Monday, August 9, 2010

The Interview: Part Eight

Stephanie swiped the tears from her cheeks and put the car into gear, she had to get home and take a nap, the only thing to make a day like this any better is to turn off the lights close the curtains and crawl into bed with a cup of hot cocoa and a heating pad.

She drove slowly home, all the while thinking of her daughter and the situation she now found herself in. How in the hell was she going to manage to juggle Keith, the new job, grief and her reaction to Mr. Sutherland all without cracking under the pressure?

Ten minutes later she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex, the little dilapidated building sat nestled in between a major high way and shopping center. It wasn't a desirable place to live but she had called it home for more than three years. Grabbing her purse from the car seat next to her she locked the doors and began climbing the three flights to her apartment.

Once she was inside her apartment she placed her purse on the hall table and strode straight into the kitchen to turn on her Senseo for hot water. She definitely needed that warmness coursing through her veins, she went into her room and stripped down, and slide into her fuzzy robe. She made her way back to the kitchen to check on her hot water, it had already started to pour into her Care Bears mug. She smiled as she added spoonfuls of cocoa the hot water. The smell of chocolate wafted through the air.

She slowly stirred her chocolate as she made her way back to her room. She turned down the bed, set the chocolate on her nightstand and was about to climb in when she heard her purse start to sing about girls just wanting to have fun, she hurried down the hall, dug through her purse and answered breathily "Hello?"

The number had been unrecognizable.She had no clue who would call her, usually, the only people she heard from were Bill Collectors and her mom. "Ramy? This is Sutherland here. I just heard about the unfortunate incident that is Keith in HR." Stephanie's heart stopped in her chest, please God don't let her lose this opportunity. "It's not a problem, Mr. Sutherland-" He cut her off like he had in the office.

"It damn well is a problem, I can't have my employees at odds with one another. So this is how this is going to go down. You new HR handler is going to be Rose, Rose is about 70 if she's a day and I doubt you have a past relationship with her. If so, then please let me know." Stephanie looked at the phone like it was a snake, was that a joke? Should she laugh?

"Um, thank you, Mr. Sutherland." She heard him sigh.

"You are welcome, I just want you to be comfortable here at T&A. See you bright and early, Stephanie." He hung up without waiting for her goodbye. She closed her phone with shaking hands and slowly made her way back to her room, as she crawled into bed, she sent up a thank you to whoever was listening. Not having to deal with Keith was definitely a blessing, and not losing the opportunity was a gift.

Her eyes fluttered down and she fell into an exhausted sleep.

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Read the next installments:

Part Nine
Part Ten

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