When I told this to Beverly she seemed to understand.

Meeting Beverly was one of the best things that has happened to me. Shortly after I got to know her she started her own accounting business. I may have been her first client. She knows I do more things on the ‘shy side’ of legal than I let on but doesn’t judge me for it. Several times she has dropped hints that I need to follow about money. Usually she does so by telling a story about how a “friend” handled a certain situation. I get the hint.

She helped me set up my own company called Buckroe Investments and taught me how to write off expenses so I pay very little tax on what I have. Or at least as little as possible. She never asks questions about things I have done, or how I did them, which I do appreciate. Our deal was that I work (unpaid) for her for two days a week, mostly answering phones. When I have an Associate’s Degree I will be able to list Beverly as a reference on my resume. Lately I have been spending more and more time at her office. She has introduced me as her “intern” to several people who she thinks might come in handy for me to know later.

Her world is very different from Ann’s.

Not necessarily better, just different.

Lately Beverly has expanded her client base and is thinking about relocating to an office park just north of Coliseum Central. When she does she said that she will hire a receptionist. Since it would be nice to have a steady paycheck coming in I had hoped it would be me but she quickly squashed that idea before I could even bring it up.

“Sarah you need to concentrate on your studies and not worry about who gets what record folder filed in which cabinet. You are better than that and have more important things ahead of you. Is that understood?”

Then she gave me ‘that look’ which brokered no argument.

“Yes Ma’am.” What else could I say to that?

I did volunteer the services of my friends to help her move things when the time comes. She said that could be useful but that most of the stuff will be picked up by a contractor who specializes in moving offices. I had never heard of this. I thought that usually you just rent a U-Haul, get some big guys together and promise them pizza and beer. But this is her business so what she says goes.

* * *

Inside her office Beverly was beaming with pride. She had just reviewed Sarah’s latest batch of test papers and couldn’t find a thing wrong with them. They were perfectly done, right down to the correct font to be used in each one. She thought ‘If Sarah can keep this up, there will be no stopping this young woman.’

At one time she had toyed with the idea of taking Sarah on as her business grew. That idea had to be set aside. Beverly realized that Sarah was way too smart, and catches on to things way too quickly, to be fooled for long about what she does for ‘select clients’. No matter how much she liked Sarah, there were things that Beverly didn’t really want anybody else to know about. Especially how she handled those certain accounts. She had been badly burned by the wrong partners last time and she wasn’t going to let that happen again. But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t do anything for Sarah, she just had to be careful how she did it.

* * *

Beverly had set me up with a friend of hers holding investment seminars concerning wills, estates and trusts.