Page 85 of Declan
Zach opens his mouth, and Janey lays a hand on his arm, patting gently. His eyes drop to it, and he exhales heavily. When he looks up, his face has lost some of its severity. “Right. Well, we appreciate it anyway. Are there any questions I can answer for you?”
“A few,” she says quietly.
The next half an hour is one of the strangest of my life. I’ve never been interviewed for a job, but I have hired staff, and not once has anyone asked me about the average temperature of the building. Or the average decibels in the office. She had a ton of questions about the dress code, which I’m not even sure we have, and a bunch of other shit that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with actual work.
Janey, Jonas, and I hang back, letting Zach handle the interview. Zach barely keeps his shit together during the call, getting more and more frustrated at her inane —his word— questions. Finally, he can’t take it anymore. “Ms. Miller. We’ve answered a lot of...questions for you. Are you going to ask about the water temperature next, or can we move on?”
Maya’s mouth tightens, and her cheeks color. “You’re making fun of me,” she says flatly.
“Nope, not making fun of you. Obviously, you care about the answers to these questions, but I don’t see how any of it is relevant to the work I’m looking to hire you for.”
“It’s all relevant. I find it difficult to concentrate in certain environments. It doesn’t make sense for me to agree to take a job that would force me to work in distracting conditions. I would be miserable, and you’d regret you’d hired me.”
Janey smiles, leaning forward. “Ms. Miller, I think you’ll find that we’re very accommodating and accepting of differences here. If there are things we need to modify or arrangements we need to make to make things easier for you, then we’re happy to do that.”
The small lines between Maya’s brows slowly disappear as the tension in her fades. “I see. Well, that’s refreshing.”
“Does your current employer know you’re considering taking another job?” Jonas asks, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“They do.”
“What was their reaction?”
“They offered me a twenty-five percent raise.” I whistle through my teeth, and Zach slaps me on the stomach.
“And did that tempt you to stay?”
“No,” she says softly, so softly I lean in. “Nothing could convince me to stay here.”
Janey’s mouth twists in sympathy, and Jonas nods. There’s pain in Maya’s face, but also a clear ‘do not ask’ sign hovering over her head. Zach's head is tilted, studying her. “So you’re planning to leave? The only question is, where?”
“Yes.”
“And how many companies are you talking to?”
“Six.”
Well shit. She’s even more in demand than I understood.
“I see.” Zach’s fingers are tapping again. “I can email you a formal offer this evening. Then you’ll have the information you need to make a decision.”
She nods, and the call ends quickly after that. The four of us huddle near my computer, studying each other.
“Is it just me, or is she a little weird?” I finally ask.
Zach snorts. “A little? She’s weird. But weird isn't a deal breaker around here.”
Janey’s cell pings and she excuses herself with a blush. Jonas watches her walk away with a focused look. He looks at her like that a lot. It doesn’t seem to bother Janey, so we’ve stopped commenting on it. When she’s left the room, he turns back to Zach.
“She’ll be working directly for you. Are you going to be able to handle her? You seem to be quite reactive with her.” Trust Jonas to point that shit out. Zach doesn’t try to deny his frustration with the woman.
“She’ll be in my department. I won’t be working side by side with her. It’s fine. We’ll stay out of each other’s way.”
He sounds so confident, but I’m not so sure he should be. Something about the way he and Maya looked at each other tells me he’s in for a bumpy road.
If she accepts the job, that is.
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