Page 10 of The Woman

“With all due respect, what I look like doesn’t affect my work or how fast a learner I am. You look like a pompous asshole, but I’m sure that doesn’t affect how you work.”

My lip twitches. “Actually,” I say, tapping my fingers on the desk. “It affects a great deal. A lesson you need to learn. Tell me, what will you be able to do for me?”

He sits a little straighter. “Well, I learn fast–”

“You said that.”

“You didn’t let me finish,” he replies with a scowl. “I learn fast, so I will be able to handle the computer stuff. I’ll basically do anything you tell me.”

“Basically?”

“That’s right. I’m not going to say I’ll do everything because I probably won’t.”

This kid.

I rise to my feet. “Alright. Well, you can go now.”

“But–”

“You’ll get a phone call if you have the job,” I tell him, walking to the door and opening it.

He gets to his feet, avoiding looking in my direction as he passes me to leave. I watch as he walks to the elevator and then steps aside to let a guy wearing a suit walk out of it when the door opens. My next applicant, probably, dressed appropriately for the job.

A few hours later, I’m just closing the door after my last interview when my cell phone rings in my pocket. “So, how did it go?” Edison asks when I answer.

“It went as expected. I already know who I’m hiring as my assistant.”

“As your assistant? Wait, what?”

Then, when understanding dawns on him, his sigh on the other end of the line is as loud as a gust of wind, and I can almost hear his eyes rolling. I know he’s not calling about the interviews, but I had successfully put everything else out of my mind for a few hours.

“How did it go with her? You left me hanging after your ‘I’m heading there now’ text.”

I walk over to the windows and look out at the San Francisco cityscape, trailing my eyes over some of my favorite buildings. Some of them have been an inspiration for me, and some were designed by this company.

The Transamerica Pyramid sits directly in my line of sight, and for some reason, the image of Avery in her tight clothing comes to mind; the soft curves of the tops of her breasts bursting out of the top of her dress and tank top. Her curvy hips above smooth legs. . .

Tearing my eyes away from the outside, I step back toward my desk. “It was fine.”

“Code for you probably ignored her and definitely did not have sex.”

“Of course, I didn’t. I was busy.”

He snickers. “I just thought that once you actually went and picked her, and she was in your home, things would be different.”

“I told you exactly how it would be.”

He makes a tsking noise. “I don’t get you sometimes, Phoenix. Are you seriously going to squander this privilege? I’d never let her go to waste.”

Privilege. People keep saying that. How is it a privilege to have someone hanging around you who thinks about nothing?

“You want her?” I ask, opening one of the renderings I’m working on. “Feel free to have her for a night. Hell, you can have her for a week. A month.”

“I may take you up on that.”

“Be my guest,” I tell him distractedly. “Any interesting clients this morning?”

“Ah, yes. You’ll like this one. This guy was promised by his company when they hired him that he’d be able to pick a woman last year. Well, that didn’t happen, so now he’s suing them. But get this, he still wants to keep the same job.” He chuckles and then mumbles something to someone in the background before returning to me. “You guys should make some sort of deal. He wants one, you don’t.”

---