Jason looked at her in surprise. “You have been stripping for a year, and I never knew it?”
“It’s not stripping and you know that,” defended Claire hotly.
“Ok, ok, I mean cake jumping or whatever you call it. Claire, truthfully I’m a little baffled here. No offense to her but Suzy, I could easily see doing that; you not so much. Suzy is a very secure person who wants and enjoys the attention of men, and it shows. That’s her personality, it’s who she is and that’s great. You, however, obviously don’t want or seek that type of attention. If you did, your main wardrobe color wouldn’t be tan or brown, and I’m quite sure I would have seen a hint of cle**age before. Well other than the last week. I know you didn’t just decide you needed some excitement so what gives Claire?”
~~~
As she studied Jason, Claire’s first reaction was to tell him to go to hell and that it was none of his business. If anything that he had said had held one hint of sarcasm, she would have done just that. He seemed genuinely concerned and confused. With a deep breath, Claire started all the way back with the death of her father and sister and continued on to her mother’s health problems and the financial strain of maintaining her house, buying her medication and the reason why she couldn’t live with her.
Once the words started pouring out of her, Claire didn’t even realize that she had tears running down her face until she felt one drop on her hand. Jason leaned quietly over the desk and handed her some tissue. Claire turned to the side to dry her face before looking at Jason. Terrified that he would be looking at her with disgust or pity, she was surprised to see admiration in his eyes. “Claire, I’d no idea,” began Jason quietly, “why didn’t you tell me what was going on?”
“Why would I?” said Claire. “You’re my employer; it’s not your job to handle the personal problems of your employees.”
“Claire, I would think you’d know me well enough by now to see that I’m not a bottom line employer. I do care about every single person who works here. This company wouldn’t be where it is without you and everyone; I would never turn my back on anyone in trouble.”
Her eyes started to well up again as tears threatened. Claire said quietly, “I do know that Jason, but I’ve never had anyone to depend on and truthfully this is more than a little embarrassing for me. I’ve managed to get by, and if I need to work five jobs to make ends meet then I will; I have to,” she finished.
Jason settled back in his chair and said, “Claire, let me help you. Danvers does extensive work in this community, and I would be happy to know some of that work would benefit someone whom I… er… Danvers values so highly. If you furnish me with the cost of all of your mother’s medication, I’ll see that you have a check by Monday. Furthermore, we have a construction crew on our payroll as well. They’ll be sent to your mother’s home on Monday to make all the repairs that are needed.”
Claire jumped to her feet, anger sweeping through her, and yelled, “I’m not your charity case Jason! I can take care of myself!”
“Claire, this isn’t charity, it's assistance; I would offer it to any of my employees.”
“So let me get this straight, if Mona, the janitor, needed financial assistance you’d offer to take care of all of her expenses? Oh wait, does it have to be someone you want to sleep with or is anyone eligible?”
Color darkened Jason’s cheeks, and Claire could see the anger burning in his eyes. “I think you have made your opinion of me perfectly clear. Now unless you have any other derogatory remarks to make about my character, I would like to get to work,” said Jason icily. He handed her a folder across the desk. “Please make the changes I’ve indicated.” Claire remained in front of his desk, and Jason lifted his brow and said, “That will be all, please close my door on the way out.”
Claire shut the door behind her and sat down at her desk. Putting her face in her hands, Claire wondered why she didn’t feel better about defending herself. Jason had seriously looked wounded at her refusal to accept his offer. Maybe he expected the poor working people here to drop to their knees in gratitude if the mighty Jason Danvers offered them something. Well, she wouldn’t be some charity case to appease his rich conscience.
~~~