Chapter 2: Working for the Week
Ana was at a loss for words. She should have known they were going to ask her about this - the copper-haired guy and his mother were suggesting that she, Ana, should stick around to cook and clean while their family was vacationing here in Aspen. It was a rather daunting proposition, since Ana had never done anything remotely like this before - cleaning an empty house was one thing, but cooking and cleaning for at least ten people over the course of several days, not to mention taking care of a dog and a small child, felt like far too much to undertake alone. And how long were they going to be staying at the house anyway? Ana had a thousand questions, and she honestly didn't know which one to ask first.
"Um…" Ana hesitated, trying to get her thoughts together.
"I understand, this is a lot of ask of you so suddenly," Christian said to her, as if he knew what she was thinking. "Especially during Christmas, but with all of us staying here for the week and with our full schedule of activities, we'll definitely need some extra help around the house. I'd be more than happy to compensate you for your time."
"Christian, darling, think of what you're asking," the woman named Grace chided her son, walking to stand near Ana. "You really want this girl to stay in a houseful of strangers for a whole week, cleaning up after us and cooking our meals? It's far too much to ask - and besides, I'm sure she has her own family to visit with on Christmas this year."
"Actually, I was just going to spend the holidays with my roommate and her family," Ana said, realizing she wasn't completely disregarding what the copper-haired guy had proposed to her. "However, I'm not so sure if I'm equipped to be a housekeeper for all of you by myself, especially when I already have a dog to take care of."
On cue, it seemed, Lester let out a happy bark from outside on the patio, and several of the people in the room laughed. Ana walked over to the door and opened it, allowing Lester to bound inside and give his attention to the people in the room. A few of them bent down to pet him.
"Well, if we want her to stay with us for the week, it's only fair that she learns who everyone is," Elliot, the blonde guy, piped up. He clapped his hands together and turned toward Ana, a big friendly grin on his face. "I'm Elliot, as you already know, and this woman in the purple coat here is my mother, Grace Trevelyan Grey."
"Pleasure to meet you, dear," Grace said kindly, shaking Ana's hand. She gestured over to the copper-haired man. "And this young man over here is my other son Christian. He's actually the reason we're all here today… he owns this property, and he was kind enough to let us host our family Christmas vacation here. I suppose he technically would be your employer as well."
Ana turned to face Christian, and once again felt heat rush to her cheeks the moment her eyes landed on him. He appeared to be only a few years older than Ana, and not to mention incredibly handsome - underneath his coat he wore a light brown crew neck jumper and dark wash jeans, making him look like a rugged male model from an L.L Bean catalog. His piercing gray eyes bored deeply into Ana's as they clasped hands, and Ana felt as if an electric current had suddenly shot through her fingertips upon contact with his skin. Her heart began pounding faster in her ribcage.
"…And over there is our sister Mia," Elliot went on, and Ana looked over to see the dark-haired girl in the silver coat smiling and waving at her. "Next to her is her boyfriend Sean and her best friend Lily."
"Hello," the blonde girl in the fur-trimmed black coat and the guy with the ski goggles both waved at Ana, and Ana waved back.
"Over here is our dad, Carrick," Elliot went on, and the gray-haired man in the black peacoat walked over to shake Ana's hand. "And two people who aren't here yet, our Grandma and Grandpa Trevelyan, should be arriving sometime within the hour."
"It's nice to meet you," Ana smiled at Carrick. She was starting to feel more and more comfortable around these people.
"Nice to meet you too, Ana," Carrick smiled back at her.
"I'm Justin, Carrick's cousin," the young man in the green coat piped up, walking forward and shaking Ana's hand. "This is my wife Eliza, and our little boy Bradley."
"Hi," Eliza, the woman in the blue coat and the little boy on her hip, smiled and shook Ana's hand after her husband. "I'm sorry you're getting dragged into cooking and cleaning for all of us, but I promise to help as much as possible. Grace will help out a lot too, I'm sure."
"Of course I will," Grace piped up, and Ana looked over at her. "If you choose to stick around, Ana, you won't have to do all the work yourself - you would merely be helping us out with the workload. And as Christian already said before, you would be compensated extra for your time."
