of the month. She’d be due for an appointment that very afternoon, in fact.
“Why not write Angela a note explaining everything and allow someone else to give it to her?” Cooper suggested. “This way, she’s bound to read it—especially if she’s trapped under a dryer hood. As soon as she realizes that you’re still a bachelor, and a bachelor who’s sorry to have caused her pain, she’ll call you right away.”
Mr. Farmer grabbed a piece of paper and a green Sharpie and pushed it across the desk. “Write down where and when, please.” He looked up at Cooper. “But before I rush off to get this situation under control, there’s something I’d like to talk about with you.”
Cooper penned the name and address of Angela’s salon. “Anything serious, sir?”
Without glancing away from the letter he’d immediately begun composing on his computer, Mr. Farmer shook his head. “Only if you consider a new title and a significant pay raise serious. It seems that I need to divide our company into two divisions: Document Security and Leasing & Maintenance. I’ve approached Ben about running the shredding operation and now I’m asking you if you’ll be my department head in charge of repairs and service. Ben gets Emilio and the new hire of his choice and you’ll have to bring two more folks on board to complete your team.” He patted a stack of paperwork with his left hand without pausing in his scribbling. “The contracts are flooding in, Cooper.”
“Why now, sir?” Cooper was as perplexed by this as she was by the increase of sales at Lincoln’s dealership. “The economy is so weak.”
“Because Reliable Office Solutions hasn’t been so reliable lately.” Mr. Farmer grinned in amusement. “In fact, our main competitor may be going out of business any day now. Several of their employees have informed me that they’re ready to jump ship.”
Cooper pondered the impact of expansion. Their company would be the frontrunner in repairs and service, they’d own a small fleet of repair vans, new coworkers would populate the break room, and there’d be an influx of funds. Mr. Farmer had mentioned a significant raise. Perhaps she’d knock off her credit card debt once and for all. “My salary, sir? What would that be?”
Mr. Farmer spoke a number fifty percent higher than Cooper’s current salary. Holding on to the door handle for support, she nodded. It took her a moment for the reality to sink in. Her employer seemed to have forgotten she was there until Cooper said, “I accept, sir.”
“Excellent.” He paused long enough to get up, walk over to her, and shake her hand. He then placed a manila folder bursting with disheveled papers in her arms. “See to the needs of our latest clients and sort through these employee applications. Your role as department head starts now.”
“Thank you, Mr. Farmer!” Cooper clutched the paperwork as though it contained national security secrets. “I won’t let you down.”
“The thought would never cross my mind,” he replied with a smile. “You’re the best I’ve got and I know a good thing when I see it. Now go on and spend some of that new, bigger paycheck.”
Taking her boss’s advice, Cooper drove straight to the nail salon and plucked a shade of dark burgundy polish called Royal Rajah Ruby from the shelf. It was from OPI’s India Collection and was cited as being the hue for “the prince’s princess.”
I’m feeling quite regal at this moment, Cooper thought as she slipped her feet into the warm scented water.
“How you been?” inquired Minnie, her regular technician.
Cooper thought, I feel like my life is a big Tilt-A-Whirl ride. Things are spinning out of control and I’m just trying to hold on. I’m cooking dinner for my sister and her husband this evening, and my boyfriend and an ex-con I’ve got the hots for ate pizza together in my apartment last night. On the other hand, my good friend Angela’s love life is back on safe ground and I just got a promotion and a killer raise.
“Busy,” she replied instead.
Minnie squirted a generous splotch of green lotion onto a rough sponge and got to work on her client’s calluses. “You pick bold color! Always pink or beige for you before. You feel kinda wild today?”
Laughing, Cooper nodded. “Yes, I do! It’s been a crazy few weeks.”
A look of skepticism passed across Minnie’s smooth face. “I no believe you. You church girl. Nice boyfriend. Fix machines. How you get wild?”
Cooper was accustomed to Minnie’s broken English,