He's Dating Someone

Wes Warren's assistant, Samantha, was at Wes's house when Rae was there.

When Wes Warren said his date was coming to his house, his assistant Samantha was beyond shocked. Practically no one ever got invited in there. She drove over to his house the same night. She staked out there. She's spied on Wes before, so she's used to the stake out. When she saw the food delivery person, she got off the car and intercepted the dinner.

When Wes opened the door, she could see his hair a little messed up. His shirt wrinkled and buttons were off by one.

"What are you doing here, Samantha?" Wes frowned.

Samantha tried to peek who this date is. "I was just trying to make sure Miranda didn't show up and ruin your date."

"Oh, thanks," Wes let out a sigh. Samantha couldn't smell any alcohol on his breath. He wasn't drinking and he's already making out with this date of his?

"And I got the food for you." She held the bag up.

"OK, yeah, I figured," Wes took the sack from her hands, "I think I'm fine now. You should hurry home. Isn't your kid home already?"

"Oh he's with his grandparents, so I'm not in a hurry."

Samantha is 25 years old and her son is six. There's no dad in the picture, he was just gone.

Everyone supported her decision to have the baby and thought she was brave. Her parents babysat the boy while she worked and took business classes online.

When Samantha was little, she always wanted to work in a big office as a secretary or something. She applied to be Wind Chime CEO's personal assistant. Wes Warren's last assistant had recently quit. So he said "let's give her an interview."

Samantha came in, telling him that she's a proud mom of a four-year-old son. She had worked in a treatment facility. She had taken business courses. There was nothing else on her resume to tell him. Her introduction to herself lasted probably three minutes.

"Alright. You are hired." Wes Warren stood up.

Samantha was surprised. "Really?"

"A mother is the strongest and most resilient type of person. My last assistant was a mom, too, but she wanted to stay home full-time now so she left. Since you are also a mom and you want to work here, I'm sure you'll do just as fine, if not better."

Samantha was so grateful and so touched that Wes Warren was willing to give her chance so quickly. Although she didn't like that he compared her with his last assistant, she knew she wanted to prove to him she was better. Everyday, she tried to find a way to impress him. She paid attention to details so she could outperform the last one.

In Wes's mind, time is the most valuable thing to him. He didn't want to waste too much time on interviewing a personal assistant. He could do everything himself if he really didn't have an assistant; it's not like he was born with a silver spoon and couldn't manage little chores.

But Samantha believed Wes took a shot in her because she was special.

So she made sure she took care of him. That was why she came to check on him.

Wes smoothed his hair out a little more, knowing it was probably a little messy now, "No, Samantha, really, I'm fine. I'm on a date now. Everything is good. Go home now. Be with your son. I am not paying you over time," Wes joked.

Samantha thought it was slightly insulting because she didn't think of this as overtime. She seldom applied to get overtime pay only when the HR asked her to. She is always very willing to be on call regarding his personal affairs after hours. She takes pride in helping him weed out nuisances.

If it weren't for her standing guard, Wes would be getting too many calls from too many random women.

For example, she is the one deleted the messages and clear the recent phone call log so Wes didn't know Rae called the day when Rae was looking for the smart watch.

Samantha believed Rae left the smart watch on purpose. Dropping a personal belonging at his place so you could come back in? No way, skank. Samantha deleted all the messages until Wes came out of his long meetings.

**** **** ***

When Rae goes to work at the Palms Club on Friday, she could see Marina happy as a clam.

"What's gotten into you?" Rae asks, "You got a generous tip from someone?"

"No. It'd be great to get a big tip. But I'm going to ask Zach Evans out tomorrow evening. I don't care if I don't get a shot. I'm just going to try."

"Wow, good for you. Go for it." Rae raises her eyebrows.

"Oh, by the way, I went back to my parents' home and found his high school year book photo. Yeah, he was two years senior than me so I guess he's your age, huh."

"Yeah, he is."

"And guess what!" Marina seems to not able to contain her smile.

"What?"

"I sent a social media friend request and he accepted it. He only used one of those social media that my mom uses." Marina laughs, "I guess he's not super young and hip."

"You'd think he'd be more into trendy mobile apps since he's a tech guy." Rae shrugs. She hasn't searched Zach Evans online to know what he uses. Maybe she should and see what public posts are there.

"I mean I have the accounts but I haven't used much at all," Rae seems to try to explain for people who don't use many social apps, "Not that I have time to share a bunch of photos."

"Well, let's take a quick break. I want to show you his high school photos." Marina nudges Rae.

"You have them on your phone?"

"Duh, I took photos of the photos in the yearbook." They walk over to the kitchen area. Again, it is already closed after 10 PM.

Marina scrolls her phone and hands it over to Rae, "See, he was such a dork, right?"

Rae laughs. Zach Evans had a goofy haircut. An awkward smile. Very adolescent face. A little better in his senior year.

"Now I want to see your high school photos, Marina." Rae gives the phone back to Marina.

"No. This is not about me." Marina puts her phone away.

"Yes it is, what if he looks you up in his yearbook?" Rae laughs.

"Well, I don't have them on my phone. I'll take pictures of them next time I go home."

"I'm just kidding. You'll be fine. He seems simple enough. And really, he's kind of just OK." Rae gives an iffy gesture, "Don't overwork your mind. Just be you." Rae feels like she's acting like Z, pep talking Marina. Although, unlike Z, she thinks she's a little more trusting and hands-off with Marina. Rae also finds herself talking Zach down a little more than fair.

"Well, actually I hear that he's is kind of going out with an internet influencer, Nikki." Marina pulls her phone out again, searching Nikki's images online. She shows Nikki's photos to Rae.

Nikki is everything Rae is not. Long legs, blond, skinny, high cheekbones and apparently very daring and confident, because some of the swimsuits she wore in those photos, oof, are super high-cut bikini's bottom. Or are those called a thong? Nikki looks like she could be the car race girl that waves the flag for the excited spectators. Her sultry eyes can squint into two sexy fine lines.

On the contrary, both Marina and Rae have normal size round eyes. She doubts she can ever pull off a seductive look like Nikki.

"Wow, this is who he's dating? I didn't even know he's dating anyone..." A strange feeling emerges in Rae. It feels like... jealousy. Rae shakes her head at herself.

"Well, I'm still going to talk to Zach."

"Yeah, of course. You should still ask him out."

"What's wrong?" Marina notices Rae not smiling anymore.

"Nothing. I'm just surprised he is even dating."

"Well, why would you be surprised or not surprised? It's not like you would know his personal life anyway?"

Oops. Yeah. "Well, just based on what I knew about him from college. He seemed a little standoffish."

Oh well. Zach is seeing someone. Good for him. Wes Warren is seeing someone, too. Rae wishes she could find someone for herself, too. At least she has Z right now. She's going to ask Z to help her find someone.