by Cass Sellars
Skylar chuckled as she continued to arrange files in date and subject order. “Well, no, it’s not that bad yet,” she joked. “But if we don’t get a hold on costs, that day might not be far off.”
“Okay, you’re not allowed to scare me within the first five minutes of a meeting. Ask anybody, that’s the rule.” She smiled, glad to see that Skylar seemed markedly more relaxed than the last time they were in her office together.
“Duly noted.” Skylar responded without looking at her and began assembling a matched subset of files. She stacked color copies of bar graphs and flow charts depicting similar data in contrasting ways.
“I suppose this means that I have to join you on the floor?” The question was rhetorical as Jess folded neatly onto the carpet opposite Skylar and the small city of files she was constructing. She was intrigued by Skylar’s unconventional style and her lack of pretense when it came to conducting business with her. She found it refreshing.
“I can sit at the table if you like. I know this isn’t standard operating procedure.” She suddenly seemed to check herself and looked slightly uncomfortable.
Jess rushed to restore the confident air present just moments before. “Screw protocol. Take me out of my comfort zone, Ms. Addison. It’s good for me.”
Skylar seemed to acknowledge the surrender and continued. Jess accepted the documents handed to her and leaned against the wall as she studied.
“Nice work,” Jess mumbled and shifted her legs, trying to get comfortable. “You know, I haven’t done this in a very long time.” She referred to the awkward lotus position she was attempting. “Your meeting, your way. But know that when we do this again, I’m calling my chiropractor.”
Skylar sent her a fleeting smile and launched into her delivery, almost reading from her prepared notes. She hadn’t finished with her third sentence when Jess put a hand on her wrist.
She gestured between the two of them. “Talk to me. We’re sitting on the floor surrounded by a forest worth of paper. Don’t recite notes. You know this inside and out. Just tell me.” Jess waited for her words to take hold. She hated being lectured to, she always had.
“Yeah, okay,” Skylar said quietly and placed the notebook to the side before she continued. “So first of all, personnel. Those changes we made are working. Except, of course, for Toni. I imagine there’s a voodoo doll with my face on it somewhere in her desk. I told her she got a reprieve courtesy of your email, but I still expect her to lose her mind on the daily and I’m not giving in. She barely speaks to me, but she looks at Brett like he walks on water.” She shook her head and shrugged. “I realize that I didn’t ask your permission to make these changes, so I’m pretty grateful you aren’t making me feel bad about going ahead with it.” Skylar looked at Jess and mocked wiping sweat from her brow as Jess had, which elicited Jess’s heartfelt laughter.
“Remember, I let Pam Landry do this job, or not do it, so you have no place to go but up.”
“So I’ve heard.” Skylar hinted at an eyebrow raise.
Jess thought the gesture seemed to hide a deeper narrative. “What exactly did you hear?” Jess knew it would be honest, but Skylar seemed to weigh her words carefully before she spoke. Jess nodded to encourage her when she looked as if she was going to hedge.
“That her experience and talent could fit into her large bra, much to the delight of several of the straight guys in your employ. I also heard that you and she had a tawdry fling and she left in a tantrum after you broke it off.” She looked uncomfortable. “That part sounded a bit embellished, if not, downright made up, but you asked.”
Jess shook her head. This wasn’t the first time rumors like that had been part of the office’s watercooler conversations. It had been worse when she first began assuming management responsibilities, but she had chalked it up to jealousy then. It was the one thing she would never be used to.
“First of all, she was a wretched finance manager, as you can attest. And I can assure you, I did not hire her for her…assets or any other physical attributes. She stated that she was a Yale graduate with six more years of experience than the closest competition, which I now know was you. We had no relationship of any kind and I told you I didn’t even make the final decision to hire her.”
Skylar looked amused, “You don’t actually owe me an explanation. And anyway, it makes my job of looking like the right choice much easier, at least at the outset.”
“Touché.” Jess cast her eyes on the next pile of documents that she was being handed by Skylar, who appeared comfortably twisted into a human pretzel on her office floor.
