Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82767 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
I had no intention of calling anyone sir, but I fought the urge to tell him that and smiled meekly instead. My head was spinning. I thought back to the day I had sent in my application for the intern program and wondered what the hell I had been thinking. It felt like I was suddenly here, an intern at Clover House, and there hadn’t been any time in between.
Sean was barking out information as we made our way through various departments. Everything was very open-plan, and everyone seemed extremely busy. As we passed through what must have been the Marketing department, I was faced with a wall of promotional material for Cre8ure. It was just what I needed, a reminder of exactly why I was there. My level of rage, which had been replaced by a growing sense of my own stupidity since the reality of working at Clover House had hit me, had just surged upwards again. Sean had stopped and was introducing me to someone, and I had to consciously calm my brain and make an effort to listen to what was being said.
“This is Frank. He’s head of Design, and you will take your orders from him,” Sean was saying, then with a barely perceptible wink he added, “unless I have any specific requests.” He grinned, and I completely ignored him. It was either that or give him an awfully specific request of my own.
“Effie,” smiled Frank, before politely adding with a nod to Sean, “I can take it from here. Thanks for taking the time – I know you’re busy.”
“Frank will look after you, and come see me if he doesn’t!” Sean gave me his smarmy smile again and then left.
I felt myself exhale with relief to be away from him, and Frank must have noticed, because I saw him smile slightly as he began to clear paperwork from a small desk at a cubicle near the window.
“I’m going to put you here. That way, you can see the world out there and be reminded that you can leave any time you like,” he half-laughed, giving me a twinkly smile. He was older than me, maybe late forties, with a soft Caribbean accent and lines around his eyes from smiling. I liked him immediately, despite my determination not to like anyone or anything that had any association with Clover House.
“Thanks!” I smiled.
“By the way, there are two things that Sean has got all wrong,” Frank said in a low voice. “I don’t give anyone orders, and I don’t look after anyone. I will give you work to do, and hopefully, you won’t feel like you need looking after,” he smiled again. Everything about him was reassuring. “This here’s Taylor. Take everything she has to say about the job seriously, and don’t listen to her on any other subject – she’s a bad influence!”
He placed his hand on the back of the girl’s chair sitting next to my desk, and she looked up and threw him some exaggerated shade. She stood up, and I was struck by how incredible she looked. She was wearing a fifties-style wiggle dress, and she had the perfect figure for it.
“Wow, that dress is amazing on you,” I spoke before I thought, and then tried to recover. “Sorry, weird introduction! I’m Effie, the new intern. Or coffee-maker.”
If she knew how awkward I felt, she didn’t show it. “You keep on appreciating my style and talking about coffee and we are going to get along just fine. You’ve met Sean and you’re still here, so I’m going to go right ahead and assume you really wanna be here, so you aren’t going to cause me any trouble.”
“He’s…” I was totally lost for words. I’d been there five minutes; I couldn’t exactly insult the boss, and yet I couldn’t think of a single positive thing to say.
“Sean’s a pain until he realizes you aren’t buying what he’s selling. And believe or not, he’s easier to manage than his brother,” she nodded towards the glass office booth that took up the rest of the area. I couldn’t see inside, but I could make out movement beyond the privacy glass. I was about to ask Taylor how the other Mr. Callahan could possibly be worse, when Frank returned.
“We will talk on Monday about what you’ll be doing, Effie. We usually ease interns in pretty gently, but we are super busy right now with the launch of a new game. It’s a big one…”
“And we’ve all been rushed off our feet and not allowed to do our jobs properly,” interjected Taylor.
“Yes,” Frank gave her a firm look. “We’ve been busy, but there’s plenty of work for everyone and we’ve been well paid for our overtime, so nobody is complaining…”
“I didn’t complain! Did I complain?” Taylor looked at me.