Ana glanced back over at Christian, who gazed at her with an unreadable expression on his face. She was still on the fence about whether or not she should stay to help out with the housekeeping, but this whole group of people seemed very kind. Plus, she would be able to stay an entire week here in this beautiful house and actually get paid extra for it - all it would cost her was a few extra days of cooking and cleaning. The idea of staying here was getting more and more appealing, although there were a few issues she needed to clear up.
"Well, I could definitely use the extra money," Ana began with a smile, and some of the people in the group smiled as well. "But I only packed enough clothes for one night - I don't have enough for the whole week."
"Ooh, we can take her shopping!" Mia squealed in excitement, turning to her brother imploringly. "The retail stores here are to die for! And I'm sure a lot of the new collections would look totally fabulous on her."
"Mia, we're not going to make her spend money she doesn't have on new, overpriced clothing," Christian said firmly to his sister before turning back to Ana. "If you'd like, you can call up your roommate to pack some luggage for you, and I'll pay to have it shipped here overnight. Would that be acceptable?"
Ana nodded, smiling at him. "That sounds good. Thank you."
"You're welcome," Christian said, giving her a small smile. Once again, Ana felt herself blush under his gaze.
"So is that a yes?" Grace asked, and Ana turned to look at her. "You'd be willing to stay with us for the week? I mean, if you need some time to think it over, we completely understand…"
"It's alright," Ana interrupted her with a smile. "I'd be happy to stay and help. I need to call up my roommate and fill her in on everything, but aside from that, I don't see why not."
"Oh wonderful!" Grace beamed, and Elliot and some of the other Grey's cheered happily. "You really are a lifesaver, darling. Christian - make sure you give her a generous Christmas bonus for her trouble."
"I will, Mother," Christian smiled at his mother before looking back over at Ana.
"Great - can we go unpack now?" Lily asked impatiently, and the others all chorused their agreement. They began to move toward the staircase together with their luggage in hand.
"Remember, we agreed on how the rooms would be divided up," Carrick piped up over the noise, picking up his suitcases once again. "There are two rooms with bunkbeds - Mia and Lily will share one, as will Elliot and Sean. The three married couples will each get their own rooms, and Christian requested he get the bedroom beside the study. That should leave one more for Ana," Carrick turned to Ana. "Are you already in one of the bedrooms?"
"I left my things in a room on the third floor, the one with the east-facing window," Ana said. "If you'd like me to move to a different one, though, I'd be more than happy to…"
"No," Christian said quickly, and Ana looked over at him. "You don't have to move your things, Ana. That room is yours - please take it. You should feel at home here."
Ana looked at him in surprise for a moment before nodding, giving him a small smile. "Thanks."
Christian smiled back at her, and there was a look in his gray eyes Ana couldn't quite place. She had to admit, she sort of liked it when he looked at her like that.
He turned and gestured to the phone back in the kitchen. "If you'd like to call your roommate right now, you're free to do so. The rest of us are just going to get settled into our rooms for a bit until our grandparents arrive."
Ana nodded once again. "Yes, I probably should do that. Thank you Christian." She suddenly froze, feeling uncomfortable. "I-I'm sorry, is it alright if I call you Christian? I know that you're technically my employer…"
"Christian is fine," Christian insisted with a kind smile. "And everyone else here would probably prefer it if you called them by their first names too - I'll be no exception to that."
"Okay," Ana smiled gratefully. Carrick, who was still standing off to the side, gave Christian an odd look.
"Once everyone has arrived and we're all settled in, my mother and I can go over the daily itinerary with you," Christian went on. "That way you'll have a better understanding of when the meals will be, what times we'll be out of the house, etc. Is that alright?"
"Sounds great."
"Great. I'll be right upstairs if you need anything."
Christian turned and began to head up the stairs, his father falling in step beside him. As the two of them moved away, Ana could overhear a part of their hushed conversation:
"…Taylor doesn't even call you Christian."
"We're on vacation, Dad."
