Help Me Heal

Chapter 32

By that afternoon, Hank had been able to shake off the worst of his depression over no longer having his job with Intelligence. Surprisingly, it had been Jay who had helped him with that. After getting the confrontation about his behaviour out of the way, Jay had taken Hank out for breakfast. Conversation had flowed naturally between them, to the point that Hank had enjoyed himself.

On the afternoon's agenda were two job interviews for the receptionist position at Voight Detective Services. Then, in the evening there was dinner with Erin and Jay at Kalinda's apartment.

The previous day she had been happy to inform him that her friends had given her a dining table and chairs, and that she had been able to re-arrange her place to fit it in. Hank had resisted the temptation to make a joke about how a woman who supposedly loved hosting had managed to rent a furnished apartment without noticing it didn't have a dining table. Still, she had a dining table now, and a night of good company and good food beckoned, possibly with good sex afterwards.

Still with no office to work out of, Hank and Erin were having to conduct interviews in coffee shops. They were in one now, waiting for their first interviewee to arrive. They had shown up early so that Hank had some time read the resume, although they had ended up in conversation for a while instead while enjoying their coffee.

"Alexa Bliss," he read when he finally started scanning over the document. "Thirty-two. Mother of one. She's got receptionist experience with several companies. Currently working two part time jobs, one as a receptionist and one as a bartender. Adding bartender in is remarkably honest of her. Don't think I'd have done that."

Erin looked at him, a slightly irritated expression on my face. "Hank, there's nothing wrong with working as a bartender."

"Of course not. That wasn't what I was trying to say at all. My point was if I was applying for a receptionist position, I wouldn't put part time bartender at the top of my resume."

"Should I turn around and leave? Save us all the trouble?" a woman asked.

Hank looked up, instantly feeling bad. There was a smartly-dressed pretty young blonde standing in front of him. She was five feet tall if she was lucky, and there was a downcast look on her face. This had to be Alexa Bliss, and she had heard the last part of what he had been saying to Erin.

"Well done, Hank," Erin scolded him. She stood up and offered her hand to Alexa. "I'm Erin. Please ignore him, he was being a moron. I'm so sorry you overheard that. Please, sit down and join us."

"Is there any point?" Alexa looked Hank in the eyes. "I put part time bartender on my resume because I'm an honest person, and that's what I'm currently doing for work. If you want to know why, it's because the company I used to work for went bankrupt while I was on maternity leave. That meant my salary stopped coming. My son is six months old. I've been working for two months now, because if I wasn't my partner and I would lose our house, even though he's also working two jobs. We're struggling like we've never struggled in our lives to make ends meet. We're on our asses, but we're fighting to keep our family afloat, so if you want to sit there and judge me, you can go fuck yourself."

With that, and with angry tears in her eyes, Alexa turned to leave. In that moment, Hank made a decision.

"The job's yours if you want it. Three month trial period. Trial period goes well, full time employment. Forty hours a week."

Erin looked at Hank, obviously wondering what he was doing. But she chose not to step in.

Alexa turned around and came back to the table. "I'm not taking your job because you feel sorry for me."

"I don't feel sorry for you," Hank said evenly. "Frankly, your family situation is not my concern. I'm offering you the job because I admire your work ethic, and I admire the way you just chewed my ass out when I deserved it. You're the kind of person I want to employ. So, do you want the job or not?"