Interviews and surprises

I had hopes for getting this up Wednesday but the busy holiday got in the way. Hope everyone had a good thanksgiving!  Thanks for reading and commenting :)   Juliette 



July 2003


"Juliette, did you hear me?" I looked up to see Patrick standing beside my desk.

"Sorry,  I must have spaced, what's up?" It was Wednesday morning and I was kind of over this week already. I spent most of the week training with Don and sitting in on interviews.  It's amazing how many people show up to interviews unprepared.  One girl showed up in sweats, another one answered his phone in the middle of the interview. I was raised to put your best foot forward in an interview,  sell yourself, dress up, ask questions etc. But it seems like some people just don't care anymore. I'm not yet 20 and I sound like an old lady talking about the good ol' days.

"I said, Shelly called me yesterday. She doesn't sound so good, I think she may be moving back to Maryland." Patrick repeated.

"Really? I mean I guess I'm not surprised,  she is probably having a hard time finding work." A part of me felt sorry for her, it must suck loosing your insurance license and job, but she did bring it upon herself.

"Well I know she messed up but she seems like she really regrets it, you should call her." I was surprised at this, ever since Shelly was fired Patrick has done nothing but bad mouth her. My guess was she probably stopped their little side fling and he was butthurt about it.

"I don't know,  wait why did she call you?"

"Her and Gavin broke up, she's in a bad place, her lease is up this month. She needed someone to talk to." He nodded his head forward in my direction. Luckily the phone rang and I was saved from needing to respond. I picked it up quickly, rambling off my memorized greeting. He whispered for me to think about it before he headed back to his desk. The rest of the day dragged on without any mention of Shelly.

I was finishing up an application when Karen informed me the 4 o'clock interview was starting soon. I grabbed my notepad and followed her into Don's office. Don handed me a resume for Taylor Ashwell while Karen went to the front to grab Taylor. I was happy to see he or she had previous experience in insurance, about 3 years to be exact. The rest of the resume was looking promising, I was relaying my hopes to Don when Karen walked back in.

"Taylor, it's nice to meet you. You've met Karen our office manager, this is Juliette, our assistant manager." Don said standing to shake Taylor's hand. I got up also to greet Taylor.

"Nice to meet you, thank you for meeting with me today." Taylor said before taking the seat beside me. Karen sat in the chair on the side of Don's desk facing us.

Taylor was petite with blond hair cut in a short bob. What stuck out was her thick southern accent. Just then I remembered seeing on her resume she attended college in South Carolina. She was dressed to the nines in a fitted white jacket and skirt suit.

"Taylor, I see here you have previous experience working in the insurance world. Tell me a little bit about your day to day duties at your last company. " Don said leaning forward awaiting her response.

I couldn't help but notice the way he was listening to her, as if she was about to tell him the secret to everlasting youth. She went on to list the responsibilities she had at her job back in South Carolina. I was excited to hear the majority were the exact tasks we needed filled here. She seemed nice enough to me, I also appreciated she came dressed up and with extra resumes. Based on her graduation date and work experience I would guess she was 22 or 23.

Don surprised me by asking if I had any questions for Taylor, I looked at my notes and decided I knew enough about her job so I decided to get a little personal and asked what brought her to San Diego. Her smile faded and she lowered her head slightly.

"My father passed away about 4 months ago, my mother has some health issues and she wanted to come live near her sister and my grandmama.  I didn't like the idea of her out here without me, in case her health got worse. so I decided I would move here too."  She answered.

"I'm so sorry for your loss. Moving across country is hard enough as it is, let alone loosing a family member on top of that. "  Don said with sympathy.

"Yes, well I'm hoping to settle in, get a job and make some friends out here. I know that will help." Taylor said sitting up straight again and smiling. This perked Don back up and he began discussing salary and start dates.

"Well it was a pleasure meeting with you today Taylor.  We hope to make our decision by Friday.  If we have any other questions we will be in contact before then, otherwise expect to hear from me no later then Monday. " Don said standing up. "Please let me walk you out."

We all got up to leave and Taylor turned her attention to us, shaking our hands again  and telling us she enjoyed meeting us.

When I got back to my desk I watched Don escort Taylor out, I expected them to shake hands and part ways. Instead he kept walking until they were out of sight. I guess he wanted to walk her to her car. Shrugging I turned to my computer and got back to work.

