"Come on, George. It's not that bad," Alex argued.
I stiffened, slowly rotated my head back to him, and my eye twitched. "Not that bad? How's this for not that bad?" I picked up my soup bowl and deposited it on his head, much to the horror and shock of his family. "And I hate tomato soup!" I shouted before I marched out of the room.
The dining area was eerily silent when I stepped out, and I realized through their shocked faces that they'd heard my shouting through the thin walls. I hid my face and raced out of the restaurant. I blew a high-heel outside, and tore them both off so I could race away from that awful place with that awful family. My stupid, overly-romantic mind couldn't help noticing that Alex didn't run after me and try to stop me.
I found no solace in standing outside the restaurant doors, holding my shoes and without a dime to call a taxi. In my rush to dress I'd also forgotten my cellphone, so I couldn't call anybody, either. The weather looked as gloomy as my mood, and to complete my evening rain appeared imminent. In such a terrible, depressing, no-good situation as this there was only one thing for a girl to do. She had to go talk to a girlfriend.
Chapter 9
I trudged the far-too-many blocks to Jamie's apartment building and knocked on the door. A few moments later it opened and Jamie stood in the doorway. She glanced down at my getup and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. I couldn't blame her. I'd put my shoes back on, and they were wet and muddy from my long walk. My dress was askew and had a splattering of the tomato soup I'd spilled over Alex's head.
"Nice dress," Jamie teased.
"Thanks, if things get any worse make sure I'm buried in it," I replied as I spread myself out on her couch.
"Bad news from the doctor, or did you just kill somebody and the police are after you?" she wondered.
"Just bad news from the doctor. He says I have a stupid heart that falls in love with the worst people," I quipped.
"Sounds serious," she mused with a smile.
"Only if there's no operation that can permanently remove my heart," I sighed.
"That's kind of a necessary organ," Jamie pointed out.
"Damn."
Jamie stepped aside and gestured to the apartment. "Want to come inside and tell me why we just went through so many medical jokes?" she asked me.
I stepped inside and plopped myself down on her couch. "It's a long story," I warned her.
Jamie followed me to the couch, but remained standing. "Neither of us goes to work until seven," she pointed out. "But before we start, do you need a drink?"
I nodded. "Yeah, the stiffest you have."
She cringed and wandered over to the kitchen. "Must be bad."
"I had a date with Alex tonight." I shrank down on my cushion when she let out a squeal.
She hurried over to me and slid onto the arm of the couch closest to me. "Seriously? Where'd he take you? Was it romantic? How far did you get?"
"His family was there."
Jamie winced. "Ouch, so that broke the mood?"
"It ruined mine when they started talking about the merger."
Jamie rubbed her chin in one hand. "I'm starting to get a terrible picture of you seated around some snobs who maniacally laugh over their wine glasses and caviar."
"No caviar, but there were wine glasses and laughing. They thought it was a good business deal, so I told them off."
My friend gasped. "You didn't!"
"I did, and I'm not sure whether I'm proud of it or not. The only good thing about it was we were in a separate room so nobody else saw anything, but I think they heard me. After that I stomped out and came here." I sat up and sighed. "You think I did the right thing telling them they were evil for wanting to fire people?"
"Not exactly," Jamie slowly replied. "But if you put it that way to them then I think you could have done it with a little more tact."
I groaned and covered my face in my hand. "I'm doomed. Alex and his family probably hate me now."
Jamie lifted an eyebrow and a grin crept across her lips. "Why should you care about him?" she teased me.
"Now's not the time for teasing. This is serious," I countered.
"So am I." She slipped off the arm and bounced across the cushions over to me. "You're in love with him, aren't you?"
I glanced up and jerked back when she stuck her eager face into mine. "I like him, but I don't think I love him," I corrected her. I waved her away so I could have some breathing space. "Besides, none of that matters now. Maybe it never mattered. We're too different. He thinks firing people is business, I think it's terrible."
"Well, I think you might have him all wrong there," Jamie piped up.
I raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"If he didn't care about us why'd he go to the bar to see what we looked like?"
I opened my mouth, thought about it, then shut my mouth shut with a clatter of my teeth. "You know, I never did ask him why he was there."
"Maybe you should call him and ask."
I shook my head. "No, not after tonight. I made such an ass of myself in front of his family that the first thing they're going to do when they get the store is fire me. I practically invited them to pink-slip me."
Jamie leaned away from me and sighed. "Then you have a big problem."
I cupped my chin in my hands and leaned forward on my arms. "Yeah, I have to try to find a job without a recommendation."
"Not that. You have to find a way to win back his affection," she insisted.
I glanced at her like she was insane, or at least a little senile at her old age of twenty-five. "Why in the world would that be more important than feeding Mr. Smith and myself?"
"Man cannot survive on food alone?" she sheepishly replied.
"I'm willing to try it," I quipped.
"But it won't make you happy."
"Have you ever tried a triple-chocolate sundae?"
"No."
"Then I can see why you'd say it can't make people happy."
Jamie shook her head and clucked her tongue. "You have a great deal to learn about love, my apprentice."
I choked on my own spit and she giggled. "So you're a master of love?" I incredulously asked her.
She stood and her face took on a solemn expression, but her eyes were full of mischief. "I shall impart my wisdom on you, my young apprentice."
"I'm older than you."
"And you shall grow and blossom into a beautiful rose of love."
"Are you even listening to yourself?"
"And your lover will eagerly embrace you, and you two shall live happily ever after."
I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the bottle of hard liquor on the counter. "Did you take a shot before you came over here?"
Jamie took on an insulted expression. "No, I did not," she replied. The hiccup came out before she could stop it, and she blushed. "Okay, maybe a little."
"Just a little?" I wondered.
"Just a little," she firmly replied.
"Speaking of little things, might doing me a little favor and pouring some of that stuff in a glass so I can wash down my sorrows?" I asked her.
Jamie frowned. "I'll let you drink in my apartment, but I won't let you drink to wash down sorrows."
"So your apartment just became a dry house?"
Jamie half turned from me, crossed her arms over her chest, and tilted her chin up in stern refusal. "Only until you give me your solemn word that you won't drink alone and to forget your sorrow," she insisted.
"Jamie, this is my life," I pointed out.
"But these are my drinks," she countered.
I sighed and nodded. "Fine, I promise not to be alone when I drink."
"And you'll try to call that guy to apologize?" she continued.
I frowned. "I don't think the alcohols worth that big a price."
"I'm asking you as a friend to try to heal your wounds by giving him a call," she insisted.
"There's a problem with that."
"What?"
"I don't have his
phone number." He had mine, but I'd never asked for his.
"Oh. That is a problem," Jamie pondered.
I sighed and slumped back down on the couch. "And I think I'm a problem. I'm just being a pain coming here bumming for a ride and free drinks."
Jamie smiled, settled down beside me, and wrapped one of her arms around my shoulders. She gave me a squeeze that I really needed. "You're not being a pain, and I'm glad you came to me."
I raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because what are friends for?"
I narrowed my eyes. "There's another reason, isn't there?"
Jamie sheepishly grinned. "Well, it's always nice to be on top of the latest romance gossip."
I rolled my eyes and shrugged off her arm. "You're evil, you know that?"
She innocently tapped her chin and glanced upward. "I have been told that by many people. I have no idea why."
"Aren't I the one who's supposed to be the evil one in this relationship?" I countered.
Jamie sighed and shrugged. "Oh, all right, but I'll have my chance."
"Uh-huh, hopefully some time after you drive me home," I quipped.
"No drink?" she asked me.
"No drink."
"Good. That stuff's really expensive."
Jamie drove me home, and I was relieved to stumble inside and collapse face-first onto my couch. Mr. Smith walked over me, and I mean that literally, and kneaded my back. I winced and glanced over my shoulder to glare at him. "Do you mind? I'm trying to mope here."
