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"You’re going with Diane Powell, sir" Joanie was new, having replaced his forrandrand and nurturing her own seventeen grandchildren was her life’s work Gloria had worked for his dad and she rose up the ranks with Mike Truth be told, he was ready for a change, and Joanie was green but s and she'd do fine

Joanie wouldn’t stop calling him "sir" At twenty, she was fresh out of secretarial school but careat references and, because she was so new and eager, she was cheap Mike needed cheap if he was going to make the cut with the quarterly profit nu me ‘sir’," he insisted

"Oh U with Diane Powell Dom is already lined up He will pick you up at seven, he will pick Miss Powell up at 7:30 and deliver both of you to the Elysiuht" The sound of keys on a keyboard, rapid-fire and efficient, dotted her words

"Thank you," he said "So, how are the ht formation of clipped statements that were essentially a shorthand between the two of thely quickly Where Gloria had see to say before the sentences even caled She would be there soon, and at that point he would give her a big, fat raise

Right now, though, he was living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, , when it came to the corporation He had restricted his own jet use They didn’t actually own their own private jet – he just rented one Other cutbacks had been necessary to get hi to question those now that he was in the trenches The iood on paper but didn't work in the real world hit hi None of it was h Employees could suffer scratchier toilet paper or lower quality pencils

But he was starting to have a conscience A corporate conscience – the tords contradictory – about how he had handled bonus structures and promotions, his failure to fill empty positions and the blended workload on a number of people who had taken over for e that took place around the water cooler, literally, was a revelation It was also jarring because it made him wonder, back in his salad days, was he a cos he didn’t like and bitch about his financial problems the way that all of these people seemed to?

In his world now, if he had a conversation with soned to kill time at a non-business event or business – or heavy breathing and moans in bed Conversation had fallen into those three basic camps and, aside from the occasional phone call with his ories, thank God), he couldn’t fatho for twenty to thirty s he didn’t like about his life If he didn’t like soed it

It really was that simple

As Matt Jones, he hadexactly that The cold, perplexed stares aimed at him in the coffee room forced hiain, that’s easier said than done"

Folks had loosened up

His disconnect made him question whether it was him or them Numbers weren’t in his favor There were so many more of them, who see to concede that what they didn’t like was a reality they couldn’t change and so the only ee of its oith linguistic twists and turns that were so foreign to him and yet, these people seemed to be native speakers

Not Lydia He’d noticed that she would gripe here and there and then retreat, off to work So, and his respect for that almost – almost – matched his attraction for her

Almost

"So, Gloria, is my – uhh Sorry, Joanie"

"It’s okay, sir, you can call me Gloria I understand You worked with her for years"

"I didn’t ith her for that long, Joanie I worked with her for four years She was my father’s secretary before that"

"Ohoh Uming It ooseflesh spreading over his shoulders and upper arms That was a turn on a diot it "Not that you’re a secretary by any stretch, Joanie You have far more widespread administrative skills than – and I would never" He fumbled "You’re an executive assistant and so was Gloria She evolved with the job and so will you"

He heard a whoosh of a held in breath "Thank you, sir UhMike Thank you, Mike"

"You’re welcome, Joanie Is my tux ready?" On to safer territory

"Yes"

"Is there anything else that I need to know about this charity event?"

"Yes"

"And what is that?"

"Your friend Jere"