Lunch With the Boss's Secretary
IVIt was a slow day when the new one was hired, and maybe that contributed to her being offered the position. It had, to be sure, been three weeks of Debra's bad filing and Debra's bad coffee, and Debra's bad habit of laughing with her tongue pinched between her teeth and lower lip, like a Cheshire toddler. Even Elizabeth was more than ready for a permanent hire.
Theresa delivered the day's itinerary as usual, but this time there were no grins when the men went upstairs to their stations. Trowa was at his excuse for a desk, shirt already unbuttoned from the heat but still secure on both shoulders, reviewing what had been placed before his team that day. He glanced up, and raised a questioning brow at Nick, who had the least reason to be upset.
Nick shrugged. "Only three today. Two in the morning, one just before shift ends."
Trowa nodded, fixing a checklist for the oil-leaking minivan rising through the floor to them to his clipboard. Sullenly, the team got to work, working efficiently to find the problem and a solution to it. Trowa fell into the routine of manual labor. It was all so familiar to him, and comforting.
"Nine-thirteen," Joseph announced, trying to sound casual. Fabian leaned away from the minivan to peer down at the sidewalk, already putting aside his tools. Trowa and Nick kept working. Already men were drifting over from all over the Service Center, to the window with the best view. They waited tensely, as though the entire day's worth rode on this one woman's appearance.
But she never came. Disgusted, they dispersed at nine-twenty-seven.