Love Therapy (Stanton Falls #2) (4 page)

Donna sat in the office
for the director of HR at ND Marketing & Financial Services.
   It was quaint and kind of homely, like the rest of the
building.  It was not typical of what one would expect from a professional
services business.  Then again, it was a company located in Stanton Falls,
the capital of quaint.  The HR director was going over all of the
particulars of the company and perks she would obtain working for the company.
 Even though she was considered a contracted employee and not a direct
employee of the company, many employee benefits would extend to her.  

“Now Ms. Sherman, if you
will give me just five minutes to file some of this paperwork we just went
over, I want to take you on a tour of our facilities, give you the layout and
make sure you meet everyone here that you need to.”

“That would be great.
 I’ll just review some of this info you gave me, so take your time.”
 

Wow, these guys really
do take care of their employees.  

Donna looked over the
packet and saw benefits ranging from top notch medical and dental care to
emergency child care assistance.  No wonder everyone in the office seemed
so happy.  It was apparent to her that the owners of the company really wanted
to have an environment that supported employee development and happiness.
 They were vested fully in the lives of their employees.  She looked
forward to meeting them later so that she could tell them how excited she was
to be working with a company that cared so much for its employees.  

Even with that, she knew
that there was a reason that she was there.  No matter how many smiles
those people wore, they were still real people with everyday issues and she
would be the perfect person to help them out.  It would be the perfect
opportunity for her.  

“All done.  Are you
ready Donna?”

“Yep.  Can I just
leave these here until we get back?”

“I’ve got a better idea.
  I haven’t taken you by your office yet.  It’s right down the
hall so I’ll take you by there first.”

“Great!”

Donna followed the woman
to an office that was about one hundred meters down the hall.  

“Here is your office.
 We have a standard kind of decorating here as I am sure you can tell--but
if you want to change anything to make it more conducive to what you will be
doing here, just submit it through the portal I showed you online and I’ll make
sure to get it ordered as soon as possible.”

Donna looked around her
office and had no qualms whatsoever.

“I don’t think that will
be an issue at all.”  

“In that case, here is
your key.  You can go ahead and leave your things on the desk and lock up.
 I never lock my office but feel free to do whatever makes you comfy.”

“Thanks.”

Donna did lock the door.
 She was all for small town trust but she had just moved back from a big
city and it wasn’t out of her DNA just yet.  After locking up, she
followed the woman through the various areas of the building.  It was a
nice enough atmosphere to work in.  She’d introduced her to various
managers and staff before bringing her back to her office.  

“Well, that’s the tour
of the place.  What do you think?”

“It’s great, but I
thought you were going to introduce me to the head of the company.”

“Oh my, I did just
shuffle right on past his office didn’t I?  My mistake.  Let’s go
meet him now.  He’s really a good guy.  This company has helped a lot
of families in our town, especially the younger ones.  It’s not so easy to
find jobs where they can use their degrees from the universities in towns like
this one. With places like this one that Mr. Dellinger has started, some of our
young folk, like yourself, can come back home and find places to work rather
than having to move to a bigger city.”

Donna knew what she meant.
 If she hadn’t already known that Mr. Faulkner was going to give her a job
when school was done, she might have had to take one of the offers she had
outside of Stanton Falls.  

The owner really did
seem to care about the community.  Not a surprise, seeing that it was one
of the
Dellingers
.  This town was their home and
they took every effort to bring success to the people there.  She never
remembered meeting even one of them but she looked forward to finally meeting a
member of the most well-known family in the town.

The woman walked up to a
secretary’s desk.

“Trudy, is Mr. Dellinger
available?  I’d like him to meet our new counselor.”

“As available as he ever
will be.  Never takes a break so you might as well head on in.  Let me
just let him know you are coming in.”

The secretary picked up
the receiver and spoke.

“Sir, Monica from HR
wants to bring a new staff member by for her introduction…..I’ll send them
right in.”

She placed the receiver
on the hook and then looked up at the two ladies.

“He’s ready for you
right now.”

As they walked towards
the door, Donna saw the name plate on the side.

NICHOLAS
DELLINGER,

PRESIDENT
AND CEO

Why does that name sound
so familiar?

The second the door
opened, she knew.   As he looked from the papers on his desk, the
recognition showed on his face immediately.

“Donna I’d like you to
meet our President and CEO...”

“Nick?”  Donna
spoke before the woman could even finish her statement.  

“Umm...yes, that’s what
I was going to say.  Nicholas Dellinger.  But it seems you already
know that.  Apparently you both know each other already?”

