“Yes sir,” she replied. Her first instinct was to panic. Was she going to get fired now that Lucas had seen how she was living? Please, please don’t get fired she repeated in her head over and over again. Then she let logic step back in. He wouldn’t invite her to the party only to fire her, would he?
She would just remain calm, no matter what happened and remember that she’d been through far worse things than losing a job. No matter what happened she was going to hold her head up high.
Amy followed Joseph through a maze of hallways wondering how he didn’t get lost in the huge palace of a home. There was so much artwork along the walls. She stopped in her tracks when she came across one painting. It was a piece by her favorite artist, Thomas Kinkaid. It looked like an original.
It was one of her favorites, with a beautiful cottage sitting right next to a stream. The painting was so stunning. It looked as if the water was actually moving and the lights in the cottage were on and beckoning you to come inside. Whenever she saw that particular painting she would close her eyes and imagine she was sitting on the front porch and watching her worries drift away down the stream. She smiled at the appealing thought, glad for seeing the beautiful painting at a moment in her life when it was needed.
She missed Joseph’s smile at her look of rapture from seeing at the painting. The more he was around Amy, the more he knew he’d made the right decision. She wasn’t awed by the million dollar statues, or fancy cars, she was impressed with the real works of beauty. She really would make a great addition to his family.
Amy snapped out of her reverie, mumbled sorry and continued to follow Joseph into his home office. She’d been in there once for her interview but had been far too nervous to really look around.
It was actually very inviting. There was a huge fireplace that was crackling at the moment and a country theme to it. There were several comfortable chairs near the fire and a floor to ceiling bookcase lining one huge wall. She wandered over to the bookcase and found some of her favorite titles on it.
She caught herself just in time, before grabbing one of the copies off the shelf. She could imagine herself curled up on the sofa, by the fire, reading until she fell asleep. That sounded just about perfect right then.
Joseph sat down in one of the chairs near the fireplace and waited for her to look around. She finally remembered where she was and came to sit by him. The door opened again and Lucas walked in. Her eyes drank him up before she could stop herself.
She wouldn’t fall for her boss. She repeated that to herself that about ten times. She finally gained the willpower to look away and focused on Joseph. She was very unnerved by the power Lucas had over her. She would certainly not let him know he could bring her to her knees easily with one more touch.
“Amy, we like to take care of our employees. Our philosophy is that if you treat your employees well then they will remain happy in their job and therefore be happier in their lives. It all comes around full circle. A happy employee equals happy clients,” Joseph began.
“I’m very happy in my job sir. I know that I’m struggling a bit with the computer system but if you just give me a little bit more time I’ll have it down. I’m more than willing to work weekends and stay late so I’m not using your time while learning the system,” Amy started defending her job skills immediately.
“You’re doing an amazing job dear. I have no complaints with how your work performance is going. Esther and Lucas have both said you are a real asset to the team. This conversation is not about any work problems,” he comforted her.
Amy took a deep breath of relief.
“I brought you in here to let you know about your benefits while working for the company. You have been with us three months already and you’re a valued employee,” he said
Amy had been worried that she may be losing her job but he only wanted to talk about her benefits. She was so excited she almost jumped up and hugged him. The relief coursing through her at not only not having her job in jeopardy but getting her benefits was making it hard for her to stand still.
“Mr. Anderson, thank you so much for your confidence in me. It truly means a lot. I promise to not let you down and I’ll still be spending all of my extra time to make sure I’m giving you a hundred percent. This is the best job I could’ve ever hoped to get, especially right out of college,” she said with real gratitude.
Joseph chuckled at the gratitude in her voice. “Amy, you’re a breath of fresh air, but wouldn’t you like to hear about your benefits before thanking me so much?” he asked.
“Yes, of course sir,” she said.