Chapter 9 A Massive Question Mark
A MASSIVE QUESTION MARK
“Good morning,” Blair said on Monday. “You’re nice and early. You almost beat me here.”
“Too early?” Nora asked. It’s not as if she had to deal with traffic since she walked and knew it took less than ten minutes.
It was less than half a mile and she was a fast walker.
Her first day, she didn’t want to overdress, so put on black pants and a nice shirt, then changed out of her sneakers and into dressier shoes in the reception area when Blair came to get her.
“Ethan told me he explained the hours are eight to four thirty with a thirty-minute lunch. He’s not a clock-watcher. Never think that. Sometimes he’s here at seven, other times at nine but could stay until eight that night. It’s not expected of you.”
“He told me. I’m fine with that.”
“He’s an easy boss. Well,” Blair said, “I find him easy, but we’ve got a good relationship. It will take time. I showed you the treat drawer. It always softens him up. If for no other reason than he knows he’s being an ass.”
That would take some getting used to for her. She’d never felt she could tell her boss they weren’t nice or weren’t treating her well.
Then mix in the personal past she had with Ethan.
This morning her stomach was churning more than the blender mixing her smoothie that she’d drank on the way here.
She didn’t have the appetite to put any food in her belly. Her nerves were frayed, her decision to accept this position still a massive question mark in her mind.
But she’d said yes and couldn’t turn back now.
After her pep talk last night, she’d convinced herself she’d give it six months, but not tell a soul that.
Her father would only freak out, a lecture ensuing about her never sticking, having her head in the clouds, or shying away from hard work.
He had no idea how hard it was for her to accept this job and then show up this morning.
“I’m sure it will be fine,” she said.
“First things first,” Blair said. “Here is your badge. Your background checks all came back quickly, but we didn’t expect there to be an issue. Now you won’t have to wait for security to let you in.”
Which was another reason she left earlier too. She didn’t know how long it’d be before she could come up to this floor. Last week her father had given her name at the front, but she still had to wait to have her picture taken and sign in.
She put the badge around her neck. That was how she saw most people wearing it. Not Ethan. He probably had it in his pocket.
“Do I need this to move around the entire building?”
“Yes,” Blair said. “On this floor, you’re good.
But Bond Enterprises takes up these top three floors.
Since they own the building, no one can get to these floors on the elevator without security bypassing or having a badge.
No one can get on an elevator without a badge and that includes a temporary one by security. ”
She hadn’t realized how secure the building was but should have.
“I won’t move around other than the floor most times?” she asked. “Or will I?”
“You’ll be here with the executives and senior level staff. There are occasions for you to go to the other floors and today I’m going to give you a tour of everything and introduce you around.”
She lowered her head, along with her voice. “You’re not going to tell anyone who I am, right?”
Blair reached for her hand and lightly touched it. “No. There are a few other Joneses who work here and are of no relation to Norris. Those who knew he had a daughter, they heard Eleanor. But I’m sure it might get out at some point.”
She kept the sigh back. Barely.
Nora supposed the fact that her father had not acknowledged the name she was addressed as for years was going to benefit her.
“I’m not volunteering it and I know he won’t.”
She’d talked to her father over the weekend. As thrilled as he was that she had a job, and a good one in his eyes, he was emphatic their relationship be kept a secret for now.
She found that funny when several already knew, but her father assured her none of those men would say a word.
“For your sake, I hope your father stays at his end of the building.”
Her father was on this floor, but not in the executive suite. She wasn’t so sure how often he came down here and never asked. She wouldn’t.
To her, if she crossed paths with him, all she was going to do was grin and nod her head.
“Me too,” she said.
“You didn’t have a problem getting your paperwork done this weekend?”
“No. It was easy enough.”
“That’s what we like to hear. Now, let’s walk around and check the place out, then we’ll get down to work. For the next two weeks, we’ll work together in my office. Then I’ll be packing for a week before I move. I won’t come in, but I’ll be around if you need me.”
“You’re staying on part time, you said?”
“I will at some point. I told Ethan I need a week to transition into my living space with my mother, get things under control with her, but I will always be around. Once I’m settled, I’ll have some set hours to put in each week.
This job is very dynamic. There is no way I can train or teach it all in two weeks, and there won’t be a need for it. ”
“Can I ask, are you staying on part time long term or just until I’m up to speed?”
“That’s undecided, but Ethan is hoping long term. Let’s just get through these few weeks first, but you won’t be left hanging. Never worry about that. And Ethan can do for himself and he’s going to have to learn to.”
Hours later, she and Blair were in Blair’s office at the small table eating their lunch and going over light conversation.
Things that she didn’t need to take notes on, but was. It was more Blair handling correspondence and setting up meetings and showing her how she did it and used the software.
“Where is mine?”
