*I would like this story submitted for the SUMMER LOVIN 2019 contest. Thanks for reading!
**This entire story is a work of fiction.
"You can do this." Sara said softly to herself as she smoothed her skirt, then looked at the large glass building that loomed in front of her.
Today was Sara's first day on the job working for her new team. She had been with the same company for nearly 20 years, working as an underwriter's assistant back East. She was 44 now. In the spring she found out that her daughter got accepted to a university that was clear across the country. With a heavy heart, Sara sold her home and most of her possessions so that she could continue living with and supporting her daughter. They were very close. Unfortunately it also meant that she would need a new job.
Luckily, she worked for one of the biggest life insurance brokers in the US, who had an office near where her and her daughter would be settling down, and they were delighted to have her transfer.
Well, almost everybody. Sara was fairly nervous about one person in particular. His name was Michael, and to put it nicely, he was kind of a jerk. She had never really worked with him before, but from office gossip, knew he could be a really ass to people. And she was going to be his new assistant.
She sighed, then got out of the car and walked towards the building. She went up to reception and gave them her name and told them she was Michael's new assistant.
She had a seat and looked around. The suite appeared spacious, with a beautiful tile floor that shone in the morning sun, and nearby she could see glass windows to what appeared to be a huge conference room.
A minute later, a young, smiling guy in glasses greeted her.
"Michael it's so nice to meet you!" She was surprised at how warm his greeting was.
"Oh, no." The guy chuckled. "I'm not Michael. I work with him though. I'm Eric. I'm going to be training you this morning."
Her face fell slightly. The young gentleman took her down a hallway and past a maze of cubicles. He led her towards the offices in the back. A tall, dark, well dressed man walked past them. Sara guessed he was probably around her age. As he walked by, he gave Sara a once-over with a cool expression on his face, and kept walking.
She knew it even before Eric said it, but as they go to her new cubicle, Eric whispered, "That was Michael."
She gave a short smile. Lovely. Her new manager hadn't even spoken to her yet and she already got the feeling that he didn't like her. She put her stuff down and got settled in as Eric gathered some training guides for her. They spent the morning reviewing procedures and what was expected of her.
After they got done, Eric showed her to security so they could give her a security badge to access the office. As they walked back, she stopped him.
"Hey listen, Michael seems......" She couldn't offhand think of a word to describe his personality without being offensive.
"Difficult? Moody? Insane?" Eric offered.
She laughed. "Well..."
He adjusted his glasses. "Look, you can't take what he says personally. Just do exactly what he says, and do it well, and quickly, and you'll be fine."
They went to Michael's office, which was situated next to her cube. Eric and Sara stood in the doorway and as Eric started to speak, Michael held up a finger.
"No that's not what my company is offering." He was saying. He had an earbud in his ear. "You can take this offer or leave it but we can't offer buyback coverage. Your insured has way too many claims. This would open the door for an E&O disaster which obviously we are going to avoid......okay you talk to them and get back to me." He pressed a button on the piece and looked over at Sara expectantly.
"Michael, this is Sara. I showed her the ropes so she should be ready to start helping you now."
"Yes of course." He turned to his computer and started typing.
She looked at Eric quickly, then back at Michael who was paying her no attention at all. "Hello Sir."
He finished typing then looked at her with dark eyes and the same cool expression as before. "I am going to start sending you my new accounts. I want you to set them up in the system, send them to market and give me the best three options for each insured. Is that going to be a problem for you?"
"No Sir, that is fine." She wondered if he expected her to curtsy to him, too.
"Okay then." He went back to typing.
Eric led her back to her desk. "Good luck - and let me know if you have any questions." He said quietly.
"Okay, thank you." She said.
She logged on, and found she already had five, now six, emails from Michael. She momentarily felt overwhelmed, then shook her head. The job was nothing that she couldn't handle. She got to work and soon fell into a rhythm that helped her get through the day.
Michael rarely left his office. Throughout the day she could hear him on the phone, speaking with agents. Sara knew he was one of their top producers and it was obviously because he got right down to business. This man didn't waste any time. He kept her busy with a flood of emails. By the end of the day Sara couldn't help wondering if it would be beneficial to have two assistants.
It was a little after 5:15 when she heard him pack up. He started to stride out of his office and paused when he saw Sara look over at him. He seemed surprised that she was still there.
"Have a good night." He said after a moment, then started walking.
