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“ I think I might be able to fill this space,” he said, with much more confidence.“ Call Frank,” she said, beginning her descent.
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Eddie secured the door and climbed down. He called Frank’ s cell phone and was transferred immediately to his voice mail.“ I want the job. I have a few ideas about the place. Oh, I almost forgot this is Eddie, call me tonight. I’ ll be up.” The sun was casting long shadows as Eddie turned out the lights, locked the doors and set the alarm. He was already feeling very protective over his building. The road out was much darker, as he pictured it should be. Tanya stopped and put the convertible top in place. The trees seemed to have inched closer to the road in the short time they spent exploring. Eddie’ s phone rang. It was Frank.“ When can you start?” he asked.“ I can come by tomorrow, fill out any paperwork and go quit my job.”“ I only have one rule. When you show up to the office, it’ s suit and tie. I don’ t care what you wear to the job site. If you walk through this office as one of my associates be dressed. We good?” he said.“ We’ re good. Am I one of your associates now?”“ Yes. A property manager. Rodney is your district manager. Questions you have will be directed through him. If you need an immediate answer and he is not available you may call me. This is your chain of command.” Frank stated.“ Is there anything else I need to know?”“ You have an office and a secretary you share with four other property managers. Meetings are on Thursday morning. I don’ t want to know what you plan to do with your week, I want to know what you have accomplished. Most of my people work four ten to twelve hour days. The family gets three days. Your secretary works eight to five Monday through Friday. Her lunch is from twelve to one.”“ I think that answered all my current questions,” Eddie said, pulling the notebook from his pocket.“ Welcome aboard,” Frank said and ended the call.
Tanya glanced at Eddie who was staring out the windshield.“ What did Frank say?”“ I need a couple of suits. I have an office and a secretary. I’ m an associate of Frank Melling and Associates,” he said, a little dazed.“ Armani we can’ t afford and J. C. Penny probably won’ t do. You need a new pair of shoes and a briefcase,” she said, knowing she had very little time to put this together.“ Can we afford this?”“ It’ s going to eat all the rainy day money I have put away. We need to find quality on sale,” she said, exiting the freeway and pulling into the mall parking lot.“ What does that mean exactly?”“ A thousand dollar suit for fifty percent off because you need two. A few good, colored, dress shirts and a bunch of stylish ties.” They had a couple of hours before the stores closed. The lights of the stores were being turned off as they exited carrying their purchases.“ Thank you for staying in shape and not becoming a body builder,” she said.“ The suits look good. Should I ask how much we spent?” he asked, on the drive home.“ About two grand but it looks like six. Everything was at least half price. The suits were sixty-six percent off of two, twelve hundred dollar suits.” They drove into the garage and unloaded their purchases.“ I want to see the whole package,” she said, as they entered the house through the kitchen.“ You want me to model all these clothes?” he asked, carrying the bags upstairs.“ No. Just what you plan to wear Monday,” she said, following him upstairs. Eddie placed the bags on the bed and headed for the shower. Tanya grabbed her most recent novel from the nightstand and headed for the living room. Eddie dressed, selected a tie, put on the charcoal suit, grabbed the briefcase and went downstairs to find Tanya. She waited curled up at one end of the, seldom used, sofa.“ Amazing,” she said.“ Now I want you to take off the jacket and put it on the chair.” The new, black leather briefcase found a place on the floor as Eddie removed the jacket and placed the garment back on the hanger.“ Wrong!” she said.“ What? I did what you asked.”