"Meow," was the indifferent reply, but he at least hopped down. I heard him trot across the floor to the kitchen and get on the counter. Then came the inevitable clatter of half the stuff off the top as he sought retribution for my yelling at him.
I sat up and saw my cellphone and purse were on the floor. "You're really pushing it, hairball." Said hairball was so terrified by my threat that he proceeded to lick himself on the counter. I sighed and shuffled off the couch to clean up after my messy roommate. I picked up the phone and noticed I had a few missed messages. They were all from an unfamiliar number, and I'd received them in the last hour. Whoever it was had left a ton of messages, so I tried the first one.
"George? It's Alex. I wanted to talk to you about what-"
I hurriedly pressed stop and stared at the unfinished message on the screen. My gut told me to trash the messages and get on with the parts of my life I hadn't messed up, but my heart argued against it. My heart wanted me to call him back and apologize, and beg for a second chance. I frowned, and considered the possibility that my heart was a traitorous organ. I wouldn't sink so low as to beg, even if the ship was going straight down to the ocean floor.
I promptly deleted all his messages and got ready for bed. I had work to go to tomorrow, at least while it was still there.
Chapter 10
The morning broke like any other, hard and too soon to make the corner. I shuffled into my clothes, injected coffee into my veins instead of that pesky blood, and drove on autopilot to work. I parked my car and staggered inside to my forklift. The usual routine would have been to grunt at my fellow coworkers and get driving, all without switching off of autopilot. However, what I found inside the inventory warehouse was nothing. Everyone was gone, but there was a lot of noise at the front of the building near the employee lounge.
I made my way to the lounge and could feel the complete and utter jubilation before I saw it. My coworkers were laughing and talking, and someone had gotten in Stouten's secret stash of hard liquor and were passing around the drink in a communal flask. My fellow forklift operators danced and toasted, and a few of them managed to get into the confetti boxes for the party store and were tossing it everywhere. One of the men, Phil, ran past me and I grabbed him and pulled him away from the revelers.
"What happened? Stouten die?" I asked Phil.
"The Brenton family rescinded the merger! Our jobs are saved!" he shouted. The color drained from my face. If what Alex told me was true then without that merger the store would go bankrupt. We'd been spared one fate for one that was far worse. Phil slapped me on the back and grinned at me through his buckteeth. "Don't look so sad, we're getting rid of The Dick."
I blinked in bewilderment. There couldn't be any chance the management was eliminating its bloated self. "What? Why?"
"Because that other guy's taking his place. We're saved!" Phil ran off throwing shredded papers like confetti.
"Wait, what other guy?" I called to him.
"This other guy," a familiar voice spoke up behind me. I froze, and slowly turned around. Alex stood there in company coveralls and with a grin on his face. He gestured down at himself. "What do you think?"
"I think you look ridiculous, and I think I need an explanation."
Alex glanced around at the crowd and gestured for me to follow him. He led me away from the mad revelry and to the forklifts where we were alone. Alex turned to me with an apologetic look on his face. "Listen, about last night-"
I shut out my heart and held up my hand. "I don't really want to remember last night."
"Did you at least get my messages?" he asked me.
"Yeah, but I-well, I deleted them without listening to them," I admitted.
Alex grimaced, but nodded his head. "I can't really blame you for that, but we need to talk about this now."
"No, we don't."
"Yes, we do."
"No, we don't."
"Yes, we do."
"No, we-" He interrupted my brilliant counterargument when he grasped my shoulders and leaned in to capture my lips with his own. I yanked myself away from him, my cheeks red and my breath gasping. "Why did you just do that?" I asked him.
He shrugged and sheepishly smiled. "I couldn't think of any other way to win the argument."
I softly pressed my hands against my lips and was still mesmerized by the feel of his heat against them. "I'd say you won for best kisser," I admitted.
Alex slyly grinned. "I'll have to remember that, but as I was saying, I wanted to apologize for last night."
"Huh?" was my reply. I narrowed my eyes and gaze him a thorough glance. "You sure we're talking about the same last night?"
