To my luck, Harry did not fire me after my first day, and although he had been messing with me about the coffee he practically had me running for the rest of the day, and I had been tired when I finally made it home. He had me set up meetings, answering emails, phone calls etc. But at least it was by no means boring. I had even forgotten to call Maddie which was very unlike me. She had me tell her about my day down to every single detail, and she was practically certain Harry had a good eye for me. Not that she would know, just because he seemed to be flirting with me did not mean anything. Perhaps he was just doing it to make me like him which I did. Not like that off course, but he seemed like a very nice man.
Just like every morning, I hesitantly make my way into Harry's office to let my presence known. I'm not supposed to be in here as I've had my own desk set up in another room, but Harry really seems to care about my wellbeing. He wants me to meet at his office before and after work in case I have any questions about my work. He wants me to inform him if I have any uncertainties about something.
"Good morning, Harry," I say handing him his cup of coffee. This is not actually part of my job. Harry has assured me he can make coffee himself, but I don't mind.
"Good morning, Leah," he says giving me a smile.
"I brought you a croissant," I say handing the bag to him in anticipation.
"And why would you do that?" He asks. Not the reaction I was hoping for.
"To be honest with you, I wanted one for myself, and then I thought it would be a bit rude if I was eating one without offering you anything. So well, I bought one for you too," I say looking at the floor unsure if my gesture is being received in a bad way. "If you don't want it, I'll eat it for lunch." I've totally lost my cool by now. Why does he always make me so uneasy?
"Thank you, Leah," he says giving me a smile as he takes the bag. I let out a sigh of relief. "I don't remember when I last had one of these. My girlfriend says it's bad for the figure," he chuckles, and I look at him in confusion. I didn't know he had a girlfriend.
"Girlfriend?" I ask surprised, my mind speaking for me. Honestly, it's none of my business.
"Scratch that, she's actually my fiancée," he says indifferent, and I feel a tension build around us. Not that it should matter that he is in a relationship. "Now, don't just stand there. Take a seat. Eat with me," he says grabbing the croissant from the bag. Hesitantly, I sit down. This was not what I had intended. So Harry is engaged. Of course, he is. I feel silly for thinking even just for a second that he might grow a liking towards me. Not that I really gave it much thought, but it did cross my mind even if I don't like to admit it. But I know men don't want me like that. I am nothing but nice.
"You alright?" Harry's eyes meet mine, and I notice he has his mouth full of food.
"Yeah," I mumble trying to stay indifferent. He's still my boss and nothing was going to happen anyway. That would just be really weird and totally unprofessional of me.
"So everything's good here? You don't want to change anything?"
"What would I change?"
"I dunno. Your work hours? Your amount of tasks? Something you aren't happy about?" He asks taking a sip of his coffee.
"No, I believe everything's good. At least so far. It's all just a lot to take in. Definitely different than my work at the café. But so far everything's good," I confess nipping at the croissant trying not to let too many crumbs fall on the floor.
"I'm glad to hear that. Don't want you getting stressed over something. If in doubt please let me know, and I'll help you out. If I'm busy I'll have one of the others help you, okay?"
I nod. "Thank you, Harry."
"Well thank you. This was great. Very underrated. Guess, I'll just have to work a little harder on the treadmill today, but it was definitely worth it," he says, and I realise he has already finished his croissant.
"One croissant won't kill you," I smile.
"Try telling Kaia that," he says, and I narrow my eyes at him. "My fiancée."
"Right. It can be our secret," I say and stand up. "I should probably get to work." Before he can reply, I'm already out the door. I don't understand what it is, but all of a sudden I'm feeling very uncomfortable. It's nice to know that he feels comfortable in my presence, yet somehow it is making me uncomfortable. I don't want to be talking about his fiancée, who's apparently scared of sugar and who's probably a fitness freak. I can tell Harry works out. If I'm not mistaken Kaia is one of those girls who look like someone taken out of a magazine. She probably has thousands of followers on Instagram where she is posting half naked photos of herself. And not that I should care. I don't even know this woman, yet I already don't like her although I have no reason to.
With a sigh I sit down by my desk hoping that today will pass by quickly.
"Leah?" Harry's voice takes me by surprise, and I snap out of my trance and look up at him faking him a smile.
"Yeah."
"You alright?" He sounds concerned, and I hate myself for letting my emotions show.
"Yes. Why wouldn't I be? I guess the heat is just really getting to me."
"Well, I have a preposition for you."
"What is it?"
"My parents are celebrating their anniversary on Saturday, and our photographer cancelled. I told them I'd take care of it and then I thought of you."
"That's very sweet of you," I say sincerely. "But I'm not really that used to taking pictures of people. I'm more of a landscape girl," I say which isn't entirely true. I've taken thousands of pictures of people at weddings and other special events, yet I don't want Harry to think that I'm completely professional. Because I'm not, I don't have the right equipment for that.
"Practice makes perfect," he says with a smile. "Besides, they'll pay you 2000 dollars for it."
I look at him dumbfounded. "Wow, thank you Harry. That's very kind. But I don't want to disappoint."
"Trust me, you won't. I'll let them know you said yes," he says and disappears out of sight. Part of me wants to be mad at him for just assuming that I'm free on Saturday, but it's not like I have anything better to do. And this is a very nice offer, one that I can't resist especially not when he smiles at me with that cute smile of his that shows his dimples. If his parents are as nice as Harry then I guess I have nothing to worry about.
"So, he's engaged?"
"That's what I said," I say placing our order on just-eat.
"That doesn't mean anything," Maddie says, and I send her a glare.
"Of course, it does. Besides nothing's going to happen between us. I told you that."
"But he's flirting with you," she says.
"For all I know he's flirting with all his employees. Even though Gertrude is married, her eyes brighten when she talks about him and she can't stop smiling."
"I don't know who this Gertrude is. But that just tells me that he's a charmer."
"I don't even know where this idea is coming from?" I say trying my hardest not to blush. We both know the idea has crossed my mind, but the fact that Harry's engaged definitely means that I've got no chance what so ever.
"Don't tell me you haven't thought of this yourself. Look at him, he's gorgeous," she says showing me a picture of him on his Facebook profile. Why is she even stalking him? She's right he is gorgeous, but that doesn't change anything. He's my boss, there's no way that's going to work out.
"Even if that might be the case, he's my boss and he's taken. Nothing's going to happen there. It doesn't matter anyway, I'm fine by myself."
She sends me a glare, and I know she doesn't believe me even if she doesn't say anything. But I don't need a boyfriend, and I'm definitely not going to jump at any man I meet. I'm not that desperate, but that doesn't mean that being alone doesn't get lonely at times, it does, but at the same time, I enjoy being alone. Most of the time at least.