A very ordinary woman

California

R: Hey, it's Ryan. Can we talk?

E: Why?

R: Career opportunity

E: I'm not available atm

R: Sorry, I know that's not true. News travels :P

Evy groaned and looked up from the phone screen to the grass field before her. She held her hand over her eye to shield herself from the sharp afternoon sun and called out.

"Cheesecake! Nero! Here boys! Cheesecake!"

A stocky French bulldog raised his head from where he was playing with other dogs and saw Evy clapping her hands. He started running toward her, and a much larger Labradoodle quickly followed. After leashing the two friends, Evy took out her phone again and pressed the call button while she started the walk back home.

"There she is. How have you been?"

"I'm surprised. I didn't think we'd talk again so soon."

Ryan cleared his throat. "I know this is a bit weird, and I would like to talk for real at some point. For now, I really have an assignment that I think you are perfect for. Will you hear me out?"

Evy was satisfied that he sounded apologetic and was careful. It sounded like he had rehearsed what he was going to say.

"Ok, I'll switch to business mode. Shoot."

"Ok. I can't tell you who the client is, they insist on interviewing you first. It's a PA position, long term, very hands-on, includes room and board on the premises, and quite a lot of traveling. There are two kids, but they have a nanny. They require an experienced female PA, not younger than thirty and not older than fifty who is fluent in English and French."

"Ok. That sounds pretty generic. Is it in LA?"

"You'll have to move out of the state, but they have houses in several countries. I have to keep it a bit generic to abide by the NDA, but they emphasized the importance of a click between you and the client. They value mutual trust and friendship."

"They want to hire them a friend? You know I'm not that kind of girl, right..."

"You know what I mean. Their people will interview you, but it all depends on how it goes during the probation and how the client interacts with you."

"How long do they wanna test me?"

"Two months, fully paid. Their first offer is 150K plus room and board, and all-inclusive healthcare"

Prolonged silence. Then, a chuckle from Ryan.

"So... Can you come to my office tomorrow morning by 9:30? We'll go over everything and you'll meet the reps at 10."

"Ok. See you then."

Evy had arrived at the French Bulldog's home without even noticing where she was. She almost walked past it. After dropping him off, she walked back two blocks to drop off Nero, the Labradoodle, to his owner, and then walked to her place, several blocks away.

150 K a year for a personal assistant? It wasn't an easy job, but that seemed a little steep. Maybe the client was horrible and she would burn out in two months. It was worth a try anyway, and moving out of LA was only a plus. Evy had started to hate the city with a fiery passion after several failed endeavors, both in business and in love.

Evy entered North Hollywood and forced her focus to on her surroundings. Despite having 'Hollywood' in the name, NoHo wasn't exactly glamorous. It wasn't as vibrant and gay as WeHo, and not as dangerous as Compton - but it wasn't good.

The apartment building was 5 stories high, and Evy and her friends nicknamed it Prison, because of the amount of locks she had to open to get home - which wasn't even really her home. The couch in the living room was her home, ever since she lost her job as a celebrity personal assistant and broke up with her partner around the same time.

This job could be the way out of all of this crap. Evy adored dogs, and walking them for a living had been fun for a while - but living off her savings in the negative energy of her ex-girlfriend, with gang violence right outside her door, was becoming a bit too much. It wasn't worth staying in the USA for, and she'd been looking into moving back home to Belgium, at least for the spring and summer.

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. But what if the lemons were already rotting to begin with? What is that lemonade going to taste like?

Burbank

Ryan met her in the lobby of his luxurious office building. They got the administrative tasks out of the way first - yes, Evy was allowed to work in the USA, she was over thirty and under fifty, and she was eager to work for a nameless, faceless rich person somewhere in the USA for a nice fat salary. Ryan made a copy of her ID card and resume and made her sign an NDA in which she promised to not speak of this meeting to anyone who wasn't present for the meeting, under penalty of... an amount of money she didn't have.

Evy eyed the clock. Fifteen minutes. She took a deep breath and leaned forward over the table in the conference room.

"Look, I know that I was standoffish for a while, and I'm sorry about that. I appreciate this."

Ryan smiled awkwardly. "I have to apologize too. I knew what I was getting into, and it wasn't fair of me to expect more afterward. I was distracted."

"Your brains were in your dick," Evy replied with a shrug.

"Well... yes. The wine helped. Like I said before, I hope you don't feel like I took advantage of you."

"I did, but I've gotten over that. I don't blame you, ok? Friends?"

Evy held out a hand, and Ryan shook it. Right then, a knock on the door - their guests had arrived. Ryan went to the lobby to pick them up, while Evy waited alone in the conference room. She nervously sipped some water, straightened her simple, office-friendly dress, and checked her makeup on her phone camera for the umpteenth time.

She stood up when Ryan appeared in the doorway, a short woman and a tall man with him. The woman looked like a grandma, the man was clearly a lawyer.

The lawyer was American, but Evy detected a slight French accent in the woman. She was very organized and had prepared a list of questions, and it turned out she was currently functioning as the client's assistant. She very carefully used the words 'client' and 'they'.

"So you are experienced with complex calendars?"

"Yes. I started as a secretary back home, and of course, celebrities also have crazy schedules."

"Do you plan out your work days ahead of time?"

"I do, but there always has to be some room for surprises. My goal is to be organized and reliable, but not rigid. I will adapt when things change at the last minute."

The woman nodded and looked back at her hand-written notes. Evy guessed she was probably in her late fifties, but dressed a bit older. She had introduced herself as Marianne, with no last name.

"Can you give an example of a complicated schedule and how you dealt with issues?"

"Let's see, last year I assisted Jennifer Aniston on her press tour. Los Angeles, New York, and London, in one month. Oh, and the Cannes festival. Journalists can never stick to the rules, and after a couple of schedule mishaps, I just sat in on all the interviews and photoshoots and started signaling when time was running out. One time I just stepped into frame to make them stop talking."

"Jennifer didn't say anything about it?"

"It wasn't her job to do that. She can be a nice celebrity, and I will be the... B-word."

The woman chuckled at that and Evy felt like she was scoring good points here.

They talked for over an hour. The last twenty minutes were for the lawyer, and he rapidly went over the main conditions in the probationary contract. He gave her a paper copy of the contract and his card and told her to read it carefully and call him if she had any questions.

"Thanks for your time and honesty, Evy. We will follow up with Ryan soon," Marianne said and shook Evy's hand, giving her a warm smile.