"It's the one where my family showed how indifferent they could be to unemployment, and how you have good aim when smacking a soup bowl on someone's head?" he guessed.
"Yep, that's the same one, but why are you the one apologizing? I'm the one who called your family a bunch of jerks," I pointed out.
"Maybe it's because I want to admit we didn't show ourselves as well as I'd hoped," he replied.
"I'd say that's an understatement."
"I'm trying to apologize here," he reminded me.
"All right, I'll behave."
"Well, after you told my family off, we all got to thinking maybe we weren't doing this for the right reasons but in the right way."
"I don't follow."
"We wanted to save the store for the employees, that's why I went to the bar to take a look at them. I was supposed to report back to them about what sort of people we were going to lay off," he told me. "But we thought merging was the best option and a few people would have to be let go."
I snorted. "A few?"
He sheepishly smiled and shrugged. "All right, a lot, but we put our heads together and decided to buy a controlling stake in the company instead. That way no one will lose their jobs. Well, no one except the managers, some board members, the CEO, and your illustrious former inventory manager."
"So cleaning house?" I guessed.
"Exactly."
"How does The Dick fit into this? He was a problem, but not part of the problem," I pointed out.
Oh, that. Well, I knew you didn't like him, so I put someone in his place who I hope you'll like a lot."
"And that's who?"
He held open his arms and smiled. "Me."
I blinked, and then let out a snort of disbelief. "You're joking right?"
"I hope you're not meaning about the liking-me part," he rep
lied.
"No, about the job part. You don't know anything about back room managing."
"I'll learn, and it's worth it if it'll get me closer to you." He took my hands in his and looked into my eyes. "I have a lot to thank you for. You showed my family and me that we weren't looking at all our options because we wanted to make a quick buck. This way will take longer, but we'll get this business back on its feet without losing a single useful employee." He suddenly cringed. "I just have to convince some of my family that this was the right choice."
I raised an eyebrow. "Was this a unanimous family vote?" I wondered. I'd probably made the mother petty mad by dousing her son in the tomato soup she'd personally chosen.
Alex sheepishly smiled and scratched the back of his head. "Actually, it wasn't. Charlie and my father weren't too thrilled with ditching the quick option."
"And your mom? Didn't she want to crucify me for dumping that soup on your head and ruining dinner?" I asked him.
Alex had a surprised look on his face. "Mother mad at you?" He let out a laugh that echoed down the inventory halls.
I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest. "What's that laugh for?"
He wiped the tears from his face and brought himself under control. "Because Mother was proud of you. The minute you left she burst out laughing and Albert and Fred had to hold back Father from running after you to give you a good spanking."
My jaw dropped open. "So your mom liked me?"
He nodded. "She said you reminded her of herself when she was younger. Father wasn't too thrilled with that and wanted to fire you then and there, but we convinced him that with all that energy you were a very valuable employee."
"Uh-huh, and with him in that mood you were able to convince him to do take the hard road?" I wondered.
"Well, not exactly," he hesitantly replied. "He and Charlie have given control of the entire operation over to me under the condition that I improve matters enough to get the store out of the red by the end of the year."
"And the manager position?"
"That was my idea."
"Yeah, that wasn't a very good idea. You don't know a thing about back room managing," I persisted, still dumbfounded that he'd taken the job from The Dick.
"And I'm counting on you and the rest of the employees to help me learn the ropes, especially since I'll be juggling the administration part at the same time."
I looked at this naive young man with his broad smile and realized that I loved him, deeply but conditionally. After all, he'd nearly fired a lot of my friends, and I didn't believe in people turning over a new leaf so quickly unless there was a fire beneath their asses to get their conscience going. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. "All right, I'll help, but this is going to be a professional relationship. No dates, dinners, or future-in-laws." He opened his mouth to protest, but I put a finger on his lips. My scowl softened to a pitiable expression. I hated to do this to him, but I needed more time. "At least for now. We haven't known each other very long, and I think we need to take a step back and make sure we're making adult decisions."