Colleen had stepped up behind her, and peered over her shoulder. “What does that mean?” She puzzled at it. “Why do you need to worry about their dress code? You don’t work in that building.”
“Uh.” Kerry closed the message, then opened a terminal session and thumbed through her notes as she requested a logon to the mainframe. “Okay, I press this, then go here…login, password… Oh, hell! Okay, try it again. Ah.”
She accessed her own employee files, then stared at the main screen in disbelief. “Oh…sugarbaker.”
“What?” Colleen peered at the screen. “What’s an ORGID?” she asked. “It sounds disgusting.”
“She did it.” Kerry breathed, her fingertip tracing the change in her department, location, and her supervisor.
Roberts, D
“She did what?” The redhead poked her. “C’mon, Ker, spill it. What’s going on here?”
“She hired me,” Kerry mumbled.
“I thought you were already hired?” came the puzzled response. “Did I miss something here?”
“Well, yeah, but she had this…I mean, she hired me to work for her,”
Kerry responded, dazed. “She was looking for an assistant.”
“Jesus Mary mother of God.” Colleen squeaked. “You are going to be Dar Roberts’ assistant?” She pounded on Kerry’s back. “You? Oh my god!”
“Ow!” Kerry ducked out of the way. “Cut that out! I’ve got scratches from that stupid glass.” But she felt exhilarated. “And…yeah. I guess I’m going to work for her. I didn’t expect her to make a decision so fast, but now that I think about it, it doesn’t surprise me. I don’t think she likes to dawdle around stuff.” Whoo-ooo! Inside, she was jumping up and down. “Wow.”
“Okay, girl, tonight we party,” Colleen decided. “You need to go out and celebrate. Because let me tell you, from what I hear? You won’t get a chance to breathe once you start working for her.” She tugged Kerry’s sleeve. “Let’s do Cocowalk, and hit the Improv, then have a late dinner at Monte’s. I’ll get Pete and Reggie, and a few other people around here, okay?”
Kerry grinned. “Sure, that sounds fun. I can do that,” she agreed.
“Tomorrow… Ye gods! I’ll have to go clothes shopping. I don’t have anything good enough for that mausoleum, it’s humongous.”
“Ooo…ooo…ooo…” Colleen waved her hands. “I’ll go shopping too, I’d love to see you in some fancy power suits for a change. This is gonna be great.” She stood up. “I’ll be back. You stay right here, Ms. High and Mighty corporate executive.”
Kerry rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ve got to find out what the rest of this mail is, anyway. It’s after two, you want to meet in front of here at five?”
“You betcha,” Colleen agreed, then bustled off. “Hey, I’ll invite Gary. He really likes you.”
The blonde woman waved a hand at her. “Fine, fine. Just tell him not to talk about his job all the time, okay?”
Tropical Storm 71
“Kerry, he can’t help working at the Water and Sewer plant,” the redhead chided her. “He’s very excited about it.” Green eyes peered over the monitor at her. “Okay, okay. I’m outta here.” Colleen laughed. “I’ll tell him.”
As the door closed, Kerry sat back and re-read her mail for the third time.
“Man, oh man, I can’t believe it.” She eyed the phone. “Guess I’d better let the folks in on this.” She picked up the receiver and dialed a number, waiting until she heard a voice answer. “Hi, Mom.”
“Oh, hello, Kerrison,” her mother’s flat, even tone replied. “I wasn’t expecting you until tonight. Is there a problem?”
“No, no. I got some good news. I thought I’d pass it along,” Kerry answered quietly. “I was promoted.”
“That’s nice, dear. I thought perhaps you were going to say you’d given up that strange city and were coming home. What kind of promotion was it?”
“Well, we were bought out. I think I told you that was happening last week.”
“Oh? Oh yes, you mentioned it,” Cynthia Stuart recalled. “Your father was saying he’s had dealings with that new company.”
“Mmm, yes, they’re pretty big. There was an opening there, on the operations team. I applied for it, and they took me,” Kerry told her carefully.
“I’m…well, I’ve got to go shopping for some new clothes tomorrow.”
A note of concern entered her mother’s voice. “You haven’t been putting on weight again, have you, dear?”
“Oh, no. No,” Kerry reassured her. “No, in fact, I lost a few pounds over the last few days. Um…no, it’s…well, I’m going to be the assistant to one of their Vice Presidents, so I have to dress up.”
“Oh?” Now her mother sounded more interested. “Really? That sounds more…well, you have to make sure you make a good impression. You have a Macy’s down there, isn’t that right?”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Excellent. Take my card, dear, and you go pick out some nice new outfits. Something in green, I think, would look good with your hair. Has it gotten lighter? It did last summer. And make sure you get nice shoes, not those awful pumps you usually wear.” There was a pause. “Roger? Roger, is that you? It’s Kerry on the phone. Dear, she’s going to be working for one of their Vice Presidents. Isn’t that wonderful?”
A rustle, then her father’s deep voice rumbled down the line. “Kerrison?”
“Yes, Father,” Kerry answered quietly. “It’s true, I got promoted.”
“Well, well, that’s nice. Glad to see they recognize quality when they see it, not like that little pissant company you worked for. This is good news. “ He cleared his throat. “Who will you be working for? I know a bunch of their upper echelon people, naturally, since we do bidding for the state, and they’re a major contractor.”
“Dar Roberts.” Kerry tasted the name, rolling it around in her mouth with a kind of pleasure.
A moments’ silence and then her father barked, “Jesus. That’s not just one of their VPs, Kerrison, that’s… Well, my god, we’ve been trying to get a bead on her for…” His voice trailed off. “Well, well, never mind that. This could be of great value to me, though. Good work, Kerrison, very good. I’m very proud 72 Melissa Good of you.”
Kerry felt a tense smile edge her lips. “Thank you.” She heard her mother’s voice in the background.
“I’ve told her to take my Macy’s card, Roger, and get herself dressed to impress these people.”
“Good idea, honey,” her father’s voice returned. “You listen to your mother, you hear? You go out to the store, and you buy stuff that’s gonna knock their socks off, all right?”
“I’ll…do my best, Father,” Kerry replied.
“I want you to send pictures, all right?” came the gruff demand. “I want to make sure you’re giving the right impression. This could be very valuable to me.” He paused. “I was going to bring you home. We were thinking of having the wedding in the spring, but this…this could be worth the wait.”
“I’ll send pictures, I promise.” Kerry silently blessed Dar, who had provided her, all unknowing, a reprieve from almost unrelenting parental pressure. “I’m really excited. I think I’m really going to like this new job.”
“Good. Here, talk to your mother.”
“Your father is very excited too, dear.” Her mother’s voice sounded smug. “I haven’t seen him this enthusiastic since that Tripp woman surfaced.”