Category: Eleanor

Eleanor ~Part 2~

Read Part 1 here

Mr Lanford’s eyes bore into her as he flashed a half smile her way. “And how did you come to be mine…err here Miss…?”

“Luchia. My name is Eleanor Luchia, sir.” Eleanor quickly filled in. “Ms Penn hired me to organize your paperwork. I’m sorry, I thought you were aware.”

“And how long have you been employed here Ms Luchia?” He glanced over at Eddie as he asked the question. Eddie’s only response was to chuckle quietly next to her.

She hesitated, not wanting to get in trouble if she had overstepped her bounds, but since he was still smiling congenially enough at her she confessed. “A little over two months.” 

“And where have you been hiding for those two months?” He quickly covered his shock with interested curiosity.

Eleanor pointed to the room she had left to open the door. “Right there.”

Both Eddie and Liam followed her pointed finger with amused gazes. She looked up at Mr Liam Lanford. “I apologize if you were unaware. I’ve been doing my best to make good progress. But when Diane didn’t answer the door I figured I would. Upon hearing it was Mr Dubois I became distracted and failed to inform you that he was here.”

“Distracted?” Liam crossed his arms.

“Discussing your plans for my expansion.” Mr Dubois interjected. 

At Liam’s slow appraising nod, Eleanor blushed. “I’ll get back to my work sir. Sorry for the interruption.”

As she scurried back to her room she heard Eddie remark, “Quite the intelligent and engaging woman you have hiding in there, surrounded by your mountains of paper.”

Not trying to eavesdrop but curious as to what he would say in response Eleanor turned slightly toward them in her retreat. She couldn’t understand what he said but he didn’t sound angry so she hoped it was positive .

An hour later Eddie popped his head in where she was working. “I am on my way out Miss Luchia and I wanted to tell you how delighted I am to have met you. Being able to spend a little time discussing those plans with a fresh set of eyes is just what I needed.”

Eleanor blushed in surprise but nodded. “It was wonderful to meet you Mr Dubois.” She watched him disappear out of sight and once again focused on the papers in front of her.

A few minutes later she looked up to find Mr Lanford standing once again in the doorway. Immediately she rose. “Sorry I didn’t hear you come in.” The apology tumbled out as she straightened the papers in front of her.

“No need to apologize Miss Luchia. If anything, I should be apologizing to you. Ms Penn failed to inform me that had filled the position already or I would have come to introduce myself earlier. I don’t believe in being a faceless boss. Don’t be concerned if I come to check on you every once in a while. I do so with the employees I can in order to stay connected.”

She nodded, only slightly frenetic beneath her calm appearance. Maybe it was his piercing green eyes. Or the fact that he was drop dead handsome. Or maybe it was because she had made a complete dolt of herself in front of him when she’d ‘forgotten’ to bring his client in to him.

She only remembered to breathe after he nodded and strode smoothly out of the room.

The next morning, as she was sitting there, trying to focus on the sorting and not looking for interesting papers to glance over, Eleanor didn’t hear the soft footsteps of someone approaching and stopping just inside her doorway.

With a softly cleared throat he gained her attention. “Good morning, Miss Luchia. I figured I needed to make up for lost time and check in today, find out what progress you’ve made.”

In her best competent voice she began to explain her sorting and organizing tactics. Mid-sentence she recalled her manners and motioned to her chair. “Oh please sit. I didn’t mean to leave you standing.”

His low chuckle shook her professional veneer. “I am fine standing for the moment.” He moved in closer. “However, the progress you have made in two short months is impressive. I know that I’ve completely given up trying to keep order in here and would throw papers into a box and shove the box in here.”

“Does that mean you have another box in your office accumulating, unsorted, right now?” 

He shrugged. “Guilty.”

Eleanor shook her head. “Don’t worry. By the time you have filled up that box and throw it into me I will have everything organized so well that it wouldn’t take me long to sort it out. Of course I hear I have several other rooms that require my attention as well.”

With a slow deep nod he laughed. “I have let it overcome me I fear. I do have one question, now that I think of it. How do you know Eddie?”

“Mr Dubois?” Eleanor blinked in surprise. “I don’t. I met him yesterday.”

“Yet you know of our expansion plans for him through our design and construction company.” He stated levelly.

Flustered, she wrung her hands. “Oh… I… just from sorting sir. I have to know what each paper is in order to sort it.” 

“Furthermore, You know enough to have an in-depth conversation with him based on glances while sorting?” He surveyed her with renewed interest.

“Well. I do have an MBA sir, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Construction.”

Surprise lit his eyes.

“You never saw my resume did you? Ms Penn really did hire me because she figured I could sort papers.” Eleanor’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I apologize if I overstepped my bounds. It won’t happen again.”

“Overstepped?” He roared as he laughed. “And here I find myself questioning why you are not working for me as a team lead or manager or architect. Why are you here in a dusty room filled with paperwork?”

“To become a part of the company and work my way up. I applied for your other positions first but they always filled without a word my direction. So I saw this as my only option left.”

Liam glanced at his watch. “I have a meeting in 5 minutes so I have to leave. But do not doubt that we will be talking later.” He paused at the door and looked back. He almost took a step back toward her.

“I’m tempted to fire you.”

Shock laced through her. “What?”

He shook his head and shot her a wry grin. “But I won’t.” 

Eleanor let out the breath she had been holding.

“Eleanor, I think it is only fair to let you know, I really want to kiss you right now. And as your boss, I can’t. And as a gentleman, I won’t. Just tempted.”

Without another word he left the room, leaving her mind swirling with temptations of her own.

