that august night - c.l.

20. Sounds like little me

"Welcome Ms. Neville, I am Ashley Williams and I will be your personal assistant and partner through your working days here in Monaco. I hope you'll be happy and have good time with us." - Elena was greeted at the front doors of the building as she observed the woman in front of her. She genuinely seemed nice and hardworking person already. Elena loved people who made her think like that right away.

"I already like you, thank you for waiting for me in front. And skip the Ms. Neville part, you can call me Elena. Just to ease down the tension." - Elena felt free to talk to her so she did. She felt good about her and about the whole situation in general. Everyone around was greeting her with smile on their faces and it made Elena feel welcome.

She immediately started comparing it to her time back in Miami. How she was nervous even more than now and how everyone approached her one by one, but with time eventually. Now she felt welcomed by everyone immediately. "This is your office, Elena." - Ashley turned to her before she gave her the keys and Elena unlocked them.

It was actually really clean. Whoever was the last one here, did a great job by keeping it clean all the time. It felt and smelled like a new one. "There is a little gift from all of us, feel free to ask if you need anything, I'll be in the office first one on the left." - Ashley left her to meet the surroundings.

Elena immediately started going over the stuff. Table had many drawers and a lot of space which Elena always needed. There was one big white board behind her desk that was in the center of the room. On the left side of the office was a big window that almost covered the whole wall, showing the beautiful landscape of Monte Carlo. And right wall was covered by big bookshelf that barely had anything on it and Elena immediately noted to herself to bring it some life with some plants and books of her own.

She sat in her office chair looking around, taking in and thinking about everything she's been through just to get to this moment. What choices she had to make to be here surrounded by all these people. It will take her time to set in, of course, but she felt like that time will past fast. She already has an amazing assistant, or partner, if there comes a case worthy of their attendance. Ashley made her feel comfortable enough to think that way.

She looked like middle aged woman, Elena noticed a ring on her finger and she assumed she was married. She was a little shorter than Elena but that difference was barely noticed by either of them. She has black glasses that matched her outfit.

Elena looked at so called gift they left her and it was a big bouquet on the side of the table with a note saying welcome detective Neville. In that moment, Elena felt truly proud of herself. She felt like this is her I made it moment.

...

Hours later, Ashley joined her as they went through some talks and everything Elena needed to know about the building and the job.

"Did you watch the race yesterday?" - Ashley turned the conversation once the last topic died off. And Elena was glad they were both on friendly terms already. "Oh yeah, did you?" - Elena returned the question as Ashley sighed. "Oh my god I loved it. My son especially. The happiness on his face and in his voice when Leclerc's car crossed the finish line in the first position... oh my god I think he wasn't that happy when my husband and I came back from our two week trip." - Elena laughed at her comparison.

"He is a big Ferrari fan?" - Elena asked. "If not the biggest. He is turning five tomorrow and I wish I bought him the damned shirt on the time. But I guess he's going to wait for another year if I get the money." - Ashley sadly announced as Elena felt bad for how Ashley felt. She wanted to make her son happy but couldn't. Elena realized she could help a little but didn't want to say anything for now.