Page 24 of Lorna's Savior
“What’s that?”
“Actually, it’s two. One, how do I answer the phone, and how do I refer you to people?”
“I don’t know if I understand.”
“Well, I can’t answer the phone ‘The Larson Foundation’ can I? And what if they want to talk to you? Do I say Lorna’s busy right now? Or Ms. Hepplewaite?”
“Oh, I never thought of that,” Lorna laughed. “Answer it Ms. Hepplewaite’s office, Silver speaking, then take it from there, because the main switchboard would have transferred to call to my office. I don’t have a direct line in. I can call out, but people calling me have to go through the switchboard.”
“Good to know.” Silver nodded, then took the desk Lorna showed her.
After signing onto the computer, Lorna said, “We can get you a password later. You’ll have to talk to HR, but until then, this is the history of the Larson Foundation and all the employees and what they do, if you want to read up on it before the calls begin.”
“Thank you, Lorna.” Silver nodded and began to read. Lorna nodded and crossed her fingers that Silver would work out as she entered her office. Picking up the file she’d been reading the night before, she got to work.
Several hours later, she looked up when Silver entered her office with a cup of coffee. After putting it on the desk, she grinned. “It’s after ten and you haven’t looked up once since you came in here. I thought you’d like a fresh cup.”
“Holy monk balls, has the phone even rung?”
“What did you say? And yes, I’ve answered it almost fifty-two times so far this morning.”
“Damn, I mean, monk.” Lorna sighed. “Have a seat.” She waited until Silver grabbed her own coffee, and returned.
“I’ll be honest with you. I have a potty mouth. I’m trying to clean it up. I don’t know where it came from, or how it started.” She giggled. “I didn’t realize how bad it was until I visited my best friend once. Her birthday present scared the shit, crap, scared the crap out of me, and I blurted out, and I quote, ‘don’t shit on me’. Now I’m told that’s what he says whenever anyone gets close to him.”
“What the heck kind of present is that?”
“A beautiful McCaw,” came a voice from behind them. “And Lorna’s right, every time someone gets close to Captain, he yells, ‘don’t shit on me,’ or ‘don’t eat me.’ That’s from his owner, when the barn cats tried to eat him when he was a youngling.” Finn grinned. “Hello, I’m Finn Larson.”
“Hello, I’m the temp.”
“And your name?”
“Oh, Silver Roundtree.”
“Welcome to Larson’s, Silver. I hope you can work it out that we hire you permanently. However, I don’t know if HR told you anything, but we don’t hire until after ninety days.”
“Yes, that’s what I was told. Thank you for this opportunity, Mr. Larson.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m not the one in need of you. Lorna is.” Finn smiled, then turned to Lorna. “Veronica asked me to have you call her, when you get a minute.”
“Oh, yeah, I can do that. Thanks Finn.”
“Welcome. How’s everything coming?”
“Good. I’ll be out of the office most of the week. I’ve got meetings with the caterers, and the administrator over at the aquarium. Do you think I can take Silver with me?”
“She’s yours, as long as you don’t abuse her, use her how you see fit.” Finn nodded, then turned and left.
“Wow.”
“Yeah, he pretty much lets us do our own thing. How would you feel about going to these places with me?”
“What would we be doing?”
“Well, first we need to nail down the menu for the event. Then, we need to talk to the administrator, and see where the caterer could set up tables, as well as bars, and to have their people walk around with trays of food. You know, finger food.”
“Why don’t you see if the caterer could meet you at the aquarium and look over the space for themselves. You might not see a problem with something, while they might, and vice versa.”
