Spring It On Me

by Weston Parker

  He smiled. “Yep.”

  “Should we wager?”

  “Wager?” he asked.

  I laughed. “Never mind. I shouldn’t be teaching you how to gamble.”

  “What’s gamble?”

  “Nothing. Forget I said it.”

  We got busy playing. I loved hanging out with him. It was hard to believe he was nine. Nine very short years had flown by. It seemed like only yesterday I was giving him a bath in the sink. I hated that I had worked so much. I felt like I had missed out on a lot of his early childhood. I wanted to vow I wouldn’t miss out on much more, but I couldn’t promise myself anything.

  The new job was a big step in the right direction. At least I hoped so. I had a contract stating I couldn’t be fired for at least a year. I promised myself I would save a little from each check just in case the job ended after the year. I would work my ass off to try and keep from getting fired. I needed the job. If I lasted the year, I would ask for a raise.

  I inwardly laughed. I hadn’t even had my first day and I was already thinking about a raise.

  Chapter 9

  Ashton

  I stopped at my usual coffee place, trying to remind myself to be a little nicer. I doubted I did a great job of it, but I tried. I was not looking forward to going to the office. It would only make it real. Kyle had dumped me, and I was on my own.

  I told myself not to let it get to me. I had been on my own before and would be again. Or so I told myself.

  It was going to suck. Plain and simple, it was going to suck. I opened the door, offering a smile to the young woman who basically directed traffic at the office. I headed down the hall toward my office, trying not to look to my left at the office where Kyle should be.

  “Ashton!” I heard my name being shouted.

  I looked around and saw a woman standing behind the desk. I stopped walking, staring at her, trying to place her. The woman from the café. That was where I knew her from. Why in the hell was she standing outside my office?

  “Are you talking to me?” I asked her.

  “I don’t know any other Ashtons,” she said with a laugh.

  “Are you the new secretary?” I asked, hoping she would say no. Then again, if she said no, I had no other explanation for her presence in my office.

  “I am! You didn’t know?”

  “Great,” I murmured. “Just great.”

  “I was going to offer to get you coffee, but I see you already have one. I guess that saves me the trouble. Should I come into your office?”

  “Why would you do that?” I asked, aghast.

  “To go over your schedule for the day, silly. Have none of your other secretaries done that? No wonder you keep firing them. Think of me as the conductor and you my VIP passenger. I’m here to drive the boat.”

  “Boat? Don’t conductors drive trains?” It was a stupid question but I was a little shell shocked.

  She giggled. “It’s just a phrase, silly. You’re one of those.”

  “One of what?”

  “Those really uptight people who allow for no imagination.”

  I couldn’t stop looking at her. She was wearing a basic black pencil skirt and a dark blue blouse that made her eyes appear much more vibrant than I remembered from the café. I supposed she was an attractive woman—at least until she opened her mouth. I thought Kyle liked me. I had been wrong. He’d saddled me with a secretary I was sure was going to drive me crazy. “Send me my schedule.”

  “Why would I do that, Ashton? I’m right here. You’re right there.”

  “It’s Mr. Wolfe,” I insisted.

  She waved a hand. “We can’t be that formal.”

  “Why not?” I asked, knowing I would regret the question.

  Her blue eyes flashed with mischief. “Because it’s the twenty-first century. I’m not going to shine your boots or wear short skirts and flash cleavage.”

  I almost choked. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

  “I’m just kidding. Anyway, I’ve gone over your schedule for the day. I printed a copy and left it on your desk. I also took care of checking the voicemail. The code was on a little card on the desk here. The desk, well, that’s another issue that is going to take me days to get through the mess, but I will. I swear, someone needs to go back to filing school. It’s a mess.”

  I could only stare at the woman as she carried on. She was high energy. Normally, I would probably like that, but when it was two feet in front of me with no signs of slowing, it worried me. I wasn’t sure I had the stamina to keep up. “I’m sure you’ll get it.”

  “Oh, I have no doubt in my mind. I have a lot of experience cleaning up after people. I hope this isn’t the norm though. If it is, I’m going to have to come in earlier. I can understand why you fired your last secretary. This place is a disaster. For now, I—”

  I walked away while she was still carrying on. I needed a minute to breathe. I closed the door behind me. I was going to kill Kyle. I was going to send him a bouquet of black roses carried by a singing telegram to his new office. That would teach him for setting me up. It certainly explained why he was so hedgy about it.

  I rubbed a hand over my jaw, plotting my revenge while simultaneously wondering how I was going to get out of the stupid contract. My Monday was not off to a great start. I moved to my desk, unbuttoning my jacket to sit when my office door was practically thrown open. I spun around, expecting there to be an army of police ready to charge in and arrest me for some horrible crime.

  “What are you doing?” I asked the woman who had declared herself to be my secretary.

  “I think you forgot your manners,” she scolded. “Why don’t we start over? I’m Willow Patting. You can call me Willow. In fact, I demand you call me Willow.”

  “You demand?”

  “Yes. We’re going to be working together, and all the formal nonsense will just get in the way.”

