Daisy was the first interview I’d ever conducted. Even in my past life, where I’d been an adult, I’d never run a business or been a manager. I’d been on the other side of the table many times, but never actually asking the questions. And it had been a couple of decades since the last one. I was going to be rusty.

  Without a phone, I had to borrow Mom’s. I nervously punched in Daisy’s phone number. It rang once. Twice. Thrice. Then I heard the click on the other side as it connected.

  “Hello?” I heard a voice say.

  “Hello, Daisy?” I asked.

  “Yes, this is she.”

  “I’m Eddy. Is this still a good time for you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So I’ll start with what this role is about…”

  I told Daisy about what I needed—the accounts payable stuff, the research, manning the phones when needed, and dealing with suppliers. All the stuff I didn’t want to—or wouldn’t have the time to—handle.

  “Is that something you’d be interested in?”

  “Yeah, it’s a good way to start my career,” she answered.

  That was something worth remembering. I needed someone long-term, not for just a few years. I didn’t come out and say this, though. What I wanted to know was both what she said and how she said it. Everything I’d done from research said these things were key.

  We talked about her studies, her internships, and other activities that might apply to the job or that were interesting. She was a well-rounded young woman and yet I wasn’t sold on her, either. The potential lack of commitment was the biggest issue. The biggest plus was that she hadn’t mentioned my voice as being that of a child. I thought she was driven and maybe that was why she hadn’t commented on it.

  Next up was Jack.

  “Hello, Jack speaking,” he answered confidently when I called.

  “Hi, I’m Eddy. This time still good for the interview?”

  “Yeah. And if you don’t mind me asking… you sound young?”

  “I am,” I answered. “Though I am a child, I am the owner of the company. Would that be an issue for you?”

  “I see,” he said. “I don’t think so.”

  I thought that was a worrying answer. I went into detail about what I needed from him.

  “I don’t know farming well, but it’s something I can learn,” he declared. “I have several years of experience working for company leadership, so whatever you need, I can do.”

  “Is there a particular reason you’re looking for work now?”

  “I have a feeling my current boss is about to be voted out of his position, so I’ll need something new.”

  I smelled bullshit from a mile away. It sounded to me as if he was either searching for a better paycheck or was on the chopping block for something else. Between that answer and the earlier one about my age, I wrote him off. The rest of the interview passed painfully. I kept up appearances, but my heart wasn’t in it. I needed to talk to Gloria right after he was done. I hoped she would be better than he had been.

  “Hello, Gloria?” I asked.

  “Oh, hi!” came the reply. “Yes, this is Gloria. Are you Eddy?”

  “That’s me.”

  I went over the role and responsibilities.

  “That sounds perfect,” she said when I was done. “I do have a couple younger kids that I have to watch sometimes. Is there any way I can work from home now and then?”

  “As long as the work gets done, I’m fine with that.”

  “And are there any benefits?”

  “I’ll cover your health insurance and you’ll get 3 weeks off a year,” I said.

  I wasn’t sure of the specifics since whoever I hired would need to handle all of that. Making sure they had time off was a priority. Even if I was harsh towards my own time, I would never do that to someone else. I remembered the hardships I faced back when I was a lowly peon working for the man.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “That’s great!” She said.

  I could hear the tone shift in a way that let me know she was truly pleased.

  “I’m rather young,” I said. “I hope that won’t be an issue for you.”

  “Doesn’t bother me,” she said.

  I nodded, even though there was no way she could see me do that. That made me stifle a laugh, which she questioned. So I told her and she laughed with me.

  We talked more, and before we were done, I had decided. I wanted her as my assistant. The only part that made me hesitate was her age. I needed her to last until I reset. I thanked her for her time and hung up the phone.

  “How’d it go?” Mom asked when I gave her back the phone.

  “Well,” I answered. “I think I have a good person for the job. I’ll need to have Al—the lawyer—write up a contract between us. And yeah, it’ll be a system contract. I can’t be too careful. Plus, I need the person to be there until the reset happens.”

  “Ok. Do you plan on hiring this person right away?”

  “Yeah. I need them to help me deal with equipment purchases and suppliers and stuff. Big headache. Who knew farming was such hard work, anyway?”

  I laughed and Mom cracked a smile.

  I went back to my room and opened the laptop. A quick email to the recruiter to let them know my final decision and another to Al requesting an employment contract with the extra clauses around my secrets. I sent him a bit more cash than I needed to because I knew it bothered him on some level. Hell, it bothered me, but it was a necessary evil.

