Jason. I don’t stand on ceremony. And you’d be?’
‘Jim. Jim Matheson. I’m the national sales manager here at Beville Holdings.’
And the biggest creep in the place, thought Leah. Matheson had made a pass at her on her very first day, but she’d soon put him in his place. Still, he hadn’t forgotten and was never nice to her.
‘Jim,’ the new boss said warmly, coming forward to shake his hand. ‘Nice to meet you. And you too, Leah,’ he added, throwing her a look and a small smile that carried several subtle messages which Leah understood only too well.
One—I’m interested.
Two—You don’t fool me for a minute with that cold-shoulder act.
And three—I’ll get back to you later.
A shiver ran down Leah’s spine as she watched the two men walk together down the corridor that led to the sales and marketing divisions. He was going to ask her out. She could feel it. He was going to ask her out and she wasn’t going to have the willpower to say no.
But by lunchtime that day, events hadn’t developed quite as Leah had expected. For one thing, she hadn’t set eyes on Jason Pollack again that morning. He’d stayed down in Jim’s office, having meetings with the various section managers. She’d been informed of this by the general office girl who relieved Leah at the reception desk at eleven every day so she could have her morning tea break.
Mandy hadn’t met the great man herself, but she’d already heard on the grapevine that he was a hunk of the first order. All good-looking men were hunks to Mandy, who was eighteen, a slightly plump, rosy-faced girl with an infectious smile and a happy manner.
Leah had spent her morning tea break in the canteen, listening to the gossip from the factory girls who were there, having their lunch break, as their hours were from seven till three. Leah got sick and tired of hearing how drop-dead gorgeous the new boss was.
Leah had returned to her desk, resenting Jason Pollack all the more because she knew he was being gushed over, mainly because for his looks. She’d learned to hate that kind of superficial attraction, yet there she was, suffering from it herself.
Trays of coffee and food had appeared from the canteen around twelve thirty, delivered to Jim’s office by two of the female kitchen hands who’d been literally swooning as they hurried back past reception.
‘He’s so hot!’ Leah heard one of them say. ‘And he smiled at me.’
‘He smiled at me too, honey,’ the older woman said. A bit more drily. ‘He’s a charmer all right. But don’t get your hopes up. Men like that don’t take out waitresses,’ she added as they both swept out the door.
Or receptionists, Leah realised with a perverse rush of disappointment.
What a fool she’d been, getting herself all het up over nothing. He hadn’t been coming on to her earlier. He was just being his so-called charming self. Hadn’t her father said Jason Pollack had originally been a top salesmen?
Since working here, Leah had met quite a few salesmen and most of them had the gift of the gab. Most of them were good-looking men, too. And outrageous flirts. There wasn’t a sales rep at Beville Holdings who hadn’t asked her out. And that included the married ones.
Except for Peter. The one with the sick wife. He’d never asked her out. That was why Leah liked him so much. He was a really decent guy. Honest and hard working, unlike some of the others around here. If Jason Pollack even thought about making Peter redundant, she would have something to say about it.
No, she would have a lot to say about it. After all, what was the worst that could happen to her? Okay, so she could lose her job. Not a total disaster, since she didn’t rely on her salary to survive. Unlike poor Peter.
But she wouldn’t go quietly. She’d take Prince Charming to the unfair dismissal board if he dared do that. She’d take him to the unfair dismissal board if he sacked Peter as well! She’d make him wish he’d never bought Beville Holdings before she was finished. That’s what she’d do!
‘Would you come and have lunch with me, Leah?’
Leah’s head snapped up to find Trish standing there, looking anxious. Trish was Jim’s secretary, an attractive redhead in her late twenties who deserved better, in Leah’s opinion, than to be sleeping with her married boss.
Of all the women who worked at Beville Holdings, Leah liked Trish the most. They often had lunch together out on the lawns, and Leah usually sat with Trish when they all trundled down to the local pub for drinks after work every Friday night.
Trish claimed she wanted a husband and children of her own, but wouldn’t listen to Leah’s advice to break it off with Jim and find herself someone who was free. The last time they’d had a woman-to-woman chat over lunch, Trish had confided to Leah that Jim promised to leave his wife when his kids were older.
Famous last words!
Leah didn’t really want to hear more of the same today, but Trish was Jim’s secretary, with whom Jason Pollack had been installed all morning. Much as Leah despised her own ongoing curiosity and breathless interest, she jumped at the chance of finding out more about the man.
‘Be right with you,’ she returned. ‘Just let me turn on the answering machine. I have to stop at the loo on the way as well.’
‘Me, too,’ Trish said.
Five minutes later, they were sitting at one of the wooden tables under the clump of willow trees behind their building, a lovely shady spot for eating outdoors on a summer’s day. The humidity of January had finally gone—as had the summer storms—February so far having the kind of beautiful weather that brought tourists to Sydney in droves.
Trish had her lunch with her—sandwiches and juice brought from home. Leah hadn’t quite got into that kind of budgeting as yet, and had a standard order with the canteen for a no-butter salad sandwich, low-fat muffin and black coffee, which she collected every day right on one.
‘The new boss keeping you busy?’ she said as soon as they sat down.
‘I’ll say,’ Trish told her as she unwrapped her ham and tomato sandwiches. ‘Under those disarming smiles of his, he’s a regular powerhouse, and very clued-up. He’s had Jim answering some sticky questions, I can tell you. I think Jim’s a bit worried.’
‘And so he should be,’ Leah said wryly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know what I mean, Trish. There’s been a lot of money wasted around here. That very expensive Christmas party last year, for instance. Not to mention the sales conference at one of the most expensive resorts in Australia. Then there was the total refurbishing of the offices. To top it off, the whole sales fleet of company cars have just been replaced after only being on the road one year, with all the managers getting more expensive models.’
‘When you put it like that, things could look bad.’
Leah could have also added that the new field sales manager hadn’t gotten her job because of her experience in the position. The only positions Shelley had experience in were those in the Kama Sutra.
Trish
