Unstuck (2 page)

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Maynard” I said as he shook my hand.

“Likewise, Miss…” he looked up to meet Brian’s eyes, standing behind me.

“Stuart. Lucinda Stuart.” Brian and I replied at the same time.

“Miss Stuart.” Maynard said giving another shake to my hand and motioned me to the chair in front of him. I took a seat while he looked at Brian, as if expecting something.

“Brian… Do you have her resume?”

“Oh! No! Lost it again!” I heard him say from beyond the door frame. I reached inside my bag and pulled a red folder with my name printed on it and my resume inside. I carried like 3 more of those in my humongously deep purse. Always prepared. “Oh! Lifesaver! Again” said Brian and I looked at him. He was smiling wide and said relieved, “I’m telling you, Patrick, she just might be perfect for this job!” and with that I heard as the door closed and my interview seemed to begin in earnest.

Maynard didn’t say much while going through my resume. He didn’t even hum a lullaby as Brian did. So I just stared at him. Oh! My! God! I was having an interview with Patrick Freaking Maynard! The whole reality of it suddenly dawned on me, and I allowed myself to have a mental breakdown while keeping calm on the outside by putting on my best poker face. I was always a terrible poker player.

“So, Miss Stuart, Little Black Book, huh?” he looked at me expecting something. I knew he would be interested in that.

“Yes, I worked there the last 5 years, the last 2 as Vice President of Administration” I said calm and cool, well, as calm and cool one can be with Patrick Maynard sitting across a desk staring at you.

“We tried to buy it,” he said casually, while flipping pages through the resume, without really paying attention.

“I know,” I said while swallowing the lump in my throat, “I advised them not to sell.”

He looked up suddenly very interested in what I had to say and grinned, “So you are the responsible for their poor decision making in business matters?” he seemed amused.

“No, I am responsible for their growth. Have you seen how big they are now? It’s crazy what happened this last year.” I stopped before going on and on about gains and sells and investments. I was not that woman anymore.

“Why did you quit?” he asked leaving the resume aside and easing back into his chair. He put his palms together and under his chin. He was asking me why I had quit; he didn’t immediately assume I was fired, that said something.

“Like I told Mr. Johnson, I got tired” and before he questioned my capacity for this job I went on, “I’d been working towards the executive position I was in a few months ago my whole life. One day I realized I haven’t read a single book for pleasure in my whole life, I have only one friend and I spent my Sundays in the office, alone. I haven’t had a relationship since before college and I’ve missed important events and occasions in my family. I was a slave for the company. I had to get out.” I went into more details and Maynard seemed very interested in what I was saying. He was nodding along and everything. Not bad,Lucy.

“And… you think that you’ll get to live your life as my assistant?” he asked calmly.

“Well, I know it won’t be easy, and it will be a busy schedule but in the end I will get to be myself, not Miss Stuart, Vice president of administration, 24/7” I had to be honest.

“No, you get to be Patrick Maynard’s assistant,” he leaned forward looking for a reaction in me.

“I’m fine with that, “I calmly said, I rather be Maynard’s assistant than Miss Stuart. I hate Miss Stuart.  She stole the last 10 years of my life! She stole my chance to be young when I could have been. I want to be anything but Miss Stuart.

“Ok,” Maynard stood up from his desk and walked towards the door. My eyes followed him. “Brian!” he screamed as he opened the door. I jumped again and saw Brian running towards the door.

“Yes, Patrick,” he smiled and winked at me. Was he trying to tell me something? Was that my future?

“Make the arrangements for tomorrow morning,” Maynard looked at me and said, “The job is yours, you start tomorrow.” What? Who? What….?

“Tomorrow.” was all I said as I nodded. I was allowing myself to have another mental breakdown

“Yes Tomorrow, Brian will tell you all you need to know and I’ll see you tomorrow,” he took a seat on his chair as I got up.

