A Trade For Good (6 page)

Jeff had told Sera she could leave at
4:00. Maybe she had lost her keys again. He was going to tell her
dedication was admirable, but she had a family to go home to, when
he walked in and heard laughter at the end of the hallway. His
office was the last office in the building and it seemed the
laughter was coming from there.

What the hell was this? A circus? His
office hadn't heard this much laughter ever. Was he paying everyone
to slack off?

When he put his head inside the door
he saw that Sera was sitting at his desk, on his chair, and Todd,
Mitch, and Alan were sitting on his desk, which apparently had been
cleared of all the paper clutter he had had that morning. Wondering
what shocked him most, the informal party taking place in his
office, or the cleared up desk, Jeff was about to say something
when Sera saw him and immediately got up to let him sit
down.

The guys followed her eyes, which were
full of guilt as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie
jar, but each one looked at Jeff, waved or nodded, and then turned
their attention back to Sera who had been in the middle of a story
or something. When Sera didn’t return to her seat or the story,
they realized it was probably time to go home or get back to
whatever it is they were supposed to be doing.

“I’m sorry.” Sera said as she grabbed
her purse to leave. "Is 8:00 all right for tomorrow?”

“Yeah, uh...see you then.”

He watched her leave and didn't notice
Mitch watching him from across the hallway until Mitch crossed the
hall and came into Jeff's office smiling.

Jeff didn't want to deal with Mitch
just now, and instead focused on the room he was in which held no
semblance to the office he had left earlier that day. The place
looked great, but he knew he couldn't put Mitch off too much
longer.

“Mitch, we need to talk.”

“Damn straight we do.”

“Listen, I know we should have talked
about this, about hiring someone to get us organized and all before
I sat her down and signed a contract. I can probably foot this one
on my own, or if you're totally opposed, I understand. I screwed
up; I don't even know if we can afford her.”

“Yeah, we should have talked." Mitch
said with understanding, but he surprised Jeff with what he said
next. "We should have talked about doing something like this a long
time ago. I don't know if you've had a chance to look around yet,
but she filed everything in those cabinets, and they're already in
alphabetical order. We might actually be able to find something
now. She also set up three separate drawers that are labeled
already, one for work completed, another for on-going maintenance
projects, and the last one for contracts on work that still has to
be done. She said she needs another file cabinet or storage to put
the work completed, so she can better use that particular drawer
for prospects. We've never done that, have we? She said that way
you can target prospects and develop a clientele, instead of
waiting for the calls.”

Mitch started laughing. “She asked if
she could have my computer to set up billing, payroll, prospects
etc. She actually smiled and told me computers can be used for more
than just games. I think she’ll be great for us Jeff. And even if
it's until she's paid off the debt she owes, we'll be better off
all around after she's been here for a while. It would be nice to
finally get this business permanently in the black if we know
what’s going on and have all of the information at our
fingertips.”

Jeff shook his head obviously
relieved. “I thought you’d be mad.”

“The guys love her.” Mitch added as if
that would put Jeff's mind at ease.

“Oh yes, and that’s obviously a great
reference! Actually, I kind of wish they didn't like her that much.
We’ll have to keep an eye on that if we don't want any
problems.”

“An eye on what?”

“You know, it’s not just Alan and
Todd, it’s all the other guys who parade in and out of this office
building. You know," Jeff lowered his voice so that the others
couldn't hear, "they’ll all see her and…”

“And what?” Mitch pretended to be
dense.

“Well,” Jeff looked down at his shoes
and shuffled his feet, “she’s a girl.”

“Holy shit, I knew I noticed something
different!” Mitch laughed at Jeff. “You know, hiring a female is
not exactly a new concept. It's been done before. Maybe for you
it's new, but you just stepped out of a cave and haven’t even been
out in the world for a while. Hiring a woman, hate to tell you, but
other people are doing it too.”

“It’s not that she’s a woman, well it
is really, but I just think she just looks a little
too…”

“Too what?” Mitch chuckled and was not
about to help his friend on this one. "Too short?"

“Well yeah, she's short, but not too
short, she's just, well kind of …”

“Kind of what?”

“Damn you Mitch! She’s just too
distracting. We'll never get any work done.”

“Hey, speak for yourself, I'm a
married man, remember?"

"How could I forget, my sister would
kill me if I forgot who you were and didn't watch out for
you."

"Watch out for me, or watch
over me? That’s right, that’s why you let me become a partner, so
you could watch me...” Mitch stopped and added, “By the way,
distracting?
I don't think
anyone says 'distracting' anymore. What you mean is that she's hot,
she has a great ass, and I think I’ll shut up before my wife
magically reads the rest of my thoughts like she always does.
Because I don't think she's distracting as much as, uh, disturbing
really.”

“I'll forget you're my
brother in law for a minute and ask you. So, you agree that
she's
hot
?”

“I say you'd have to be blind not to
notice, but she's also efficient, has some great ideas we can
benefit from, seems to be very organized, she’s funny, amiable, and
we all know she’s going through some rough times so I think this
arrangement will benefit us all. I’m happily married, and that's
not just because you're my brother-in-law, but I also know your
sister is going to want to come in and check Sera out, and when she
does, I think she'll like her and tell us we're all bastards for
not making the coffee for Sera every morning."

"Yeah, I can see her taking another
woman's side..."

