“Actually, I just lost my mother,” she said, “so I understand your wanting to spend time with yours.”
“I’m sorry about your mother,” he said politely. “Mine is still working full-time, and allergic to the idea of my hovering or taking care of her. So, she may throw me out before I want to leave,” he said, grinning, and Olivia laughed.
“You’re fortunate. Mine had dementia and faded away over several years. Yours sounds very lively.”
“She is definitely that! I understand better now why you told the agency you wanted an assistant. It’s hard to define a position like this, but butlers do things like this too today. It’s all about maintaining a home and keeping things on track. What you don’t need is formal table service or running other staff.” And her apartment was tiny compared to what he was used to.
“That sounds about right,” Olivia agreed.
“When would you want someone to start?”
“I have this apartment for four more weeks, and I can move things into the new one in two weeks. So I could use someone’s help right away to help me buy what I need, since I’d be doing it in French, and I’m not sure where to go.”
“Do you have a car?”
“No, I don’t. I can rent one.”
“A van would probably be more useful. Ikea delivers, but we can pick things up with the van, and I could drive you. You don’t need a chauffeur to take you to Ikea, and the BHV, which is rather like Ikea, here in the city. It’s a nightmare, massively crowded. You stand on line forever to pay, but they have everything practical you’ll need.”
“I was wondering about the flea market too.”
“Good idea, though a little overpriced if you don’t speak the language, and there’s an excellent auction house you can check out.” He was full of good ideas, and their minds were racing. “My mother used to love the flea market. She used to go every weekend and drag home all sorts of treasures, Chinese dragons from some restaurant, supposedly Marie Antoinette’s slipper chair, or one just like it. She came home with the damnedest things, but somehow, they all worked. And she loved auctions too. I’ll ask her where you should go.”
“Has she given them up?” Olivia asked.
“There’s not an empty inch in the apartment.” He laughed. “If you hire me, she’s going to be extremely jealous and want to consult.”
“Does it sound like a job you’d want to do?” she asked him. He was easy to talk to, direct and straightforward, and she could tell that he was very capable, he sounded organized and willing to lend a hand at a multitude of tasks. She had expected him to be pompous and very formal, instead she found him very human, and not full of himself at all, although his previous position had been a very big deal. This sounded like fun to him, and she wasn’t what he had expected either. He had thought she would be bossy and some kind of tough businesswoman, and much older. Instead she seemed very nice and reasonable, a little shy, and younger than he’d thought. She was close to his age. He was respectful and spoke to her as an equal.
“It sounds interesting and like quite a lot of fun, and a challenge to get you all set up. Will you be working while you’re here?” He was curious about what she did.
“I don’t think so. I don’t know. I’ve been nursing along a magazine that I started for the last ten years. It was my baby. It folded a few weeks ago. I haven’t figured out the next step, so I told myself I’d take a year off. I’m not sure I’ll stick to that. But I have no plans right now.”
“That’s more or less the same situation I’m in. Brave new world,” he said. “I didn’t want to go right back into a formal job. And my previous employers were so wonderful, it will be hard to match that situation, so I’m taking a break, and it seemed like a good time to visit my mother before I get buried in work again. Do you have children who’ll be coming over to visit?” It had been one of his concerns about her. Wild teenagers, or badly behaved small children.