"Of course. Take the elevator to the twelfth floor and his assistant, Sherry Jackson, will help you out." The woman smiled brightly.
"Thanks." I turned and walked to the elevator as I smoothed down my dark blue business suit. My hands wouldn't quit shaking no matter what I did, so I was just going to have to go with it. I could lay out a disclaimer to the guy that I was scared to death. Hopefully he would remember his first real job interview and go easy on me.
I rode the elevator up with a crowd of people and got off on the twelfth floor to find a motherly-looking secretary who stood as I walked toward her.
"You must be Vivian Hall?" She extended her hand. "I'm Sherry Jackson. Nice to meet you. Jon's ready when you are. Just knock once before going in."
I swallowed hard and turned, gripping my portfolio under my arm as if it might fly away any minute. I glanced back at her and she gave me a slight nod.
"Just knock. He's a great guy. You'll love him. We all do."
"Okay," I whispered and knocked on the door.
"Come on in." A loud boisterous voice responded.
I walked in and gave the handsome older man a curt nod and extended my hand. "I'm Vivian Hall. I appreciate you seeing me on such short notice."
"Of course. After reading your submission, I'm not sure I had much of a choice." He shook my hand and motioned for me to move to a small table in the middle of the room. "Come have a seat and let's talk. You should know ahead of time that I brought your résumé and several others to my top reviewer in the company, and he was more than impressed with you."
"Oh. Do I know him?" I had an inkling that he was talking about Easton, but I let him continue. It would be nice to see what Easton referred to me as with his boss. I was grateful that if nothing else, it just saved me from having to figure out whether he was a friend versus being my boyfriend. Here he was saving me again without even trying.
"I should hope so. He said that the two of you were dating." A smile played on the side of Jon's mouth.
"Easton." I smiled and let out a short chuckle. "He's a dream."
"I agree, but don't tell him I said that. Alright. Let's talk about you, Missy. Your submission was the best I've read in years. Makes my top ten list. Tell me about your studies, your history, and then your demands for a possible employer."
My nervousness dissipated as Jon and I continued to talk, and I could see why Easton loved working for Wilmington and Branch. I answered all of Jon's questions and gave him my thoughts and desires on everything.
"Well, that's all very doable, and I like what I've seen thus far. Anything else before we move on to round two of the interview?"
I lifted my eyebrow, wondering what round two included. "Just one thing, and it might be a total no-go, but I have to try."
"Shoot for the moon, honey. The stars will catch you if you fall. Good place to be." He gave me a smile that should have been on the big screen.
"I'm not sure where my relationship with Easton is going, but I want it to go far. I'd like to be paired up with him as my mentor and hope that we could be assigned the same areas as often as possible. I'm very professional, and he is too, but it would be nice, should I get the job, to spend our down time together." I pressed my hands into my thighs as my nervousness reared to life again.
"Something that I would consider, no doubt. The second part of the interview is hands on. I'll send you to a restaurant if you have time, and you'll critique two dishes for me, create a write-up, and I'll review them. Should they impress me as much as your last one did, the job is yours. The man that you'll be interviewing with next is a great guy too. You'll like him, and most likely we'll pair you up with him for training. He's just a better fit, I think."
"Excellent." I stood and extended my hand. "Thank you again for the opportunity to interview."
"Absolutely. It was a pleasure meeting you. I'm glad to see you're just as intriguing in person as you are on paper. Stop by and get the restaurant location from Sherry before you go, and good luck, Vivian."
"Thank you, Sir." I turned and walked from the room on cloud nine. Nothing could top the emotional high I was riding. Well, seeing Easton maybe, but nothing else.
Chapter 31
Easton
Excitement and nervousness raged through my stomach, each fighting for dominance as I waited for Vivian to show up to the restaurant. Her text from earlier in the day played past my mind's eye over and over. She missed me.
"Not nearly as much as I missed you, baby," I spoke softly to the empty room, wanting so fucking bad to call her and spill everything.
Jon was willing to make my part of the interview a surprise by letting me conduct a portion of it, but now that I was waiting to hear from either of them, I was going nuts. He should have been done with the question and answer portion, but he often got long-winded. I ran my fingers through the tulips that I'd picked up for her and smiled. I wasn't sure what type of flowers she enjoyed best, but tulips reminded me too much of her not to pick them up. They had a tough exterior, and yet were beautiful beyond imagination.
My phone buzzed and I pulled it from my pocket, almost losing my grip on it as I fumbled to get it to my ear.
"This is Easton."