Chapter 5
Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, Zoe thought as she stepped out of her car and looked around the large construction site.
She didn’t know anything about construction.
Absolutely nothing. On top of that, she was pretty sure that the bad reference that she was about to get would guarantee that she didn’t get this job or any other job for that matter.
Perhaps she should just get in the car and be content to work part-time for Trevor while she tried to figure out how to get a job without having to give a reference.
“Move your ass!” a rather large man standing in line for the coffee truck barked, startling the hell out of her.
Yeah, definitely not the place for her, Zoe decided as she opened her door to get back in her squishy car. Maybe if she did a really good job, Trevor would-
“Are you Zoe O’Shea?” a large man with short silver-tipped jet-black hair asked as he paused by her car. She quickly took in his good looks, large build, laugh lines around his eyes, button-down shirt, khakis, and clipboard and had a pretty good idea who this man was.
“Mr. Bradford?” Zoe asked, stepping away from her car, hoping that he hadn’t seen her escape attempt.
He held his hand out to her. “Jared,” he said, gesturing towards the doublewide office trailer with a nod as she shook his hand. “Why don’t we go inside and talk?”
“That sounds great, thank you,” Zoe said, feeling foolish going on a job interview in jeans and a summer blouse, but she had nothing else to wear and Trevor promised that it would be fine.
She wasn’t entirely comfortable counting on one person for so much, but she also knew that she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter right now.
Jared held the door open for her and with a nervous smile, Zoe stepped inside.
The first thing she noticed was the large refrigerator, cabinets, and kitchen sink taking up half the space.
That was a little surprising. Didn’t these trailers usually have small kitchenettes?
Zoe wondered as she glanced over at the small comfortable sitting area and the large “L” shaped desk to her left.
“I appreciate you coming in for an interview. We’re kind of desperate to get a full-time secretary and an office manager,” Jared said, reaching over the desk and grabbing another clipboard. He attached a few sheets of paper to the clipboard before handing it to her.
“If you could go ahead and fill out the reference section first, I would appreciate it. I can check those out while you finish the rest of the application,” Jared suggested with a warm smile.
“O-Okay,” Zoe said nervously as dread filled her. This was going to end very badly. She thought about giving him a head’s up about her situation but then decided against it since it would probably look like she was badmouthing her last employer.
With dread, Zoe sat down and quickly filled out the top sheet and handed it to him. With a smile, Jared disappeared through the doorway to the right of the desk and closed the door behind him, leaving her alone to either finish her paperwork or make a run for it.
Ah, what the hell, Zoe decided a minute later. What did she have to lose? Besides a little more of her pride and dignity, that is. It didn’t take her long to finish filling out the rest of the paperwork. When she was done, she sat there trying not to fidget.
Thankfully, Mr. Bradford didn’t make her wait too long.
“Why don’t you step into my office,” Jared said, still smiling. That had to be a good sign, Zoe thought, walking into his office and almost tripping over her feet when she got her first good look.
What the hell...
Half of his office was set up as an office with a large desk, filing cabinets, a computer, a couple of chairs, framed documents, and large pictures of past projects neatly lining the walls. The other half was a little odd to say the least.
In the corner was a baby crib, a changing table, a bookshelf filled with books and toys, pictures of Mickey Mouse lined the walls and teddy bears lined the floor. The area had obviously been set up for a well-loved child, Zoe thought with a sad smile.
“That’s for my little buddy,” Mr. Bradford said with a warm smile.
“What’s his name?” she asked, taking the seat he gestured towards.
“Cole. He’s just a few months shy of one,” Jared said proudly as he took his seat behind the large desk. “May I?” he asked, holding his hand out for her application.
She handed it over, fighting back the urge to ask what her old job said about her. As she sat there trying not to squirm, he looked over her application, absently nodding every few seconds.
Was he looking for a polite way to tell her that he wasn’t interested? She didn’t remember being this nervous at her last job interview. Granted, that had been three years ago. She wasn’t sure that her poor stomach was going to be able to handle the stress of going on any more job interviews.
