The Cost Of Love And Sanity by Jaye Cheríc Read Free Book Online Page B

her stall in accepting the dinner invitation. She couldn’t help wondering why he had taken so long to call her. Was he playing a game or did he really have something important to do? She toyed with the idea of turning down his invitation. But then she thought about her current patterns and habits and how badly she wanted to change them. She could turn him down but what would that prove? That she had a stubborn personality? She already knew that. Would she prove her feelings were still raw over the way things ended the last time? Thinking about it made her heart sink.
    After Alex didn’t respond right away, Nathan filled the empty sound with obvious self-doubt. “It’s okay if you don’t want to—”
    â€œUh, no. I mean. Yes, I would like to go to dinner with you,” Alex interrupted him.
    â€œOkay. Great! Um, how does seven-thirty this Friday sound?”
    â€œSounds good.”
    â€¢â€¢â€¢
    Alex stared at her computer screen, studying the words in her proposal. Thankfully, her concentration had increased and she was about three-quarters done. She hated to think that this had anything to do with Nathan’s call the night before. Yet, she couldn’t deny that she was finally focused without wondering when he’d call her. While in the middle of thinking of the next line in her proposal, her phone rang. She sighed and picked it up.
    â€œAlex? I need you to come down to my office,” Mr. Sims said, absent a greeting.
    â€œSure,” she said, puzzled.
    Once she hung up, Alex grabbed her notepad and pen out of instinct. Whenever she had to go talk to her boss, she always wanted to have a pen and paper, certain that he would say something she needed to remember. From the way he sounded over the phone, he had important things to discuss.
    Within five minutes, Alex was knocking on his door.
    â€œCome in,” Mr. Sims said.
    Alex walked into the plush office and shut the door behind her. It looked like something out of a magazine. The dark brown wooden furniture matched the rest of the wood décor. A chess game was set on a small round table next to an unlit fireplace. Three historical paintings on the wall were lit from above. He motioned to her to come forth. She walked carefully over the thick, beige carpet. When she reached his cherry brown executive desk, she stood in front of it while he finished a call.
    He hung up and pointed toward the seat in front of his desk. “Have a seat.”
    Alex sat down and leaned forward, awaiting his words.
    â€œHow’s everything going?”
    â€œPretty well, sir.”
    â€œGreat. How’s the proposal coming along?”
    â€œVery good. I am putting the finishing touches on it now.”
    â€œNow?”
    Why didn’t I just say it was complete? “Yes, Sir. Finishing touches.”
    He nodded. “Is there anything that you need?”
    â€œNo, Sir. Everything is under control. Once I present the proposal, we can hash out the details and I will get started.”
    â€œOkay. As I’m sure you recall that we’ve been having a tough time over the past year with recruiting. As a result, we’ve had to pull back on a lot of our resources.” He sighed. “Your event is not only going to require a lot from our clients but it’s going to require a lot from us as well. With that said, if we do it, it must be a success.”
    â€œOh, it will be. Absolutely. Without a doubt.”
    â€œLet’s hope so because if it is not,” he paused, “let’s just say it won’t look good for you.”
    Alex swallowed the lump in her throat. She understood what this meant. If this job fair did not succeed, she could kiss her job goodbye. A small surge of panic crept up her spine but she headed it off before it could go all the way up.
    â€œI understand, Sir. You nor the clients will be disappointed.”
    He smiled for the first time since she arrived in his office.