Page 5 of Objection
“Yes, I did,” I answered with a smile. I was proud of my education.
“What were your studies in?” he asked, genuinely interested for the first time in the five years I had known him.
“Double major in history and lit.”
“Why are you a paralegal?” he asked, setting my resume down, his eyes focused on me.
“Life, Mr. Wellington. Literature and history are things I love. I had plans to continue on to law school, but … well, life happened. Instead, I’ve kept both those things as great loves in my life. Great loves do not have to be our primary sources of income.” I knew my answer likely wouldn't sit well with him. The way his eyes hardened a touch told me I was right.
“Well, that certainly is a choice, Ms. Adams. Continuing on. Let’s just get right down to it. I’ve had firsthand knowledge of your work for the last five years and find you to be satisfactory enough to bring on as my paralegal. I assume you will want to give a two week notice to Jack—”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Wellington, but I haven’t accepted your job offer,” I interrupted him.
“Excuse me?” He looked at me, surprised.
“Why should I take this job? When I have five years under my belt with Jack?” I pushed. I know Mr. Wellington was used to getting his way, but that wasn’t going to happen here. I had a backbone, and if I were even going to consider taking on this job, he needed to see it. Backbone meet Wellington. Wellington meet backbone.
“Let me be clear. The way Jack runs that office is atrocious and you know it. Yes, I’m shocked that I didn’t make partner, but I don’t want to be a partner at a firm that is going to handle promotions like that. I’m not trying to be arrogant here. I work hard. So do you. You know what you’re doing, and I can trust you to get the work done and get it done right. In exchange, I’m willing to give you the best job offer you could hope for.” His words drew me in.
“And that offer would be?” I supplied.
“Double your salary.” The words sunk in, and I clenched my teeth in order to not let my jaw hit the table. Double my salary? That was absurd! Sure, Jack didn’t pay the greatest, but it was good solid wages.
“And four weeks of PTO,” I pushed, squaring my shoulders. I wasn’t afraid to negotiate, and Mr. Wellington had shown his hand. He needed me. Now the question was how badly did he need me.
“Three weeks to start, though I will allow flex time for any additional requests within reason.” That was beyond fair.
“And paid benefits,” it was the last thing I truly needed in order to walk away from Jack’s. Affording insurance not through an employer was ridiculously expensive.
“After a year—” he began, but this was my chip.
“Paid benefits or I walk,” I cut him off. We both sat there, eyes locked while he thought about it.
“Fine,” he finally agreed. I watched as the muscles of his jaw twitched as he kept his teeth clenched. His blue eyes were on fire.
“Fine. I’ll think it over and let you know,” I said with a touch of a haughty air.
“Seriously?” he guffawed.
“Seriously,” I deadpanned right back.
“You have twenty-four hours.” With that, Mr. Wellington stood from his seat and left the table. Left me sitting right there as he walked out.
Well, that was interesting.
I thought about his offer for the rest of the day at the office, including the extra half hour Jack asked me to stay in order to do some odds and ends work for him. This time, I remembered to let David know when I would be home. All I got in response was an eyeroll emoji. Great, that was going to be fun to deal with.
I saw David’s car parked in my driveway when I got home. I swear he was here more than his own place. You would think that after six years together we would live together, but it just never happened. I hadn’t quite decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing. With a sigh, I made my way to the front door. Yup, this was going to be so much fun. I rolled my eyes with my internal sarcastic banter.
“I thought you said you’d only be thirty minutes late,” David sneered.
“I did. It’s been forty minutes. I hit some traffic on the way home,” I sighed heavily. It had been a long day.
“I don’t think you should keep working for someone like Jack.” David turned the television off, following me into the kitchen. Apparently, we were going to have this conversation here and now.
“You know, I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I was offered a new job today. A better job!” I announced excitedly.
“Good, you need to be home more. Is it part time?” David pushed.