“When can you start?” Jared asked, startling her.
Once again, even though she knew that she should keep her mouth shut, she didn’t. “Did you check my references?”
“Mmmhmm, everything checked out.”
“Everything?” Zoe asked, wishing that she could just shut the hell up. Seriously, what was wrong with her?
“Yup, you worked for some real assholes,” Jared said, smiling as he threw her a wink. “Don’t worry, Trevor filled me in this morning. It also didn’t hurt that you’ve already met my wife and she vouched for you.”
Zoe sighed in relief.
“So, can you start tomorrow?” Jared asked.
She opened her mouth to answer him when a large, angry man wearing a black Bradford Construction tee-shirt and tool belt stormed into the office.
“I want her fired!” he said, slamming a piece of paper on top of Jared’s desk.
It didn’t take Zoe long to figure out that this man was another Bradford. Actually, the man looked more like a younger version of Jared. He was large, well-built, and devastatingly handsome.
“Not this again,” Jared mumbled wearily, rubbing his hands over his face.
“Yes, this again. She assaulted me and took advantage of me and this time I have a witness,” the man declared triumphantly. He looked over his shoulder expectantly. “Get your ass in here!”
She heard a long-drawn-out sigh and then, a much shorter and leaner man wearing a shirt and tie stepped into the office, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else but here.
“I’m sorry, Jared. I had no idea what he was up to until he dragged me from my office.”
“It’s fine, Brad,” Jared said, leaning back in his chair.
“Bullshit! You hired a woman who can’t keep her dirty little hands off me! You need to fire her!”
Zoe’s brows arched as she spotted the man’s wedding band. Well, it was nice to see a man who was committed to his wife, she thought. Most guys would enjoy the attention.
“Tell him what you saw yesterday,” the large man demanded.
Brad sighed. “You mean when you had her pinned against the back of the coffee truck, devouring her mouth?”
Okay, so apparently, he enjoyed the attention, Zoe thought, feeling oddly disappointed that there were no happily married men out there. It didn’t leave much hope for someone like her.
The large man gasped. “You betraying bastard! You saw what she wanted you to see!”
“Uh-huh,” Brad said, taking the chair next to her. “Hi, I’m Brad and I’m really sorry about my friend. We’re all pretty sure that he’s gone insane,” he said with an easy smile.
“Zoe,” she said, wondering if she should just leave.
“Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of something?” Jared asked the larger man while he gestured to her.
“What is more important than making sure that your secretary keeps her dirty little hands off your precious son?” the man demanded, earning sighs of exasperation from both men and a muttered curse from his father.
“Zoe O’Shea,” Jared said, gesturing to the large man, “this is my son Jason, Jason, this is the nice young woman that I was trying to interview for the secretary job before you came in here acting like an ass.”
Jason folded his large arms over his chest as he glared down at her. “Will you be able to keep your hands off me?”
“I’m pretty sure I can manage that,” Zoe said, wondering if the man truly was insane.
“That’s really all I can ask,” he said with a heavy sigh, sounding completely serious.
“Don’t worry, Zoe. He only works for me during the summer and one weekend a month during the rest of the year,” Jared said, picking up the paper that Jason slammed on his desk moments earlier and rolled his eyes.
“And the rest of the time he spends shaping the minds of our youth,” Brad said dryly, earning a chuckle from Jared and a glare from Jason.
“You know that I’m going to show your mother this one,” Jared said, giving his son a stern look.
“Shit!” Jason said, reaching out and snatching the piece of paper away from his father. “I should have known you’d take her side!”
“Are you done interrupting my meeting with Miss O’Shea?”
Jason narrowed his eyes on her. “You’re taking the job, right?”
“I guess I-”
“Good,” Jason said, turning his attention back to his father. “Then fire the other one.”
