By Beej

"So, how many made it to your short list, Luv?"

"Only five I’m afraid, Jake, but look on the bright side, we can get through them all today."

"That’s good, Jin. Don’t worry about the number, though. If you think only five were good enough to get an interview then that’s fine. If their resumes don’t float your boat it’s a waste of time seeing them."

Jenny smiled at her boss and relaxed a little. She’d interviewed many people in the past, but never with the managing director/co-owner of the company sitting in with her. This was Jake, though. He was her friend as well as her boss and she knew that he would let her get on with it and only contribute if she asked him to.

"Who made the cut then, Jin?"

"Okay, here’s the rundown:

Deborah Thomas

Jessenya Wilkins

Willow Lee

Hope Davies

Anna Robinson"

"Do I have time to read through their applications?"

"Only if you speed read, Jake. You can look through them as I’m interviewing each one if you like."

Jake nodded and smiled. He was looking forward to seeing how well Jenny did, as he’d never watched her in the role of interviewer before.

They set up in the small conference room, Jake and Jenny sitting together behind an oval oak table. They had just got settled when there was a knock at the door and Star looked in.

"Your first appointment, Deborah Thomas, is here."

"Show her in, Star," Jenny answered, smiling.

Star stood back to let an extremely confident-looking lady stride past her, stopping only when she reached the conference table.

"Good morning, Deborah. My name is Jenny. I’ll be conducting your interview this morning." Turning towards Jake she continued, "This is Jake. He’ll be sitting in on the interview if that’s all right with you."

"G’Day, Debra," Jake smiled.

"The name is DebORah, not Debra. I’ll thank you to remember that, and don’t men stand when a lady enters the room where you come from?"

Jenny gasped at the tirade Deborah let loose towards Jake. She turned to him to see that he was smiling coldly. He pushed back from the table and wheeled himself around to face Deborah.

"Well…Deb…where I come from we do stand when a lady enters the room, but the only lady here is already sitting with me, and if I could, I would stand for her each and every time she enters or leaves. I can, however, wheel across to the door and show you the way out."

Deborah quickly got over the shock of seeing Jake in a wheelchair, and decided attack was her best defence.

"And just who are you to tell me if my interview is at an end. You aren’t conducting it."

Jake turned to Jenny and winked. "Want to do the honours, Luv?"

Jenny glared at Deborah before she spoke, and hearing the ice in her voice, Jake was glad he wasn’t at the receiving end. "I take it you did your homework about the company before you arrived? If you have you will know that this firm is owned by two people, Michael Taylor, who is the financial director and runs our Chicago office, and Aaron Mitchell, the managing director, who runs the Sydney and London offices."

She stopped to smile at Jake. "This is Aaron Mitchell, co-owner and managing director."

"But…but…you said his name was Jake," Deborah spluttered.

"That’s right, Deb," Jake answered, "Aaron Jacob Ira Caleb Mitchell. Bit of a mouthful, eh? Now, you can find your way out, I guess." He opened the door with a flourish and watched her storm out.

He wheeled back to Jenny, who had tears in her eyes, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "That went well," he grinned.

"Oh, Jake! I’m so sorry."

"No worries, mate; she forgot to let us know she had an attitude when she sent us her application."

There was a quiet knock on the door and Star poked her head in the room. "That was quick. Anything wrong?"

"Be a love and make us all a cuppa and we’ll let you know all about it. We seem to have a nice gap before our next appointment," Jake grinned.

Star was soon back with a tray containing three mugs of tea, and she’d also brought in three cream cakes. They all sat down and Jenny told her all about what happened.

"I wondered why she looked the way she did when she rushed past me. We can surely do without someone like her working here…oops, sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like I have any say in the matter."

"We’re more than happy to hear your views, Luv. We don’t want any thorn in our sides, do we?"

"Thanks, Jake. Let’s hope the next one is a bit better than the last one." Star smiled as she cleared up the cups and plates and stood to take the tray out.

Jessenya Wilkins was a joy; she had a great personality and a lot of experience. Jake liked her and tried to look at the notes Jenny was writing in her pad. She gave him an old-fashioned look, which reminded him of a teacher catching a student trying to cheat. He winked at her and decided to wait until the end of the day for her views.

There was one more person to see before they took a break for lunch, and Star was soon knocking on the door with the next applicant. Jake noticed that she had an odd look on her face when she announced Willow Lee.

"Show her in, Star," Jenny smiled.

Jake wondered why Star stepped right into the room and held the door wide…then he understood. Willow was a young lady of outstanding beauty, and Jake thought she was extremely graceful, even in a wheelchair.

She was dressed in a smart business suit, with a pale green silk shirt and black ankle boots. On her lap was what looked like an upmarket messenger bag.

"Hello, Willow. It’s lovely to meet you," Jenny said, smiling. "Can I introduce you to Jake. He’s sitting in on the interviews today."

