She was so grateful that she’d discovered the local libraries as her sanctuaries and fell in love with reading. She’d spent hours upon hours going through every book imaginable from opening till closing.
The library had been warm and it was there that she knew she would go to college and never ever live that way again. When her mother died when she was only fourteen years old and she had been one of the lucky few to be placed in a good foster home she’d received her first real break in life. She’d mourned her mother, even though she hadn’t deserved to be mourned, but at the same time she’d know that she was one of the lucky ones to have gotten out of the bad situation that she was in.
She’d gone from a drug infested apartment to a family friendly neighborhood with a great school and she’d even earned some scholarships. She already knew how to survive on nothing and once she graduated and then landed the great job with the Andersons Corporation her dreams were finally almost a reality. In one more month she would finally have a real home of her own.
Amy snapped back to reality as she let herself into her shared rental and looked around her dilapidated bedroom. She lifted her head high though, because she was soon going to be out of the horrible place and she would never once look back.
Thanks to her job she would finally be able to get a nice place and start a family of her own. She would put up with her attraction to her boss because she knew that she wouldn’t be able to find another job that paid as well. She wouldn’t give up so easily.
Saturday morning Tom was getting ready to head out the door and drive to Amy’s house when his phone rang. “Speak to me,” he said into the phone in his usual chirpy voice.
“I’m looking for Tom please,” replied the very formal tone of Lucas.
“This is Tom. How can I help you Mr. Anderson?” Why would the boss be calling him on a Saturday?
“Tom, I’m searching for Amy’s address. The one in her personnel file appears to be wrong. She left her purse in my car last night and I need to return it to her. Since you’ve been carpooling together you must have it.” Tom almost gave the information to him without thought.
The way his boss spoke came out much more like a command from a drill sergeant. He felt like he should be saluting and shouting, yes Sir. He stopped himself in the nick of time, remembering that Amy had a wrong address for a reason.
“I’ll be seeing Amy this weekend Mr. Anderson. I could take the purse to her. She’s meeting me at the bar later tonight,” he said. Tom figured this would make all parties happy. He figured wrong.
“Tom, I don’t hand over one employee’s belongings to another employee. I will see to it that Amy gets her purse back, myself. If you would be so kind as to give me that address now then I can get her the purse.” His voice had been formal before, now it was cold as ice.
Wow, Tom was thinking, this guy has it bad. If I want to keep my job I’d better let him know that I’m not interested. “Um, Mr. Anderson, Amy and I are just friends. She’s really, really, not my type, if you know what I mean. So, you don’t have to worry about inter office dating or anything with us.” He figured Lucas was a smart guy and would put two and two together.
There was a short pause on the end of the line and then a more pleasant sounding Lucas spoke again. “Well, that’s good. I don’t like dating between my employees but I still need that address so that I can get her purse to her.” He still spoke with authority, although not quite as cold.
Lucas wasn’t happy having to repeat himself. He was still miffed that she’d run from his vehicle the night before. He didn’t like to be ignored and no one had ever been so repulsed by his presence that they’d felt the need to run away from him and now he had two employee’s that didn’t seem to want to give him what he wanted. It was taking all of his will power to not throttle them both.
“The thing is I don’t have the address. I pick her up and drop her off at the bus stop nearest her place. She refuses to let me take her to the actual house. I don’t like doing it that way but she always calls me when she’s inside and at least I get her as close as possible.” Tom wasn’t happy about the arrangement but Amy was strong willed and he took what little bit she was willing to give him.
On the other end of the line Lucas was barely keeping his temper in check. He’d figured out that she’d lied to him about where she was living. That had been easy enough. He’d simply called the management company of the apartments and asked them if she lived there.
They’d told him she wasn’t currently living there but at the beginning of the week she’d put in an application for one of their apartments. They had a unit coming available in three weeks and she’d reserved it. Her being new to the workforce had been a negative but they’d spoken to his father earlier in the week and since Joseph backed her up they were thrilled to have her for a tenant.
“Look Mr. Anderson, I really have to get going. I know that she’s in a really crappy place right now but I’m going to offer her a place to stay for a few weeks until she gets her new apartment.
She told me she just finished up with college and got hired to your company and was really excited to have her first nice place,” Tom spoke quickly before Lucas was able to cut him off.
“Thank you Tom. I appreciate the information. I will speak with Ms. Harper personally.” He hung up the phone without bothering to say goodbye.
Tom was forgotten about the second the phone touched its receiver. All he was thinking was that he would be finding her that day. After about an hour of speaking to various people Lucas had the information he wanted. He had grown up with money, but had been taught from a young age not to use it against people. But there were times when having money made life simpler and being able to gain information that was needed was one of those times.
He was uneasy as he neared her house. The neighborhood wasn’t somewhere he would hang out in comfortably in the daytime and never at night. By the time he saw the actual place she was living in he was appalled and beyond angry. What was she doing there? How could she so casually risk her own safety? He wouldn’t wish his worst enemy in the house or the neighborhood that she was residing in. When he saw places like the home she was staying in, it was a humbling experience for him and he knew that he needed to make more time for his volunteer work because there were so many people out there who needed time and money. It was easy to forget about those things when they were out of sight, but not when it was right in front of his face.