“Here are your general supply bills. This includes office, safety, and printing equipment, maintenance supplies, and the like. I think this is too high, but I won’t know until I can really dig in and separate any that should have been allocated to projects instead of the general ledger account I found them in.”
“Just so you know, if you start axing the coffee budget, I can’t protect you.” Jess’s offered a smile and the hope of relaxing her.
Skylar shrugged nonchalantly. “A friend once told me that it’s better to be praised than punished, but better to be punished than ignored. I would prefer not to be ignored.”
Jess thought briefly that she couldn’t imagine anyone ignoring Skylar, who was compulsively straightening papers on the carpet in front of her. She found herself questioning why business acumen wasn’t the only compelling thing about Skylar. As the morning wore on, she found herself increasingly satisfied by the cadence and the content of their meeting and by their conversation on even the driest of subjects. She hadn’t enjoyed a meeting like this in a long time. She was sure this was the shot in the arm IA needed to get back on track. A review of the bottom line said their projects were overbudget and expenses were out of control.
Skylar had just reached for a new file when a wash of air dismantled some of her pages from their neat piles. She slapped her palms onto the ones that seemed most in danger of flying away. The abruptly opening office door had created the small tornado, and they both looked up as navy patent leather heels marched toward them.
“Jess Ivan, are you really crumpled on the floor in your good Saint Laurent slacks?” Whitney’s hands were braced on her hips as she shook her head at Jess like a displeased schoolmarm.
Jess glanced down at her pants, no worse for wear as far as she could tell. “It turned out not to be so uncomfortable.” Jess shrugged and struggled from her spot, studying Whitney carefully.
“To what do we owe the unexpected visit all the way over here?” Jess hated unexpected drop-ins.
“The Vaughns, remember? I can’t talk Lydia out of a rental in the East Bay, so we’re headed over to Pleasanton.” Whitney slid her arms around Jess’s waist and seemed to wait for a proper greeting. “I thought we could go to lunch while they were at their friends’ for a visit.”
Jess kissed her quickly, slightly nonplussed by the affectionate display in her office. “Whit, I’m sorry, but I just can’t. As you can see, we’re only halfway through with this meeting, and Skyl—oh, I’m sorry.” She realized that Skylar was staring up at them. “Skylar Addison, this is Whitney Fields. Skylar is my new finance manager, and we have a lot of recon to do since Pam left.”
Whitney rolled her eyes. “Oh, that one. You probably do.” She turned slightly in Skylar’s direction and bent to offer her hand. Skylar rose awkwardly to her knees and grasped her hand.
“It’s a pleasure,” Skylar offered politely before refolding onto the floor.
“Yes. Thank you.” Whitney quickly refocused on Jess. “Are you sure you won’t come have a lunch date with me?”
“I’m sure, but thank you for thinking of me.”
Whitney offered a careful look and whispered in Jess’s ear, “Call me later if you need me.”
She smiled seductively, much to Jess’s embarrassment when the tone, if not the actual words, was apparent to anyone in the room.
“See you, babe,” Whitney said brightly
before sparing a fleeting glance in Skylar’s direction that Jess thought was more dismissive than acknowledging.
Status quo returned to the pre-visit atmosphere, but Jess felt awkward as she looked at Skylar. “Sorry about the interruption.”
“Please don’t apologize, I’m sorry I made you miss a lunch with your girlfriend…or your wife.” Skylar looked uneasy.
Jess nearly choked in a rushed attempt to issue a correction. “Not my wife. I’m not married.” Jess wondered if the relationship train was roaring as fast out of the station as it felt. “More of a casual dating thing.”
“Sorry, I just assumed…”
“Fair assumption, but no.” Jess wondered who she was trying to convince more.
The hours ticked by, and at five p.m. they looked triumphantly at the last file. Jess thought that it hardly felt like five hours since Whitney had rushed in.
“Any bad news in there?” Jess nodded toward the thin green file folder Skylar held out to her.
