Page 19 of The Princess & the Prospect

I took her hand and shook it. “Anna, and don’t worry, I think it’s completely understandable to want to protect your sister,” I informed her. “Honestly,” I pointed to the window for the second time that day. “I didn’t even know who owned this place. I just saw the sign, and figured I’d come check on the job. It’s not like I haven’t had enough rejections in the past four days of job hunting.” I shrugged my shoulders up and down before smiling at her. “I thought, what could another one hurt before I headed home?”

“Oh, you poor thing. What kind of jobs have you been trying for?” I told both her and Gretchen where I had applied and then pointed to my little baby bump. “Most of the rejections I received were while someone was staring at my little problem here.” I realized how that might sound, and corrected myself quickly. “Not that the baby is a problem for me, but prospective employers seem to think it is.”

“Have you ever had a job before?”

“No, but I learn fast, I’m friendly, and I’m super organized. I was also on the yearbook staff at school for two years.”

“You’re hired.”

“I understand,” I returned by rote. Then watched the puzzled faces looking back at me before Beth’s actual words sunk in. “Wait, I’m hired? For real? Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Before she knew what was happening, I was basically tackle-hugging Beth. She just giggled along with her sister. “You look nothing like Gretchen by the way,” I said as I had to crane my head way back to look up at her from that close.

Beth laughed again. “We have different fathers. Mine was a giant and hers was a dwarf,” she teased. Gretchen was laughing along with her and it took her a minute to catch her breath.

“She always tells people that, but my dad is much larger than hers. If you looked up Viking on the internet, he would be the poster child. He was white-blonde hair, ice blue eyes, and stands at nearly six feet, five inches. She rolled her eyes. He’s huge. I think if he hadn’t required her to get a paternity test he never would have believed I was his spawn.”

“That’s crazy. I guess you take after your mom then?”

“Not really. She’s not exactly short for a woman,” Gretchen admitted.

“We just call her runt,” Beth teased. “She takes after our grandma, who was a tiny thing until the day she died. The good part about that for Gretch is that she will probably never have to diet like the rest of the world.”

“You don’t look like you need to diet either,” I suggested.

“Flattery will get you everywhere in this job. Can you start today?”

“Sure. My sister has appointments today until six, so I have until then.”

“Is your car broken down?” Gretchen asked.

“I sold it to help with the baby expenses.” I noticed the worried look on Beth’s face. “Don’t worry. My husband said I can use his truck if I need to.”

“Husband?” Beth hissed out. “You’re still a child. That sounds so wrong.”

“It’s in title only for insurance and so the baby will get his name, I guess.” I honestly didn’t know why he agreed to this anymore. Ever explained that our father could have kept me on his insurance. I was pretty sure you didn’t need to be married to give a child their father’s last name. Then again, I’d been wrong about a lot lately. Who knew?

“Where should we start?” I finally asked, breaking the silent staring thing the sisters had going on.

“Right,” Beth puffed out before taking off toward the back. “Follow me. We’ll get the paperwork out of the way first. Then we’ll discuss pay, hours, and I’ll show you how to run the appointment software. Tomorrow we can go over how to locate client files so you can show them their proofs while I’m working behind the camera.” She grinned back at me then. “Just be glad we’re living in the digital age. Back when my dad did this type of work, a pregnant woman would not have been welcome due to the chemicals used in the dark room. Since I don’t use a darkroom – at least not here at the studio – you’ll be fine. There’s no heavy lifting on your part, and nothing strenuous to worry about. You should be able to work here through your whole pregnancy until you’re no longer comfortable. When you need to take maternity leave, I’ll just get a temp in here to fill in until you can come back. If you decide not to come back, all I ask is that you give me plenty of notice.”

“That won’t be a problem. I’ll need a job after the baby is born too. Besides, I think I’ll love working here. I have a really good feeling about this.”

“So do I,” Beth agreed before turning and moving toward the back again. I quickly followed behind her, eager to both learn something new and feel like I belonged somewhere again.

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