that he wasn’t in She passed through the door of his office and found that it was indeed empty Making herself comfortable at his desk she looked through ledgers and documents that lay about his desk She looked at some of the shelved books across the room Finance Law History of watchmaking She took down the history book and idly thumbed through the pages passing by illustrations of sundials hourglasses and pendulums After about an hour she was starting to get bored sitting alone in the room for so long Looking over at the door to his office she wondered how much her father would mind if she decided to take a walk around without him He usually did his walkthroughs with her in the afternoon and she knew the factory as if she lived there It would be fine She walked through the hallway that housed her father’s office down the set of 10
stairs at the end and into the open space that held the factory The sounds of buzzing clinking and hissing of the machines filled her ears She walked through the aisles in between the machinery watching men guide machines to cut out small pieces of metal that would make the insides of the timepieces A man wiped the sweat from his brow on the right another rolled his sleeves up to his elbows on the left The factory was much like a Richardson watch itself with so many moving pieces working together to make something magical She rounded a corner and found a young man with dusty blonde hair she didn’t recognize the machines seemingly trying to fix it She stopped walking and watched him He couldn’t have been too much younger than her maybe a couple of years but he looked like he was perfectly at home in a factory as if he’d been working in one for years The boy reached up a bit further into the inside one of reaching 11
machine twisted something and appeared satisfied with the result He pulled his hand out of the machine and stood straight catching Hope’s eye Can I help you Miss he said wiping his hand on a rag that he’d pulled from his back pocket Hope gave him a friendly smile Just taking a walk around I haven’t noticed you here before I’m Hope by the way Pleased to meet you Name’s Joe Joe Gilbert I’m new Used to work at the steel mill just down the road but I got me a much better deal here now Gilbert yelled a voice from down the walkway A short portly man with a shiny red face came hobbling down the aisle a stack of papers hugged tightly into his stomach Well I think you went and got me in trouble Miss You’d better get goin before Mr Peters gets a hold of you Joe said Oh Tom Hope said with a laugh He’s harmless Just grumpy as ever 12
Not so sure about that he said quietly Miss Richardson I believe your father was looking for you You’d do well to join him in his office if you’d please Tom said as he approached the two of them And you Tom continued facing Joe You’d do well to remember your place Miss Richardson is the daughter of Patrick Richardson It was entirely my fault Tom she said her eyes shifting toward Joe Joe’s eyes looked at her in surprise and she realized it was because she hadn’t told him her last name Apparently leaving out the fact that your father owned the factory was a pretty large detail to forget when introducing yourself Joe it was nice meeting you Hope to see you around then she said Joe dipped his chin in acknowledgment and Hope gave him one last friendly smile before turning on her heel 13
