A gentleman and a lady

The Interview

I took a deep breath, sipping my coffee, and peering out the window to the city below, as the familiar feeling of solitude crept over me.

I saw couples bustling in and out of the coffee shop across the street. A woman hails a taxi, and a man steps out. They lock eyes, and hesitant smiles creep over their faces before she steps in the car that speeds away. A man drops his briefcase and three other people stop to help him gather the papers that spewed out. Everyone busy, yet somehow not alone.

A light knock at my door brought me out of my trance.

"Yes?" I responded.

"Sir," my secretary- Arnold- peeked his head inside. "There are four people in the waiting area, ready for their interviews."

"Ah," I sighed, "I suppose send them in, preferably in the order they came."

Arnold nodded, and quickly ushered in an older woman.

"Mr. Cavill, thank you so much for the opportunity-" the older woman started, but stopped once she noticed the shaking of my head.

I had watched her walk in, and to my dismay she gave the impression of being meek and insecure. Despite this immediate judgement I asked for her resume, and again I was disappointed. A full time home maker trying to re-enter the workforce after becoming an empty-nester. Not much experience, none that was recent anyways. I excused her, told her we'd be in touch.

I needed someone strong, someone confident, someone who could easily fulfill their duties to be my personal assistant. The idea was Arnold's really. He was a fantastic secretary, smart and efficient, but in his own words, "I can only do so much."

By the third interview I was hopelessly bored. The second was a disheveled man, recently fired from a sales position for failure to perform, and the third was a young man who had never worked a day in his life. Neither had any impressive credentials, leading me to believe the advertisement for the job wasn't taken very seriously.

After sending them away I poked my head out the door to see Arnold.

"Arnold, please have the final interviewee return tomorrow, I'm a little burned out," I said, and started to return to my office once Arnold nodded.

"Miss-Miss! Please wait!" Came Arnold's voice, clearly stressed.

The door to my office flew open, and a woman strode into my office, placing herself at the seat in front of my desk.

I looked at her quizzically, unsure of how to proceed, when she finally spoke.

"With all due respect, Mr. Cavill, I have been waiting to be interviewed for over two hours now and I don't wish to wait any longer," she said sternly.

"If you didn't want to wait the longest, maybe you should have arrived first," I said, returning to my desk and picking up a folder to go through.

"Mr. Cavill," the woman said again, standing and pulling the folder from my hands. I looked up at her again.

She was incredibly striking; raven hair in a tight bun, piercing blue eyes, topped off with a pantsuit that looked perfectly pressed.

"Mr. Cavill," she continued. "I believe I fulfill every requirement necessary for the personal assistant position, and I have a list of references and credentials with me." She began pulling neatly filed papers out of her briefcase, handing them to me in order of description.

I rolled my eyes and took them, glancing through them and trying to hide the fact I was impressed. She was beautiful, skilled, but also somewhat arrogant.

"Very nice miss..?" I said.

"Evelyn Grant, sir," she replied, grasping my hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Well, Miss Grant, your resume is fairly decent."

"It's not 'fairly decent', Mr. Cavill. It is impressive. So have I got the job or not?" She scoffed.

I was taken aback. She struck me as a very abrasive woman, but someone like her could work very well.

"I will be in touch," I said, hoping she would walk out, but she didn't.

"Mr. Cavill," she put her hands on my desk, raising herself from her seat. "Do I have the job, or do I not have the job?"

I saw then that I was completely defeated.

"Yes, Miss Grant," I sighed. "I'd like for you to start next Monday."

"Tomorrow morning," she asserted, and I responded with a simple nod. Her cold, stern demeanor shifted into one of victory. "You won't regret this Mr. Cavill."

"I genuinely hope not, Miss Grant."

As she walked out of my office I couldn't help but take her in. Of course I'd noticed lovely women before in my life, but none had ever intrigued me so. I found myself wondering if I would be able to work around a woman like Evelyn Grant, or if I would have to find an excuse to fire her.

As these thoughts crossed my mind, another knock at the door.

"Yes Arnold?" I asked as Arnold appeared in the doorway.

"Sir, I'm very sorry she got past me. She simply insisted on interviewing right away."

"Arnold it's fine. She got the job, she'll start tomorrow."

"Ah. Maybe the moxie did her a favor," Arnold mused, smiling as I rolled my eyes at him.

As Arnold left the room I came to a decision. I would simply keep Miss Grant at arms length, there was no need for her to get close and I was insisting to myself that everything would stay professional.

Once the day had ended, I found myself thinking of her. I pressed the ground floor button in the elevator and imagined riding it alone with her.

"Stop it Henry," I muttered to myself. "She's just a beautiful woman, nothing more."

But upon my arrival home I couldn't think of anything I wanted to do more than to wipe that satisfied smirk off her stupid, beautiful face.