“Thank you, Mr. Maynard” I extended my hand and he shook it while giving me a small smile. He looked better when he smiled. “Thank you, Miss Stuart.” he said and let go of my hand. “See you tomorrow” I heard him say as Brian walked me out the door.

“I knew it! You go, girl!” Brian patted me on the back, “What did you say that made him decide so quickly” he asked me as we began to walk down the hallway towards the elevator.

“Brian!” I jumped and turn to see Maynard at the door of his office, “Remember to tell the other girl… the mousey one with the master’s degree, that the job is no longer hers,” and with that he slammed the door shut again.

“I guess I should get used to that” I said almost as a question.

“Yes you do, girl!!!” He was way too excited.

“Why are you so happy?” I asked him and he stopped and looked at me.

“Because he is finally leaving me alone!” he grabbed my shoulders and shook them in pure delight.

“Oh,” I said “So… tomorrow?” I said waiting for instructions.

“Oh yes, tomorrow, I’ll let you know everything on the way back to Philadelphia,” he said as he held the elevator door for me.

“So I am going back to Philadelphia?”

“Maybe, I don’t know. Depends on Patrick’s schedule for tomorrow, he’ll send it in a couple of hours.” What? I didn’t know where I was going the next day?

“What if he needs me here?” I asked Brian as I saw the numbers in the elevator go down.

“You take the jet. You’ll get used to that. That jet is like a regular cab for me now. I am on it at least 4 times a week. Not anymore, though,” he shook his finger in front of my face and smiled. He really was happy to have me on board.

I made it home around 4 pm that afternoon. New phone, new tablet and a bunch of lists with Maynard’s favorite food, Maynard’s frequent contacts, Maynard’s schedule (the events that happen every week and can’t be altered for anything,) and Maynard’s employees. I laid it all on my kitchen table as I took out a T.V. dinner from the fridge, even though it was sometime between lunch and supper.

I turned the T.V on some random music hits channel and dug into my dinner, pasta alfredo with green vegetables. I was trying to think about everything that was going on; I’d just gotten a job working for Patrick Maynard, which was seriously the biggest thing! The man was a myth in the business world and some kind of legend on the socialite/entertainment world. It seemed very glamorous to me but I knew better, I knew that being an assistant was hard work, being a personal assistant meant giving up any career ambitions. I tried to change my way of thinking, reminding myself that I wanted to change my way of life. I was tired of career ambitions, it was time for me to live a life that didn’t involve being the center of attention, even if that meant that I would be catering the tiniest whim of one of the world’s biggest millionaire, business geniuses.

I was deep in my thoughts chewing the asparagus stems and pasta when the iPad on the kitchen table started ringing. I looked at it and my heart almost skipped a beat. It was a new tablet and I had not programmed anything on it yet, which only meant that I already had some kind of message waiting for me. I grabbed the tablet and opened the black cover on the shiny protective case. The background picture was May Inc.’s logo and I saw a tiny red number one on the e-mail app. I opened it and saw an e-mail from Patrick Maynard himself: the next day’s schedule. It was a Saturday and I thought it would be a laid back day, but it seemed that Maynard had other plans. The schedule said that I should be at his place at 8 a.m. I was relieved to see the address he provided was the address for his Philadelphia home but I felt uncomfortable with the little note at the end of the schedule that said that I needed to pack clothes for at least one week of work. It looked like I was going to be away from home a lot. I turned around and looked at my fish. Yes, I had fish, they were easy to look after and they made me feel a bit of company when I made it home. I could not even afford to have a cat, who would feed it on the few occasions that I left home for business? At least you could install an automatic feeder inside a tank.

“Seems that we’ll have to ask someone to take you guys in” I said while they swam in tiny circles. That’s one downside from having fish; they never gave you any kind of response. Unless you counted swimming in circles as a way of communication.

