Page 184 of Steeling Her
The loud clap of his hands gathers everyone’s attention instantly. Silence hangs in the air as we wait for John to speak.
With a beaming smile at everyone, he looks around the room. Him rolling his hands against each other was a tell-tale sign of one thing and one thing only: he’s a happy man.
“Thank you all for joining me today. I will make this brief so you all can carry on working. I know some of you are swamped with clients these days, and I appreciate the hard work you all put into this practice. I’ve gathered you here for a quick update on the company. I’m planning on opening a new office in Santa Barbara next year.” He opens the meeting with a very surprising announcement. “The money this office has brought in for the last three years has allowed me to do it. We are currently renovating it at the moment and are building it from the ground up. If anyone lives in that area and would like to switch when it opens, you’re welcome to do so. Dallas, Cassandra, and I will be holding interviews for people in three months’ time, so if you have anyone you know looking for some work and you trust, tell them to apply.”
I knew we were doing very well, but I didn’t realize we were doing well enough to open another clinic. That sounds very exciting for the business. “As you have guessed by now, we made a huge amount this year. It’s our best year to date, and I’m so amazed by the work you all put in every day! Keep up the good work! As a reward, each one of you will get a Christmas bonus this year.” That’s when the chatter picks back up. Everyone is stunned by the generosity from him. He rarely gives them out at all; unless you bring in a huge clientele, then he’ll consider it, but rarely will he actually give it.
Effectively, this has us all surprised. This is a very good Monday for us all.
We get shushed by Dallas and Jody for talking too loudly. I had to stop the eye roll that was going to happen. Jody thinks she’s the manager of everyone and that she’s on the same level as Dallas, who actually is our manager. Jody is on the same level as the rest of us, and I have more daily clients than she does. She barely works at all. She’s always painting her nails, or fixing her makeup, or going out shopping.
“I hope you all continue to work hard. If you ever need anything or need to talk to me about anything, just pick up the phone and give me a call. I may not be physically around to help you but I will try,” John ends on that quick note. I debate on whether to pull him aside and let him know about the letter I received today, but I quickly decide against it and keep it between me and Candice for now. If I get offered the position, I’ll talk to him about it.
“Thank you so much John for those kind words. Amazing achievement, team. Keep up the good work.” Dallas claps John out the door while complementing us.
“Good job, guys!” Jody chimes in, and everyone couldn’t hold in the eye roll. We were waiting for her to speak up. She always has to have the very last word in everything.
As we all walk back to the main waiting area, I get pulled back to the side. Seeing Jody’s claws in my arm, I shake myself out of her grip to stop them from sinking further into me.
“Yes, Jody?” I ask her. She straightens up and releases her grip on me just as our manager walked by.
“I just wanted to thank you so much for talking my clients last week, Carter. You really didn’t have to, I appreciate the work you did for me.” Her eyes follow Dallas, who is behind me, until she’s out of hearing range. “So, I see Ms. Capri wants to keep you for good. The old bag isn’t even worth the money,” Jody comments and stares at her nail polish. She loves to bitch about her clients while I don’t even bother entertaining her. I liked Ms. Capri. The difference is, I have patience while Jody doesn’t.
“She’s thirty-four, Jody. She’s not old,” I reply and she shrugs.
“That’s old, Carter,” she points out but then stops herself. She stares at me in a complete daze, then squints her eyes into slits like she’s thinking about something. “Isn’t your name supposed to a boy’s name?” she asks randomly, confusing me. Still staying on the spot and thinking about what she just asked, she spins around on her heel and calls over her shoulder back at me, “Keep the old bag, I don’t want her anymore.” She waves me off like she’s giving me her hand-me-downs.
I stand there completely confused as to what the hell just happened.What was that all about?
She’s never commented on my name or on me before. I’ve never given her a reason to. I stay out of her way all of the time, so I don’t understand where this sudden judgmental question is coming from.
I breathe forcefully and make my way back to my office to check who and when my first client is coming in to see me.
“Mr. Daniels,” I mumble reading off the screen on my computer. I seat myself and push back to roll to the cabinet behind me to find his file so I can read up on what I assigned him to do last time he was here and to check and see if he has done it and done it correctly. I don’t like to give instructions to some of my clients, but sometimes, you have to drill it into them in order for them to do it correctly. It’s their health after all, and they’re paying good money for my help.
In a flash of time, my calendar sends me a reminder that he should be arriving any minute now. I set up the bed with some tissue paper and spray my room with a hint of lavender.
I open my door and walk into the reception area and over to Sydney, who is sitting behind the desk. “Hey, Syd, has Mr. Daniels arrived yet?” I ask her as each person that walks in must check in for health and safety reasons, just in case.
She scans the clipboard in front of her as I scan the waiting room briefly. “Yes, he’s here alright. He might be sitting behind the pillar.” She points in a direction of one of the blind spots in the room. As I make my way around her desk and over to where he might be sitting, I see him reading a newspaper intently. He doesn’t even hear me approach him.
“Mr. Daniels,” I greet him and he sets the paper down as he lifts his eyes to meet mine. With a smile and a nod, he stands up to join me. “If you could just follow me, we can get started.” I nod over to my door and he walks alongside me.
“Thank you. How are you?” he makes small talk. He’s generally a quiet man but I do like helping him out.
“I’m very well, and you? How is your wife?” His wife has been in and out of hospital recently. They aren’t young people. He came home from a session with me to find her lying at the bottom of the stairs. He thinks she tripped and fell down. I felt terrible for him when he had called me to cancel our next session. I understood completely but still asked him to keep doing his exercises while he visited her.
His wife came back with a slipped disc and a ton of bruises on her pale skin. He would call me sometimes to keep me up to date with his progress as well as hers, which I thought was very sweet of him.
“Oh, she’s doing much better now. The doctors said she’ll be out in less than three weeks, which is very good to hear. I miss her dearly.” He smiles sorrowfully at me while I tap on the bed for him to sit up so I can begin.
“That’s very good to hear. Now, you have to look after her; she needs all the help she can get.” I wink at him while he gets comfortable sitting on the edge of the bed with his legs dangling freely.
“Oh, I will, my daughter Chrissy said she’d come to stay with us for the month after she comes home in case anything happens to either of us. Chrissy is very good like that. You remind me of her, come to think of it,” he complements me. I smile back at him and thank him. He has shown me pictures of his daughters and their kids, naming each one of them off and what they’re like. He used to tell me some wild stories about his children when they were younger and the all the mischievous tales that came with taking care of them.
As we begin the scheduled session, I get him to talk about Mrs. Daniels for the duration because that’s what he seems to want to talk about. He talks about how they met even though I’ve already heard it from her whenever she comes in with him to see me for the quick session on his hip, then he tells me about how they both go for a small walk along the beach together afterwards.
“You did a good job today. I’m happy with your progress. You’ve been doing what I’ve asked of you and I’m happy, Mr. Daniels. You don’t need to see me for a little while if you keep doing the exercises. What I want you to do next is go for a walk on the beach once a week and then increase it to two, alright? I’ll see you in three weeks’ time to check up on you. Is that alright?” I ask him and he sends me two thumbs up.