  I held up a hand. “Let’s get one thing clear. My office is my space. I like it quiet in here. I want it quiet unless I say otherwise.”

  She lifted one dark eyebrow and took a couple of steps back. I watched as she made a big show of scooting right to the line of my doorway. She cleared her throat and defiantly looked at me. “I need you to show me how to prioritize your schedule. The schedule I found on the computer was kind of scattered and very inefficient.”

  “I set that schedule,” I protested.

  “I guess that explains why you need a secretary. You have yourself bouncing all over the place like a yo-yo. If you arrange meetings based on where you are closest to, it will save you a lot of time. However, I need to know what is most important and how much time you need for each meeting. There is also the matter of emails. I see there is an email password for the company email, but am I supposed to read them all? That seems like a waste of time.”

  “You have a lot of opinions, especially after being employed for only five minutes.”

  She giggled. “Oh, sweetie, I have opinions for days. My mom used to say I had more opinions than any one person should ever have.”

  “I think I agree with your mother.”

  She winked. “You’re free to agree and I’m free to have them.”

  “What do you need?” I asked, already exhausted by her.

  “I need you to tell me what you need,” she answered, as if I was a toddler.

  “I need to sit down and go over my schedule. I need to check my email. I need to review the sales reports. And then I need to review the report from my realtor in New York.”

  She smiled. “Well, now was that so hard?”

  I wanted to shout at the sky. The woman was insufferable. “What do you want?” I snapped, losing my patience.

  “I don’t want anything. If you can’t give me guidance about what it is you expect, then I’m just going to muddle through. I have a way of doing things. Since you can’t tell me what it is you want, then I’ll have to do what I want.”

  I studied her, trying to figure out why I found her so
obnoxious. She was bold. Too bold. “You’re a secretary. Don’t tell me you don’t have a clue about what you’re supposed to do.”

  “How hard can it be? I answer the phone, file things away, and make sure you are where you’re supposed to be. Is that about the gist of it?”

  “Mrs.—”

  She held up a finger, slowly wagging it back and forth. “No, no, no. Willow. Call me Willow and I’m not a missus anything.”

  I closed my eyes, praying for patience. “Fine. Whatever. Do whatever. I don’t care. Just do whatever it is you think you need to do. I don’t know what to say at this point.”

  “Oh, I’m going to, but I don’t want to hear any bellyaching when I make some changes around this mausoleum.”

  “What changes?” I asked, suddenly very worried.

  “You said to do whatever,” she answered with a sly smile. “You don’t get to change your mind now. You wanted to be snarky, and now you have to live with the consequences.”

  I was sure my head was going to explode. I wanted to choke her and Kyle at the same time. He had saddled me with a fresh kind of hell and I was supposed to deal with the woman for an entire year. I wasn’t sure I could deal with her for a full hour. She was already on my last nerve and I had known her ten minutes.

  “I have work to do,” I said, hoping I didn’t have to be totally rude and throw her out of my office. I would if that was what it came down to.

  She smiled. “Yes, you certainly do. I would suggest you start by unburying that desk. I would do it for you, but I’ve got my own pile of garbage to deal with out here.”

  “I’m sorry you’re so bothered by the pile, but I was without a secretary for a week. Things piled up.”

  She nodded. “I heard, remember?”

  “The café,” I said, remembering how I had dismissed her.

  “Just holler if you need something. Within reason. I’m not your waitress, which by the way, I wasn’t your waitress at the café either. Your dollar tip was rather rude. I hope if you ever show your face in that place again, you apologize to your server and promise a big fat tip. If you don’t, then I don’t think I would be brave enough to eat whatever she served me.”

  She turned and walked away without shutting the door. I stared after her. The woman was ballsy. Maybe she thought because she had a one-year contract, I wouldn’t fire her. She was certainly talking to me like she had nothing to fear. I didn’t mind paying Kyle double for his share of the company if I had to. There was only so much I would put up with.

  I could hear her still talking. The phone hadn’t rung. Either she was talking to herself or talking to me. Either way, I didn’t want to hear it. My brain needed a break. I closed my office door, not caring if she thought I was rude. She already thought I was rude.

  I sat down at my desk and stared at the mess. The schedule she had printed for me was laid out on my desk. I would have missed it if she had not told me it was there. I let out a long sigh as I stared at the reports that needed my attention.

  It just wasn’t going to be the same without Kyle. Although we didn’t necessarily spend a lot of time together when he worked there, he was a sounding board, someone I could talk to about profit reports or discuss new ideas for the fall line we were already working on. I felt alone.

  I heard a bang and nearly jumped out of my seat. The noise was followed by a loud curse and then a fast apology. The woman was like no secretary I had ever worked with. I wasn’t sure she was a secretary. How in the hell was I supposed to manage a business on my own with a woman who treated me like an insufferable child and had no real skills to help me?

  Kyle was probably laughing his ass off just then. I didn’t realize I had pissed him off so badly. I knew he didn’t think much of me, but foisting that woman on me was just rude. Fucking rude. And mean.

