Page 16 of Studious
“Are you Alden? Our new bookkeeper?” he asks eagerly.
My stomach unknots a bit. “Yeah, er, yes. I am. He’s me. That’s me.”
“I’m Shelby. We’re so glad you’re here! Let me show you around.” The grin he gives me puts me much more at ease. It’s amazing what a warm welcome can do.
Shelby goes to walk me down a hall, but Noah Weston, one of the owners—and the managing partner—appears, holding a cup of coffee. “Alden! Welcome. Did you have any trouble getting here?” He reaches out a hand and gives me a charming smile.
Noah has blond hair and blue eyes and is quite a bit taller than I am. His suit is almost the exact same shade of gray as mine, although his looks a lot more expensive. He’s young to be one of the guys with his name on the wall. I would seriously doubt that he’s past his midthirties.
“Yes, thank you.” He and Shelby both furrow their brows. I cringe. “I mean it was easy. Thanks. I’m looking forward to getting started.”
“We need you,” Noah says. “Our last bookkeeper had to move out of town for family reasons—and even before then, she was overloaded. Once you get a handle on things, I want you to let us know if we need more than one person doing the work. We don’t want to set you up for failure.”
I rub my hands together, and I’m sure my eyes are bright. This, this I can do. I can organize my way out of anything. Just don’t make me talk. “Put me in, Coach. I love cleaning up messes.”
Noah grins. “Awesome. It’s all yours. Let me show you where your office is.” With a finger wave, Shelby goes back to the reception desk, and I follow Noah down the hall.
“We’ve expanded to take up this entire floor,” he says. “Hard to believe we’ve grown so big in five years.” He sounds proud—and he has reason to be. The rooms are sleek but comfortable, with posters commemorating various LGBTQIA+ historical events, mostly since Stonewall. He shows me where the break room—stocked with snacks and soft drinks, in addition to coffee and tea—is and introduces me to every employee we pass: attorneys, legal assistants, other staff.
We stop at a closed door, and Noah opens it to show a small office chock full of papers on every surface. He gestures. “Yeah. So. We need some help.”
“Yesssss,” I say. “This is gonna be so much fun.”
Noah’s phone buzzes in his pocket, and he gets a pained but amused look on his face.
When he doesn’t reach for it, I say, “You can get that.”
“It’ll wait. I know who it is. And if I get it now, I’ll have to explain way too much.”
I nod, not understanding. “Okay.”
Shelby pops his head in and hands me a slip of paper. “Here’s your username and password.”
“Thanks.”
“Demi, our office manager, told me she’ll be able to meet with you at nine thirty. She’s meeting with August right now.”
“Is that where he is?” Noah asks.
Shelby nods and gets a funny look on his face. I’ll have to ask about that later.
“Well, officially, welcome,” Noah says. “Will you be able to get started on your own until Demi is free? If not, it’s fine if you just grab some coffee or something until then.”
I make a noise to the effect that I’m sure I can keep busy. Judging by the piles of printouts all around me, that won’t be a problem.
“Did you bring a lunch?” Noah asks.
“No. I was planning on finding something close.”
“Well, join us. A lot of us usually go out to eat together. There are a lot of great places in the basement mall. I can come by or—”
“I’ll grab you,” Shelby says.
“Sure,” I say. “Thanks.”
Noah gives me another friendly smile. “We’ll see you down there.”
I’m really liking how there’s apparently no segregation between the attorneys and the staff here. Noah’s treating me and Shelby like we’re just part of the team, even though we don’t have the same degree and training that he does. It’s refreshing.
