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One
Ms. Wayne stood before Gwen with tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”
After all the hard work she’d put in, this felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Gwen knew it wasn’t Ms. Wayne’s fault, no one could blame her for her breast cancer. Ms. Wayne had done everything in her power to try and keep the diner alive and running. Now that the hospital bills were piling up, she had no other choice but to sell.
Gwen reached out and pulled her into a hug. “It’s not your fault.”
“I know you deserve so much more for what you’ve done for me the past four months, but this is all I can give you.” Ms. Wayne handed her a check.
Gwen took the check without a care in the world of how much was on it. “It was a pleasure to work for you. Let me know if there is anything you need.”
“You’ve done so much for me the past few months. I couldn’t ask for anymore.”
Gwen hid her tears as she quickly walked out of the diner. She’d loved working there and had hoped the job would last for at least another few months before she had to find something more permanent. The past three years had been hard on her. After her mother had passed and left her with no home or money to pay for the funeral and hospital expenses, she was drowning in debt.
She walked to the bus stop and started browsing job listings on her phone. She hadn’t been able to finish college–she’d barely made it through the first six months. Life kept throwing rocks into her path and those rocks had slowly accumulated to a mountain that she struggled to climb.
During the bus ride home, she kept sending out emails, not even caring what kind of job it was. As long as it paid, Gwen was prepared to do anything. She even applied to jobs she knew she wasn’t qualified for, hoping life would give her a second chance.
She found even more bad news pinned to the door of her apartment. Sighed in frustration and feeling like a failure, she opened her eviction notice. She’d known this would happen, after all she was two months behind in rent. The leasing office wanted her out within two weeks. She truly had no idea what to do. Unlocking the door, she walked into her studio apartment.
Though it was small, it was more than enough for her. It wasn’t as if she had much to her name anyway. She quickly turned on her kettle and heated up some instant ramen noodles. While eating she applied to every single job she could find and hoped for the best. The rest of the evening she spent cuddled up in bed reading on her phone and escaping her miserable reality.
The next morning, Gwen woke up to a single new email. It was in response to one of her job applications for a personal assistant at a real estate agency. She opened it, already preparing for a rejection. To her surprise, she was invited for an interview at 2p.m. that day. Struggling to remember the exact job, she quickly looked back on the job overview.
The job description was very specific and detailed. For example, the personal assistant needed to be available twenty-four-seven and had to relocate closer to the workplace if applicable. She would be responsible for organizing and scheduling appointments with clients and other real estate agents, answering phone calls, and responding to emails. It didn’t state whom the personal assistant position was for, which made her curious. All these things seemed fairly simple. While Ms. Wayne had been out sick or doing her chemotherapy, Gwen had managed all her paperwork, paid bills, organized work schedules, and taken phone calls all while still serving the guests in the front.
She typed the real estate agency’s name, Seavey Realty, into Google and clicked on their website. It seemed that they were a high-class agency, so exclusive that prices for their homes weren’t even listed on the website.
The agency was owned by three brothers, Amon, Silas, and Rayen Seavey, yet their pictures weren’t anywhere to be found. She tried to take in as much information about the agency as she could. They’d started out in New York and had expanded to Los Angeles and had now opened an office in Houston.
Their office was downtown so it would take her about forty-five minutes by bus to get there. She hopped into the shower and had a quick breakfast before reading more about Seavey Realty. Gwen wanted to be as prepared as possible during her interview, she hated not knowing what she would walk into and already felt nervous.
Throughout the morning she received two more emails for serving jobs, but she put them aside for after her interview this afternoon. They, of course, would pay some of her bills but the one at Seavey seemed so much more promising.
She got dressed around noon, added some mascara, and pulled her auburn hair back into a tight bun. Before she walked out of the apartment, she stopped for one last look in the mirror. She was wearing a simple, modest black dress with a gray blazer and black flats. She had another pair of black pumps in her bag, but didn’t want to wear them on the metro. As she walked out, she put on a large cardigan to hide her professional outfit.
The metro in Houston wasn’t the best nor safest place to be. On top of that she lived on a shady road off Mangum and Highway 290. So the effort to hide her fancy outfit was to protect herself. She quickly crossed the street and got on the bus. It took her about fifty minutes before she arrived downtown. She found a quiet corner a block from her destination to change her shoes and stuff her cardigan into her bag.
The building was a massive skyscraper with a glass facade and an impressive entrance, with large white marble stairs. She made her way up the stairs and to the glass revolving doors. Behind the doors was an entrance hall, the floors covered in more white marble and the elevators in the far back.
Gwen walked towards the front desk, where a young blonde woman was smiling at her. “How may I help you, ma’am?”
“I’m looking for the Seavey Realty.”
The young woman politely pointed to the elevators. “You will find the office you’re looking for on the sixty-fifth floor.”
Gwen nodded and walked towards the back of the lobby. The elevators were just as high-end as everything else, with golden accents and black marble walls. Her stomach dropped a little as she was lifted to the sixty-fifth floor.
She stepped out and looked around. To her left was a set of frosted double glass doors with SEAVEY REALTY in silver plain writing. She walked towards them and anxiously stepped into the office. She was greeted by another young woman behind a front desk.
The woman looked up from her computer and smiled at Gwen. “Here for the interviews?”
Gwen nodded and gave her a nervous smile. “Yes.” This entire office intimidated her, and she wasn’t so sure about it anymore.
The lady behind the desk handed her a clipboard and a pen. “Please fill this out and return it to me. You can wait with everyone else right over there.”
Gwen followed her instructions and walked over to a waiting area hidden behind a corner to her left. Twenty-two other people were sitting there, and all seemed to have filled out their forms already. Gwen quickly found a seat and started to read the form she’d been given.