Moments later I sensed a presence at my desk, looking up I was met with Patrick standing at my desk.

"Was she the new hire? She's hot!" I rolled my eyes, figures the only thing he would notice was her looks.


“Yes, well she has a great resume and experience.” I raised my hand to shoo him away, I wasn't in the mood to be around Patrick.

It had now been about fifteen minutes and still Don hadn't returned. I was just about to get up and peek out the giant glass window when I saw him approach. He opened the door and practically floated in, his happy mood was evident across his face.

“I have a good feeling about her.”

“Yeah, I really like that she has experience, and didn't wear sweatpants to the interview.” I stated. Don hit my desk startling me and started laughing way too hard at my comment. He shook his head still laughing as he left to get back to his office.

“Okaaay,” I mumbled under my breath before turning back to my work. The rest of the day went smoothly. When I walked past Don’s office on my way out I noticed he had already left. Usually he stayed about an hour later then I did but I guess he had plans tonight.

On the way home I called Jacob, we chatted about our 4th of July. From the sound of it he had an uneventful visit with his mom and sister. I hadn't talked to his sister in a while and made a mental note to call her. He made my heart flutter when he mentioned missing me and we made plans to meet up soon before hanging up.

I was happy to see Alicia there when I got home. After the graduation party she went to Dean’s and spent the rest of the week there. After changing out of my work clothes I plopped down next to her.

“So, you going to tell me about what happened when you went MIA for half of the party this weekend?” I raised my brows giving her my best ‘fess up’ face. She instantly lit up.

“Dean told me he loved me, and I said it back!” She sang.

“I assumed you guys were already passengers on the love boat. It took you this long to say it? The rest of the world knew, hell even the mailman knew it.” I teased her. She wasn't laughing along with me.

“It's not funny, you know how I feel about falling in love, I never wanted to. We never said it before we broke up and hadn't since we got back together. It's a big deal, act surprised and happy for me will ya?” I instantly felt bad for laughing.

“I'm sorry Alie, I guess I was surprised you guys hadn't said it yet. I know how you are about committed relationships, but I figured you were over that since getting back together with Dean. I'm excited for you though!" I smiled widely and nudged her for a reaction, hoping she would forgive my innocent face. She smiled back and agreed about being excited.

"Wait, I almost forgot, what was with Viviane hugging you all tightly? I thought she wasn't your biggest fan?"  I asked.

"Yeah, I ran into her at the party, she was crying,  alot.  Turns out she's just having a hard time grieving her husband. " I remember Alicia mentioning her husband had passed awhile back. She went on to tell me about their conversation and how she hoped the sudden change in attitude would stay.

"Looked like you and Dominic were sure enjoying yourself at the party, did his pretty blue eyes win you over? " Alicia said giving me a suspicious look.

"He was really nice, it was fun hearing some of his stories about Nicaragua. Doesn't hurt that he's freaking hot! Although I thought he had green eyes not blue?" I remember the resemblance to Dean was obvious but I guess I don't remember exactly what color his eyes were. They could be like Jacob and change between blue and green, apparently I have a thing for blue green eyes.

 We were busy laughing about something when the door opened wide. Dean stood beaming in the doorway but his smile quickly fell when he saw us sitting there.

"Babe, how many times do I have to tell you to lock the door. Any mad man could come in here!" He shut the door locking it behind him.

"Look a mad man made it through already!" She raised her voice and pointed at Dean with one hand and slapped the other across her chest playing dramatic.

"Real funny woman, I'm serious," he leaned down to kiss her hello.

"So, I opened all my gifts from the party. There was a total of 25 thousand dollars in checks and cash." Dean announced. Alicia and I looked at each other wide eyed.

"I've decided to invest most of it, but I also thought maybe I could use some for something fun." He glanced at Alicia before continuing.

"What do you think about taking a trip to my brothers surf camp? You mentioned wanting to go..." Alicia squealed and jumped into Dean's arms almost making him fall backwards.

"I'll take that as a yes?" He leaned down pressing his forehead to hers, smiling. I started sensing a moment here and got up quietly to give them privacy. As I tiptoed away Dean called out.

"You're coming too Juliette!"