"Mr. Pierce? It's Louis DeVille from DeVille Staffing. How are you tonight?"
"I'm fine, thank you. I'm a little surprised to hear from you though."
He chuckled in a way that sounded nothing less than devilish. "I often surprise people. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
His question gave me the impression he didn't care if he was interrupting. "No. Not at all. What can I do for you?"
"I was just calling to see how things are working out with Maddie. She's the young woman I sent over about the cook job. Has that worked out well?"
Looking down at Maddie resting against my side, I smiled. "Very well. Thank you."
"Well, I'd like to speak to you a bit more in depth about her work. First, have you found her to be easy to get along with? Oftentimes, in-house help aren't a great fit, and here at DeVille Staffing, we always strive for as perfect a fit as possible."
"Is it possible we could do this tomorrow sometime, Mr. DeVille?" I asked as Maddie began to stir.
"Unfortunately, it must be done tonight. I promise this will only take a few minutes, Mr. Pierce."
Not wanting to have this discussion in front of Maddie, I gently eased her off me and laid her down on the couch before taking the call out in the hallway. Closing the door behind me, I quietly said, "Okay, what can I do for you?"
"Just a few questions, I promise. Can you tell me about how she's fit into the household? We always hope for our staff to be as unobtrusive as possible so as not to disturb the day-to-day goings-on at the employer's home."
The thought of Maddie being inconspicuous anywhere made a chuckle escape from my throat. "She's been fine. I wouldn't called her unobtrusive, but she's fit in just fine."
Mr. DeVille hummed into the phone. "Hmmm. Okay. Next question then. Have you been satisfied with her performance?"
As much as I didn't think of myself as paying Maddie to sleep with me, DeVille's question about her performance made me smile. Her performance, as he termed it, had been nothing less than fantastic, and that included her delicious sugar cookies.
"Very satisfied. She's been wonderful in every way."
"Very good!" he said, clearly pleased with my answer. "I'm very happy to hear that. Next, her trial period will be over in a few days. How would you rate her work so far during this period?"
"I think she's been a wonderful addition to the household. I would give her an exemplary review, Mr. DeVille."
"Wonderful! Just one more question and I'll let you go enjoy your night. Do you plan to keep Maddie on permanently?"
The rest of his questions had been easy to answer, but this one seemed harder. I loved having Maddie around, and I'd never been happier. But I didn't want her to stay in my life as my dessert cook who never really had to do anything. If she stayed, I wanted her to be with me as the woman I loved, not as one of my staff.
"I don't know if I'll need a cook permanently, Mr. DeVille. I'll make my mind up about that soon, though."
"Hmmm. Okay. Thank you so much for answering my questions honestly, Mr. Pierce. Have a good night."
"Thank you. You too," I said before ending the call.
Louis DeVille always struck me as odd, and tonight was no different. Ten o'clock at night seemed a strange time to be calling clients. His staffing service did offer round the clock assistance, though, so maybe this was one of those times when he worked nights.
I pushed any thoughts of the DeVille Staffing owner and his oddness out of my mind and returned to the living room to find Maddie still curled up on the couch and making tiny snoring noises. As much as I didn't want to disturb her, I didn't want to leave her there while I went to my room, so I scooped her up into my arms and turned off the TV.
She opened her eyes and looked around, confused about what was going on. "What time is it?"
"It's around ten. You fell asleep while the movie was still on," I answered as I eased the two of us through the doorway.
"Oh. Did the robots win?"
I walked to my bedroom and gently placed her on the bed. "I think so. The story got a little muddled after a while, so I'm not sure."
Maddie looked up at me and smiled. "Did you fall asleep too?"
"No. I just lost the story pretty quickly," I admitted with a smile.