  Chapter 10

  Willow

  I was making some headway on the mess piled on the desk but had yet to tackle the drawers stuffed with scraps of paper and various office supplies. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it. I didn’t consider myself a person that demanded everything be neat and tidy, but the desk was a shitstorm. It looked like someone had run to Office Depot, bought everything they could get their hands on, and then dumped it in the small space.

  My last boss would call it a clusterfuck, and it was. A hot mess of pens, paperclips, and highlighters strewn about. In the middle of the wreckage, I had found what appeared to be important documents from vendors and even some client feedback forms that were tossed in another pile.

  I reminded myself Rome wasn’t built in a day and I had to give myself some leeway. It was going to take time. I wanted to get into his office and go after that disaster. If he didn’t have it cleaned up and organized in the next day or two, I would offer him a helping hand. His office reminded me of Jake’s bedroom. Sometimes, it would get to the point when I considered moving rather than trying to clean it up.

  It usually took a full day to get through the clutter and get all the toys back in the appropriate bins. It amazed me how many little organizers were in the bedroom that were never actually used. I refused to give up and tried my best to keep things tidy just for my own sanity. Although Jake never seemed to mind his disaster area.

  My stomach growled loudly out of the blue. I pressed my hand against my belly, looking around to make sure no one had heard. How could anyone have heard? Ashton’s office was in the far back corner. I felt like I was all alone in the place. Ashton had yet to emerge from his office. I got the feeling he didn’t like me much. I didn’t really care if he did or didn’t like me. I felt like I was there to whip him into shape. Sometimes, a little tough love was needed.

  I was starving and knew Ashton had to be hungry as well. I didn’t think there was a back entrance, which meant unless he had a fridge in there, he had not eaten. I had found a stack of menus slapped in the middle of some other reports. I had noticed some stars next to various items. I was going to make another brave assumption that those were some of Ashton’s favorite food choices.

  I wasn’t much for Chinese and discarded the menu. The last thing I needed was MSG and bloating. That would not make a great first impression. I found a menu with sub sandwiches. Who could turn down a sub? I quickly placed the order, making sure to order some chocolate chip cookies for dessert. There was no way anyone could be angry when they were eating a chocolate chip cookie.

  I got back to work, praying the food arrived as quickly as they promised. When the young man showed up carrying two bags and a tray with two diet sodas, I nearly jumped on him, I was so hungry. “I am so glad to see you.”

  His eyes darted toward the closed door. “I’m sorry. I got here as fast as I could.”

  “No, no, you made it in record time.”

  “I made sure the bread was fresh,” he stammered.

  I realized the poor kid was terrified. I made another assumption, promising I would stop with the assumptions once I got some actual facts. For now, I was going to assume the kid had had the misfortune of being insulted and ripped to shreds by my lovely boss. I supposed he could be intimidating, but I felt like he was a lot off huff and puff.

  “Thank you for your quick delivery and the attention to detail,” I said, pulling a five from my wallet. I wished I had more, but I didn’t. “I’m sorry. It’s all I have.”

  “This is the first time I’ve ever received a tip here,” he said with surprise.

  “What? No! Well, I can assure you, I will make sure you are tipped from now on.”

  “Thank you. I’ve got to run.”

  I waved and stuck the straws in the sodas. I put one under my arm and carried the bags of food toward the office. I didn’t bother knocking. I knew there was no one else in the office with him. He was on the phone when I walked in. He scowled at me, trying to shoo me away. I held up the bags and kept going. The look on his face was priceless. I busied myself unpacking the sandwiches and put his in front of him.

  “Thank you,” I heard him sa
y in a rushed voice. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.” He ended the call and looked at me with irritation. “I was on the phone.”

  “Yes, you were. You could have eaten in between bits of conversation.”

  He cleared his throat. “This is a business. This is a professional office. You don’t just barge in and plop a hoagie on top of important papers.”

  I shrugged. “You have to eat. I have to eat. This is food. Let’s eat.”

  I sat down in the chair across from his desk and unwrapped my turkey and swiss with extra mustard. I hoped I didn’t make a mess with it. I was so damn hungry, I had to fight to keep myself from tearing into it like a tiger tearing into a raw steak.

  “You’re going to eat in here?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “Why not?”

  He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. “I’m working.”

  “Funny, so am I, but we’re going to call this a lunch break. It’s something employers give their employees to take care of basic human needs, like eating.”

  He rolled his eyes and picked up the sandwich. “How did you know what I liked?”

  “Your last sloppy secretary left a stack of menus on the desk. I took a chance.”

  He stared down at the loaded ham and turkey sub with all the fixings. “Thank you,” he muttered as if it cost him a great deal to say it.

  “You’re welcome. I was hoping we could use this time to get to know each other a little better.”

  “Why?” he asked around a mouthful.

  I laughed. “Because we’re working together. This is what coworkers do.”

  “But you work for me.”

  “I’m not asking you to tell me all your deepest, darkest secrets. I have a feeling I wouldn’t be able to handle them. I was thinking more surface stuff. Like how long have you worked here?”

  “I don’t work here. I own the company. I started the company.”

  I nodded. “Impressive.” I already knew that but at least it got him to say more than a couple of words. “When did you start it?”