Nick still had a look of
surprise on his face.  He clearly was not expecting to see her at all.
 He jumped up from his chair to greet her with a smile.  

“Yes we do.  Donna?
 You’re the new counselor?”

“I am.  I didn’t
realize this was your company to be honest.”

“Well I don’t like to
call it my company.  We all run it together.  So…”

Before he could finish,
Monica jumped in.

“Excuse me just one
second.  Since this was my last stop on the tour, I’m going to go ahead
and leave you two to your reunion.”

The woman turned towards
Donna, offering her hand for a shake.

“Welcome to the
company.”

After thanking her,
Donna turned back to Nick.

“So this is funny.”

“What?  Did you
forget me again already?”

“No not that.  And
I didn’t forget you last time.  I just didn’t recognize you.  That is
a totally different thing.”

“Try telling that to
Aaron for me one day.   I got poked fun at the whole day as the unmemorable
one.  He even called me the king of forgettable.”

Donna laughed as Nick
made a mock pained face.  

“I’ll tell him the next
time I see him, I promise.”

“Well he works right
down the hall so you will have your chance.”

“You two work here together?”
 

“Yup.  He’s head of
IT but has always been my right hand man here.  So how did we luck into
getting you on staff?”

“Long story short, you
couldn’t afford or didn’t want to pay for Dr. Faulkner.”

“I guess every cloud
really does have a silver lining.  I would venture to wager that we’ll be
really happy about how things turn out.”

Donna could swear that
he was talking about more than just her working there but she was sure it was
just her imagination.  There was no way that he was expressing any real
interest in her.

“You think so?”

“Yes I do indeed.”
 

“Well I like working
with positive people.  Speaking of which, I wanted to make sure I told you
how happy I am to be here.”

“Thanks Donna but it’s
just your first day.”

“That’s true but from
the things I have heard and the morale that your people have around here, I can
tell that they really enjoy being here.  You and I know that all starts
with the guy at the top.”

“Well, I do try.”

The phone rang on his
desk and based on the look on his face, she could tell he didn’t want to
answer.  

“One second please.”

“Of course.”

“Hello. Yes….Wow,
already?  Ok put them on hold for me and I’ll be right with them.”

He returned his
attention to Donna.

“So sorry about that.
 It seems I have a conference call.  If I had known you were going to
be stopping by, I would have had her cancel my call, or at least reschedule it.
 I would love to spend some time with you to answer any questions you may
have about the company.”

“Oh no need to go to all
that trouble for me.  I’m sure we will have plenty of time for you to fill
me in on all that.  After all, I am going to be working here now.
 Also, don’t forget that you are on staff too.  In positions like
yours, it can get stressful so if you even need a session, let me know and I’ll
pencil you in.”

He smiled at her and for
the first time ever she noticed just how nice his facial features were.
 He was one of those guys whose attractiveness you could overlook but if
you were lucky enough to catch the right look, there wasn’t a man you’d find
more handsome in the world.  

“I just might take you
up on that offer.”

His last statement made
her blush slightly to go with her slight grin before she mentally chided
herself.

Really Donna! That’s a
line you never cross no matter how cute he is.  

Besides that, she still
wasn’t looking for a boyfriend and even if she were, there was no way she was
going to complicate it by letting it be her new boss.  That was just
asking for trouble that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with.  It
didn’t make him any less attractive but it helped in bringing her back to
reality.   She cleared her throat and spoke again.

“Well I will leave you
to your meeting Nick.  I will talk to you later.”

She shook his hand
before turning and leaving his office.  He was the last person she had
expected to see when the door opened.  She didn’t know that all the time
he was eating at the diner, she was serving one of the Dellinger’s.  Not
that it mattered.  He was just a regular guy but still.  She walked
back to her office and sat down, figuring out where everything was going to go.
 Not much needed to be changed except adding some credentials and personal
effect to the walls and bookshelves.  She always felt it was important
that people knew who you were and what you were about as a counselor.  It
gained trust when people saw a diploma as well as family, friends and smiles on
the wall.  

Donna knew as she sat in
her office that working there was going to be something that she would never
regret.  

***

Nick finished his
conference call barely paying attention to the things even he himself was
saying.  It was a good thing that he was so prepared for the meeting that he
was able to speed through the information that he had to relay without much
effort.   His mind was definitely somewhere else.  He left his
office and twenty seconds later had dashed down the hall and around the corner
before bursting unannounced into Aaron’s office.

“Did you see her?”

Aaron looked at Nick,
threw up a finger to tell him to hold on and finished the call he was on.

“Even though you are the
boss, I know we’ve talked about you barging in here like....well like you own
the place.  What is it now man?”