Chapter One
"It's not very impressive looking," Roger Atkins said as he parked his vintage silver Jaguar in the Visitor's Parking area in front of the gray one story building. An eight foot tall chain link fence surrounded the entire parking lot. "Are you sure you have the right address for the job interview?"
"This is the address from the advertisement," Nancy Carlson said. "How impressive looking does a maintenance company building have to be?"
Nancy checked her makeup in the mirror on the back of the sun visor.
"Don't worry," Roger said. "You look fine. In fact, you look much too good for this place."
"I want everything to be perfect," Nancy said, pushing her curly auburn hair away from her blue eyes. "I've applied for five jobs in the past two weeks and gotten no call-backs. I want this job."
"You wouldn't have to worry about finding another job, if you'd marry me." He reached over and took her hand. "How many times do I have to ask you, before you say yes?"
"Roger, I don't want to marry you just because I haven't found another job yet." Nancy smiled and shook her head. "That's nothing to base a marriage on."
"But you would have a job." Roger's voice held a note of pleading that was very close to a whine. "You would have a job entertaining my clients with dinner parties."
Nancy shook her head again.
Oblivious, Roger continued, "You know as well as I do, a marketing manager's wife is an important part of his career's upward mobility and I do plan on being the marketing manager at Michael's company."
"Let's not talk about it now. It would make a very bad first impression to be late for the job interview. The advertisement does say 'Applications Accepted At 10:00 a.m. Only'."
"How long do you think this will take?"
"Roger, you're making me nervous." Nancy picked up her purse from the floor mat by her feet. "I can't concentrate on questions and answers for the interview, if you keep quizzing me."
"I just want to know in case somebody pages me and they need me at the office."
"If you think they'll call and you'll need to get back to the office, I can take the bus back to my apartment. I don't want to cause you any trouble."
"Don't worry about causing me trouble." Roger patted her hand protectively. "You know I don't like the thought of you riding the bus."
"I'll be as quick as I can, but it's up to the interviewer," Nancy said as she opened the door and stepped from the car. She closed the car door and stood for a moment to collect her thoughts. She took a deep breath and walked to the building.
As Nancy opened the glass door at the front of the building, she could see Roger's reflection in it. He had the car window down and was staring out at her. Worry shown clearly on his face and Nancy smiled self-consciously, hoping no one in the building was looking out a window at the forlorn sight.
Inside, Nancy saw a hallway stretched the entire length of the building before her. She walked along the hallway looking for someone to ask for directions. The advertisement in the newspaper had not listed an office number, only the street address and the company name, "Superior Building Maintenance". Each doorway she looked into opened onto a room filled with cartons of cleaning chemicals and various kinds of equipment and tools. Finally, at the end of the hallway she saw a door slightly ajar and heard someone typing.
Pushing the door open, Nancy stepped into the room. She stopped at the sight of the man hunched over the typewriter. His wavy black hair hung across one eye and he tossed it back with an impatient hand. Nancy felt a catch in her throat at the familiar gesture and she gave a little gasp. The man looked up at the sound.
"It's you!" Nancy said in disbelief.
The man behind the typewriter grinned. "It's been a long time, Nan. How did you find me? Or, maybe a better question would be, why did you find me?"
"I did not set out to find you, John Carlson." For some reason Nancy could not explain, she felt indignant at the idea of looking for her ex-husband. "I'm here about the advertisement in the newspaper."
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You've just finished reading the first chapter of Love's Decisions. If you want to find out what happens next, the ebook is available now at all major e-tailers.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The story of the wedding ring included in "Under New Management" is true. My Grandma Violet gave me her gold wedding band when I told her of my engagement. She and Grandpa Joe were married sixty years before he died and she wished me sixty years of happiness like they had. So "Under New Management" is dedicate to Grandma Violet.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
My husband and I live in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest where we are owned by a very large black cat named Panzer.
My past careers have included working as a bookkeeper, an insurance agent, a Notary Public, an administrative assistant, a jewelry designer and a Social Media Information Technology Administrator. None of which were nearly as much fun as my writing career is. Now I'm a fulltime freelance fiction writer and have written short stories, novellas and two novels.
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CONTACT ME
I hope you enjoyed this story. I love hearing from my readers. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you can email me at: mailto:
[email protected] You can also visit my mini-blog at Fiona's Writing Place. Or you can visit the blog I share with Fiona L. Woods at: https://www.catsandcrime.blogspot.com
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