Chapter 13

“Optamologist” Michelle typed in, and clicked the magnifying glass, only to find no results found.

“Opthamologist” Michelle tried again, and again no results found.

“Why couldn’t he have been a fucking plumber?” Michelle said under her breath in frustration, concerned she was failing miserably at the first simple assignment that Julie had given her, “at least I know how to spell plumber!”

Clicking back into the Search box, she decided to take another approach, and typed M-I-T-C-H, and shrieked with pride as the screen filled with 69 matching results.

The third email in the list was the one with the financial statements attached, and she dutifully opened each, using the password supplied in a subsequent email, and sent them to the printer outside of the Smith Room.

With Julie still on the phone with the client contact, Michelle decided to review the other results, to learn more about the history of this client, without burdening Julie with having to provide it. As she stepped through the results, scanning the email for pertinent information, then clicking the right arrow, so the next message in the result set would load, she gasped and stared at the screen for a long moment.

As Julie returned to the Smith Room, holding the “hot off the press” financial statements in her hand, Michelle quickly clicked forward, typed in her email address, and clicked send, knowing she’d have to review that message in a lot more detail in private. Michelle clicked into the Sent Items folder, deleted the last entry, and clicked back to the In Box, as Julie settled into the chair next to her, and the two women began pouring over the reports.

The worked through lunch, eating the salads that were delivered while going over the client’s financials. Around 3:00 pm, Julie felt satisfied that Michelle had enough information to be successful, and started re-stacking the files, so she could carry them back to her office.

“About King,” Julie said, changing the subject, “he should be alright by himself until around noon, so come by tomorrow at that time to walk and feed him, and then you have full run of the house until I get back on Friday afternoon.”

“No problem, Julie,” agreed Michelle, “I’ll probably just be working on the Greene file anyway, and I’d much rather do that poolside than in my tiny apartment.”

“Oh, and one more thing,” Julie added, “King is very possessive, especially when we’re away, so please don’t have any boyfriends over while gone.”

“Oh, I don’t have a boyfriend, ma’am,” Michelle replied blushing.

“Girlfriend?” Julie queried with a raised eyebrow, just to watch the young woman’s face turn redder, then laughed to break the tension of the tease.

Saturday morning found Michelle packing a suitcase of clothes for work, comfortable clothes for after, and of course, a few bathing suits for the pool and hot tub. She was dressed in her lycra running pants, a sports bra, with a light tank top over it, as she planned to take King for a run, knowing how much he enjoys his daily outings with Julie.