Page 15 of Boss of Me
I twist my hands together in my lap. “I’d love a do-over with Dawson, but I’ll understand if he’s no longer interested.”
Barbara chuckles grimly. “I’ll let you two work that out. Right now I have bigger fish to fry.”
I eye her nervously. “Is everything okay?”
“Not exactly,” she says, folding her hands on top of her desk. “I’m afraid I have some bad news. You may have heard through the grapevine that we lost crucial funding this past quarter. As a result, we’ve been forced to make drastic budget cuts. Unfortunately, that means reducing staff.”
My heart plummets to my stomach. “Are you firing me?”
“Laying off,” she rephrases.
I stare at her. “Is this because of what happened with Dawson?”
“Of course not!” She looks offended by the suggestion. “This hasnothingto do with Dawson.”
All I can hear is my sister sayingI told you so. She was right. Going on a date with the son of my boss’s best friend was a colossally bad idea.
Even though said date never actually happened, I think bitterly.
“You’ve been a wonderful employee, Marlowe,” Barbara assures me. “You’re a self-starter, you work hard and you always have a positive attitude. I wish we didn’t have to let you go. Ultimately, the decision came down to seniority.”
“So I’m a casualty of the last hired, first fired rule.” I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.
Barbara regards me sympathetically. “If our financial situation improves in the future, I wouldn’t hesitate to hire you back.”
I say nothing, trying to tamp down the panic clawing at my stomach. I have bills to pay. Rent, utilities, tuition, not to mention a pesky little need to buy food for sustenance. What am I going to do without a job? What thefuckam I going to do?
“I’m more than happy to give you a good reference,” Barbara tells me. “And I’ll keep an eye out for any openings that might interest you. In the meantime, I have a job lead for you.”
Hope flares in my chest. “Really?”
She picks up her business card and hands it to me. “Look on the back.”
I flip the card over to read the information she’d jotted down.
“A maid?” I try not to sound as deflated as I feel. “You want me to apply for a job as a maid?”
She looks uncomfortable. “I just thought . . . well, you’ve done housekeeping before, so you already have experience . . .” Her voice trails off.
I swallow hard and force a smile. “Of course.”
“The employer pays very well—above market, actually. He also offers tuition reimbursement.”
Thatperks me up. “For domestic staff? Really?”
“Really. He’s a very wealthy man who runs a major corporation. He definitely won’t have any trouble filling this vacancy.” Barbara pauses. “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of updating and submitting your resume over the weekend. Since I hadn’t told you about the layoff yet, I didn’t want you to be blindsided by another employer calling you. So I provided my phone number instead of yours. Yesterday I heard from the private agency that screens applicants forthe employer. She told me that his head housekeeper will be interviewing candidates for one more day. There were limited slots available, so I scheduled an interview for you.”
“I—oh.” I don’t know what to say.
“It’s just temporary, until something better comes along.” Barbara gives me an encouraging smile. “Go to the interview. If you decide you’re not interested, no harm done.”
I stare at the card in my hand, mulling over her words. I put myself through college working as a housekeeper at a luxury hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. It was a nasty, grueling job and I hated every moment of it. Do I really want to go back to scrubbing toilets and changing dirty sheets?
You might not have any other choice.
“When’s the interview?”
“Ten o’clock.”
