Page 34 of Unexpected You

“I did not.”

* * *

Cadence was so nervous the next day about our meeting that I grabbed the coffees from her shaky hands, along with the bag with our sandwiches, and pointed toward the office.

“We’re talking now and then we can move on,” I said. Cadence marched into the office and pulled her chair in front of my desk like she did every day.

I pushed a stack of paper across the surface that I’d printed out last night. It was a new contract, for one year with the option for renewal.

“Since we’re doing this now, I’d like to formally offer you the position as my full-time assistant, Cadence. Congratulations.”

She let out a squealing sound and surged to her feet, doing a little dance that almost knocked the chair over.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” she said when she realized where she was and that I was watching.

“It’s all right,” I said, fighting to hide a smile. That little dance had been adorable.

She sat back down and let out a breath. “I’m sorry, I’m just really relieved. I’ve enjoyed working for you and I’m learning so much and I just…I really appreciate you giving me a shot at this. It was completely unexpected, but I don’t regret it.”

I didn’t either. Working with her had been strange and unsettling and silly and she had definitely disrupted my normal routines. But at the end of the day, I liked having her here.

“I’m glad you’re here too. Here’s your new contract, if you want to take it home and have a look before you sign it.”

She grabbed the papers and flipped through them. There was no way she was reading all of that with how fast she was going.

Without another word, she grabbed a pen from the cup on my desk and scribbled her signature.

“You should have looked that over. Never sign anything that you haven’t had a lawyer look over.” I had one, in addition to my literary agent. Publishing lawyers had stopped me from being scammed by tricky wording several times.

“Send me a copy tonight.”

That wouldn’t help with the fact that she’d already signed it, but I kept my mouth shut.

“Great, now you can scan that and add it to my files.”

Cadence set it on her desk, and she was still vibrating with excitement.

Now it was the fun part of telling her what she was doing well and what she could improve on. I kept it short and to the point and she didn’t scream or cry or argue with me. We were both adults, and she took it well. Another point in her favor.

“Cool, yeah, I can do all of that.” She’d taken notes even though I told her that I was sending her a document with all my points that I’d written up.

My criticisms were small in the scheme of things. Once that was out of the way, we both moved on to our tasks for the day.

“Oh, one more thing,” I said, remembering the note I’d scribbled to myself late last night when I’d had an idea. “Can you go ahead and do some research on lighthouses in New England that you can stay at? It’s part of the plot for my next book and I want to work out the logistics now so I can go and take a trip there.”

Cadence wrote it down. “Absolutely. Hey, if you need more help researching things, I’m pretty good at it.”

There wasn’t a need for someone all the time for research, and often I liked to do it myself, but having Cadence do some of the legwork would save me time, and wasn’t that what I paid her for? She’d barely even asked about her salary, which surprised me. I’d raised it from what she was making now. Her work had demonstrated a need for higher compensation.

We settled into our days and that afternoon Cadence had sent me an email with a few links of potential lighthouses. I checked them all out and picked the one that was closest. Many of my books were set in Maine, which made research trips easier. Being able to travel to locations and see everything firsthand was one of the best parts of my job.

I replied to Cadence and told her to contact the lighthouse and see when I could book a visit.

Then I had to immerse myself back in my edits until the words were swimming in front of my eyes. My phone buzzed with my scheduled break.

I got up and went to make some tea. I couldn’t have caffeine too late in the afternoon or else I didn’t sleep. In my youth, I’d been able to drink coffee all hours of the day and night and still pass out, but I’d been working so much that my body just sort of collapsed into sleep instead of me falling into it.

Cadence had followed me into the kitchen.

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