Aside from the notetaking, I’ve done filing, scheduling, and several errands ranging from shipping packages to picking up something at the local dancewear store. I have no idea what most of the things I am doing are for, but I don’t question any of it because it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I get a paycheck to continue the repairs on my cottage.
So far, there is nothing “techie” that I’ve been asked to do, and nothing that requires knowledge of how to use software. It’s not nearly as bad as I expected.
And Chad seems to be on his best behavior. He isn’t acting nearly as gruff as Tori had warned me about. In fact, he’s been rather pleasant. He definitely isn’t chatty at all and keeps to himself about anything that doesn’t directly have to do with work. But at least he isn’t terrible to work for. Tori had me worried there for a hot minute, thinking that he was one of those bosses that liked to yell at their employees. Overall, he seems like a decent guy with a strung-out schedule and alotof money and responsibilities.
When it reaches the weekend, I am ecstatic to have a couple days off to enjoy the village and relax in my house.
“What’s this?” I ask Tori when she hands me an envelope just as I get ready to leave the office for the weekend.
“Your first paycheck,” she smiles.
“Really?But I didn’t think I was getting paid until next week. Chad said that the paychecks were biweekly.” Don’t get me wrong, I amthrilledto be getting handed money to use over the weekend.
“They are biweekly,” she says with a wink. “But since you’ve done such a good job at your first week here, and since I know you need it for that trainwreck of a cottage that you bought, I pulled a few strings with payroll and made an exception for you this week.”
“Thank you!” I beam as I eagerly grab the envelope from her hand. “Hey, my cottage isn’t a trainwreck. It’s just a work in progress.”
“Sure it is,” she laughs lightly. “Enjoy your weekend, Seraphine. See you Monday.”
I am so excited to have money that I practically skip all the way to the bank to cash my check.
I didn’t see Chad before I left to wish him an enjoyable weekend, but he was on a call, and I didn’t want to stay late at the office. Especially not when I have a check to cash before the bank closes.
When I get to the bank, I tear open the envelope in the lobby and pull out not only my check but also a small note.
Good job this week. Here’s a little extra for all your hard work.
—Chad
I pull the sticky note up to reveal the amount written underneath and see that my check is a hundred dollars larger than it was supposed to be.
Nice!
I have a feeling this job is going to work out much better than I had anticipated. I’m glad that I didn’t wind up walking out on it after all.
I cash my check and head home, looking forward to a nice, enjoyable weekend ahead.
But later that night as I am enjoying a glass of wine and trying to decide which of the many repair projects to attend to in the cottage first, I find that my thoughts are drifting elsewhere.
Down the dirt road, within walking distance but not close enough to just happen to be passing by, Chad is alone in his house too. Or at least I think he’s alone.
Throughout the course of the entire week, I haven’t heard or seen any sign of a girlfriend. Then again, he is a high-profile billionaire. Maybe he had some sort of money-digging bad relationship back in DC. Maybe that’s the reason that he decided to step out of the city for a while.
It suddenly dawns on me, now that I know who Chad is and what his company does, I can probably look him up pretty easily online.
I sit down on my little couch and pull out my laptop, and after a few moments of quick internet searching, I not only find the company bio that I should have read to begin with, but also a whole slew of news articles highlighting Chad, his company’s successes, and also a tragic accident that happened a couple of years ago.
Apparently, Chad’s wife, Bella, had been killed in a hit and run.
I get up to refill my glass of merlot before coming back to finish the article. My heart absolutely breaks when I read the rest of it:
Bella is survived by her husband Chad, and their 10-year-old daughter Lilly.
Daughter? Oh wow,Chad is a single dad.
A billionaire dad—but still a widowed, single dad all the same. Even billions of dollars can’t barter with death. How tragic, that a ten-year-old girl would lose her mother. No wonder Chad says that he has a lot on his plate. I can’t help but feel as if my heart goes out to him. Chad might be a bit standoffish, and wealthy enough to buy his own small country, but that is still a lot for someone to deal with. I wonder if it had anything to do with his decision to leave DC. It doesn’t make sense to me—if anything, I would think he would want to stay there in the place where he was happy while his wife was alive, and where his daughter grew up. Maybe it was just too hard.
I spend a few more minutes scrolling through social media, and then decide to call it a night. Tomorrow, I’m going to work on the cottage and take a few hours and a few dollars to go do some exploring in the village.