Page 56 of Just A Little Fling

“Gabe does architectural work for his friends. Most of his stuff is commercial installation at, like, art museums or public spaces or whatever. His specialty is doing add-ons that blend with the historical architecture already there.”

“Yeah, I think I read something about it.”

“He likes to do rehab projects for friends. Natalie was the project manager in his office for the big projects, but she didn’t have time to do the ones for friends. Those are the ones I do, and they’re usually small jobs, so not really a big deal.”

“Wait a second, aren’t you project managing the lodge Owen and Barrett are working on? I’m ninety-nine percent sure that that’s what Owen told me.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think Owen and Barrett count because they are in the friend category.” I made a noncommittal noise, and he continued, “Anyway, we did a proposal for the botanical garden, and Natalie moved out of state, so I had to step in because Gabe hasn’t found a replacement for her yet. Gabe told them we’d be hiring a new project manager to replace Natalie, and they were confused because they thought I was the project manager.”

“You must’ve impressed the hell out of them.”

“I don’t know about that part, but they did ask Gabe to keep me on as the project manager, which he agreed to do. He even offered me a separate contract, like he used to do before Natalie came on full-time with the office.”

“What do you mean a separate contract?”

“Yeah, so in addition to my regular job, I would get paid separately for this since it’s above and beyond.”

“Is this not something you want? Because I think it sounds pretty fucking amazing.”

“But I’m not qualified. What if I fuck it up, and then I’ve lost this other thing and potentially my regular job. I’d be left with no job.”

“For the record, that’s a giant leap. Have you considered that Gabe wouldn’t trust you with his livelihood if it wasn’t deserved?”

“What if I’ve fooled him into thinking I’m competent?”

“What makes you think you aren’t competent or qualified? “

“I don’t even have a degree, which is a whole other set of problems.”

“If you were going to a new office, I’d get the concern, but why does it matter in this one? Gabe obviously thinks you’re qualified and confident, or he wouldn’t have had you do the work for his friends, the work on the lodge, or the work on this new project.”

“I just think you need a degree.”

“Was there something that stopped you from going to college?”

“Copy and Paste kept me from going.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“That’s not exactly fair. They didn’t stop me from going to college, but they’re the reason I stopped myself from going.”

This conversation had fallen down a rabbit hole. “How?”

“Growing up, they were super close. I mean, they’re twins, so that makes sense, but they did everything together. They understood the assignment when it came to what my parents wanted from us.”

“What do your parents want?”

“Both of my parents are and come from working class. They wanted us to be in positions where we wouldn’t struggle and worry about layoffs. To a certain extent, nobody can prevent that, but some jobs are more stable than others. My brothers fully understood their hopes and dreams. They ended up going to school for nursing, and now they’re both finishing their nurse practitioner licensing. My parents are absolutely over the moon about it.”

“And you don’t think they’re over the moon about what you do?”

“I’m a personal assistant. I assist the person they’d be over the moon about.”

“Do you want to go to school and become a nurse?”

“Absolutely fucking not. I hate blood, and I’m pretty sure there’d be a lot of blood.”

“I don’t know about a lot, but there’s probably some. What do you like about your job?”

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