"Thank you, Sir." She called out to him as he disappeared from view.
Sara had just finished setting up one of the last accounts for the day. She packed up her laptop and purse, and went to her car.
Sara lived with her daughter a few towns east of where her work was located. She jumped into her SUV and quickly got onto the highway. Soon she was traveling fast, with the window down, letting the wind pull at her hair in all directions and looking at the desert and mountains in the distance. She had never been this far West before and found the scenery to be breathtaking. Saguaro cacti dotted the scenery, and in the setting sun, the rock faces in the sunset were saturated with earthen reds and browns. Even the colors of the sky seemed richer. In the distance she could see the clouds turn orange in the fading sun, almost looking like fire across the dusty landscape. Sara thought about getting an expensive camera. She wanted to capture the natural raw beauty Arizona had to offer.
She got home and plugged her laptop in at the counter while her daughter cooked dinner. Sara had purchased a nice condo for them. She was lucky enough to get one of the end units that offered a little more privacy. Sara noticed that Michael had sent her another two emails for account setup requests by the time she got home. Did the man ever take a break?
She sighed, then entered the information into their system.
"Mom you're not listening." Her daughter complained, looking over as she drained out the pasta.
"Oh sorry sweetie." Sara said. "What did you say?"
Her daughter talked about how she visited campus and met with a counselor who gave her a tour. The fall semester was starting next week and Sara knew she was really nervous about starting college. Sara sent a request for quotes out to market, then closed her laptop and moved it aside as her daughter brought over plates of shrimp scampi with seasoned pasta, asparagus tips and sun dried tomatoes.
"Are you sure you want to be a teacher?" Sara asked after eating a shrimp. "Cuz you really have a thing for cooking."
"I know. I love kids though. I'm really excited about this program I got into at school. I'm going to be spending a lot of time with hands-on experience."
"I'm glad you found your passion." Sara said, watching her daughter trying to twist the spaghetti around her fork. "I went to school for biology and somehow I ended up in insurance."
"How was your day today?" Her daughter asked.
"Okay. I don't think my boss likes me, but then, I don't think he likes anybody so I guess we'll see how it goes."
Sara got to work early the next morning. She liked to come in about an hour before everybody else, just to warm up slowly to the day. She put her lunch in the fridge, made some tea, then sat down and started looking through her emails. She got a few quotes back late last night. Good. She started organizing them to see what companies she needed to send follow-ups to.
A short time later, she heard footsteps approaching. Michael stopped before he entered his office. "I sent you some accounts last night. One is a rush." He didn't seem to be in a good mood. Sara wondered if that was normal for him.
"Yes, Sir, I set them up for you. I'm just waiting for one company to get back to me."
He went into his office to start setting up. "Which company is holding you up?"
She went to his door and told him. He groaned. "How can a company that offers the best rates have the worst customer service."
It didn't sound like a question so she waited expectantly as he pulled off his business jacket and plugged in his laptop.
"Alright. Call Marcy Jones for me. Tell her you need this quote immediately."
"Okay, Sir." She went back to her desk and looked up her phone number.
At first the woman seemed put off by Sara's phone call. Then Sara told her who she was working for, and all of the sudden Marcy was all too eager to help. Sara wondered exactly how far Michael's influence extended as a few minutes later the quote showed up in her inbox.
She forwarded them to Michael. A second later she heard him call from his office. "Sara print these out for me so I can review them."
"Okay, Sir." Was he going to bark orders at her from his chair all the time?
She printed out the quotes, then went into his office and handed them to him. As she turned, she looked at the wall he was facing and to her shock was a huge portrait of a well-known character from a favorite children's story of Sara's. The girl was sitting in an office with stacks of paperwork, and several office objects, such as a phone, and a computer, who had faces on them.
"Wow!" Sara said, momentarily amazed. "That is so cool!", she said, looking at it. "Um, could I take a picture of it to show-"
"You can actually buy a print online." Michael seemed annoyed.
The comment struck her. She turned and looked at him. "Did you paint this?"
He looked at her. He had beautiful chocolate eyes that held her gaze steady. "Yes I did."
She felt ashamed that she had asked if she could take a photo of it. "I'm sorry. I'll have to check it out online. It's wonderful."
Was that a hint of a smile? Probably not. Without a word, he turned his attention to the paperwork and she went back to her desk, feeling slightly embarrassed. She in no way meant to insult him.
