Page 13 of A Lot to Unpack
‘Except it isn’t,’ I remind her. ‘I’m moving there because you won’t charge me rent.’
‘We bloody will,’ Dad calls out from the background – what a fun way to find out I’m on speaker.
‘We won’t,’ Mum practically whispers. ‘Plus, it means you will definitely be here for your grandad’s birthday, and maybe you can patch things up with Hannah?’
‘Hannah doesn’t want a patch-up, she wants a punch-up,’ I joke – well, half joke. I’ll bet she’d love to hit me.
‘She’ll come around,’ Mum tries to reassure me.
‘She’ll – oh, Mum, I’ve got a call coming through, can I ring you back, please?’ I say.
‘Of course – go,’ she replies.
I go straight from one call to another.
‘Hello?’ I say.
‘Hello, Liberty? It’s Paige Pool. We met earlier today,’ she replies.
Do I act like I’m excited to hear from her? Do I play it cool? Do I pretend I’m trying to remember her? What do I do?
‘Paige, hello,’ I reply. ‘I hope you’ve had a productive day.’
Oh, the cringe. What am I doing?
‘Yes, thank you,’ she replies. ‘I’ve found someone for the assistant position.’
Crap.
‘Great,’ I reply. ‘That’s great…’
‘It’s you,’ she replies. ‘Although I’m sure you’ve already figured that out.’
I really hadn’t, I’m not that optimistic.
‘That’s fantastic news,’ I reply. ‘I accept.’
‘Well, wait until you hear the job description first,’ she says – now that doesn’t sound good. ‘So, we are in the process of taking Matcher worldwide. It’s been a slow process, but we’re starting to feel like we have a good base in all of our key territories; however, our focus at the moment is on growth. The competition is tough.’
‘I understand,’ I tell her, because I do, in the vaguest sense.
‘So, we send teams to different locations, for a number of reasons,’ she continues. ‘I need you to be on standby, in case I need you to go anywhere and… assist. Presumably, you’re okay with travel? You have a passport?’
‘Yes,’ I say, as calmly as I can. I clear my throat. ‘Yes, that all sounds fine.’
What I want to do is jump up and down screaming with glee because not only do I have a job, but it sounds amazing.
‘I’m going to send you an email with all of the details, everything we need to set you up as an employee here, requesting all of the various things I’ll need to set up potentialtrips for you. I’ll also send you a link to our staff network. We’re on WorkM8, I’m sure you’ve used it at your other jobs.’
I haven’t.
‘Sounds great,’ I reply.
‘But, for now, if you could just make yourself a silly username – most people have one – and only observe. Get a read on the dynamics. No posting in forums, just read. Only until you’ve met everyone in person. We have a strict rule about no dating amongst employees. It’s a recipe for disaster.’
I hear that.
‘Yeah, sure, okay, so when do you want me in the office?’ I ask.