“Nope. Just the payroll file for my group, and I don’t think we can do much about that tonight.” Skylar saw Jess look at her watch.
“Come on.” Jess stood and held out her hand to Skylar, who took it without thinking and pulled up from the floor.
“What?” She stretched the soreness from her body, watching Jess do the same.
“Come on, we’re going down the street to Jake’s.”
Skylar stepped over the files gingerly to avoid tripping on them. “Now?” She watched, amused, as Jess tucked her button-down shirt into her apparently valuable and decidedly wrinkled pants.
“Yes. I’m starving, and I need a drink. You do wine?” Jess grabbed Skylar’s bag from the floor, and Skylar watched her loop the strap over her own shoulder instead of handing it back to her.
“Sometimes. But I’ve been craving a St. Germain soda. Think they can make that?” She had planned the very exciting task of finishing the to-do list on her counter at home, but this sounded infinitely better.
“If they can’t, you can show them how.” Jess slapped the light off and shut the door behind her. Only the emergency fluorescent was still on, guiding them to the front entrance.
Skylar would have declined if she had time to think, but the drink and, if she was honest, the company were a welcome indulgence.
* * *
“Well, what a surprise. Jess Ivan, you are a sight for sore eyes,” a woman exclaimed and hugged Jess. “And who is this little beauty?” The short, dark-haired bartender wiped her hands on a bar towel and held the right one out to Skylar.
“Ava, this is Skylar Addison. Skylar, this is Ava Watson. Jake over there works for her. She was just kind enough to name the place after him.”
“It was the least I could do after I dragged him to the altar.” Ava wiggled her ring finger, displaying a modest diamond nestled next to a thin gold band. “You did good with this one,” Ava said in a stage whisper, pointing at Skylar. “Now go give that man a hug and tell him to make you a stiff drink on the house. He hasn’t done crap all night.” She bustled over to a long, packed table in the back.
“Sorry about that,” Jess offered quickly. “Ava thinks every female I’m seen with is my future wife.”
Skylar felt the heat rise to her face. “Perfectly all right with me. If today is any indication, I consider myself in good company. Whitney’s certainly beautiful.” She winced at the honest but inappropriate words that she had let escape.
“So are you,” Jess answered without pause. “Sorry, I meant to think that and not say it.”
“Happens to me constantly.” Skylar rolled her eyes theatrically. “But thank you for saying it.”
“You’re welcome.” Jess steered her toward the bar as the man Skylar now knew as Jake flipped open the hinged bar top and walked toward them.
“’Bout damn time you got your fine ass in here. What, my drinks aren’t good enough for you anymore?”
“What are you talking about? I’ve been traveling and up to my ass in work. You know I’d never leave you,” Jess hugged him strongly and accepted a loud kiss on the cheek.
“It’s what they all say. I ain’t got what you like, anyhow.” He raised his eyebrows several times like a character in a child’s cartoon.
“Now, that is true.” Jess laughed at him and introduced Skylar.
“What can I get ya? Whiskey black or a little Don Julio?” Jake mimed writing a complicated order.
“I would love your best red. And Skylar here would like a St. Germain soda.” She glanced at Skylar as if waiting for her nod of confirmation. “Can you make that?”
He crinkled his nose and scanned the back stock of bottles. “I dunno. Haul it over here and let’s see what we can do, okay?” He winked at Skylar and placed both hands on her shoulders, directing her toward a stool. Skylar was oddly warmed by the gesture.
Jess followed him behind the bar and grabbed two glasses, a double old fashioned and a highball. It was clear to Skylar that Jess was no stranger to making herself at home in the tavern.
“Which one, ma’am?” she asked Skylar formally.
“Bigger one, of course.”
“Attagirl.” Jess laughed and dropped the small glass back onto the shelf.
“Now what?” Jake chimed in.
“Two shots of champagne.”
Jake handed over a mini split to Jess, and Skylar watched her long fingers as she removed the top. She was suddenly enchanted by the floor show.
“You do champagne in shots?” Jess looked amused.