“I can’t fire her. She needs to train Zoe,” Jared patiently pointed out, even though she couldn’t quite remember agreeing to take the job. She didn’t know how she felt about working with insane people. Then again, she did just spend the last three years working for a company run by soulless people.
“Have Mom do it.” He gestured lazily to the large Mickey Mouse wall clock. “It’s almost twelve o’clock and she’s not even here. You should fire her lazy ass.”
“She had a doctor’s appointment this morning, you jackass,” Jared snapped. “Now stop being such a baby. I’m not firing your wife.”
Zoe felt her eyebrows climb to her hairline. The man was trying to get his wife fired? The man was insane. Thankfully, Brad took pity on her and explained the situation before she tried to come up with an excuse to get the hell out of there.
“She’s seven months pregnant and he doesn’t want her working. So, every day he writes her up for sexual harassment or some other bullshit and we all laugh behind his back.”
Oh...
That was kind of sweet in a psychotic sort of way.
“She shouldn’t be working,” Jason said, glaring at his friend.
“She likes to keep busy,” Jared pointed out.
Zoe stood up. “Maybe I should step outside,” she said, feeling a little awkward.
“No, that’s-”
“Dad?” a woman called out from the other room, cutting him off. “Could I get a hand? I’m about to drop the plate of brownies I made!”
The word “brownies” was barely out of the woman’s mouth when Jared jumped up from his chair and rushed towards the door, the same time that Jason turned to leave.
Jason was almost at the door when Jared grabbed him by the back of his shirt and yanked him back, causing him to stumble.
Just before he crashed into her, Zoe found herself yanked back and out of the way.
As soon as Jason was able to catch his footing, he was off and out the door.
“The most important rule you need to learn if you work here is never come between a Bradford and his food,” Brad said, sounding completely serious.
“Those are my brownies, you bastard!” she heard Jason yell.
Zoe swallowed. “I guess so,” she mumbled, allowing him to steer her out of the office, though part of her thought that maybe it would be safer to hide under the desk until the brownies were gone.
She received another shock when she walked back into the reception area.
When she’d realized that Jason was married, she’d automatically assumed that he’d married a tall, voluptuous blonde to go along with his ego.
What she hadn’t expected was the short, cute, chestnut-haired woman with glasses and one of the sweetest smiles she’d ever seen.
If there was any doubt in her mind that this woman was Jason’s wife, the look of total adoration he was sending her squashed it.
Jason placed a hand on the woman’s round stomach as he leaned down and gave her the sweetest kiss Zoe had ever seen.
“These are so good,” Jared practically moaned, drawing her attention.
She looked over to find Jared standing next to the counter with an adorable baby boy cradled in his arm. He stood protectively in front of a large plate of brownies as he devoured one.
“Haley, this is Zoe. She was thinking about taking the job until the dumb bastard you married scared the hell out of her,” Brad announced, chuckling.
Haley pushed her glasses up her nose as she glared up at her husband. “What did you do?”
“Me?” Jason demanded innocently as he pressed a hand against his chest.
She glared up at Jason for another minute before turning an expectant look on Brad, who was only too happy to tell her.
“He wrote you up again,” Brad said cheerfully.
“Betraying bastard,” Jason mumbled, shooting Brad a glare that only seemed to make his grin widen.
She sighed heavily. “The things I put up with,” Haley said, walking over to Zoe.
“Put up with? You adore me, my little grasshopper, and we both know it.”
“Hello, my name is Haley and that little guy is Cole,” Haley said, smiling as she gestured to the baby, who was now trying to wrestle a brownie away from Jared. “I would apologize for my husband, but then, that’s all I’d be doing all day and I really just don’t have the time.”
Zoe bit back a smile.
“Hey!”
“Zoe, are you interested in the job?” Jared asked around a mouthful of brownie.
Was she? Despite the frightening revelation that all Bradfords were psycho about their food, at least the males were, she was interested in the job. Whether that was out of desperation or amusement, she wasn’t sure.