Page 2 of Becoming His Muse
“Is the temp receptionist I sent you still working out?” Olani questioned.
Olani decided to open her own staffing agency after getting her business degree. Before graduating, she saw several of her friends struggle to find jobs in their fields after graduation, and she didn’t want that to be her—she didn’t want that to be anyone if she could help it. So, before she even graduated, she began to put together a business plan and get her name out there for the service she was planning to offer.
“She is. I think things are even running a bit smoother. I may have to keep her a few weeks over the submitted time frame.Angie doesn’t know if her doctor is going to release her since she isn’t healing as fast as they thought she would.”
“I didn’t have another job lined up for her yet, so I don’t see that being a problem. I’ll call or have one of the agents call to ensure that’s alright with her.”
They caught up for the next forty-five minutes as they ate their lunch before they both had to head back to the office. Xola told Olani to let her know when she decided to check and see if she got any submissions so they could look at them together.
Olani slid behind the wheel of her car, pulled out of the parking lot, and headed back toward her office. She only had a few hours left, and she decided to spend that time putting together candidates for a few of the requests submitted earlier that morning and putting together a list of new businesses to go and introduce herself to.
Several had opened up in the past couple of months, and Olani always made sure to take them a little gift basket along with some brochures and cards from herself and her staff. She made it a point to do business visits at least once a week. It was her way of staying ahead of the few other staffing agencies in town.
Elion sighed as he felt a headache coming on. It was the most inopportune time since he would have to sit through another hour of this meeting. He and his team were currently reviewing how his last exhibit went as they tried to get him to give them a theme for his next one. Elion was sure that was where the headache stemmed from. He’d worked with this current group of people for the past few years, and at thispoint, he felt as if they all should know that was not how his process worked.
He was unable to give them a theme because he allowed his fingers to set it as he worked, and it just so happened the pieces tended to coincide with one another. Elion was also a bit annoyed that the last exhibit had barely closed seventy-two hours ago, where all of his pieces sold, and they were ready to push him into the next one. Clara, his assistant, who also happened to be his oldest niece, must have realized this.
“Why don’t we postpone this meeting until a later date? I completely forgot that there is a shipment of materials due to be delivered to the house within the hour,”she informed the room. “Forgive me. I’ll reach out to you all to reschedule.”
Neither Elion nor Clara gave them a chance to respond before they were both out of their seats and heading out of the conference room. She spoke again only when they were on the elevator, heading to the first floor.
“Why don’t you just start telling them to shut the hell up when they get that pushy.”
Elion chuckled. “Because they find me spaces to showcase my work, market me, and broker sales.”
“All of which I could do if you’d just let me try,” she mumbled.
“That would be a lot for you to take on right now. Maybe when you’ve finished school, we’ll talk about it.”
“I can still handle it. I handle being your assistant and liaising with them to make sure you don’t miss appointments, and everything is on track. It’d be so much simpler if I were the one doing it,” Clara countered.
Elion knew she thought that now, but so much work went into it. He wouldn’t have multiple people doing it if he felt one person could handle it on their own.
“We’ll talk about it again after you graduate,” Elion repeated as they stepped out of the elevator.
“That’s a year from now,” Clara responded with a huff.
“It’ll fly by.” They approached his car and got in. “Now, let’s go grab some lunch.”
He was just about to pull out of the parking space when Clara stopped him. Elion watched her pull some Tylenol from her purse and hand it to him. “Take these. That vein in your forehead is showing.”
Elion took them from her, dry swallowing the pills before proceeding to head towards their favorite sushi restaurant.
When they pulled in fifteen minutes later, Elion dropped Clara off at the door while he found a parking space. Once he made it inside, she was already in line, so he went to stand by her. The two placed their order, taking the number given to them, before going to make their drinks and finding a table.
Clara told him about school while they waited for their food. Ten minutes later, their food arrived, and Elion thanked the server, who lingered for a moment before leaving.
“Uncle Elion, you are so oblivious,” Clara stated.
“What are you talking about?”
“That woman was trying to flirt with you.”
Elion looked in the direction the server had gone in, only to find her looking at their table. She quickly glanced away when she noticed him looking.
“She’s a kid; she’s your age,” Elion told her with a scoff. “And you and I both know I don’t have time to go out.”
“First, I’m not a kid. I’m an adult.”