  Al came back with a contract the next morning. I read it over—just in case—before sending it over to Gloria. I paid the recruitment fees when I did. I was finally ready to focus on the farm!

  Even though I didn’t need to, I took trips every few weeks to check on the progress of the construction. Because of the time of year, the place for the equipment was not being worked on. I was told by the contractor that they would start once the ground was thawed in April. In the meantime, they got the approvals from the town and county to get started on the work when the time came.

  The house project was crawling. They were approved to begin, but the materials were slow to arrive. This was partly because I insisted on getting the best quality out there. I had the money and wanted a solid and safe place to live. The most important thing I told the general contractor was that I wanted things done right, even if it cost more money or time. I’d rather wait an extra week or two than have to deal with minor headaches that could have been caught much earlier.

  For three months, I focused on my quests. I couldn’t get equipment or seeds until I had a place to store them. As April approached, I had Gloria reach out to the equipment and seed firms to give me options.

  For equipment, I went for a foreign brand that didn’t have the same repair issues as the domestic ones did. It would take an extra month to arrive, but that was ok. I would be ready for it when it arrived.

  As for seeds, I went with the cheapest option. Unlike with the equipment, I could choose a different seed supplier year to year if I wanted. I was interested in planting things I could harvest by machine. That meant cereal grains. It was a boring option, but I felt it would be the best return on my time in general—even if this first year I would plant things like beets, carrots, and other late-summer root vegetables.

  Two weeks after the contractor broke ground on the equipment shed, I got a call from them. It was to my phone—something Gloria insisted I get because of the business.

  “Hello, Eddy?” the voice on the other side asked.

  “Yeah?”

  “There’s a problem at the site,” the contractor said. “Someone drove over the pad that was poured yesterday. We’ll need to tear it up and pour it again.”

  “Damn,” I swore. “Any idea who it was?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Well, shit. How much would it take to have a couple of guys camp out there overnight to watch it?”

  “I’ll have to ask the guys. Shouldn’t be a problem, though.”

  “Great. So what’s the delay?”

  “A week.”

  “Thanks for letting me know. It could have been worse. Email me with the names of guys who volunteer. I’ll do something nice for them.”

  “Alright.”

  I cursed again before letting Gloria know what happened. Thankfully, it didn’t look like it was going to be a problem with the timeline. I’d built in enough of a buffer just in case, but it would be a lot tighter than I was comfortable with.

  Because of the issues with the equipment shed, I asked Mom to take me there. I would not check on it specifically, but rather to see the house. I wanted to know how far along it was and add in a requirement for a security system.

  What had happened to the equipment shed was purposeful. I didn’t know of any enemies I had, so it was a mystery why someone would want to do that. I wondered if it was someone who hated the old owners or something like that. The property with the house had been owned by a different family than the one where I was building the equipment shed. Even so, I felt it was better to have an extra layer of security.

  Mom and I arrived at the house. She parked the car in the driveway, leaving enough room for the construction vehicles to pass if they needed to. The house had a small lawn surrounding it with fallow fields behind. The outside of the house looked like it had when I bought it several months back—other than the construction equipment everywhere.

  I got out of the car and walked towards the front door. The house itself was a small ranch. Enough room for me and a parent, but that was it. I envisioned a high-tech hideout with an unassuming exterior. It was still a few months away from that.

  As I stepped inside to find the man in charge, I could see the changes. Everything had been torn down to the studs. Some rooms had been shifted from where they were and into a more open layout. The inside was between a roughed-out state and having the sheetrock put in place. A few people were working in one room—the sounds were deafening!

  I eventually found the contractor. I beckoned for him to come outside. He was a tall man with muscles built by years of physical labor.

  “What’s going on, kid?” he asked.

  “I need you to stick a good security system on the house as soon as you can,” I told him.

  “Sure. Do you have a preference?”

  “Whatever’s good. I hope I don’t need it, but there’s a mess over on another property that looked intentional. Please keep an eye out just in case you see anything off.”

  “I’ll do that,” he nodded before pivoting. “What do you think of the work so far?”

  “Looks good, I think. I’m not sure about the construction process, but it looks like it’s coming together.”

  “That it is. Things have been pretty smooth so,” he rapped his knuckles against the wooden railing by the stairs up to the front door, “we’re ahead of time.”

  “That’s great!”

  I thanked him and promised to send over the money for the security system. Mom and I stayed at the hotel in town before returning home the next day.