddler reclaiming her attention as the phone went dead.
     

     
    The next ten days flew by in a whirl of learning as much as she could without her head exploding. She’d been especially