Eleanor

The dark mahogany furniture where Eleanor waited in the foyer surrounded by lush carpets and elegant paintings did little by way of comfort as she fought to remain outwardly calm. Anxiously tapping her fingers on her bouncing knee she glanced over her resume again. A severe looking woman in a too tight suit appeared in the doorway holding an armful of folders.

“Eleanor Luchia?” The woman looked down her nose, busy impatience roiling around her like a fog.

Eleanor stood, stopping herself from curtseying to the auspicious woman in her lavish work area, and smoothed her skirt. “That’s me.”

“Well come in and sit down.” She waved Eleanor into the small office. Eleanor laid her resume on the desk.

“Miss Luchia. It says here that you are here for a position as a personal assistant/ secretary for Mr Lanford. Is that correct?” At Eleanor’s nod she continued. “Now, he already has two but he has decided to hire a third to organize and sort through all the paperwork involved in his four separate businesses. Over the past year it all piled up and become an intermingled mess. It is going to take quite a bit of work to get through it all.”  

“Thank you for seeing me today. I understand…” Eleanor stopped abruptly when the woman’s hand went up.

“Miss Luchia, I can see that you are intelligent enough to manage the work that will be assigned to you and not get in the way. Also I don’t have the time to interview all the applicants. You will do. You may address me as Ms. Penn. Report back here tomorrow morning at 6 am and I will show you what room you will be organizing. Business casual dress code.” Ms Penn stood, motioning to the door.

“Thank you Ms Penn for the opportunity.” Eleanor stood.

“Yes, yes, Miss Luchia. Don’t forget to arrive on time.” Ms Penn didn’t bother to escort her out. She waved her away towards the door, already working on something else.

Eleanor walked out, stunned to have a job, even if it was just filing paperwork. She now officially had a foothold into the company she had dreamed of getting involved in.

The next morning, as soon as she arrived Ms Penn shuffled her off into a large room filled with stacks upon stacks of boxes, a small empty table, and an uncomfortable looking chair. Ms Penn nodded to the table. “Miss Luchia, these are the boxes of the most current paperwork. They need to be sorted and accessible. I suggest you start by sorting each individual paper into each of the businesses before going into more depth. There are six more rooms just like this that need sorting. I will be in to check on you later.” Ms Penn left with an abrupt about-face. 

Standing alone in the packed room Eleanor opened the first box and began her sorting. It began with four small piles, one for each company. Those four piles on the table eventually turned to four boxes that she switched for empty ones as they filled. There were never any less of the boxes since she wasn’t throwing anything out. It was more of a grand reshuffling and reorganizing game. It was a matter of moving and labeling what had been sorted and separating it out from what she still had to go through. 

For weeks she sludged through box after box, eventually sorting the boxes she had done into different rooms. Slowly the boxes began to have order, penetrating the chaos. Once she finished sorting through each room she would then need to get all the boxes for one company and begin organizing so that it wasn’t just a jumble of paper but more of a usable archive. Apparently Mr Lanford had no interest in going to a digital filing system. And he kept everything. Hours and hours of never-ending work seemed to stretch out in front of her.

Yet, instead of getting bored by the sheer monotony of merely sorting papers, she found herself fascinated, eagerly absorbing the information presented to her as she sorted. 

Two months in, she had made steady progress, working her way through two of the rooms and she still had not met the boss or even seen him. Occasionally she would hear him talking but never close enough to where she was working. 

One day she was startled by the front doorbell shattering the silence, followed by a man hollering, “Can you get that Diane?”

Seconds passed and the doorbell sounded again. This time the commotion held her attention enough that she set down the stack of papers she was sorting. “Diane! The door!” The deep male voice called out again, impatience now marring his tone. Eleanor stood and peeked out to see if Diane was heading to the door. No one in sight. With the third ring Eleanor shrugged and went to open the door. On the steps was a huge man towering over her in a nice italian suit. He nodded politely.

“Please inform Liam that I’m here.” His lovely tenor voice awakened a slow burning warmth in her chest.

Eleanor was all courtesy as she motioned him in. “Please come sit down and I will let Mr Lanford know you are here Mr…?”

“Dubois. Eddie Dubois.” He supplied with a charming smile flashing her way.

“Dubois!” Eleanor quickly tamped down her excitement. After all the papers she had seen concerning his company, meeting him in person was thrilling to say the least.

“You know me?” The man seemed surprised. 

She nodded hesitantly, “CEO of Renshaw Corp. I’m new here but I’ve been organizing paperwork for Mr Lanford and the plans drawn up for your expansion are fascinating. It truly is a pleasure to meet you.” 

“Really? And what do you find fascinating about them?”

Twenty minutes later Eddie and Eleanor were deep in conversation when a tall athletic man leaned against the nearby door frame. When he cleared his throat Eleanor blushed as she realized the man she was now entirely convinced was her boss was looking her up and down as if trying to figure out the answer to a puzzling question. Her heart practically stopped under the scrutiny. While Mr Dubois may have inspired a warmth, Mr Lanford practically gave her a fever. 

Thankfully instead of addressing her, he spoke to Eddie, “You are bringing your girls to our meetings now?”

Eddie laughed. “No, not at all. I didn’t bring this lovely lady. She’s yours.” He paused and shot her a grin. “And I’m finding myself thinking how very lucky you are to have her.”

“Mine?” Again his gaze tore through her as he studied her, from her red high heels to curly honey hair. Eleanor found herself immensely relieved that she wasn’t a mess today. His face transformed when he finished his intense study. “Indeed. Lucky me.”

Click here to read more of Eleanor’s story.