Chapter Nine: Friends, Right?

Two weeks later…

Below him, cars buzzed past. He watched as the train system rattled along its tracks. Something had to be done about it. Maybe something could be done, once…

The intercom buzzed. "Mr. Wayne, Ellie Harold is here to see you."

"Send her in," he replied, switching off the intercom. Seconds later, Ellie appeared in his doorway, looking as cheerfully apprehensive as ever.

"Hi, Bruce," she greeted him, waving slightly across the large office. "Wow. This is a big office." The brunette grinned. "I think my voice echoes a little bit in here."

"Oh, yeah. We get great acoustics in here," he replied, grinning right back at her. "Come on and sit down, Ellie." He watched as she set herself down gracefully in one of the chairs in front of his desk, carefully – almost instinctively – tucking her skirt beneath her so that there was no extra material allowing for her legs to drift apart. Obviously a girl who had been raised in a proper household.

"I don't think we should count this as seeing each other again," she stated, crossing her ankles. "Not since you set it up."

"Yeah." Chuckling quietly, he shook his head. How could she always make him laugh? "Do you have any idea why I asked you to meet with me today?"

"Not really," she admitted.

"I've been keeping a close eye on you over the past few weeks. I've been checking in with your supervisors every other day, and I've come to a conclusion about you place in this company."

Ellie felt her heart sink. He was going to fire her, wasn't he? And he was just doing it personally because they were on those kinds of terms. Maybe not close friends, but it seemed like the decision had come from him, so he obviously thought he should drop the bomb.

"Yeah?" she asked weakly.

"I like you, Ellie. You're opinionated, stubborn, and cheerful. When you take a stance, you stick to it. When you get involved in a project, you dive into it. Your bosses at R and D are very impressed with you."

Okay, so maybe she wasn't being fired. "They are?"

"They are. In fact, they're thinking about promoting you. Which is why I had to get to you first." Rising from his chair, Bruce leaned on the desk in front of her, so he could look her straight in the eye. "I think your talents are wasted in sales, Ellie. I mean, sure, you do a great job. But you could be in jobs a lot better than that."

"Uh-huh…" Her optimism was starting to flounder.

"Which is why…" He took a deep breath. "I want you to be my personal assistant."

"Really?" Her face exploded in a grin. "But don't you already have a secretary?"

"Well, she takes calls for the office and schedules appointments. If I hired you, then you would take over all of her work, plus you would have to communicate with executives, make phone calls for me, and just… assist me. Go where I'd go, do what I did."

"We could have the office line be routed to my cell phone. Then I could take office calls, even if we weren't in. I could schedule everything on a PDA…" She looked up at him quickly. "I wouldn't have to write your speeches, would I? I'm really good at making them up as I go, but if I have to sit down and write them, the magic's lost."

"No." He shook his head. "I write my own speeches."

"Really?"

"Of course." Bruce leaned forward. "What do you say, Ellie? You'll be paid at least double of what you're paid now. Double of what you would make if you got promoted." He raised his eyebrows, smiling encouragingly.

She looked up at him, crossing her legs slowly. Slowly, very slowly, he was melting her reservations even more. The line between bottom-of-the-rung employee and friend was starting to blur, leaving her feeling like she was at the edge of this unknown void, exciting and frightening all at the same time. But Ellie Harold had never been one the shy away from fear, a possible friend, or even better money.

"Why do I get the feeling I'm getting more than I bargained for?" she replied, throwing her hands into the air and smiling. "Fine; I'll take your job."

"Great!" He pulled her into a hug, another one of those hugs that wanted to be something more than it was: just a friendly hug.

"Just tell me where my desk is." She smiled. "And how much I'll be paid." Bruce laughed. "No, seriously, I want to know." He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Oh my- Are you serious? I could buy a house in California with that much a year!"

"I hope you don't."

"I won't." She laughed. "Don't worry."

"All right, then. How about lunch?"

Ellie cocked her eyebrows. "It's ten-thirty in the morning."

"Brunch?"

"I'm not a brunch kind of girl. Breakfast foods make me feel sick." She shook her head. "Besides, I have a lot of work to wrap up before I start working for you. How about a rain check?"

"Sure." Bruce stood to walk her to the door. "Thank you, Ellie. I really appreciate this."

"Your welcome. It'll be a pleasure to work for you."

"So…" They stopped at the door. "Friends, right?"

"Definitely. Friends." They shook hands, and Ellie slipped out the door.

He heard the faint ­click-click-click of her stilettos on the tile floor as she walked away. It struck him that she didn't seem like the sort of person to wear stilettos, but there she was, wearing stilettos like she had been doing so her entire life.