This is the eighth part in a series, so if you have no already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII before continuing.
“You can’t be finished with this already,” Hugh said when Sandra put a pile of papers on his desk.
“I can and I am. When do I get to do some real work?”
“After you’ve proven yourself.” Hugh, like their parents, believed in starting at the bottom of a company and working your way up. Something about building character, whatever that was supposed to mean.
The problem with the bottom was that it was very boring. If Sandra didn’t get promoted soon, she was going to start contemplating stabbing her eyes out with a ballpoint pen just to have something interesting to do.
“I just did. I get my work done faster than anyone else, and I do a fair amount of Angela’s work. Come on, you know I’m way overqualified for this position. And you know the best way for a company to die is to fail to get the most out of its employees.”
“If you’re doing two jobs, it sounds like I am getting the most out of you. Angela is the one I should fire.”
This was not where Sandra had been hoping this conversation would go. Despite her usual reserve, she liked Angela and didn’t want her to lose her job. “Angela is perfectly capable of doing her job when she’s not dealing with a bored assistant. She just gave me some extra work to do so I would get out of her hair.”
“And then she sent you up here to get in my hair.”
“Yep. She said if you insisted on hiring your sister, you should be the one to find something to keep me occupied.”
Hugh sighed what Sandra recognized to be his long-suffering sigh. It meant she was getting somewhere and she quelled the feeling of victory that rose up from her belly. Instead she forced herself to hold still, stay grounded, act as though she didn’t care what her brother decided.
“All right, fine. If you don’t want to take Angela’s job, what job would you like?”
“How about your job?”
“Very funny.”
“Actually, I just heard Barb saying she’s thinking of retiring soon.” Barb, Hugh’s second assistant, had said no such thing, but Hugh didn’t need to know that. “I could take her job.”
Hugh’s eyes narrowed as he considered his sister. “And I don’t suppose the fact that you would be working in close proximity with your boyfriend had any bearing on this decision.”
Sandra shrugged. “Barb was the one who said she wanted to retire. I’ve been trained my whole life to go into this business. It just makes sense.” She couldn’t prevent a smile from spreading across her face as she said, “Working with Chris would just be a bonus.”
“Uh huh.” Hugh did not look convinced, but Sandra could tell he also couldn’t think of a reason to say no. “Very well. Tell Barb to hand in her two weeks’ notice and start training you to take over.”
Sandra had to resist the urge to jump up and skip out of her brother’s office. Instead she forced herself to nod before walking casually out of his office. Now all she had to do was break the news to Barb.
To be continued…