She turned her head to see Ethan in the open doorway. She hadn’t seen him yet today and didn’t even know if he was in.
Blair hadn’t said if Ethan made his presence known or not daily, but she had seen his calendar was blocked off with meetings. She was positive Blair would fill her in on when or where those meetings could be held based on the color-coding system that she was going to learn.
“You’re an adult, you can figure out how to get your own lunch. Don’t expect Nora to do those things.”
Ethan smiled, his cheeks getting a little color to them. “I won’t, but you’re still here.”
“It’s on your desk,” Blair said. “If you’d gone in there first you’d have seen that.”
Which meant Blair had just automatically taken care of lunch for Ethan. Nora had brought a lunch with her and Blair had left to get something.
She was positive she wasn’t going to buy her lunch daily, but maybe it’d be one less thing to carry to work also.
One of those small things she’d figure out.
Even her lunch was nothing more than some fruit, cheese, and crackers she’d thrown in her bag. She didn’t know how she’d feel when it came time to put food in her mouth.
The smoothie held her over well, so maybe that could be a good daily breakfast.
“I’m getting scolded already, Nora,” he said.
The way her name came off his lips. The softness of it, the smile that accompanied it, mixed in with the humor in his eyes.
She didn’t know if that was how he always was, or just how he was with her. It was the same as that night a month ago. Almost the same as when she interviewed, but he’d been more guarded then.
Her too.
She still was, but he didn’t appear to be.
“Ethan is used to being scolded,” Blair said. “Maybe I’m rough on him, but don’t let his good looks charm you.”
“I’m pretty tough,” she said, the heat in her neck not helping her any.
“I’ll leave you two alone and go eat my lunch. Blair, if you can stop in around four and we’ll go over a few things.”
“I’ll be there,” Blair said. “Do you want Nora with me?”
“Not today,” he said, nodding and turning on his white sneakers to go back to his office. He had some muted shade of blue cotton pants on; his shirt was white, looked to have light blue tiny checkers on it.
Almost as light as his blue eyes that she remembered gazing into hers another time.
She popped a strawberry slice in her mouth and dropped her head back to Blair’s computer.
“He’ll want to ask me how things are going and not do it in front of you,” Blair said. “They are going great. At least I think so.”
“I do too,” she said. “I’m not offended or anything. He told me he’d like me to stop in daily around four to just see if there were things that had to be done before I left. He made a comment that if my work was done, then I could leave. Is that true?”
“It’s true. Not that I leave often at four, but I have and if I’ve got an appointment, he doesn’t care.
Just block it off on the calendar. He looks at it daily.
Will he try to call me in my office and I’m gone?
Yep, he will. But then he’ll look at the calendar and just send me an email. He will rarely text after hours.”
“He said that. And if he did, it’s important.”
“He’s good with boundaries. He might not have many himself, but he won’t push them off on those who work for him.
” Blair angled her head as if she were looking into the hallway.
“Mitchell is like that too. So are Mason and Darin, but your father… Working for him, he wanted me here at crazy hours and long days.”
“He told me. I don’t know that I agree with his approach, but then he said he’d never contact you outside of being in this office.”
Blair frowned as if she were in thought.
“He didn’t. He was correct there, but I’d come in on Mondays or even during the week in the morning and there’d be a list of emails of things he wanted.
It got to where I stressed that I’d have to spend an hour doing those things rather than starting my day, that if I just went through them at night when I knew he was gone, I’d know what my day would be like. ”
And she could see both sides of it, as that was how most got sucked into working around the clock.
“Is it like that with Ethan?”
“No. Do I get emails from him after I’ve left? Sure, I could. But not ten of them and half the time it’s nothing more than a reminder rather than something he needs. Or if it’s something he needs, I’ve got time to get it ready.”
“That’s good to know.”
“There will be pressure and stress in this job. Make no mistake, but there will be fun too. I mean that. Ethan is a good guy, so is Mitchell. I’ve never heard complaints from anyone who has worked for them unless they are shitty employees themselves.
The Bonds, they expect loyalty and people to buckle down when they are here, but they aren’t going to work you to the ground either.
I’m not sure how to explain it other than tell you you’ll understand once you experience it.
I mean, your father has been here most of his adult career. ”
“He has,” she said.
She finished up the last of her cheese cubes and packed away the rest of what she hadn’t eaten, then put it in the tiny fridge in the office.
She was going to appreciate that being here.
“There is a market around the corner,” Blair said. “On Mondays, I try to walk over and get some food for the week so I’m not bringing it daily. I didn’t today because you’re here, but I’ll do it tomorrow. If you want, I’ll show you where it is.”
“I’d love that,” she said.
“I think you’re going to work out just fine here. I know you’re nervous, but don’t be. Ethan’s a great guy.”
That was what she was more afraid of.