Read Online The Three Rs by Ashe Barker - Free Book Online

and it’s already occupied. A large, dark-gray cat is fast asleep on the battered armchair set in the corner, his nose buried between his front paws. He’s snoring softly and it seems distinctly rude to even contemplate usurping him. I’m a little uneasy around cats, and this particular specimen is huge. No, I’m not looking for bother. He can keep his chair.
    Seeing my dilemma, Cain stands up and shoves his own wheeled desk chair in my direction. “You’re right, best not to ruffle Oscar. He’s a grumpy old sod at the best of times. Here, you have that. Won’t be a sec.” He strides from the small room, to return moments later with one of the kitchen dining chairs.
    He sets that down in front of the desk, plonks himself down on it and briefly returns his attention to the laptop. The screen goes blank, and I realize he must have closed down whatever he was working on. I am disturbing him, obviously. I try to apologize again and stand up, intending to leave.
    “Miss Fischer, please sit down.” His tone has an unmistakable thread of authority woven through it, the richness of velvet with a steel core.
    I obey without ever questioning for a moment why I should.
    “Is everything all right for you? The room? Did you find the bathroom and toilet all right?” His tone has softened now, no hint of his commanding presence of just a moment ago. Now he’s friendly, genial, the perfect host.
    I start to relax, just a little. “Yes, I did. It’s all great. Really. Thank you. I’ll be very comfortable, until the flat’s ready.”
    He nods. “Good. Make yourself at home. I put a casserole in the oven, should be ready in an hour or so. I was just about to peel some spuds to go with it. Unless you’d prefer rice?”
    I shake my head. He’s clearly the authority on all matters relating to food and I’ve no desire to interfere. “I’m easy, whatever you think…”
    He grins, and I’m not sure what I said that was so amusing. He turns back to the laptop, still open on his desk, tapping the keys briskly. Yet another basic skill everyone else takes for granted, but I never learnt. “This set up here links to the office at the yard so you can work from here if that suits you. You might like to go into the office though, meet Mrs Benson.” He tosses the brief explanation back over his shoulder as he finishes his task.
    I frown at him as he turns to face me once more. “Mrs Benson?”
    “Mrs Benson, yes. Phyllis. Works for me four mornings a week, and she worked for James before that. Been with us for nearly forty years. I suspect if I ever come to check, I’ll find she’s mentioned on the title deeds to the property. Phyllis keeps the office ticking over. She’ll be able to show you what needs doing.”
    “But—I thought you said you had no office staff, and that’s why I need to do it?” I see a possible glimmer of a reprieve here. And after all, it wouldn’t be right to edge Mrs Benson out of her job. Not after forty years.
    No such luck. “Phyllis is great, but she keeps threatening to retire. Apparently she’s got it into her head she should be spending more time with her husband now that he’s given up work. If you ask me, she’d die of boredom within a week, but there’s no talking to her once she gets something in her head. So, I need a long-term solution, and that’s you.”
    “But, surely it’d make more sense to get her an assistant, someone she could teach the ropes to. Then when she retires you’d have someone already trained. Someone who’s good at office work…”
    Someone who can read.
    He smiles at me, another of those ‘lips-and-teeth-only’ smiles that don’t come close to reaching his eyes. “Phyllis is getting an assistant. You.”
    “But I thought you said I’m a partner. The senior partner…”
    “So you are, according to dear old Uncle James, God rest him. But that doesn’t mean you’ve the first inkling how to run a construction company. Does it?” He hesitates, as if