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.
