Another Love Another time

Chapter 17: Surprise!

River

It's my first day of my new job and to say I'm not nervous is an understatement. In the Army it's hard to get fired and even when you start a new job you know the rules or processes. Everything is standardized no matter where you are stationed at. This will be my first job working in the civilian world in this career. I know that I'll have to build trust with not only my team, but my partner. We had orientation this morning and we will be meeting our teams this afternoon to get settled and assigned. So far everyone seems nice. We have just been going over all the paperwork. The guy doing the orientation releases us to go to lunch, but that we need to report back in exactly an hour so our team leads can take us to meet with our teams. Since we have an hour, I'm going to drive back to my mom's house and grab something to eat. I really hope my partner is not a cocky hard ass, or a female on a power trip. I had enough of both of those in the Army.

My mom is at work so it's just me in the house. Spider her black cat rubs up against my leg as I walk into the kitchen. I'll just make a sandwich quickly and get back. I'm excited to meet my partner. I've always gotten along with everyone on my team in the past. My brain is currently hurting from all the thinking I had to do this morning. Hopefully this afternoon is not as taxing.

~

I got back a little bit early, but I see a few of the others walking into the building, so I decide that I might as well head back in to. I'm excited to meet the team that I'll be working with, I must not be the only one excited. Almost everyone else is back in the room waiting for direction on next steps. As I look around the room, I notice for the first time the people who are in the room are a few years younger than I am. I guess that makes sense. We all may be starting are first job in the civilian world, but I have more actual experience than anyone that I'm sitting next too. That makes me feel a little bit better about being a little bit older, that I'm not actually starting all over.

The guy that has been leading the orientation walks into the room with a few other people. I still haven't picked up on his name. I really hope there is not a pop quiz on the names. I would definitely not pass that test. In my head I've been calling him "Booger". He reminds me of Booger off "Revenge of the Nerds". He starts talking and the room quiets down.

"Okay ladies and gentlemen, the time has come where you all get to meet your team. When I call your name stand up and one these guys will take you to the team that you will be reporting to. Okay let's get started.

"Smith, you'll go with Johnson. Ruiz you'll go with Parker. Wait you'll go with Sanders...", he keeps going until I hear my name being call. I stand up and go to the guy as directed. He holds his hand out and introduces himself as Mack, but let's me know that most people call him Mackey. I take his hand and give it a confident shake.

"I know you're used to be called by your last name, but I prefer first names. Is it okay that I call you River?"

"That's my name, why would you have to ask permission." I laugh.

"Oh, you're going to fit right in with the team", he chuckles.

"Are you my partner?" I question thinking he would be fun.

We start heading out of the room and down the hallway.

"No, your partner got held up. He'll be back any minute. He asked if I could grab you while he finished up what he was doing, all though I think he's going to be a little surprised."

"Why is that?"

"Well....", he hesitates before deciding to go ahead and say what he was going to say, "I think he thinks you are going to a male; we only get your first initial and last name and we do not get a lot of females that come on our team especially with your experience. Just saying. Don't worry about it, you're partners a good guy, but I will say the last time he had a female partner he had to ask for a change because his "girlfriend"," he makes quotation motion, "gets extremely jealous." He looks me up and down. "Yeah, she will definitely be jealous of you." My cheeks redden. "Don't be embarrassed and I'm not hitting on you. I'm speaking facts." I don't doubt the truth in his words.