“Yeah, rich people.” She smiled. “Hey, maybe one of them will come in and sweep me off my feet!”
“You’d do that? Fall for a guy just for the money?”
Julie stared at her and shook her head. “Emily, wake up! This is the twenty-first century! No one marries for love anymore.”
“I want to. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I still want love.” She poured two cups of coffee and set one in front of her friend.
“Aww, isn’t that sweet. We are the same age, aren’t we? Then why do I have sooo much more maturity than you?”
“Oh, crap, you were always a cynic. It has nothing to do with maturity.”
“Hey, being cynical has saved me from many a bad relationship!”
Emily tipped her head. “Yeah, yeah. Do I need remind you of Brian again!” Brian had been Julie’s last “true love.” It had ended badly, like all the others.
“At least he was rich!” Julie took a sip. “Okay, tell me something good about your job. Something you like.”
“Uh, well...” She couldn’t say anything about how Mr. Caudry treated her. It was far too embarrassing! “Let’s see ... my boss is kinda strict.”
“That’s not something to like!”
“I know. I was just thinking out loud. Let’s see, something I like...”
“Wait, how strict is he? Is he anything like Bob?”
Emily opened her mouth in shock. Bob had been their boss, when they worked together at a big office before Julie quit to take the art gallery job and Emily had been laid off. But that man wasn’t at all like Mr. Caudry. Bob was a stern taskmaster, yes, but there was absolutely nothing sexy about him. Suddenly she stopped and realized she had just admitted to herself that Mr. Caudry was sexy!
“Hey, what’s that expression all about? He is like Bob, isn’t he?”
“No, no. Not at all. Bob was a jerk, a man who hated people. Mr. Caudry’s not like that at all.”
“You call him Mr. Caudry? Not ‘Joe’ or ‘Sam’ or whatever his name is?”
“Uh, no. I don’t even know what his first name is. Besides, it’s only my first week.” And what a week it had been!
“Well, he sounds liked a stuffed shirt. Is he cute at least?”
That question caught her off guard. “Uh, well, I don’t, uh...”
“Ha! You think he’s cute! Ohh, I can see it now, Mr. and Mrs. Alphonse Caudry!” She giggled.
“Alphonse? You think his name is Alphonse?”
“It could be. Come on, tell me what he looks like. Let me hear about your future husband!”
Emily could not imagine them together. “Stop that! Ewww! Like I said, he’s stern. I mean, I wouldn’t call him ugly or anything, but I wouldn’t call him cute, not by a long shot! He’s kinda tall, with dark hair.”
“Does he like you?”
“I don’t know. I guess. He sure doesn’t like mistakes!”
“Oh? What does he do? Spank you?” She giggled.
Emily took a big sip of her coffee to hide her shock and choked on it. “Stop it!” she sputtered. “That’s not even funny.”
“Well, excuse me, dear. I thought it was hilarious.”
“You’re still drunk.”
“Yeah, well, you still haven’t told me much. Sounds like your job is kinda boring.”
“Yeah, it’s boring.” Emily thought it was time to change the subject. “So tell me about the gallery? What new perversions are you displaying this week?”
Julie laughed. “You’re still going on about those paintings by Langston? I thought they were sexy! I just about wore out my vibrator during his show!”
Emily had thought they had been highly erotic as well, but she had pretended to be shocked by them. Perhaps it was to uphold her image as “the good girl” in comparison to Julie, who was always a bit wild. Truth be told, Emily had dropped by Julie’s gallery a lot during those weeks and had many of her own very satisfying orgasms at home alone after each visit.
“You always were the slutty one,” she teased her friend.
“Yeah, well, better than being boring!” She finished her coffee and looked at her watch. “Oh! It’s late. I’ve got to get up and open the gallery tomorrow. I’d better go.”
“Hey, thanks for taking me out. I needed some cheering up.”
“Don’t worry about your job. It will get better.”
“I’m thinking of sending my resume out, just in case this doesn’t work out.”
“Why? You think your mean boss will fire you?”
“He’s pretty particular. He’s gone through, like, a dozen secretaries already. I live in fear that I’ll do something wrong and he’ll send me packing.”
“Take my advice. Flirt with him a little. Don’t look at me like that—I’m not saying throw yourself at him! Just be nice. You know what I’m talking about. Most men respond to that kind of thing. He may decide you’re worth keeping around.”
Emily nodded, thinking, If she only knew! She was already giving him exactly what he wanted. Her fear was, how much more would he want?
4
Monday morning, Emily was determined to put a stop to this behavior she had allowed herself to fall into. It just wasn’t right. When Mr. Caudry arrived and nodded at her before disappearing into his office, she steeled herself and gently knocked on the door.
“Yes?”
She opened it and peeked in.
“Get me a cup of coffee,” he barked before she could speak.
“Uh, yes, sir.” She retreated, cursing herself. Why was she so timid around him? Meekly, she retreated to the break room and poured him a cup in a fresh mug. She added one-half packet of sugar, just as he liked, and returned to the office. She knocked on the door and entered.
“Fine, put it down there.” He was reading through the morning paper.
She did and waited.
He looked up. “What?”
“Sir...” Emily began. Her voice failed her as he continued to stare at her, his patience clearly being tested.
“Well? Spit it out. I haven’t got all day.”
“Sir,” she tried again. “About last week...”
He waited and she forged ahead.
“That was, uh, inappropriate behavior for the workplace. Surely you know that. I mean...”
His gaze disrupted her thoughts. “As I recall, you seemed to prefer it to being replaced, did you not?”
“Well, yes, sir...”
“I gave you the option. I didn’t think you were working out. I went out of my way to suggest something another secretary had done in order to remain employed. If you want to change your mind, fine. There’s the door. I’ll inform Mrs. Dowd.”
“I want to keep my job!” Emily blurted. “It’s just that, uh, I don’t think Mrs. Dowd would approve of, uh, our behavior last week. It’s not proper conduct.”
“I decide what’s proper here. Not you and not Mrs. Dowd.”
“But it’s against all—”
“I’m not going to argue with you. If you no longer want to trade punishments in lieu of being fired, so be it. Just don’t make any more mistakes.” He snapped the paper up and began to read.
Feeling dismissed, Emily found herself nodding, almost bowing, as she retreated. Mr. Caudry didn’t even look up from his paper.
Outside, she felt a little better. Didn’t she? Then why did her body feel so let down? She tried to dismiss those feelings and concentrated on her work. An hour later, Mr. Caudry buzzed her to take another letter. She cringed to herself. She knew she’d better get it right!
“Very well, Mr. Caudry.”
She gathered her pad and pen and went into his office. Her knees were shaking as she sat across from his desk and readied her pen. Caudry had a report open in front of him and he didn’t look up as he began citing from it during his dictation of the letter. Emily did her very best to keep up, but some of the terms were confusing.
“Excuse me,” she interrupted at one point. “What was that term? Mandrel?”
He seemed annoyed, but he answered her anyway. “Yes, it’s an object used to shape machined work. If you want to work here, you’d better get used to these terms.”