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One deep breath in, and I force my giddy grin to morph into a professional smile as I approach the receptionist’s desk.
“Hi, Raven Hill,” I greet the receptionist, and a few minutes later, I’m introduced to Juliana Reed, the head of Human Resources. “Thank you for helping me this morning.”
“Actually, I won’t be doing much,” Juliana says, leading me past a line of desks.
The furniture is all high-end and expensive, with sleekbut comfortable looking leather chairs, dark wood desks, and massive computer monitors. The walls are adorned with various awards and accolades, along with photos of Dylan and other high-profile figures.
Juliana is tall and thin, with long pin-straight, dark hair. “I’ve got a state comptroller inspection today, and the SEC will be stopping by later this week. So you’ll be doing most of your onboarding yourself.” She talks while walking and hardly looks my way as she leads me to what’s apparently my space. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you logged on and set up, though.”
It's essentially a cubicle, but my reaction is as though it’s a corner office on the top floor. At least inside, where I’m basically doing backflips. Outside, I smile politely at Juliana as I scan the small area. The desk is L-shaped, clearly designed to be functional and make the most of the space, with a pair of computer screens on top of it. There’s a large, comfortable looking ‘executive’ style office chair pushed beneath the desk, but looking around, I don’t see anything else. “Where’s the computer?”
“You’d be amazed at how small a work computer can be nowadays,” Juliana says, tapping a box not much larger than my fist underneath the monitor in the corner. “This’ll handle everything you need. Try out your chair.”
The leather chair might as well be a throne as far as I’m concerned.
“Okay, here’s your username, but you need to pick out your password,” Juliana says, taking a wireless keyboard out of the desk drawer and sliding it over to me. I put in my chosen password, and Juliana takes the keyboard back. “There’s a wireless mouse in here too, but this keyboard’s got a trackpad in it if it breaks.”
Juliana points to my larger computer screen.
“All of what you need to know will be here. Just follow along with the website I’m pulling up. It’s an internal one that doesn’t connect outside the firm,” she says as sheclicks on the screen, and I watch carefully, not wanting to miss a thing. “Once you complete onboarding, you’ll get wider permissions.”
She looks at me expectantly, making sure I’m following along with her rapid-fire pace, and I nod.
“Good. Next, lockers.”
Juliana walks away, and I rush to follow her over to the wall opposite my cubicle. She taps on an inlaid door, where a card scanner is set into the panel.
“Every cubicle and office has one of these,” she explains, handing me an employee badge with my name already printed on it. “You can keep your purse, snacks, or whatever in it and it’s secure. Although if you want to bring your own lunch, there’s a fridge down the hall. You hold your card up to the scanner, wait for the chimes, and it unlocks.” I do as she instructs and hear the lock disengage. “Your card won’t work on any door but your own,” she says, gesturing toward the other lockers on the wall, “but the head of Security, me, and Mr. Sharpe have all-access to any locker, at any time.”
I nod, but she doesn’t notice because she looks at the smartwatch on her wrist, reading a message. “Shoot, the inspector’s early.” She glances back at me. “You good? I showed you your locker, work on your onboarding, and the bathroom is down the hall to the left, which will be covered in the Unit One building introduction. Yeah?” she looks at me hopefully.
I smile, thinking I’m going to like Juliana. She’s busy, but no-nonsense. “I’m good. I’ll check in with the receptionist if I have any problems.”
She walks away at a fast clip, and I realize I’m an actual employee of Sharpe Fund Management.
Internally, I squeal in delighted excitement. Once more, I hold my card up to the scanner, wait for the chimes and the lock to disengage, and then open it, expecting it to be empty.
I’m surprised when I see a small white box on the uppershelf, right above the bar that’s meant for a coat or my bag.Open me.
My heart does that racing, pounding thing again… and I look to my left and right as if someone may be watching. And though there are people at their own desks, and in their cubicles and offices, everyone is heads-down, working. Curiously, I take the box out of my locker and return to my desk. As soon as I flip open the top, I have to smile.
The note on the underside of the lid reads,
A little congratulations. I’m looking forward to working with you.—Dylan
It’s a single, fancy chocolate. A truffle, maybe? I wonder if he does this for every new employee. I could see that, considering how much attention he seems to have paid to everything, from comfort to security. But deep down, I know he doesn’t do this for everyone. He did it for me.
I’m not sure how I feel about that. It feels almost as though he’s testing the waters with me already.Or maybe it’s an olive branch, I tell myself.
With a smile firmly in place, I put the box of chocolate and my bag on the desk—no, notthedesk—onmydesk and get to work, letting the excitement outweigh everything else.
I quickly put the rest of my personal things away. I didn’t bring much, just a tiny little potted plant that’s in a coffee mug, which fits perfectly next to one of my monitors. A simple notepad, and set of skinny black luxe pens. And that’s it for the moment. The rest of my desk I’m keeping bare. I don’t want to settle in until I’ve earned it.
And I get to work.
“Knock, knock.”
I look up, and I can’t help the heat that rises from the tips of my toes all the way up to my cheeks when I see Dylan standing in the doorway of my cubicle, his wide shoulders filling mostof the open space.
