Page 6 of Becoming His Muse
Anthony sat there for several seconds longer, staring at her. Olani knew that he was angry, but she didn’t care. She only senthim two to three employees at a time and knew she could make that business up somewhere else. Her company was not hurting for his.
When he finally left her office, Olani waited a few minutes to make sure he’d left the building before calling Jasmine and asking her to contact the two employees they’d sent out to him and let them know they wouldn’t have to go back, but that they’d have something else for them in a couple of days.
Once she hung up the phone, she ran her last background check. It took several minutes, as the others did, before coming back clean. Looking over her list, Olani made a mental note to go through their surveys again to ensure she wanted to send hers to all of them. It would be a waiting game when she finally sent them out because the ball would be in their court. The same way she’d gone through and chosen the ones she was interested in going on an initial date with, they would now have the option of deciding if they wanted to go with her or if they wanted to pass.
Putting her list away, she got back to work. The first thing she would do was find the two employees she’d just pulled another job. They’d gotten a few new requests in, and they still had some older ones that were taking a while to fill, at no fault of her companies.
It was one client for three different jobs. Olani had sent them qualified and overqualified candidates, and they’d turned every single one of them down. She wasn’t sure if her candidates were bombing their interviews, but she found that highly unlikely since they offered interview prep before sending candidates to one.
She decided to contact her friend Kynlee when the other woman returned from vacation to ask her to interview for the position to get a feel for the person hiring. Not to mention, Olani would have to catch her up on what she’d done.
Kynlee had been a recruiting specialist for one of the top companies in their state until she decided that the job wasn’t worth her never having personal time or the stress it caused her. She started teaching companies what practices to implement for effective interviews that didn’t make an applicant nervous. So, if Kynlee couldn’t get the job, there was something wrong with their hiring manager.
Olani looked through her job listing, comparing both employees’ skills with the job requirements. She found one for each of them, though one wouldn’t start for a couple of days, and the other wouldn’t start until next week. She would call them personally and let them know. That way, if next week wasn’t soon enough, she could try to send them on daily temp jobs until then.
Looking at the clock, she found it was almost two in the afternoon. Grabbing her bag, she headed out of her office. She had her meeting with Heather and didn’t want to get stuck in the late lunch traffic.
She waved to her staffers and Jasmine, telling them she should return in about an hour before leaving the building and getting into her car. Olani quickly stopped at a bakery and grabbed some pastries to take with her.
When she pulled into the parking lot, she had a little less than ten minutes before their scheduled time. She grabbed the pastries and her bag and entered, giving the security guard at the front desk her name. He told her someone would be down to get her in just a few minutes and that she could have a seat.
Olani sat in the waiting area and glanced into her bag, ensuring she had everything she needed. She liked to take notes, and she was hoping she’d be able to get a tour to see how they ran their business. It always helped her pick the most qualified candidates and showed her how they would be treated.She didn’t believe in sending candidates to a bad environment, though touring Anthony’s establishment had been deceiving.
Either way, Olani still liked to do it for peace of mind and to offer it to those who came to her seeking employment.
Elion stared at the three-foot by two-foot marble slab in front of him. He’d decided that his next exhibit would consist of all marble pieces. That was as far as he’d gotten in terms of design. He’d been staring at the same block for almost an hour, and his hands hadn’t moved yet.
Sighing, he stood from the stool he occupied and exited his workroom. The sensation of being lost and not knowing what he was going to produce was one he’d felt before. During those times, Elion tried to focus his mind on something else. Which typically consisted of him doing some other kind of work. Though he was a sculptor by trade, he enjoyed clay molding.
Today, he decided to take advantage of the creative block and go for a swim. Clara was on campus for classes so he could float around in silence without her coming out. She could be a bit of a helicopter assistant, but he knew she meant well, wanting to ensure he wasn’t pushing himself too hard.
Elion was sure his sister probably told Clara to look out for him as if he were a child who needed babysitting. However, he would be the first to admit that he tended to get tunnel vision when he was working and got in the zone. He was thankful for Clara during those times. Not that he wasn’t all the time. He’d often forget to eat when he was working, or other essential things one did to take care of themselves, like sleeping.
Clara wouldn’t stop him from working if he was focused and in his zone, but he’d often find bottles of water, plates of food, hismedications, and whatever was needed set to the side. She was so quiet most of the time, slipping in and then out, that Elion would have thought some entity was taking care of him were it not for a couple of times that he caught a glimpse of her.
He went into his bedroom, changed into his swim trunks, and grabbed a towel before going to the pool.
Elion placed his towel on one of the lounge chairs before diving into the deep end to avoid the initial shock of cold. He then considered taking Clara’s advice and getting a pool heating mechanism.
Surfacing, Elion turned around and began to backstroke before relaxing his body and floating. His mind went to the conversation he and Clara had. He wasn’t pleased that she had submitted his information to an online dating site. Let alone one that focused on marriage. And Clara was well aware that he didn’t have time to date. He didn’t often have downtime like he did at the moment, and that was because he was stuck. His creative juices weren’t flowing.
He didn’t want her meddling in his love life or his lack thereof. Elion would date when he had time to date. Besides, he didn’t need to date, didn’t have the desire, and he was sure he wasn’t missing out on anything.
Elion stayed in the pool for over an hour before getting out. He grabbed his towel and dried himself before sitting on a lounge chair. The early May weather was nice, and he sat outside for a bit.
When he felt himself begin to doze off, he got up and headed inside. It was late in the afternoon, and the last thing he needed was to fall asleep. He’d be up all night…again.
Entering his bathroom, he started the shower and allowed it to heat up as he pulled off his trunks and placed them in the towel he’d taken outside. He tossed it in the corner before stepping into the shower.
Elion washed his hair before himself, getting all the chlorine out. Once he was finished with his shower, he stepped out, grabbing two towels. He dried off, wrapping one around his waist before running the other through his hair.
He moisturized, put on boxers, and dressed in black sweatpants and a gray V-neck shirt. He then put on socks and entered the kitchen. He was reminded that he hadn’t eaten since that morning.
Elion wasn’t in the mood to make anything elaborate. So, he decided to make himself a panini with his favorite chips. He grabbed a soda from the fridge and entered the living room.
Turning on the television, he settled on whatever channel it was on when it was turned off. He hoped that after this late lunch and a little mindless television, his creative juices would start flowing, and he could work on his next project.
Once he had finished his lunch, he completed the episode he was watching before going into the kitchen. He threw away his trash and washed the plate before returning to his workroom.