A low chuckle. "Okay."
Ana wasn't really sure what that meant, but decided to put it out of her mind as she went into the kitchen to call up Kate once again, this time with the latest development regarding her trip to Aspen.
The landline phone here was wireless thankfully, so Ana decided to take it upstairs so she could call her roommate in the privacy of her own bedroom. Kate was understandably upset to learn that Ana wasn't going to get to spend Christmas with her and her family anymore, but she was sincerely happy Ana was going to get paid extra by the owners for doing this for them. Kate worked as a waitress at a small local restaurant, so she knew firsthand how hard it was to scrape by with only a little money. If there was a chance either of them could make a little extra cash, they would jump at it without question.
"Your Fancy Mr. Rich Guy Billionaire better reimburse me for overnighting your luggage to Aspen," Kate said begrudgingly, and Ana could hear her typing at her laptop in the background. "The going rate for overnight shipping is over a hundred bucks for just one luggage container…"
"He'll pay you back," Ana said with confidence. "He and his family are good people, I can tell. I wouldn't be staying a week alone in the mountains with them if they weren't."
"Good point," Kate conceded. "So what's the address again?"
Ana repeated the address for her, and for the next ten minutes or so, the two of them worked out the best method of getting Ana's luggage to Aspen within a day. Kate eventually settled on the overnight ground-shipping service from FedEx, which cost a little over a hundred dollars, and Ana quickly jotted down the price and Kate's contact information to give to Christian so he could pay her back.
"…Well, I guess I got some packing to do," Kate said after they hashed out the details, sounding a bit forlorn. "I'm gonna miss having you around this Christmas, Steele."
"I'm gonna miss you too," Ana said, smiling despondently. "I'll be sure to call you every day, okay?"
"Okay," Kate said, sounding a bit happier at that prospect. "You need to paint me a pretty picture while you're up there, alright?"
"Alright," Ana giggled, glancing out the window toward the beautiful scenery outside. "I think the rest of the group are going to be arriving soon - I should probably go back downstairs and see if they need me for anything."
"Alright. Bye Ana-Banana - good luck!"
"Thanks Katie-Bear," Ana giggled before finally ending the call.
She set the phone aside on the table near her bed before turning to glance back out toward the window. She really did love the view out here - the tall, snow-capped mountains along the horizon contrasted with the evergreen tree forest skimming along the base of the mountainside. Miles away she could even see a beautiful serene lake where undoubtedly all sorts of wildlife lived. Ana wondered if she would get a chance this week to take Lester out on a walk near there to explore.
Just as Ana was thinking this, she heard a knock on her door. She quickly walked over and opened it, seeing Christian standing at her threshold.
"Ana," he smiled at her. He had taken off his coat and was holding a file folder in his hand. "May I come in?"
"Oh course," Ana said quickly, stepping aside so he could walk in. "Have your grandparents arrived yet?"
"They just pulled up," Christian nodded. "Once they've gotten settled in, my mother and I will go over the schedule with you so we can coordinate meals and cleaning times."
"Great," Ana smiled, and, suddenly remembering, hurried over to her bedside table. "Before I forget, though - I just called my roommate, and she's going to be shipping my luggage here overnight. This how much she said it's going to cost."
Ana handed the slip of paper with Kate's information on it over to Christian, and he took it from her, glancing over it and nodding.
"'Kate Kavanagh'," he read, looking back up at Ana and smiling. "I'll be sure to wire this amount of money over to her the moment your luggage arrives."
"She will very much appreciate it," Ana said humorously, and Christian chuckled.
"I'm glad to hear it. While we're on the subject of money, though, I was hoping to discuss with you how much you should be paid while you're staying here with all of us."
Ana felt herself blush, though she wasn't entirely sure why. More than likely, she felt uncomfortable talking about how much money she made. "Oh... well, Gail was paying me $250 for each weekend I stayed here…"
"I'm aware of that," Christian interrupted her, holding up the file in his hand. "After I called Gail, she emailed me your information and the background check she performed on you."
