everyone every Friday. All that remained in the bowl was a couple of spoonfuls of broth. I was too full to polish it off, so I set it aside so I could review the final parts of the signed contract sent over by Mrs. Pratt. She was certainly high maintenance, and she’d missed a couple of portions in the paperwork that still needed her initials. I read through and began highlighting those sections in yellow to collect her initials the next time I saw her.
Beside me sat Caroline. She’d been slurping her pho off her spoon in the most infuriating way but I’d managed to silence her with a well-timed glare. Now she ate quietly, but I could feel her looking over my shoulder at the paperwork.
I covered it up with one hand and looked over at her. “Can I help you?”
Caroline’s big, frightened eyes swept up to me. “Sorry, Kathryn. I was just curious. I eventually want to work my way up to being an agent. Jon says if I pay close attention, I can learn a lot from you.”
My irritation ebbed away at the flattery. “Well, he isn’t wrong. Why do you want to be an agent?”
Caroline leaned forward and set her bowl on the coffee table. “Well, I suppose I want the lifestyle that goes with it. I want to keep working here, for starters, and I want to make enough money to be able to pay off my mom and dad’s mortgage one day. I see you and how much you hustle and how successful you are and… well, I want that.”
“It’s hard work.”
“I know.”
“You won’t have a social life.”
“I don’t have one anyway.”
“Then you’re well on your way.”
“Mr. Ravenworth also told me to keep an eye on Ethan. Apparently, he’s the guy to watch when it comes to people skills and you’re the one to watch when it comes to strategy and persuasion devices.”
“Ethan? People skills? Are you serious?”
“Yes,” she said, nodding earnestly. “Don’t you think Ethan is good with people? He’s so charming and funny. I don’t know. Every time he’s around, everyone is always laughing. See, look over there.”
I followed Caroline’s gaze to where Ethan was clustered with a group of our colleagues on the other side of the break room. He was sitting down and all the chairs around him were occupied. Those who didn’t have chairs stood around the table while Ethan recounted something they all found hilarious.
“Everyone here just likes to play to his ego,” I said stiffly before returning my attention to my paperwork.
“I don’t know. I think he makes this a fun place to be.”
“It’s work. It’s not supposed to be fun.”
“You don’t think there’s room for both?”
I looked up again. “Do I look like I think there’s room for both?”
Caroline shrank.
I twirled my pen in my fingers. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”
Taking that as permission, Caroline bolted up from her spot beside me on the sofa and hurried away. Unsurprisingly, she joined the herd of sheep gathered around Ethan.
I tuned out the laughter and conversation around me as I finished reading through the paperwork. A total of six initials were missing, but that was something I could see to the next time Mrs. Pratt was in the office. For now, I was good to start working on the marketing strategies, and I already had a plethora of ideas dancing around in my brain. I wanted to return to my office to dive into the project but the office was presently too loud for much concentration. It would be better to take this time to relax and then get in a couple of hours of work before everyone went home.
Jon went golfing after lunch on Fridays and he liked to send everyone home between three and four in the afternoon, depending on the workload for the week. Today, he wanted everyone out by four o’clock so the cleaners could come in and have a night off too. It was nonnegotiable with him. Otherwise, I’d stay until six or seven.
It didn’t matter. I’d bring my work home with me and work in my living room by the fire with a glass of red wine in hand. There were worse ways to spend a Friday night in my opinion.
I wandered over to the selection of refreshments that had been put out and poured myself a glass of ice water from a pitcher. Lemon and cucumber slices played peek-a-boo with the ice cubes.
Ethan sauntered up beside