10. Chapter Ten
Chapter ten
B rennan
Come Monday morning, I was a nervous wreck.
I wasn’t sure what I’d gotten myself into agreeing to go to work for Ryder.
I changed my mind about what to wear about thirty times, and even though he’d said to dress for comfort, I just couldn’t make myself show up in anything less than what my mother would’ve called church clothes.
I put the address he sent me into the GPS on my phone and was relieved to see it was only about ten minutes away.
It made sense to me why he said he knew where our neighborhood was since his office was so close by.
I’d expected the directions to lead me up to one of the shopping areas that Keegan had told me about but that I’d yet to explore, so I was rather surprised when the address turned out to be a house.
Like the neighborhood Keegan’s house was in, this was an older neighborhood.
But unlike Keegan’s where every house had obviously been built by the same builder, each of these houses were different.
I doubled checked the address, and once I was sure I was at the right place, I parked in the driveway off to the side so I wouldn’t be in the way.
I took a minute to take in the house. It was an amazing older house with a huge porch.
It had a bright red door that really popped against the blue-gray color of the house with its white trim.
The roof on the porch was supported by white columns that sat atop brick supports, with a short white railing that went all the way around.
All it needed was a porch swing, some nice accent pillows, and some flowers, and it would’ve been perfect.
I was a little unsure what I was doing at a house instead of a business, but I guess I wouldn’t find out until I rang the doorbell, so I did.
Then I stepped back and waited. It didn’t take but a minute, and the door opened.
Ryder stood there in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that read Davis Construction and Remodeling.
“Morning,” he said, motioning for me to come in.
“Good morning,” I said, stepping inside and taking a look around. “Is this your home?”
“Yeah, it is. I probably should’ve mentioned that the other night. I don’t have an official office space. I work out of my truck, actually. Well, that and my garage. I turned one side of the two-car garage into a storage area for my supplies and materials.”
“Where am I going to be working then?” I asked, confused.
“I have an office set up for you here at the house, but let me show you around first.” Wow.
I would be working in his house. I hadn’t expected that, and I didn’t know how that was going to work.
“This is obviously the great room. Those stairs lead up to the second floor, and there’s a bathroom by the stairs.
The kitchen is right through here.” He led me through a doorway into a state-of-the-art kitchen.
It had marble countertops, beautiful wood cabinets, and what had to be brand-new appliances.
“Wow, this is really nice,” I said.
“Thanks. I bought the house for a steal as a foreclosure a few years ago, and I’ve been renovating the whole place a little at a time.
I just finished the kitchen a few months ago.
You help yourself to anything you need. You can use the kitchen anytime.
” He pulled open a pair of French doors and said, “And here’s the office. ”
“Wow, Ryder, this is great.” An L-shaped desk sat in the far corner of the room. A computer with a huge monitor sat on the desk, and a really nice desk chair sat in front of it. “This stuff all looks brand-new. Don’t you use your office?”
“Well, until Saturday, this was the dining room. I figured since I hired you, I needed to give you a place to work, so I got you this stuff. If there’s anything else you need, just let me know and we can order it.
I got everything I could think of, like note pads and calendars and folders and stuff.
But like I said, if you need anything else, we can get it. ”
“Wow, Ryder, you didn’t have to do all this. I could’ve worked from the dining room table just as easily, or even from my house, maybe.”
“I know, but I wanted you to have an office. It’s no big deal.
I really didn’t use the table for anything anyway, so this will be a much better use of the space.
I was thinking about it, and since all of my promotional materials have my cell number on it, I thought it would be easier to get a new phone for me and keep that one as the business number.
I’m planning on doing that today so you won’t have to answer the phone today.
Instead, you can use today to get everything set up the way you want it. ”
“What exactly do you want me to do, Ryder? Do you know?”
