I sighed. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to do my job if he refused to even communicate with me?
I read through the letter and made some minor corrections in red ink. Then I left the letter on the edge of the desk and ignored it, which felt good. Correcting it was revenge enough for his rudeness all day, and I should be getting on with logging the receipts in the ledger, which was a complete mess. How they had managed to stay in business, I had no idea!
“You’d think that a sensible person would have sorted this out ages ago,” I murmured under my breath.
It was chaos!
I opened a drawer in the desk, and a flood of papers spilled out. I swore.
“Shit! What the hell is this stuff?”
“Have you checked the letter?” Carter called.
I looked at him. I was standing behind the desk, a mish-mash of papers covering the floor, and his “important” letter on my desk. I was clearly busy with something more urgent right now. I wanted to ask him what the heck he thought I was doing in here. I was a receptionist, not a personal assistant! But I didn’t say a word.
“Oh. Is it there?”
“Yes.”
“Thanks.” He took it off the desk and walked out. I saw him reading over my corrections. He was standing with his back to me, but I fancied I saw him straighten up, and a frown on his brow. I smiled.
After the interruption, I began tidying up. I bent down and lifted the handfuls of receipts and other records and stuffed them back into the second drawer, where they’d come out. After a moment of thought, I took them all out again, reaching for a box to put them in. I would have to start a new rule. All purchase of parts would be logged, and the bills stored in this box for confirmation. They would no longer be shoving them into a drawer and forgetting about them. I was going to introduce some organization around here.
I arranged the receipts in order, so that, when it came to sorting out things at the end of the month, it would be easier.
“Amelia?” Adam appeared in the doorway, looking nervous.
“Yes?” I asked. I looked up from the box of bills on my desk, noticing that my neck hurt. It also seemed a little darker in the room, which was a surprise. No wonder my eyes hurt.
“Do you have a pen?”
“Sure,” I said, passing him a pen. I felt exhausted.
“Thanks.”
He took the pen and leaned on the doorframe, signing something. He handed it back. “It’s six o’clock,” he said.
“It is?” I jumped up. That was a surprise! I stretched my back. How long had I been working? I looked down at the desk.
The receipts were in a pile. The ledgers were up to date. The bills were in their box, and I had answered the phone three more times, following the first call.
“Not bad,” I said to myself, as Adam headed off to the yard.
I was almost finished on my first day, and I had already accomplished plenty. I leaned back against the wall with a satisfied smile. Yes, I had managed to do something after all.
“Amelia?” Matt’s voice said from the doorway. I turned to face him.
“Yes?” I asked.
“We’re going to start tidying up. There aren’t any more jobs today, yeah?”
I checked down the schedule. No, there was nothing scheduled today. “Nothing,” I answered, feeling surprised that the guys were already asking me.
When he had gone, I did some final tidying up and then went through to the work area. Matthew was pulling a piece of equipment across the floor; Mark was polishing something. Adam had a wrench and pliers that he was storing on the desk in the corner.
“Amelia!” Mark waved happily. “Want to come and help?”
“You’ve already tidied the office,” Matthew said. “I saw it! You can see the desk now, which is a major improvement.”
Mark laughed. “There’s a desk in there? I thought it was a receipt monster.”
“What the hell is a receipt monster?” Adam asked.
“It’s the thing that comes and gets you a month before you hand in your taxes.”
They were all still laughing as I walked carefully across the floor to the other side of the shop. I had meant to head to the yard to get fresh air when a glint of damp fluid caught my eye. Wet paint.
A bike stood in the shadows by the door. Black, it had been painted with silvery details, the chrome lovingly polished.
“It’s what we worked on for most of the day,” Matt said, coming up to stand behind me. “It’s great, eh?”
“It is,” I agreed.
“You seem to like bikes,” Matthew observed. “I heard you on the phone. Sorry, I didn’t mean to listen. I just couldn’t help noticing that when you ask questions, it seems like you know what you’re talking about.”
I smiled. “I’m glad, but I assure you I don’t.”
“You know about how much time different repairs take. I know you do,” Matthew insisted.
I sighed. “I know a bit about some repairs,” I said. “My dad was into bikes, and then one of my mom’s exes—one of the few nice ones—taught me the basics.”
“Wow,” Matthew whistled. I blushed.
“I really don’t know much,” I demurred.
“But you know something,” Matthew insisted, “and that’s pretty good.”
I went red and tried not to show it. “I guess that I kind of have to, right?” I said shyly.
“Not really. But it helps. A lot. I guess you must have ridden a lot of bikes too?” he asked, sounding interested.
At that point, I heard a floorboard creak. I tried not to turn around, but I had a sense that somebody was standing behind us, listening to us. I didn’t turn to look, but I felt a chill run down my spine, and I knew somebody was listening.
“No,” I said self-consciously. “I actually never climbed on one before. I was always too scared. But I love the sound they make.” I grinned, unable to hide my excitement about the topic.
“Really?” Matt smiled. “Well, you’ll hear that often around here.”
I smiled. “I’m glad to be here, then.”
“It’s good to have you here.”
“Thanks, Matt,” I said fondly. I blushed.
As I was turning away from him, going back to the office, I noticed a shadow in the small patch of space between my office and the actual workplace where we stood. Carter was there. He watched us.
I felt a flush of embarrassment creep into my face. What was he doing, lurking there? What did he hear me say?
Feeling acutely self-conscious, like a schoolgirl, I walked past him into my office, wondering with a delicious hope if he’d been looking at me. That thought was somehow pleasant and annoying. I looked down at the desk, fighting the conflict of feelings inside me.
As I saw him walk past the door, the feeling of annoyance won over the strange excitement inside me. I slammed my purse down on the desk, grabbed my coat, and marched to the door.
It was only when I reached the door that I realized I didn’t have a car. It was pitch-dark out there. And I was going to have to walk.
I took a deep breath, buckled up my coat, and started walking.
5
Carter