Page 20 of One Night in Paris

11

LOGAN

Michelle sat in the seat across from me, a notebook in one hand, a pen in the other, allegedly taking down notes on the upcoming meeting I was preparing for. But her pen had hardly moved since I’d started talking almost ten minutes ago, so it was clear to me something was up.

“Michelle? Are you okay?” I asked, waiting a moment for her to register what I’d said.

“Hmm?” Her eyes bounced back to mine, her lips parting slightly. “Oh, uh, yeah. I’m sorry. You said two columns in the front?”

“Three columns in the front, two windows. Michelle, if you’re not feeling well today, I can get Patrick in here to do it.” Patrick was the office receptionist. His duties included answering the phones and welcoming anyone who came through the front door while Michelle usually handled tasks more personal to me. Taking notes on upcoming projects was something she should’ve been fully capable of doing by now, yet she always struggled with it. Whenever I’d get them back from her, half of the content would be missing. And what was there either didn’t make sense or had so many misspelled terms, it took me forever to figure outwhat she’d meant. Like when I’d told her we would need to apply fascia board, and she’d written “face your bored.” Right now, her face told meshewas bored.

“It’s not that.” Michelle sighed and set her notebook down on her lap. “Logan, I’ve been working here for a long time now,” she began, but I had to interrupt her.

“It hasn’t quite been a year yet, Michelle.”

“Right. A long time. And while I am flattered that the board members thought I’d be good at this, I just don’t like it. My dad thinks I can work my way up the corporate ladder, but I don’t want to work on job sites.”

My mouth dropped open as I intended to tell her I didn’t think that’s what her dad meant, but when I realized interrupting her now would probably not be in my best interest, I closed my mouth again.

“So my friend has a friend who is starting this YouTube channel for fitness products, and they think I’d make an awesome hostess. I’ve been thinking about it for a few days, and I’m going to go give it a whirl tomorrow. That means I won’t be able to come to work tomorrow. And if it works out, I’ll probably just quit. I might not know how it’s going for a while, but knowing that there’s a better job out there for me makes me want to just go for it. If it doesn’t work out, it may be rough for a while, just relying on my allowance from Daddy, but if I don’t give it a try, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

By the time Michelle finished her impassioned speech, it was clear to me that she didn’t want to work for me anymore. Part of me was relieved. Michelle was the worst assistant I’d ever had, by far. In fact, she was probably worse than any assistant I could even dream up. But then, I hated the idea of having to hire someone else either. For a position like this, I couldn’t leave it completely up to human resources. I’d be working with thisperson every day, so I had to make sure they were someone I could get along with.

Nevertheless, I wasn’t about to tell this woman to keep working for me when she so clearly didn’t want to. “Michelle, if you want to quit, I understand. I’d hate to see you go, but this isn’t a prison. You’re free to go whenever you think the time is right.”

Her eyes widened as if she were surprised by my words. “You’re not mad?”

Biting back a laugh, I shook my head. “No, of course not. Why would I be mad to hear that you’re following your dream? I know how important this is to you. It’s something you’ve always wanted for yourself. So I think you should go for it.”

Michelle’s face broke into a beaming smile. “Oh, thank you, Logan. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your support. Daddy was super mad when I told him last night, but he’ll get over it. I was just afraid you’d be angry.”

Obviously, this girl had daddy issues. “No, I’m not mad. You go ahead and do what you need to do. Just let Andy in human resources know so that we can get a replacement lined up.”

“Do you want me to give my two weeks’ notice? I do have some vacation days I could use to finish out.” She batted her eyelashes at me, looking like someone who fully hoped I’d tell her to just get out of here.

“We’ll compensate you for whatever vacation days you have. Don’t even worry about it.” I was pretty sure she couldn’t have more than a day if that. She seemed to miss at least a day a week. If it were up to me, I’d just go ahead and pay her for the two weeks and not see her in the office again. Ever.

“Thank you so much,” she said again, hopping up from the office chair. Plunking the notebook down on my desk, she reached across and hugged me. “You won’t regret this, Mr. Winters.”

Again, I had to try not to laugh. If she stopped and thought about what she was saying, she might realize that what she’d just said was no compliment to herself.

“All right, Michelle.” Giving her a gentle push, I freed myself from her embrace, hoping the scent of her floral perfume didn’t adhere itself to me. It was strong, and I didn’t want to smell like it for the rest of the day.

Michelle left my office happier than I’d ever seen her. I was happy for her, but I was also happy for myself. Having her out of my life had to be a positive thing. Would it even be possible to hire someone who was worse at her job to replace her? I didn’t see how.

Picking up the notebook she’d been allegedly taking notes on, I saw that she hadn’t written down even a quarter of what I’d said. Sighing, I set it aside and opened an app on my computer that would record what I said. Sometimes doing it this way was tricky because I’d have to speak the punctuation, but it couldn’t be any worse than Michelle’s note-taking.

When I finished, I picked up my desk phone and called Andy in HR. As usual, he answered on the first ring. Most of the people who worked for me were competent. Otherwise, my business wouldn’t be doing so well. “Yes, sir?”

“Hi, Andy. Listen, Michelle just quit. Did she tell you?”

“No, but Patrick said she hugged him when she walked out with a box full of personal items and the houseplant from reception.” Andy’s tone conveyed he’d already more or less figured out that she had resigned or gotten fired.

I couldn’t believe she’d swipe a plant, but at this point, I was just glad she was gone. “We’re going to need to replace her. Do we have any prospects? I need someone I get along with well. I don’t care if they have experience or not, but they have to be smart and driven. No more referrals from people trying to pass off the incompetent children of their friends anymore.”

Andy chuckled. “No one comes to mind off the top of my head, but I can put a posting together and get it out to some of the websites where we usually list our openings. I’m sure we can get someone qualified in here soon.”

“Sounds good. I want to interview everyone myself, though, Andy. Seriously, this is important to me.”