I Do

“So, you just read the ad I circled. What about it?” she asked.

“Josie, this is not just an assistant job,” Dani said excitedly. “This is an ad that will get a whole lot of replies. Trust me on that.”

“Why? What’s the big deal?” Josie was still confused.

“Well, this is an ad posted for the position of personal assistant to Ethan Beckett.”

Dani raised an eyebrow at Josie as if the information was supposed to make her get some kind of epiphany.

“Babe, Ethan Beckett is the CEO of Beckett Industries. They are the brains behind the fifth largest fast-food franchise in the country. They are the guys who own the Mad Wings and The Mug.”

Josie bit her lower lip.

“They really do have mad wings. Nice and crispy and perfect.”

“Yeah! And you are always at The Mug for their pastries.”

“I go there for work.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever makes you sleep at night,” Dani said, smiling. “Send in your resume. This is a great opportunity.”

Josie sighed and nodded.

“What do I have to lose, right?” she asked as she reached for her laptop and began sending her resume. If Dani thought it was a good idea for her to apply to the job, then she was not going to second-guess herself anymore. Dani had always been the voice of reason in Josie’s life. Ever since the day a confused little African-American girl showed up in the University of California dorms. Josie did not know back then that the chippy dark-haired girl was going to be her best friend down the line. Since the first day of college, those two had hardly spent a day apart. After graduation, they got an apartment in town near their workplaces. By the time they were graduating, they both worked part-time at a restaurant to pay the bills while they both worked to turn their internships into proper jobs. Dani was at a local television station and Josie had just started at Rank Media.

In an ideal world, Josie would have expected to be promotion to a fully paid position by the time she was done with her internship period and then a promotion after two years, but that obviously never happened. The situation was different for Dani. She might not have been getting to produce the kind of stories she would have wanted to produce but the pay was good enough for her to stick it out as she waited for her big break.

“So, did you get some production leftovers for dinner today or should I crack on in the kitchen?” Josie asked without looking up from the computer.

“Actually, today I got the food before people got their hands on it. It was beef teriyaki for lunch and a whole lot of snacks for the people with munchies. On beef or chicken teriyaki day, you get lucky if you can get a French bean.” Dani reached for the bag she had put on the couch next to her. “And it is freakishly delicious.”

Josie smiled at her best friend.

“Thanks for looking out for me.”

“Please, you’d do the same for me. Now, let me heat up our dinner.” Dani stood up and carried the food to the kitchen. “We’ve come a long way from having ramen and Kool-Aid, haven’t we?”

Josie chuckled but the smile on her face faded almost as soon as it had appeared. She already had a reply from Beckett Industries.

“They already replied,” she said in a low voice but Dani still heard her.

“Who?” she asked from the kitchen.

“Beckett. They already set up an interview for tomorrow morning at 9:00 am.”

Dani gave her a thumbs up.

“Look at that. All things are coming up Josie,” she said as Josie looked at the laptop screen.

She was not sure if she was excited about the new opportunity or just worried. Part of her was excited to start on a new career path but another part of her was concerned about starting out in a new environment with new co-workers and new bosses. She did not know if she had it in her to deal with someone who treated her the same way Anton had treated her.

“Don’t think like that, Josie,” she scolded herself. “Things are coming up Josie.”

They had to. At thirty-one, she could not afford to have her world become unhinged. If anything, this was when she needed everything to be okay.

She leaned back on the couch and did a quick search for Ethan Beckett. By the time she went to bed that evening, she had read up on Ethan Beckett and his companies. Knowing everything about him would give her an upper hand in knowing how to handle herself around him, she thought. But then again, she was not the only one who had Googled her potential new boss. That much she was sure about. All she cared about was making it in her new workplace. That interview just had to work.

                                                            *****

Josie was up bright and early Tuesday morning. She was not sure how to prepare for her interview. She had not been to an interview in so long that she could not help but wonder if the rules had changed. By half past six, she’d had at least four wardrobe changes. Nothing felt right. The clothes were either a little too official or a little too casual. At Rank Media, the dress code was a little relaxed. People only ever got dressed up when there were board meetings. Otherwise, the whole place looked like dress-down Fridays except for the likes of Sienna Miller who always dressed to impress. It was no wonder she caught the boss’ eye. Her plan was obviously to sleep her way to the top and it seemed to be working so far.

She had just taken off a navy blue pantsuit when she spotted one of her favorite outfits at the back of her closet. It was a black pencil skirt and a white blouse. One of Josie’s fashion rules to live by was that black and white never went out of style. Besides, when in doubt, you could never go wrong with black and white. She took the outfit off the hanger and pulled the skirt up before she tucked the blouse into the skirt. She then put on a pair of black stiletto heels and stood in front of the mirror.

“This is it,” she thought as a smile played on her lips. “This is the outfit.”