“Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. I wouldn’t mind having some more fresh female blood up here and maybe the two of you could stick together.” That was true. I hadn’t thought of that.
“I guess we’ll see.” She put the résumés back in her desk and I went back to my office, pondering.
Well either Violet Cooper had given out a lot of sexual favors, or else she’d really nailed the initial interview (I hoped it was the latter) because she was on the short list when I opened my email a little while later. Due to Lilia’s fabulous flagging system, it was one of the first things I read. She’d learned that what I deemed important varied, which was what made the job slightly difficult.
Follow-up interviews with everyone who made it through the first round were set for tomorrow and were going to take nearly an entire day. Lovely. I’d have to remember to drink an extra cup of coffee, or five, beforehand. Interviews, if you’ve done enough of them, can be horribly dull, unless someone says something unexpected. Or they answer their phone in the middle of said interview.
I meant to go see Dad in the morning, but of course that didn’t happen. There was a snag with some of the html coding on the beta website page for the new software and no one seemed to be able to figure it out, so a group email had been sent around to see if anyone could fix it. I had a working knowledge of html, but I couldn’t find why it wasn’t working. I sent my response back that I had no idea. Two seconds after I sent it, there was another timid knock. Sometimes when I looked up, I still thought Lucah was going to be standing there, but it was Lilia. Maybe she was so scared because I always looked so disappointed to see her. It wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t Lucah.
“Miss Clarke?”
“Yes, what can I do for you, Lilia?” She shifted from one purple satin heel to the other. Today her dress was sunny yellow, with a matching purple belt around her waist. Too bad she was a twig, or else I would beg to raid her closet.
“I’m sorry. I know it’s probably not my place, but I was just glancing at that code, and I think I found the problem.” Lilia, in addition to her own email account, had access to mine, but I forgot sometimes that she could see it whenever she wanted.
“You did?” She nodded and kept her eyes on the floor. “Where?” I nodded and she walked into my office as if I’d asked her to enter the Dungeon of Eternal Torture. But she came around my desk and stood at my shoulder as I pulled the copy of the code up.
She scanned it with her eyes and then pointed.
“There. It’s missing . . . “ she stole the mouse and moved it to the spot and then typed a few things in. “There. That should work.” For the first time her voice wasn’t a whisper. This girl knew code.
“I have no idea what you just did, but I’m going to send it back to tech and have them double-check it.”
And just like that, timid Lilia reappeared.
“I hope it’s right. I think it’s right.”
“If it is, I’m taking you out to lunch. My treat.” I smiled, but the scared look on her face just got worse. “So you know html?”
“Uh yeah. You know how some people can learn a foreign language really easily? That’s like me and code. My brother and I used to hack websites for fun in our spare time when we were kids. Oh. I probably shouldn’t have told you that. Please don’t fire me.” She looked like she was actually scared that I would use her teenage hacking as a reason to fire her. It made me laugh.
“Um, if you knew about all the crap I did when I was younger, and still managed to be successful . . . So why did you want to be my assistant instead of working down with the tech guys?” She paused for a long time before she answered, and I started to think maybe she wouldn’t.
“I thought about it, but I wanted to learn from you. I wanted to know how you did it, being so young and being surrounded by men. I can be a little shy, and you seemed so confident. I wanted to learn from the best.” Wow, what a compliment. I could feel my head swell and my cheeks turn red. That was rare, outside of Lucah teasing me.
“You make me sound like some sort of corporate superhero.” I should put in an order for a cape. “I’m not, but it’s really nice of you to say that. I learned the hard way, and I know you have to be confident. Knowing that you’re smart and prepared, and that you are the best for the job is also key. Convincing people that you know what you’re talking about is half the battle. Clearly, your strength is code, based on what you just showed me. So I’ll fish around and see if I can get you some special projects.” Now it was her turn to blush.
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“Of course I do. I’m your boss, and I want you to succeed here. I also don’t want to lose you to another company.” I knew a gem when I found one. It just took a little while for her to shine.
A ding signaled that I had an email. It was tech informing me that Lilia’s fix had worked.
“Go sign out. I’m taking you to lunch.” She gave me another tiny smile and dashed to her desk.
Once I got Lilia out of the office, and got her talking about computers and code and so forth, she turned into a delightful, bubbly person. I knew she was buried in there. Lilia was one of those people who really lit up when she was talking about something she was passionate about.
“I’m sorry for talking so much.”
“Don’t be sorry at all, I’ve been trying to get you to talk since I hired you. Even though I’m your boss, I want us to be able to talk, okay?”
She nodded and finished the last bit of her key lime pie. I paid using the company credit card, which Lilia noticed.
“This is a work meeting. We discussed work, so it counts,” I said, giving her a wink. If several of the men at the office could go golfing and write it off, I could take my assistant out to lunch.
“Thanks so much. This was really nice,” she said as I dropped her back at her desk.
“We’ll have to make it a regular thing. Maybe once a month.” She smiled again, and I definitely liked that look better than her fearful face. I dropped my bag off in my office and went down the hall to see Dad.
“Rory, I was hoping I’d see you sometime today.” He motioned me in and I closed the door. “How are you doing? How’s your new assistant? Not quite like your last one.” Haha.
“She’s doing well. It’s probably a good thing that she isn’t like the last one. How are you doing?” He was looking worse and worse. Now his skin had sort of taken on an unhealthy grayish tinge that made my stomach flip in a bad way. I was going to have to give Mom a call and see if she could do something.