I sighed and went to the living room and let myself fall on the plush couch. It was practically new; I never used it much in the last 3 years so I had made myself spend most of my time at home on it the last couple of months. I grabbed the tablet, phone and lists and began transcribing them. I put all the contacts into the phone using the exact name that was given on the list. I was sure once I knew who this people were I would use some other names on my phone. I always did. I transcribed every week’s events into the tablet’s calendar and his favorite foods into a note file on the tablet and phone. After 2 hours I let out a puff of air and laid my head on the couch. That was a lot of contacts. I guess it made sense. I needed to pack for the next day but before that I had to call my only friend in the world to help me with the fish. I grabbed my personal phone and called him.

I heard three rings before he answers. Typical. “How did it go?” he asked immediately. “Well, Nicholas, I’m proud to inform you I got the job,” I said with a smile and knowing what I would hear next and how it would pierce my eardrums.

“WOOO-HOOO! Sugar, I told you it would be a piece of cake! Tell me all about it!”

I checked the time on the wall clock and said “Why don’t you come over? We can have dinner and I’ll tell you all about it. Besides I need to ask you for a favor.”

“Already asking me to do your job? Your are on your own, sugar,” I smiled because I knew he was joking. He’d do anything for me.

“So see you in 30 minutes?”

“Sure thing. See ya there.” I then called to order Chinese. I couldn’t finish my TV pasta, that was “alone in sweatpants” food and there was no way I could cook something that Nick would like. It was just easier that way. My whole life had turned into a series of convenient decisions.

Exactly 30 minutes later I heard the front door open and I knew it was Nick. He had my emergency keys and he could feed my fish when I was out of town, as long as he wasn’t away too. He was away from home more often than me, in fact, that’s how we met, on a plane from Philadelphia to Los Angeles, where we sat next to each other on the flight and immediately clicked. We’d been friends ever since, 4 fun filled years.

“Lucy! Sugar!” I heard from the front door. No, he was not gay, he called me that from the first day we met. For all I knew he called that every woman he met but they never lasted more than a week so I wouldn’t know.

“Up here!” I said from my bedroom. I was packing for a week of assisting Mr. Maynard. I had no idea what the dress code was! So I was packing for every occasion. The suitcase I was using was huge and it was about to explode already.

“Hey, there!” He kissed me on the cheek and threw himself on the bed with his hands behind his head and looked at my mess, “You are traveling already?” he had his confusion frown on. It looked like that week’s class was somewhere near a beach; he had a beautiful tan. Nick was an ESL (English as a second language) teacher for big corporations and it was very common that he had to fly somewhere abroad to teach some courses.

“I know!” I sighed and sat on the bed. “I’m working for Patrick Maynard, Nick,” I sounded disappointed but really I was just nervous as Hell.

“What? Patrick Maynard?” he sat up on the bed and his face was turning red, his tan disappeared under the redness of the shocking news and his blond hair standing up like a cat’s back.

“Yeah, I have no idea how I ended up like that but all I know is that I am starting tomorrow and he said that I should pack for a week,” I folded a skirt and went on, “It was crazy, Nick,” I turned to look at him, and he was still red. “I was first here in Philly interviewing with the head of HR and all of a sudden I am in New York talking to Patrick Maynard. I don’t think I have completely grasped what happened,” I stood up and went to pick dresses.

“New York? What?” Red Nick seemed to have a hard time finding his words.

“Yes! Weird uh? I think that me being overqualified for the job was what got them to like my resume, I don’t know,” I shrugged while looking at a red dress from the rack.

“Well, we knew that it would be really easy for you to get a job like that. What we didn’t know was that it would be for Patrick Maynard, millionaire extraordinaire, that’s amazing!” His all white smile showed me he genuinely was happy for me.

“Yes, it kind of is. Not knowing what to pack is NOT amazing,” I said as I extend my arms showing him my suitcase and bed.

“No dress code?” He asked while playing with his phone. I just shook my head. “Then pack for everything, I guess, better be prepared…”