Ana was surprised - she had a lot of questions, but the first one that came out of her mouth was: "You get internet up here?"
Christian laughed, his amusement showing on his handsome face. "As a matter of fact, yes I do. I packed a laptop and desktop printer with me along with a router and Ethernet cable so I could try to get a little work done while I'm up here. I haven't told the others though, since it's very likely they would try to hijack it to update their Facebook statuses or something."
Ana giggled. "Understood. Your secret is safe with me."
Christian chuckled. "Thank you. But what I wanted to discuss with you pertains to what I found in your background check, and I also wanted you to be aware that I have information about your work and financial situation."
Ana merely nodded, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed. Christian had probably seen her bank account balance, which was depressingly low considering how little she made working at Martha's art studio. Most of the money in her account right now was actually from what she had earned housekeeping in Aspen over the last few months.
"While I was looking over your information, I saw that you had graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder a couple years ago," Christian said, opening up the file folder and glancing over it. "Summa cum laude, I believe?"
Ana blinked, surprised he brought up that particular detail from her background check. "Um, yeah I did. I had a 4.0 GPA."
"Impressive," Christian smiled at her, and Ana could tell it was sincere. "Congratulations."
"Thank you," Ana said, unable to help feeling pleased by his praise.
"I noticed you also received a scholarship your freshman year, which I assume is the reason you chose this university in particular?" Christian glanced up from the file in his hand, and Ana nodded again. "You never received another scholarship while going there, however, so you took out student loans for the remaining three years you attended university. Since graduation, you've been very good about keeping up with the monthly payments, but as of right now you still owe about $8,700. Is that correct?"
Ana nodded, grimacing slightly. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
Christian closed the file folder, looking back up at Ana. "That settles it then - if you help us out with the cooking and cleaning this week, Ana, I will pay off your student loan debt in full."
Ana froze, her heart pounding as she stared at him. She wasn't sure if she had heard him correctly. "I'm sorry, what?"
Christian smiled at the stunned expression on her face. "At the end of this week, I will pay you back for your work by wiring $8,700 to your Nelnet account and paying off your student loan debt in full. Would that be acceptable?"
Ana could only stare at him, blinking. This was the absolute last thing she thought he would do - he was basically giving her $8,700! While she had kind of expected a larger payout than what she had been getting for the past few months, this seemed like far too much money.
"Christian, I…" Ana stuttered, shaking her head bemusedly. "That's too much."
"It's really not a big deal for me," Christian assured her. "I don't think it's a secret I do pretty well for myself, considering I have enough to own a second property in Aspen. $8,700 is only a fraction of what I make in just an hour, Ana - I'm more than happy to help you out with paying off your student loan debt, especially since your background check clearly shows how intelligent and responsible you are. It would be an honor to help you out with this."
Ana could feel herself tearing up slightly, touched that Christian saw her in that way. What his generous offer meant to her was more than she could have possibly expressed to him, and she couldn't help but bow her head down and bring a shaky hand to her lips, trying to hold back her emotion.
"I take it you accept my offer?" Christian asked quietly, and Ana could tell that he had taken a tentative step toward her. She nodded silently, and, as if on instinct, looked up and suddenly threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder and hugging him tightly.
He didn't move at first, but after a moment or two he slowly hugged her back.
"Thank you, Christian," Ana whispered sincerely, tears still slipping down her cheeks as she sniffled. "I can't tell you how much this means to me."
"I'm happy to do it, Ana," Christian said just as sincerely, rubbing her back gently before eventually pulling away. "Will you be alright?"
"Yeah," Ana smiled, wiping the tears from her face. "I'll be fine. I just need a minute."
"Take all the time you need," Christian insisted. "I'll be right downstairs with my mother to go over the daily schedule with you whenever you're ready. Okay?"
"Okay," Ana nodded, still smiling. She felt more ready than ever to work for this family and give them the best service she was capable of. "Thank you again, Christian."
"No, thank you Ana," Christian said firmly, and he shot her a smile before turning and walking out the door.
A/N: Man, I wish Christian Grey would pay off my student loan debt lol.
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