Page 5 of Too Good to Be True

“You’ll have a new student starting Monday.”

“Oh?”

Usually, Fran gave her more notice than this. Not that it really mattered. Stacy had been the corporate trainer for the past five years, and she knew the material like the back of her hand.

“It’s my nephew, Nick.”

Nephew? For some reason, it was easy to forget that Fran had a personal life. She seemed perpetually in business mode, although Stacy knew that she was married and had an adult son.

“He recently got laid off, and I offered to hire him as a favor.”

It was impossible to tell how Fran felt about her nephew or hiring him. Again, none of that mattered, though. Stacy would do her job like she always did, family member or not.

“Don’t give him any special treatment. Put him through the paces just like you would any other new hire.”

Stacy nodded.

“He wants to go into management, but he’s still young.”

Stacy wondered how young, but she didn’t feel right asking.

“He’s only twenty-seven, for Pete’s sake. He can’t expect to walk into a company and be hired as a manager.”

Stacy wondered how much longer this would take. If Nick was starting on Monday, she’d need the day to prepare.

“Anyway, he moved up here from Florida, so he doesn’t know anyone besides me and my husband. If you could introduce him around—let him join you and your friends when you go out after work—I’d appreciate it.”

Stacy’s hands tightened around the coffee cup, and the liquid inside sloshed at the sudden movement. It was one thing for her to have to train her boss’s nephew, but quite another to entertain him.

Apparently, she wasn’t very good at hiding her dismay.

“I wouldn’t ask, but I feel sorry for him. He lost his job, left his family and friends behind, and now he has to start over.”

Great. Now I feel guilty. What would be so bad about introducing the guy to some of her friends? So what if he joined them for drinks on Friday nights? She could be cordial toward him. After all, he was the boss’s nephew.

“No problem,” she said, giving Fran what she hoped passed for an agreeable smile.

“I knew I could count on you. I’ll bring him by your office when he arrives on Monday morning.”

Stacy nodded and stood up, anxious to get to work. She went out the door and down the long hallway to her own office at the opposite end from Fran’s.

No special treatment. Put him through his paces, she reminded herself.

As the corporate trainer, Stacy had a direct say in whether a new hire passed or failed their training period. The training program was considered their “probationary period,” and some employees didn’t make it beyond that. Of course, as the VP of customer service, Fran had the final say, but she usually relied heavily on Stacy’s opinion.

What if Nick didn’t make the cut? How awkward would that be? Too bad she couldn’t pass his training off to someone else. Then again, she loved her job, regardless of who the student was.

She’d wanted to be a teacher since she was a little girl. Only then she’d expected to be a traditional classroom teacher. Little had she known she’d end up here, teaching adults in a corporate setting. She’d discovered that she loved the art of teaching regardless of the student’s age. She took pride in what she did and was happy to share in the success of her former students.

Hopefully, Nick would succeed too. She would certainly do her part to make that happen. The rest was up to him.

Later, after work, Stacy, Kelsey, and Paige went to a nearby Chili’s for drinks and appetizers.

“Guess what,” Stacy said.

“You have a date this weekend,” Kelsey said, her big brown eyes sparkling.

“Guess again.”