Night Dancer

Twenty Seven

Ross Hadinsky was in his mid fifties, his dark hair giving way to grey and thinning a little on top with the bluest eyes Alyssa had ever seen. He was still a reasonably attractive man when he smiled which was rarely she discovered. Ross was a serious man, not given to a lot of idle chatter but he was easy enough to work for. He took his coffee strong and black, didn't eat a lot during the day and was very clear as to what he wanted her to do which as she was brand new to all of this was both reassuring and helpful. Alyssa soon settled into the work and proved herself to be reliable and hard working. She was a naturally intelligent girl and her new manager was delighted to find that she only needed telling what to do once and she did it. By the end of the first couple of weeks she was working from her own initiative as well having carefully observed what Ross needed from her day by day and both were content in their roles.

The days were long though and she was exhausted by the time she got in each night. Nine to five seemed to be a distant dream as she found herself more often than not in the office from eight in the morning until the same time at night. But the pay was good, the job was easy enough once she got the hang of it and Ross was easy so she didn't complain. What it did mean though was she didn't see as much of her family and certainly not of Bret. She had to satisfy herself with a rushed breakfast with the kids and a phone call with her boyfriend on the way home from work when she was often so tired she could barely speak. Her dad was still around though and he too was working, seeming happy enough when she saw him to speak to, though Josh seemed on edge a lot of the time, his face etched with worry that had she been home more she could have noticed.

"Alyssa could you type this out for me?" Ross asked, appearing suddenly at her desk, a harassed look on his face and a notebook full of his scribbled notes in his hand. "I'm sorry but Linus has requested it for tonight." Glancing at the clock Alyssa tried to ignore the fact it was well after five already and just smiled, nodding.

"Of course. It won't take me long."

"I'm going to call for pizza. You want some? My treat?" he asked and she smiled.

"Thanks, sounds good." Ross grinnned and headed away. He often called in take out and always shared it with her, another reason she quite liked him. He knew full well what her hours were and clearly felt some guilt that he kept her here past them but he was doing his best to make it up to her and she knew a few take outs wouldn't do her any harm. She needed to put a bit of weight on after the months of almost starving herself anyway and she had a huge appreciation of food because of the hardships she'd been through. As she started to type out the report, picking her way through his handwriting and appalling grammar she edited and improved all the way through until there was a decent report there then emailed it across for him to check before she would print him a copy and email the other one off for him to their boss, Linus Lionel who she was yet to meet. Leaning back in her seat she enjoyed the slices of pizza Ross had brought for her and the cherry coke which she had become quite a fan of after a long time drinking only weak coffee and water.

The phone on her desk rang and she answered it quickly after wiping her hands on her serviette.

"That looks great Alyssa. Could you print it and email it off to Linus as well, then please do head home. Sorry to have kept you so late again."

"That's ok. The pizza made it worthwhile," she teased and he laughed.

"I'll remember that,' he said, hanging up. Alyssa smiled and shook her head, printing off his copy of the report and putting it into a binder, then emailing it off to Linus before she collected her things together, slipped on her coat and headed out into the night, taking her phone out of her bag to call Bret while she walked the few blocks to the bus station.

"You're out late again," Bret commented.

"It's ok, I got overtime and the best pizza I've ever eaten," she replied, her voice alight with laughter that made him smile as he swapped the phone to his other ear and got up to find a quiet spot in the bar where he could talk to her away from Brian, Curt and Steve who were engaged in a lot of talk he wouldn't want her to know he was involved in.