Amber's Savior

I woke up with a jaw-cracking yawn and stretched,

“Today is the day.”

I thought to myself. Today someone will hire me and I will have a job again. Having no living relations to rely on, I had been thinking like that for the last four months. I had been laid off from my previous job, but hey, it never hurt anybody to be optimistic, right?

"Besides I put that looking for a job thing up on Indeed so perhaps today is the day that venture will bear fruit. ”

I added, trying to quash the voice in my head that whispered louder each time I withdrew money from my almost nonexistent savings. I sometimes wished that I had followed in my parent's footsteps and become a cop. After they were killed on duty, my grandmother raised me. Not wanting to lose me like she had my mom, she persuaded me not to follow that particular career path.

Just as I slipped on a pair of grey sweatpants and my most comfy purple hoodie now that my unruly hair had been tamed, a knock sounded on the door downstairs.

Taking a second to make sure I had no makeup smeared on my face- not that I ever wore much anyway- I hurried down the stairs. When I looked through the peephole, a slender woman with green eyes, long black hair, and an olive complexion was standing at my doorstep.

I opened the door a sliver and asked warily

"Can I help you?

She smiled, her teeth perfectly white and straight.

"Am I speaking to Amber Roswell?"

"A-Yes that's me."

I stumbled slightly over my words, wondering what the hell she wanted.

“Hello Amber, my name is Adella,” The mysterious stranger said her voice smooth like honey.

" I saw your post online looking for a job.........do you still need one?” she asked.

"I-Yes, I do, please come in!"

I shut the door and fumbled to unlatch the chain. My mind was racing

“How did she find me and omg I am in sweats and she’s - ugh no way will she want to hire me even if that is what she came here to do. That brings me back the the first question how did she find- oh right! The ad thing for Indeed asked me if I wanted my residence to be available to any verified employers and I said yes.”

Having completed this inner monologue, I opened the flimsy door to my apartment and stepped aside to allow Adella in. Once she was inside, I could see that she was wearing what looked to be a genuine black Prada dress. I led her into my small living room and she took a seat on the weary leather armchair, leaving the small, faded brown cloth loveseat for me.

I must admit that I am glad to hear you still need work, as you were one of my top picks for the position that I am hoping to have filled.”

Adella replied once she was seated, seeming truly glad that I was, for lack of a better term, “still on the market”

“I would have reached out to you sooner but as you can imagine I had a sea of potential employees to wade or rather swim through.”

She said laughing slightly. Her light laugh was beautiful, to me it sounded like the water running gently over pebbles.

I cocked my head and said curiously,

“What position are you looking to have filled?”

“I am looking for a personal assistant willing to live in house.”

“The pay is quite high.”

Adella added seeing the war of emotions playing out on my face.

“How much would the position pay exactly?”

I asked, shocked at the words coming out of my mouth.

“Just say yes you idiot! You NEED this job, only another 3 weeks and you’ll be evicted if you can’t pay rent!”

Although Adella’s expression remained neutral I could tell that she was pleased with my interest,

“$20 an hour” she replied.

My eyes widened and I started twisting the simple silver ring that I always wore on my right ring finger, a nervous habit I had never managed to break.

“Come on Amber quit being such a wuss!”

I thought to myself.

"I have just a few questions if you don’t mind?”

“Of course, fire away”

Adella replied leaning back in the chair and crossing her left leg over her right in an elegant fashion. Her features were open and relaxed, and I got the immediate sense that I could trust her.

"Ok, so what duties would you need me to perform, when do you want me to start, and how many hours a week would I work?"

I rattled off the first questions that came to mind, doing my best to sound calm and professional.

“Well, I would prefer for you to start working as soon as you can but if you need a few days that is also understandable. As for duties, just filing receipts, and other such paperwork for the most part, though you may have to run out on the occasion to grab me a coffee.”

she said, her reasonable reply not exactly helping to discourage me from taking the job as I had been hoping it would.

“As for the hours,” she continued, ” You would be working Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.”

I ran a couple of quick calculations through my head

“Holy shit if I take this job I will be making $700 a week!”

I realized with a large jolt of surprise.

“I’ll take the job and I can be there tomorrow. Where exactly am I supposed to go? You never did mention the name of your office.”

Adella grinned wryly, “I suppose I haven’t. Just head to 4192 Crescent St. That is the location of my home/office.”

I wrote the address down quickly and after Adella left I changed into an outfit more suitable for the activities I knew had in mind for the day. After changing into the more presentable outfit of blue jeans and a lavender t-shirt, I put the address Adella had given me in Google Maps.

" Only a 10 to 15-minute drive, that is not bad at all. I do wonder when she says live in if that is all the time or just during the week. I should have asked her when she was here.”

I thought to myself. Despite these few lingering worries, I went through the rest of my day on cloud nine. Knowing that I had a job to do tomorrow and with it, money to earn was the best feeling I had had i