"Kyle, hey you there?"
"Uh...oh... sorry lost in thought, Carol. What's up?" I said.
"Kyle, you were staring at your monitor for 5 minutes. Well longer probably. I have been standing in your office door for 5 minutes watching you and you have not moved. No looking out the window, nothing. You ok?"
"Yeah, fine"
"No, you are not fine, Kyle I have known you for too long since you were a little boy when I started working for your dad. Now, what's up?" Carol is right, she knows me better than I want to admit. She was the office manager when I was little and as the company grew became my dad's executive admin. When he passed and I took over, she postponed her retirement to help with the transition. She was there to keep things going that awful day last August when my pregnant wife was killed in a car crash. I don't know how the company would have survived without her.
"I don't know Carol" I'm looking at the floor "maybe I need a vacation or something. I am just exhausted."
"Vacation yes, but you need more than a vacation, you need some help around your house. And you need to cut back some of your hours here. Working 80+ hours a week and no help at home is no good. You probably don't realize how much you relied upon Emily, but you did. I can't help you at home, but maybe we can get you a housekeeper or something. Someone to do your grocery shopping, laundry, see that you eat better than you are. I've noticed how much fast food you are getting lately. You are going to have a heart attack like your dad, just at a younger age."
I nod my head feebly in response. "Ok, you're right. I try and do too much. You know me, 'give me the ball coach,' I don't delegate as well as I should."
"Can I find you some help? I have an ad drafted already..."
"Thanks, Carol"
"Good, now go home, get something healthy to eat tonight, and get some rest will ya?"
"Yes ma'am"
The next day I was walking back to my office from the manufacturing floor and glanced down the hall by the front door just as Carol was saying goodbye to a young lady. The lady leaves and Carol starts to walk back to my office.
"Who was that I asked"
"I think I just found your housekeeper. A college student named Megan Cooper. She goes to a small private university across town and is looking for work. She is one of the unfortunate kids being impacted by the athletic department scandal there. She just lost her soccer scholarship. Trying to figure out how to make ends meet. I've checked a few references all good and she has a really good head on her shoulders." Carol is known in the organization as a really good judge of character.
"You're trying to tell me you found someone, checked their references, and interviewed them in less than 24 hours?"
"Well, I have been worried about you for a while Kyle. I put the ad out last week. I only booked the interview yesterday. I just had to get you to say yes."
"You're a sneak Carol. Good job, you are right I do need help"
"Good, admitting you have a problem is a good first step. I cleared your calendar a bit Friday afternoon. I am going to come over to your place around 3:30 and Megan will meet us at 4. I blocked your calendar off starting at 3 so you can get home in time."
"Thanks, Carol."
As usual, I was a few minutes behind Friday afternoon, when I pulled up to the house. The clock said 3:35. Carol was waiting for me. She comes into my house with two sacks of groceries. "I know you probably don't have much in your kitchen. I thought we would have her prepare you dinner as part of the interview process. She was known on her high school soccer team as a bit of a cook. I talked to her coach who spoke highly of her by the way. Just so you know I plan to be around for the first part, but then leave you two to dinner. Her is her resume and some notes I make on the background check calls I made."
"You expect me to have dinner with a strange woman, a prospective employee I might remind you, alone in my house? That does not look good Carol. She has to be 15 years younger than me."
"Kyle, I know you are first and foremost a respectful gentleman. Two, you have said when others tried to set you up that it was still too soon for you. Besides, shortly into our interview the other day I knew the two of you would hit it off. Oh, in case you wonder, she's 19."
"Sounds like you are trying to set me up, Carol."
Just then the doorbell rings. Carol opens it up. "Ms. Cooper, nice to meet you again. Please come in. Mr. Wells will join us in the living room."
I stand up when they enter the room. Megan is wearing a green cowl neck Irish wool sweater, a black pencil skirt, and gladiator sandals whose heels raise her 5"2" frame up a good 4 inches. I still stand a foot taller than her. I can see the tone on her legs from years of running up and down a soccer pitch. The thick wool sweater tried to hide her large tits, but you could tell this girl was stacked.
"Ms. Cooper, this is Kyle Wells, the owner of the company I work for. Kyle, this is Megan Cooper."