Footloose by Leanne Banks

Author:Leanne Banks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2006-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

WITH HER NEW JOB, new office and new condo, Amelia didn’t have time to think about Jack and what a prick he’d been, so she decided to pretend he didn’t exist. It shouldn’t be that hard. His office was on a different floor and she couldn’t imagine any reason she would need to interact with him. Except in the elevator, and using the law of statistical averages, that shouldn’t happen very often.

She almost believed the plan would work—until she received flowers, roses in every color. The enclosed card read, Which color do you like best? No signature.

That seemed like something Florida Jack might do, but since he hadn’t signed his name, she couldn’t exactly take the roses up to his office with her grateful message attached: Sit on these. Hope you find a thorn the hard way.

Despite her suspicions, she couldn’t help enjoying the perky buds and the yummy scent they exuded. Amelia spent the morning reviewing the file for her first disaster assignment. The mailroom was a mess.

Near the end of the day, she met with the mail clerks, two college drop-outs who spent more time sending text messages on their cell phones than sorting mail. Unfortunately they shared their supervisor with the shipping department, which meant they weren’t actually supervised very often.

After working with them throughout the afternoon, she feared she may have had more success retraining the guys from Dumb and Dumber. Deciding to give them one more session, she told the clerks to be ready to be tested on their training by tomorrow afternoon.

She spoke with the personnel administrator and their supervisor regarding previous performance reviews and was told they were both distantly related to family members already working for Bellagio.

Amelia downed some headache medication she’d put in her desk drawer for emergencies, collected the files and headed for the elevator.

Despite the statistical improbability, when the elevator doors opened, she saw Jack inside. She hesitated.

“You could always take the stairs,” Jack suggested with a sly smile that said he knew she wanted to avoid him.

Goaded, she stepped inside opposite him. “Everything will be fine if you don’t talk to me.”

He nodded. “No problem. Looks like your second day back wasn’t a trip to Disneyland.”

“I’m fine, but I work best with people who care about doing a good job,” she said, hugging her files to her chest and willing the headache medication to hurry up and take effect.

“People don’t care about doing a good job at Bellagio?” he echoed in mock disbelief. “Bellagio couldn’t have substandard employees especially since the personnel department’s decisions are usually overridden by the good old boys’ network.”

She cringed at his accurate evaluation. “I didn’t say that in Florida, did I?”

“Magnolia, it doesn’t matter if you said it or not. The question is, is it true and is it best for the company to continue this way?” The doors opened and he lifted his hand for her to proceed in front of him.

Disturbed by what he’d said and his presence in general, she practically ran toward the exit.

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