Willow held out her hand, and Jake wheeled round and shook it warmly. "Snap," she said, on seeing Jake’s chair. "Nice wheels."

"Thanks," Jake replied. "It’s nice and light for when I play footy."

"Rugby on wheels; sounds like fun," Willow smiled.

Jenny cleared her throat and looked at both of them. "Would you mind terribly if we got on with the interview now?" she laughed.

Jake saw Willow to the lift after her interview and told her that letters would be going out to everyone at the end of the day. He headed back to the conference room just as Jenny was coming out.

"My office?"

"Okay, Jake," Jenny smiled. She followed him in and closed the door.

"You could have told me."

"I didn’t want you to have any pre-conceived ideas, Jake."

"What, you think I’d turn her down out of hand?"

"Not at all. I think you’d offer her the job regardless."

Jake looked up at her through his long eyelashes. "Lunch?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Chinese," she replied. "I’ll call out for it now."

"Get enough for five, Luv. Darren, Davey and Star can join us."

"Okay," she replied, picking up the phone.

Jake wheeled over to the door and called Star over. "Can you get Darren and Davey and join us in my office please, Luv?"

"Will do, boss."

The food arrived and they all sat on the sofas tucking into their meal, then Jake spoke. "You might not have been keeping a note, but the Chicago office is coming up to its first anniversary. Mike has asked if I’m going over for the celebration, but so far I’ve not said yes or no. He thinks it’s because of my wheels, but I want to surprise him. Now, I’m not going on my own. Angie, Jenny and Kevin are coming along, and I’d like you and Drew to come as well, Star. Darren, you’ve been before, so I’m kinda hoping you’ll take care of things here and let me take Davey. You can ask Brian to help you out, and of course, we’re just a call away should some emergency crop up."

Darren couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. Lately he’d been taking more interest in the day to day running of the organisation – something he never thought would happen – and he was more than delighted that Jake trusted him enough to put him in charge for a few days. "That’s okay, Jake. Thanks so much for having faith in me."

Jake grinned, "Who knows, we might even be able to read your reports after a week with Brian watching over you. He’s a stickler for a neat page, you know."

"Davey, you’re very quiet," Jenny said. "Are you okay?"

"I’ve never been to America," he replied. "I can’t believe you thought of taking me along."

"You’ll enjoy every minute, mate, and it’s about time you put faces to all those voices on the phone."

"Thanks, Jake."

"Remember, people…mum’s the word. No one in Chicago must know that we’re going, so keep it to yourselves. We leave on Saturday."

They finished their lunch and Jake and Jenny were left alone in the office.

"Back to business, boss. We’ve two more ladies to see this afternoon," Jenny stated.

Jake held his hands up. "Wow, you’re quite a slave driver on the quiet. What time are they due?"

He laughed at the old-fashioned look he received from his p.a. and waited while she checked her schedule.

"2:00 and 2:45."

"Great, we should be all finished by 3:30 then. That will give us time to go over the paperwork and you can make your decision.

"Me? Not us?"

"No, Luv. This is your baby from start to finish, but if you want, I’ll give you a hand."

"Thanks, Jake. Shall we get ready?"

The last applicant didn’t bother to turn up, so the interviews were all finished by 2:30. They went back to Jake’s office with a nice mug of tea each and spread the paperwork across his desk.

An hour later they had narrowed their choice down to two girls, but try as they could, they were no closer to choosing the successful one.

Jake threw down his pen and looked over at Jenny. "Okay, I’m not pulling rank or anything, but here’s a thought. You’re no closer to making a choice than you were over an hour ago."

"And…"

"Offer them both the job!"

"But, Jake…."

"We can always do with more help around the place, and who knows, one of them might end up like Star and want to do more than reception work."

"Shall I split the hours and offer them both part-time?"

"Hell, no. Girls of their age need a full time wage coming in, and I think I can just about afford to pay them both," Jake grinned.

"I didn’t mean that, Jake. I just want to make sure that you’re not doing this just to help me out of a dilemma. Do we really have enough work for three receptionists?"

"Yes, I do…seriously. Maybe one of them can do part time on the front desk and then help out in admin."

"Okay, that would work. I’ll get the letters sent out today and ask if they can let us know before the end of the week. It will be good to have it all settled before we go to Chicago. I’ll give them a start date, should they accept the position."

"Great stuff. Do the letters now, then you can go home early, unless you’d like to come down to Drew’s office with me. Angie is having a check-up, blood work and blood pressure, I think."

"Consider it done, Jake. All I need to do is add the names and the start date. I’ll put in return envelopes as well so that they can get back to us right away."

Ten minutes later, they were both making their way down to the 10^th floor to meet up with Angie, and Jake invited Jenny home for dinner so that they could finalise the travel arrangements.