CHAPTER THREE

JESSICA'S POV.

With a large well-practiced smile on my face, I rang the fancy doorbell to Mr Snider's house, giving my appearance another glance. Was this business-casual enough? I'd gone to the mall yesterday—where I'd encountered a jerk—to buy some clothes, but I'd only been able to afford what I'm wearing right now which was a black bell-sleeved tight dress that ended appropriately at my knees. I'd judged it by looking though, it was tighter than it looked in the store and I was always to intimidated to try on a dress at a store so I just paid for it and ran to my apartment to try it. Turns out I was wrong.

The door swung open and a red haired lady stood at it with a smile on her face. "Housekeeper?" She asked.

I nodded quickly. "Yes that's me. I'm ugh ... here for the interview." I take a peak inside the house and almost gasped. The house looked as amazing as I'd dreamt it to be.

The lady followed my gaze and let out a chuckle. "I can see you like the house. Come on in and I'll show you around. I'm Clara by the way, the one who called earlier."

I smiled, following her into the massive house. The interior screamed ‘art’ and I loved it. At the orphanage I used to love reading Mrs Gina's home magazines and dreamt countless times of stepping my foot into a house like that, but I never had expected to walk into a real life one.

Clara offered me a seat on the soft sofa and I took a seat, still ogling the place. "So are you ready for my questions?"

I frowned. "What of Mr Snider? I thought he'd be the one doing the interview not you."

She sighed and pulled back her wild red hair. "He should be here soon. Truth be told, he just told me to entertain you until he arrives."

I resisted the urge to make a snide comment. He wanted me to be early but he couldn't bother to do the same. I busied myself by looking at the arty interior of the place.

I hadn't noticed Clara had gone to get refreshments until she came back with a tray filled with biscuits. "Hope you like biscuits? There's nothing else here, apparently your future boss hasn't gone grocery shopping for a while."

I grinned. I liked Clara, she was the first person to treat me like a human being and not a poor rat. It was nice. "How's your boss like though? Is he the very bossy type or super chill?"

She snorted. "I don't know. Some days he is a bossy asshole boss who barks angrily at you for making simple mistakes and some days he's just this nice boss who's super chill and friendly."

"So he is bipolar?" I joked, and she laughed. It was nice to make someone laugh. People didn't really find me funny, they always found me pityfull or unappealing. It felt really different.

"You can say that," she stared at nowhere, like she were picturing him in her head. "You might like him. He's mostly man who was given a company he doesn't know how to run than he is a bossy boss."

I nodded. So Mr Snider isn't the bossy boss type. That was great for me. Really great, I didn't have to worry about having another Mrs Smith in my life. Those were the worst times.

Clara and I chatted about lots of things for a long while until the doorbell rang, bringing us back to reality. She went to the door and talked to whoever rang it for a while before she came back with a tall figure trailing behind her.

When this person locked eyes with me I'm sure my eyebrows went to my hairline. Holy shit. It was the jerk I'd bumped into the other day, and by the look he was giving me, he was shocked as well.

"You?" He pointed a large index finger at me before dumping his briefcase on the couch. "The weird girl from then. What the hell are you doing here?"

I bit the insides of my cheek. I didn't need a socerer to tell me he was the Mr Snider or his son or something, but I'd genuinely thought Mr Snider would be a full man—probably forty or grandpa age—but to my surprise he was a man. A good looking man.

"Are you my soon to be boss?" I smiled awkwardly, glancing at Clara for help but she just looked confused.

"Oh no I'm not," he frowned. "Wait, you're supposed to be my maid now? Schumann was right, this is some movie type of shit."

Clara looked between the both of us perplexed. "You two already met? I'm guessing it was bad right?"

I nodded and she face palmed. "So you don't wanna interview her anymore because of it, sir?"

Mr Snider scoffed.  "I don't even want her in my house. What interview are we talking about? There's no way she'll be my housekeeper."

Oh God, no. Just when I'd thought my problems would finally be over, I had to bump into my employer and ruin my reputation even before the interview. How the hell would I pay my mountain of bills now? I may never get a job as good as this ever again. I needed to do something quick.

I pleaded with Clara to help me with her eyes, but she just threw her hands up like she had no say in this. Well, desperate times called for desperate moments. I started to walk towards Mr Snider, but then the worst thing happened. My leg got caught on an object on the floor and I barrelled forward into him, with my hands landing embarrassingly on his manly bits. Oh shit.

Our gazes collided and he pushed me backwards so quickly, I fell to the ground with an oomph. Kill me now please.

"What the fuck is wrong with this bitch? How dare you touch me?" He screamed, holding so tightly on his weenie—his face holding so much horror, it was kind of funny.

"Oh my gosh," I covered my face with my palms. "Please forgive me, I'm so sorry for the other day and for touching your ... your ... ugh ... thing. I'm truly sorry sir."

"Clara," he said through clenched teeth. "I need this lady out of my house right now. I won't say it again."

Clara gave me a sorry look before gesturing towards the door. "You need to leave Miss Cooper. I'll get back to you later."

Mr Snider growled. "Nobody's getting back to anybody. She's not getting a job here, let her go elsewhere please."

I couldn't possibly give up on this. I have to try my best. I fall on my knees and clamp my palms together. "Please. I'm so sorry sir. I'm ready to do anything you say. Please can we just forget what happened and go on with the interview. I'm really very sorry for touching you inappropriately."

This seemed to make him cringe. "Don't remind me jeez."

Clara held back a smile. How could she find this funny? "Sir, you need to calm down she's really good at the job. She has lots of experience and she's the last candidate."

Mr Snider's head turns toward Clara. "Call one of them back. There's must be someone else ready to do this job but her."

Clara shook her head. "You had told me never to call any of the other women again and specifically told me to hire the last person even if she were a bag of rice. She's the last candidate and it'll be rude of you to send her away without an interview."

I smiled, thanking the heavens. "I'm really good at doing chores. I can completely take care of your house sir just trust me. I'm good at many other things too, I can run your errands and everything you'll ever want me to do."

"This is not a slave deal, Cooper," he clenched his teeth. "I don't like how desperate you sound is my problem. I find it had to trust people who are desperate."

That was such a blow to my dignity, but I'd lost regard for the thing a long time ago. "I'm not desperate sir. I just really need the job. I can truly do this job, I'm the perfect candidate for it I swear. This is my only hope for survival sir." The last sentence seemed to move him, because he looked at me with interest.

Clara gave me a thumbs up and said, "should I still excuse her sir or would you like to interview her yourself?"

Mr Snider finally nodded with a sigh. Okay, alright? At this point I can't stand an interview, but you can have the job since it's clear you need it. Clara you can go back to work while I show her the house. I just hope I didn't make a wrong decision."

I squealed with excitement, going as far as hugging Clara. That's how happy I was to finally being able to leave my old life behind. Oh God, I was so happy, I could spend my last card on beer just to celebrate.

"I won't let you down, sir. I promise."