Maybe, Maybe Not

20. Enter the Romance

Sometimes she loved her job, other times she hated it.

She loved the fact that she worked with a lot of the youth programs, dealing with lead poisoning and now Earth Day and helping children learn about the environment. She wished that was her full-time job. So she did not have a degree to back up her experience, she was qualified for more than just being an assistant.

St. Louis Metro Council of Governments was a revolving door of workers. Many came for an entree position in city planning, just a stepping stone to something better. The pay was on the low end for people in that field. All of the city planners had some kind of degree.

But there were some positions where no degree was needed, only experience. She worked at SLMCoG for over four years and learned so much about city planning. She felt she could start at one of those entry-level positions.

Yet, she was too nervous to apply.

"You only get an hour lunch break." That was the corny Sharon checking the time when she returned from lunch with Roxanne.

They were ten minutes late. Everyone else took ninety-minute or more lunch breaks, but because she had someone covering her breaks, she tried not to go overboard. This old bitty would literally run snitch to someone about an extra ten minutes.

"Sorry," she said politely to her as she stood from her chair and she could take her spot again.

She always felt that bitter woman left bad juju at her desk whenever she sat there. Maybe she rifled through her personal things. Maybe she misfiled things on purpose. Maybe her dragon breath hatred put some bad karma on her. She had no idea why she was always so bitter.

"I can't do your job for you if you carelessly don't consider I have to do my job."

She looked to Rox, calming herself before she blew up on this woman. She looked back at Sharon.

"Sorry, I-"

"Oh hell no!" Roxanne snapped. "If she is not going to say anything I will. Covering the front desk is part of your job as well. You've been here longer than the both of us. You covered before with the front desk, you will cover now. Now act like you have some damn sense and you do your job."

"Why are you talking to me that way?" Now here she goes playing as if she was hurt or something. "I will speak to my boss about the two of you."

Sharon stormed off after that. She could not believe this woman was having a whole hissy fit over ten minutes. Sheesh! If it was going to be that serious she would make sure she would be there on time. And then she would start clocking her breaks.

What a joke.

"Girl, let me go back to my desk before she runs and tells on me."

There were no other issues the rest of the day and she was happy to see Nikko drop in to see her a little before five. Why did that man have to look like a breath of fresh air? Gone was his uniform, instead, nice fitting jeans on his long legs, a black sweater peeking through his black puffy coat. His locs back in a ponytail. She wanted to pull him into a kiss but others were walking around leaving for the day

"Can you leave your car parked here at night so we don't have to take it to my place?"

"Sure. I have a few minutes left to finish up, want to sit and wait for me?"

She had to send off some emails, enter some work orders, and then she was done. She shut her laptop down, grabbed her phone, and slipped it into her bag. Put her laptop in her bag in case she needed to do a bit of work at Nikko's place, then stood.

Nikko sat in the reception area, head down on his phone.

"I'm ready."

He stood and knew where to go to get her coat. He retrieved it from the closet, taking a bit longer than he should have, and then came over to help her with it.