Love Heals

New Beginnings

In the two weeks it took for a confirmation text to be sent to me I did a lot of research on Mr. Calden. It turned out that Austen Calden was the CEO of Linderman Records, a new music company. He was the same age as me, 25. He had put up the job offer because life had gotten too hectic while trying to build up his new company. All very basic information but it suited my boredom.

My phone pinged with a text message: Hello Ms. Lin, I have reviewed your application and decided to hire you. I would like for you to start sometime within the next month if that is possible. My address, and consequently your new home, is at xxxx Cherry Lane, Los Angeles, CA, apartment number 14. Send me a message about your expected arrival date please. Thanks.

"Yes!" I screamed which in turn caused Millie to run in, worried that I was having another mental breakdown. I had been having a lot of those.

"Rose? Is everything ok?" She asked, panting from running over.

"I got a job, Millie! I can move on now. I can start over," I replied.

Millie smiled and gave me a hug, "I always knew you'd find yourself again. When do you start, darling?"

"I guess as soon as I get out of here. I don't really have anywhere to go..." I answered. "Speaking of which I should be texting Mr. Calden back."

"Well don't let me stop you. I'll come back later, ok?" Millie said before walking out.

I texted Mr. Calden: Hello Mr. Calden, thank you so much for the job! I will be able to start January 18. Just a quick question, is there furniture (like a bed and a desk) already in my room or should I bring my own?

He replied a minute later: Hello Ms. Lin, the room will be completely empty and yours for the decorating. I look forward to working with you!

I smiled. Two weeks. Then I could start over.

It had been a tearful day when I left Millie and the institution behind but here I was. In my remaining two weeks I had had my car fixed and ordered a new bed and a desk. I had also located my belongings from my dorm and had them delivered to the institution on the day of my departure.

With everything packed in my car and the papers set so I could leave, I got in my car and drove to Austin Calden's apartment.

Although I had lived in California my whole life, I rarely went to LA. The city life much differed from my quiet university life and my new home was smack in the midst of it all.

I checked the address one more time before ringing the doorbell. An extremely tall man with light brown hair and hazel eyes soon opened the door. Note that he was good looking, but as a 5'0 tall girl, all I noticed was that he was a 6'0 tall giant.

"You must be Ms. Lin, come in!" He said with excitement in his voice. It was a warm welcome, more casual than I had expected, which I didn't mind.

Before I could say anything, much less step into the building, two big dogs crashed into me. One was a Samoyed and the other a golden retriever.

"Snowball, Nugget, sit!" Mr. Calden commanded. "Sorry about that Ms. Lin, or rather may I call you Rose? This formalism is quite foreign to me. Please just call me Austin."

I laughed, "I don't mind at all. I'm not usually so formal either."

"Thank goodness!" Austin's tone seemed to change 360 degrees. He sounded more human. "It would've been awkward to say Ms. and Mr. like that all the time. Here, let me show you around the apartment and then I'll help you get your stuff."

I nodded and followed him into the house with the two dogs trailing behind. The first thing I saw was a small kitchen which then opened into a small living room.

"To the left over there is my room," he said pointing to a door. "And that room on the right is yours. All the walls are soundproof so if you want to play music or watch a movie late at night, don't worry about waking me up."

I nodded, "so I just have to keep this place clean by night and be your secretary by day?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and of course you'll need to take care of these two," he said, pointing at snowball and nugget. He patted their heads and they panted happily.  "I'll give you more details later. Let's get you settled in for now."

Four hours later, the two of us had lugged a mattress and boxes and boxes of my stuff up to his apartment. To my surprise, he even helped me set up my bed and desk while I put away my clothes.

"You really don't have to help me," I said as he screwed some nails into my new desk. "I don't want to bother you."

"It's fine, I have nothing better to do. Besides," he turned to me with a smile. "I want to get you into the swing of things. It gets busy at work, trust me. You'll see on Monday."

"Alright, well, thanks for helping me," I answered as I put the last of my things away. "What's next?"

"How about lunch and a break before I explain what you need to do to take care of the house? You may be a hard worker but I'm usually a lazy person and I'm tired," he replied with a laugh.

I blushed and nodded, following him to the kitchen.

'Wait, why am I blushing?' I thought. 'Shit. But he's seems nice and he's good looking. But my job... Rose! Pull yourself together, he's saying something.'

"... there's nothing much in my fridge besides frozen meals. I hope that's fine with you. Part of your job will be to buy the groceries so you can control the meals from tomorrow on," he explained.

"Oh, I don't mind frozen food at all. I ate a lot of it growing up so it's like a piece of home," I answered. 

Joking he replied, "you aren't planning to just buy frozen meals now are you?"

We both laughed as I shook my head. "What types of food do you like to eat?" I asked as he heated the food in the microwave.

"I guess anything is really fine. I never specified that you needed to know how to cook so really your job is to get food on the table for each meal. You can buy takeout,even, if you want," he said.

I nodded, making a mental note. He handed me my food and explained all the things I had to do as I chewed.

"In the morning, Snowball and Nugget need to be walked for 40minutes and fed before we go to work at 9am. I actually take them to work with me so I'll help you get them in the car. Before work a simple breakfast is nice so it's a good idea to keep breakfast bars in stock in the cabinets," he paused, checking his phone to see if there was more to do. "Oh right, before we leave in the morning, I need you to turn on the vacuum robot. Snowball sheds a lot. I'll send you the list on my phone just in case."

On top of explaining the tasks, Austin also handed me his personal information and a debit card so I could schedule appointments and buy things for him. It was a lot to take in but I was excited.

"Do you go to church Rose?" Austin asked, seemingly randomly.

"I'm atheist actually," I answered. I decided the story behind why I'm atheist was not pertinent to his knowledge. It would only harm me and his image of me.

"Ah, I was just about to offer that we went to church together," he said laughing. "Alright, well Sunday shall be your day off then."

I smiled. Austin was very good natured and I was glad that he would be my new boss. I just wished I could be more honest with him about my past but I feared that I would lose my job if I was seen as unstable.

I'm used to it though, the pretending. But as I'd soon find out, you can't hide from your past forever.