"I don't think we have to
worry about the guys here. Todd is engaged, and Alan is so weird he
might not have even noticed she is a girl, although I find it hard
to believe anyone would not notice that." Then stopping to pause,
“I think it’ll be fine. Welcome to the 21
^st
century amigo. By the way,
this wouldn’t happen to be a personal problem you have, would
it?”

“Kiss my a…”

Mitch was out of the room before he
heard the rest.

Chapter 6

Sera went in to work every day at
8:00; sometimes a little earlier. She needed time to get the kids
up for school, and drive the older ones to their respective
schools, or to the bus stop. Then, she’d take Charlie and Emma to
Deb’s. Charlie would be starting school soon, so that left only
Emma with Deb.

Two weeks had gone by and she’d seen
Jeff for only a few minutes at a time, four or five days. She had
heard nothing good or bad about what she was doing, and had had no
direction from either of the partners. She assumed they were happy
with what she was doing, or she would have heard.

This morning she was at the office by
7:30. She had arrived earlier in the hope that she could also leave
before 4:00. She wasn’t sure if anyone would be there yet, and was
happy when she saw a car in the parking lot in front of the
building so someone could let her in.

Jeff heard some tapping on the window
and looked up to see who it was. He had been there since five and
had started dozing off. He had already finished one pot of coffee,
and decided to hold off before he made the next when he remembered
his ‘secretary’ could make it for him.

Jeff went to the front door and
reminded himself to get a key copied for Sera. If he wasn’t here,
she would have to wait forever until one of the guys rolled
in.

Jeff looked at Sera and admired how
well she looked in a pair of jeans and a white cotton shirt. So
simple, yet on her it looked fantastic. He found himself responding
to her in a dangerous way. Mitch was right, she wasn't distracting,
she was disturbing. How Jeff would handle six months of this he
didn't know.

Sera gave Jeff a big welcoming smile
and thanked him for opening the door and sensing he didn't want her
anywhere near, although her reasons were all wrong, she quickly
made her way over to Mitch’s office.

As soon as she left, Jeff slammed the
front door of the building wondering once again how we would
survive the next six months. He really needed to start dating
again. But it was almost unnerving how anyone could be as cheerful
and beautiful at this time in the morning.

Frustrated, he didn't wait for the
coffee he heard her start, and walked over to his desk, found his
keys, now that the piles on his desk were cleared, and left without
a word. Having an extra body in the office would not be easy,
especially a body like Sera’s.

Sera heard the door slam and wondered
if one of the other guys had just waltzed in, she finished his
coffee and poured it in a mug he had said was his and brought it
into the other room only to find that Jeff had disappeared. He had
probably been waiting for her just to open the door. She’d have to
ask him for copy of key to the office unless he wanted to wait for
her every day.

Sera had figured out how to use the
answering machine yesterday and checked for any new messages,
finding a few she jotted down to bring to the guys’ attention
later. She started a new coffee pot, since she had only poured
Jeff's from a pot that was almost empty, and went over to the
computer where she would start entering all the data from their
current clients.

As she waited for the computer to
boot, she looked around the office and decided it was so… The word
that first came up was sterile, but to say that meant to imply that
it was neat, tidy, and clean, and it was definitely not that, not
yet. It wasn't really masculine either, it was just a room full of
stuff. No warmth, no color, no pizazz. She wondered if any clients
ever came in to arrange for their work to be done, to pay, or to
sign contracts.

What had Peter done when he hired them
for the job? She didn't know what Peter had done, only that she had
gotten a bill saying the work was scheduled to be done and how much
she owed. Peter had never mentioned anything to her.

If clients did come in, there was no
welcoming area or warmth. There was no indication of the type of
business they ran. The only plant they had had was in a dumpster
outside and Jeff had claimed it was silk. Sera still had her doubts
about that. She was sure it was dead when she threw it in the
bin.

A landscaping company should have some
green – live green – and a stonescaping company could use flooring
or columns that reflected some of the work they did.

Something a little different would be
nice. In addition to organizing, she should make it more appealing
too. Looking at her surroundings, she thought of how depressing it
would be to work in a stark box, but that would have to wait as
well. Baby steps.

By the time the guys rolled in, Sera
had almost finished entering the name, address, and the type of job
that was being done for all of the current clients. She noticed
when she was filing that a lot of them were current only because
they still hadn’t paid, but not because the job was incomplete.
Mitch had told her yesterday to feel free to set up the computer
just the way she wanted it, and to make any other changes she
thought fit. After all, he had added that any change would be a
positive change.

Mitch also seemed like a nice guy,
they were all nice. Jeff was nice too, after all, he had hired her,
but he was the only one she couldn’t read, and the only one who
made her nervous.

Alan helped Sera move a desk out of
the storeroom and over to the front room where she set the computer
up. Sera figured she'd position herself in a central location to
greet people and to make herself available when the guys needed her
at the office. She called to have a line added, moved the fax and
the answering machine to the front, and basically set up a
reception area. She wanted to get a hold of a nicer chair for
clients to sit in and wait before they were called into the other
offices, but was trying to work with what they had available to
them and not bring more things or additional expenses into the
business. Additional expenses could make them question her hiring,
and she wasn't about to jeopardize this job. She needed the work
too much to risk it.

On her break, Sera drove to her house
to pick up an old rug she had always loved but Peter had hated. It
was in the basement and she had thought of putting it somewhere in
her house where everybody could see it, but she realized the only
reason why she'd do that was to spite Peter, and Peter would
probably never see it anyway.