“No, that’s just how I measure it, keeps everything even.” Skylar thought most of her life might have been spent making sure to keep unbalanced things on a proper keel.
“Okay. And then?”
Skylar rocked forward on her elbows, peering over the bar as she knelt on the padded stool to watch the progress.
“Same amount of club soda.”
Jess hefted the soda gun and filled the shot glass twice.
“Next?” Jess glanced up at her.
“And two shots of St. Germain.” She pointed at the full tall, fluted bottle at the back of the crowded shelf. “Do you have any lemon?” She looked at Jake, who was paying careful attention to the assembly process.
“Yup. And I got lemonade, Ava makes it fresh.”
“Mmm. Could you add a splash and a twist, please? A few cubes of ice in last, and we’re done.”
“Hey, who’s making this, anyway? Please direct your order over here, miss.” Jess waggled a finger at her.
“So sorry…please add the lemon and a stirrer, bartender. Oh. And a side of olives.”
Jake and Jess both looked up at her at the same time.
“Gross! In here?” Jess exclaimed, making a repulsed expression and eliciting spontaneous laughter from Skylar.
“No, of course not. I just like them. I eat them first. It’s a good balance for the sweet.”
Jake slapped a cocktail napkin on the bar and Jess presented the freshly made concoction.
“Moment of truth, ma’am.” Jess said, watching expectantly as she sipped from the glass.
“Perfect! Sooo good!” Skylar ran her tongue across her lips, collecting the remnant liquid.
“Let me see.” Jake extracted a sample using a tiny cocktail straw. “Damn, I like it.”
“Your recipe?” Jess asked.
“Not really, I just made a few tweaks to the ingredients. It’s all been done before.” She finished the statement laden with theatrical melancholy, adding her hand dramatically to her forehead.
“Somehow, I bet it wasn’t as much fun before,” Jess remarked, washing her sticky fingers.
“How about we call it a Sparkling Sky?” Jake lined up the bottles on the bar. “You know, a drink named after you on your first night to Jake’s means you have to come back.” He slid a large-bowled wineglass to Jess, who sipped gratefully.
“Wow. That’s a first. I’ve never even had an offer like that.” Jess looked insulted as she swallowed the sip of wine.
“Come around more and I’ll think about it. Now, get out from behind the bar before people think the bartenders here are sexy women instead of old cowboys.”
“Jake, you’re my favorite old cowboy. We’re going to take the back corner, okay?”
“Go for it.”
Jess walked behind where Skylar still knelt on the stool, her feet dangling off the back. She felt Jess casually loop a finger into the elastic tie holding her hair, causing it to fall around her face.
“Hey!” Skylar spoke through the curtain of curls that fell around her shoulders and attempted to push it all behind her ears.
“Time to let your hair down.” Jess then slipped Skylar’s heeled loafers off her feet and marched away to the corner booth without another word, Skylar’s shoes swinging from her fingertips.
In shock, Skylar looked frantically around the bar for judgmental witnesses before padding helplessly across the wood floor in her socks. No one seemed to notice.
“Are you crazy?” she asked, laughing despite her mild embarrassment.
“It’s been alleged.”
Her deadpan delivery made Skylar laugh harder.
“Now I look like some sort of hobo with bad hair.” She had to admit to being thoroughly intrigued by Jess’s after-work persona.
“I think you have great hair. I like it down.”
Skylar wondered how she should take the comment. “And what’s with the shoes?” Skylar felt thoroughly relaxed as she tucked into the booth opposite Jess and retrieved her scuffed shoes from Jess’s fingers.
“You’ve been in those things since six this morning—I would think your feet are thanking me,” Jess said with finality. “How’s your drink?”
Skylar took another sip of the now famous cocktail and made appreciative noises. “Very good. Do you think he’ll really call it that?”
“See for yourself.” Jess nodded toward the fluorescent specials board where Jake was writing a brief description of the latest featured drink.
“Crazy. This day is certainly not ending as I expected.” She glanced at the menu. “Would you mind if we ate? I’m fading a little.”
