July
Sam raced inside from hanging clothes on the line and just made it to the phone before the machine kicked in.
‘Samantha? Sheila.’ Her boss was always a little abrupt. Sam wondered how she had ever got into this line of work. She couldn’t imagine Sheila showing the kind of congeniality her clients seemed to appreciate.
‘I’ve been checking your time sheets,’ Sheila continued. ‘Do you realise you haven’t claimed anything for Mr Buchanan since April?’
‘Uh huh,’ Sam confirmed, catching her breath.
‘Well, what’s going on?’
‘Nothing,’ she said defensively. ‘Nothing’s going on.’
‘Then why haven’t you recorded time spent?’
‘Well,’ Sam hesitated. ‘I just, I haven’t done much for him for a while.’
‘This doesn’t make any sense, Sam. I’ve just been reading a feedback questionnaire from Mr Buchanan, full of praise for you.’
‘What feedback questionnaire?’
‘Oh, we send them out from time to time. Client feedback is vital to us. I mean, this business is all about keeping clients happy. They’re the only ones who can tell us if we’re succeeding.’
‘Oh, sure,’ Sam murmured. ‘I just wasn’t aware you did that.’
‘Well, you don’t have anything to worry about, Samantha. I’ve received some excellent feedback from your clients.’
‘You have?’
‘Absolutely,’ she declared. ‘I didn’t expect it from you when you first came into the office, I thought you might be a little precious. But it seems that everyone adores you. Mr Dempsey even wants to increase his subscription, you’ll be getting a pay rise.’
‘Oh no.’ Sam was going to have to take this up with him. ‘Ted’s an absolute pleasure to work for. I couldn’t accept more money from him.’
‘Customer’s always right, Samantha,’ Sheila dismissed. ‘Now, what about Mr Buchanan?’
‘Well, um,’ Sam was taken aback. ‘What did he tell you?’
‘He’s ticked excellent in every box on the questionnaire. And in the space for comment at the end he wrote . . .’ she paused. Sam could hear the shuffling of papers. ‘Oh, yes, here it is. “Ms Holmes is professional, thorough and tireless. She has been an enormous help as I’ve acclimatised to a new country, I couldn’t have got by these past few months without her invaluable assistance.”’
Sam was blushing. There was no one around to hear what Sheila had just said, but she was blushing nonetheless.
‘He’s American,’ she said in a small voice. ‘You know how they exaggerate.’
‘Well, whatever, you must have done something to earn such high praise.’
‘It hasn’t been that much –’
‘Samantha, this is not only for your sake. IGB is a huge client, and they generally review the service every year. If I don’t show that the hours they have already paid for are being used by the client, they may decide their money could be spent in better ways.’
‘Sorry. What do you want me to do?’
‘Look over your records for the last few months, work out the hours you’ve spent on Mr Buchanan. Anything and everything, and don’t forget phone calls. It’s obviously meant a lot to him, whatever you’ve been doing. You should be getting paid for it.’
Sam sat staring at her index card for Hal. She hadn’t touched it since the emails had arrived in April. She’d simply recorded the date and next to it the words ‘Contact restored!!!’, in what now looked like a rather over-excited hand. She sighed. How could she bill Hal for coming house-hunting? Or for taking Josh to the football? Or for the phone calls he’d made to see how things were going for her? It didn’t seem right. She had to do something for him for a change. She picked up the phone and dialled his direct number at work.
‘Hal Buchanan.’
‘Hi, Hal, it’s me, Samantha Holmes.’
‘Hey Sam.’ His tone softened instantly. ‘How’re you doing?’
She smiled. He still hadn’t picked up ‘How are you going’, but Sam decided she liked the way he said it. ‘I’m fine, thanks. But listen, I’ve just been talking to my boss, and she told me all the lies you’ve been spreading about me.’
‘What lies?’
‘About everything I’ve supposedly been doing for you. You didn’t have to say all that, Hal.’
‘But it’s true. I asked to be acclimatised and you’ve been doing a fine job.’
‘Oh sure,’ Sam said dubiously. ‘Letting you take my son to the football, dragging you around house-hunting . . .’
‘Ah now, but that had a purpose, didn’t it? You should hear me these days when the conversation turns to real estate.’
‘Oh yeah? What do you say?’
‘That it’s overpriced.’
Sam grinned. ‘I believe you had that figured out before.’
‘Mm, but now I can say it with authority.’
‘Well, my boss is expecting me to put in revised time sheets claiming the time spent with you.’
‘So?’
‘It doesn’t feel right.’
‘Sam, it’s not coming out of my pocket. Who keeps the money if you don’t claim it?’
‘The business, I guess.’
‘So knock yourself out.’
‘I just wanted you to know.’ She hesitated. ‘And to say thanks.’
‘You’re very welcome.’
‘And now you have to let me do something for you.’
‘Oh? What do you have in mind?’
‘I don’t know, Hal. You have to help me out here. There must be something you want?’
‘But you told me sex wasn’t part of the deal?’
‘Hal!’ Sam exclaimed. She knew she was blushing now.
‘Gotcha,’ he laughed. ‘Okay, okay, let me think. What’s a quintessential Australian day out?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Quintessential means . . .’
‘I know what quintessential means. But what do you mean by a quintessential Australian day out?’
‘That’s what I was asking you. What did you do on a day out when you were a kid, for example?’
Sam thought about it. They didn’t have those kinds of days out when she was a child. Her mother usually worked on weekends and she palmed the three girls off to their grandparents in the school holidays. Picnics and outings were for kids with fathers.
‘I’ll have a think about it,’ said Sam eventually, flipping through her diary. ‘The kids are with their father this weekend, are you free Saturday?’
‘Let me just check,’ he said slowly. ‘You wouldn’t believe the women I have begging to take me out. You know, being handsome and single and straight in this city is such a burden.’
Sam smiled. ‘I’ve created a monster.’
‘Turns out you’re in luck. Saturday’s fine.’
‘Then I’ll pick you up, say around ten?’
‘I’ll look forward to it.’