“Some. I brought in a couple of boxes that were out in the garage. They have past invoices and customer information. I put them over there. I figured you could set up some kind of system for that. I have a computer program that I use to create invoices, and I installed it on the computer here for you. I have a bunch of invoices I need to get sent out, but as long as we get those done this week, it should be fine. So once you get things organized the way you want it, you can play with that program to learn how to create invoices. I’ll try to get home early today in case you have any questions. ”
“Okay, I can do that. I love setting up filing systems, so today should be fun.”
“You love setting up filing systems?” he said, shaking his head. “Well, my mama always told me it takes all kinds to make the world go round.”
“Trust me, by the time I get your boxes over there sorted out, you’ll love the way I operate.”
“I don’t doubt it. Here’s a key. If you leave, be sure and lock the door.”
“Aren’t you worried about leaving me alone in your house?” I asked.
“Should I be?” he asked.
“No, but isn’t that what I would say even if you should be?”
“I consider myself to be a pretty good judge of character, Brennan. If I didn’t trust you in my house, I sure wouldn’t be trusting you with my business.”
“Okay, good point.”
“Alright, I need to get going. If you have any questions, text them. Depending on what I’m doing, I may or may not be able to answer, but I’ll check my phone often.”
“No problem, I’m sure I can find plenty to keep me busy for the day.”
I got to work as soon as he left. At first, I tried taking things out one at a time, but I quickly realized that would be a nightmare, so I carried both boxes to the kitchen and went to work on the kitchen table.
Once I had all the papers in an order that made sense, I made a list of all the folders I’d need.
It took me most of the morning, but by lunchtime, I had a system set up to file away all the papers.
Now that I knew I had access to a kitchen, I’d need to make a trip to the store and get some things for my lunch.
That would save me a lot of time and money.
I was debating getting a sandwich for lunch or going totally unhealthy and getting a cheeseburger and fries when a text from Ryder came through.
Ryder: How was your morning?
Me: It was good . I worked on setting up a filing system.
Ryder: I feel like I should apologize .
Me: It wasn’t that bad.
Ryder: You haven’t seen the desk out in the garage yet. The ones in the box were the papers I thought were important. The desk is where everything else goes .
Me: Okay. I’ll tackle that next.
Ryder: If you haven’t had lunch yet , there’s sandwich stuff in the fridge. I eat out for dinner most nights, so I try to avoid fast food for lunch.
Me: Thanks, but I’m craving a burger. I’m going to run grab one. You have a good afternoon.
Before I went to grab my lunch, I went through the house to the garage to take a peek at the desk.
It was an old metal desk that reminded me of the ones my teachers used back in elementary school.
The top was covered in tools and bottles of what looked like maybe adhesives of some kind.
There was a small box on top that was full of scraps of paper with various notes scrawled on them.
I shook my head and pulled open the top drawer.
It was full of screws and other little pieces of stuff that I was sure had names, but I had no idea what they were.
The second drawer was full of papers, and I groaned.
Looked like I was going to need more file folders, or else a big trash bin.
I looked around the rest of the shop area.
Other than the desk, everything seemed to be meticulously arranged, and not just in the garage, his house had also seemed to be extremely tidy.
I was starting to think that Mr. Ryder Davis just hated paperwork. Lucky for him, I loved it.
I looked up the closest place to get a burger, went after it, and brought it back to the house to eat.
I took it out on the patio and took a seat, deciding this was my new favorite place.
The house blocked the sun, making this a perfectly shady spot to sit this time of day, and a massive oak tree sat off to the side, and I was betting it would provide shade in the afternoon.
Between the squirrels playing on the ground and the birds in the tree, it was almost like being in a park, except a private one because of the fence. I decided that when I went back in to work on the filing system, I’d leave the doors open to the patio so I could hear the birds while I worked.
I took a drink of my coke and leaned back in the comfortable chair.
When I’d accepted this job, I was pretty sure that it was a pity job, if that was a thing, but now that I’d spent the morning knee-deep in the mess that was Davis Construction and Remodeling’s paperwork, I realized the reason Ryder hired me didn’t matter.
Whether he realized it or not, he did need me.