9
Gabi
The empty office area was already halfway filled with boxes and bags of canned goods and nonperishable items, plus a fat stack of checks next to an even fatter stack of cash donations sitting on top of the table nearest to me. I stood back, watching as Martha and a couple of other ladies in the office rifled through everything, checking it all out.
“I have to say, Ms. De Leon, this is probably one of the best food drives we’ve had in recent years. Nothing at all like that dismal turnout from last year,” Martha remarked, closing one of the bags with a smile. “I know the food banks will be absolutely delighted to see what we have for them.”
I beamed back at her. I couldn’t help but feel proud of myself for having put together everything, and even though it didn’t feel like it was nearly enough to help out those in need, I felt like I was contributing somehow. “Well, it’s all thanks to everyone who chipped in. Especially you ladies, helping me with all this. It’s a lot of stuff for one person to handle. I’m going to go ahead and take the money down to the treasurer’s office, and get started on the transfer over to the head at the food bank. Do any of you ladies need anything from downstairs?”
“I think we’re all good here, dear. Thank you. Oh, actually Ms. De Leon? Would you mind letting your father know that Mr. Graham has that citywide ordinance drafted, and would like to get his eyes on it when he gets the chance? I would go tell him myself, but,” she gestured to all the bags and boxes still left to go through, “I might need a little more time in here.”
“Of course, Martha. I’ll let him know as soon as I’m done. Thank you all so much for your help!” I said, giving them all a quick wave before heading out the door.
I passed by a few people I knew, trying not to stop and chat with them as I had a bad habit of doing. I wanted to stay on top of everything instead of letting distractions get to me.
“Ms. De Leon, I just wanted to tell you that I saw the turnout of the food drive so far. Very impressive,” Councilmember Ramirez said, giving me a thumbs-up. He and my dad had worked together for a long time, even before either one of them were on the City Council.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Ramirez. I tried to do my best.”
“Say, you’re really into this project, aren’t you? I don’t suppose maybe you’d like to help out in future projects over in the Infrastructure department, would you? Of course, this would be a paid position, not voluntary as your food drive project was. I know your dad probably put you on it, with the reelection and whatnot going on, but I really think you’d be a good addition to my team. What do you think?”
What did I think!? I was absolutely flabbergasted, struggling to put together words. But I smoothed it over, thanking him. “I think that I would definitely be interested. Let me put together a resume just for formality purposes, and I can get it over to you within the week. Would that be okay with you?”
It had been something that I’d been thinking about a lot, especially after everything that Jacob had said. I wanted to do more than sit and look pretty for my dad, and what better way than to work toward another project with a different department? It would keep me busy, at least.
“Perfect. I’ll keep an eye out on my inbox for it. Good luck with the rest of the food drive, Gabrielle,” he said, shaking my hand like an equal.
I had to admit, it felt good not to be seen as just my dad’s daughter for once in this building.
With the file and money in hand, I took the stairs for extra exercise down to the twenty-fourth floor, where the treasurer’s office was.
“Well good afternoon, Ms. De Leon. I don’t suppose that’s for me, is it?” Nancy, the treasurer’s office clerk, asked as I strolled up to her desk.
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. This is for the food bank for this week. We have everything written down and broken down by donation, and I would appreciate a receipt for every transaction, if that’s okay. The checks total $3,212.64, and there is $1,252.81 in cash. If we’re lucky, we’ll be able to double that next week,” I said, handing the file to her.
Nancy’s eyes went wide. “Oh my, that sounds better than last year. Gabrielle, you did one heck of a job. Everything that you did to get everyone involved really made a difference.”
“Thank you so much, Nancy. That really means a lot to me, especially coming from you.”
Nancy had run the food bank drive two years in a row previously, and I knew that she knew just how much went into it. It was almost like herding cats trying to get everyone to contribute.
After chitchatting with her for a few more minutes, I headed back upstairs to see if I could find my dad and talk to him on behalf of Martha. The plan was to finish up in the office with the other ladies, before going out and grabbing some lunch with Britney and Sasha. Sasha finally had a chance to take a couple of days off from work, without her boyfriend Dex being up her ass no less, so we wanted to do something nice with her.
I knocked on Dad’s office door, waiting.
And waiting. And waiting some more… Where the hell was he? Wasn’t he supposed to be in his office, taking phone calls at this hour?
I frowned, turning around to see if I could find him anywhere. I walked down a few doors, to Mr. Powers’ office, hoping to find him there, but when I peeked around the open door, Mr. Powers was typing away on his computer, facing the opposite direction. I didn’t want to interfere with whatever he was doing, so I kept going.