More Of You - One for the Ages // Book Two

Chapter 15

ELIZABETH

Three days after we'd come into a floor full of empty offices and cubes the place was buzzing with activity. I had to hand it to Michael. He handled hiring an office manager. Her name was Wanda and she was a goddamn machine. Within 24 hours of being hired she had everything cleaned. She'd hired a receptionist whose name I hadn't caught yet. She'd gotten the IT guys from Roland's firm in to assess our network and get all the printers set up and she'd gotten us catered lunch.

She deserved a raise already and she hadn't even been an employee for 48 hours.

I was dealing with getting the muscle hired. I had interviews with three lawyers today. Two graduates and one who had been doing just the kind of litigation I would need.

Michael walked into my office carrying a mountain of paperwork,

"Need this signed for the photographer to come and take pictures of the offices and staff for publications and the website." He said as he set down a stack.

"Need this signed for authorization to get everyone parking." He said as he set down another.

"Need this signed for creation of our expense accounts with Roland's firm." He said with a deep breath as he set down another, "And need this...signed for lunch."

I looked up at him,

"I feel like I'm signing my life away."

Michael chuckled,

"Not yours..." He turned to walk out, stopping before he reached the door, "Also...I found an apartment-" He stopped, "Flat." He corrected, "For myself. It's amazing and I love it. Have you thought about moving out of the hotel yet?"

I frowned as I shook my head. If I was being honest I wasn't ready to move out of the hotel yet. All of this was overwhelming and the hotel had become home,

"No."

Michael frowned,

"Ya know...finding housing in this city isn't easy...the longer you put it off..." He let his sentence trail off.

I let out a deep sigh of my own,

"Why don't you look for me?" I offered.

He raised his eyebrows,

"Really? There's a flat a few floors up from mine that is great. I really think you'd like it. I'll set up a viewing for Friday if you like?"

I nodded,

"Sure. Whatever."

At this point I was just saying what he wanted to hear so he'd leave me alone. He clapped,

"Awesome. I'll set it up then. We can get pedicures down at the salon togeth-"

"Michael," I interrupted, "Kinda busy."

"Right." He answered, "I'll get out of your hair then."

------------------

Wanda, Michael and I were in a conference room brainstorming some ideas for our coming out party a few days later. Roland wanted a white party theme like he was the British P. Diddy. Michael was all for it. Wanda and I quickly nixed the idea. This was going to be a professional party where we could network and get people on board with our message.

Michael held up some swatches,

"Here are the colors the event planner sent over."

I studied them for a few moments, shot a quick glance at Wanda who nodded in agreement and then nodded myself,