by Marr, Maggie
“How can I help you?” He asks.
“I wanted to come by and tell you in person,” I say.
Jack lifts and eyebrow and tilts his head waiting for me to continue.
“I wanted to thank you for giving me this job, it meant the world to me…still does. This place was the difference between me being able to help my sister and save some money and us really struggling,” I say.
Jack nods. His gaze softens. “I appreciate that,” Jack says. “You’re a big asset to our company.”
“Thank you, and I wanted to tell you in person that Ashley? She means everything to me.”
Jack nods and the smile on his face slips a tiny bit but I keep going.
“What she’s going to do here, at Bliss Boards, it’ll mean a lot to the company. She’s smart and motivated and has great vision,” I say.
“Ash is very talented,” Jack says. There’s a hesitancy in his voice like he’s waiting for the catch.
“That’s why I’ve decided that I need to resign,” I say. My chest contracts. I take a deep breath and I hold Jack’s gaze.
“We…I really don’t want you to do that,” Jack says slowly. And while I sense he’s gaging his words—which I sure wish he wasn’t doing; but Ash said there had been a lot of calls with business affairs and how to properly handle the tough situation that Ash and I created by falling in love.
“Thank you,” I say. “But I know that Ash’s future is with Bliss Boards. I’ll find a way to pay for school, I know I will, but you? You’ll never find another Ash.”
Jack’s head jerks back. His brows crease as though he hadn’t really considered what exactly he’d be losing if he lost Ash working here.
“I won’t either,” I say. “So I’m gonna’ do the one thing that I know is best for her and for you and probably eventually even for me, I’m going to resign my job and find a different way to pay for school.”
Jack sighs. “Any ideas on how exactly you’re going to do that?”
“It involves a year in Alaska,” I say.
“Ouch,” Jack squints at me, “You’re really gonna’ do that? It’s a tough way to make some money. I think Alex did it for about a year.”
“He lasted six months, but yeah, I talked to his contact and I’m heading out tomorrow morning,” I say.
“Tomorrow? That’s fast.”
“They had one spot left, told me if I could be in Anchorage by tomorrow morning, I could have it.”
“So you’re leaving today?” Jack asks. “What does Ash say?”
My gaze goes to the photo on Jack’s desk of him and Ash at her college graduation. “She uh….she’s not happy about me going to Alaska,” I say. I leave out the part about how she absolutely doesn’t know that I’m flying out of LAX today. “Actually that’s a bit of an understatement, she’s pretty pissed at my decision.” I sigh. “I’m just hoping that she’s here when I get back.”
Jack’s eyes widen but he doesn’t say anything to me, not a word.
“So…uh…thank you for the job and the scholarship and the opportunity,” I say. My chest is tight.
Jack stands and reaches his hand over his desk to me. I clasp his hand and look into his eyes.
“Good luck man,” Jack says. “There’s no better guy that Ash could ever find.”
Chapter 22
Ashley
I’ve spent the last four hours looking at office space with Emma. We’ve looked at buildings all over Venice, Playa Del Rey, Santa Monica, and Marina Del Rey. Finally…finally….after hours today (and many days before today) we may have found the right building at the right price for the North American expansion of Bliss Boards.
“Thanks for all your help today,” Emma says. She pulls her car into her parking space behind the current Bliss Boards location. She turns off her car and looks at me. I have a feeling I know what she wants to talk about, because we haven’t really, talked about Matt and me at all. She’s kind of kept quiet and let Uncle Jack talk about the situation—which he’s barely done either, except to tell me how unprofessional I’ve been.
“Hey, so….” Her words trail off and I pause with my hand on the car door-handle. The silence is really loud. I look at Emma and her lips purse together and there’s a strange look in her eyes.
“What is it?” I ask.
“Well…I mean…” she sighs and shakes her head. Finally she looks across the car at me, “I just know that when you start to run North American that you’re going to treat this place the same way that Jack and I treat this place.”
A smile pulls over my mouth. Here I thought I was about to get chewed out again, and instead I get a compliment from the CFO of Bliss Boards.
“That means a lot to me,” I say. “Because I know how important the company is to both of you. And I’ve watched how you run the place and while I may not agree with some of your decisions, I do love how you treat the people you work with.”
Emma nods. “I can live with that,” she says. “So…uh…before we go inside, I wondered did you and Matt ever reach any decision?”
My heart hurts. The entire day while we’ve been looking at real estate, I’ve been waiting for my text message to beep or my phone to ring or any communication from Matt indicating that he’s sorry and that he wants me to forgive him. I glance at the phone in my mind that has remained shockingly silent all damn day.
“We…uh…kind of had an argument,” I say. I look into Emma’s eyes. “I…I offered to help him with tuition with my signing bonus and he…uh….he didn’t want my help.”
Emma’s eyes widen and her mouth opens. “I see,” she says. “Because?”
I shake my head and look out the windshield toward the sand and the ocean. “I don’t know,” I say. Emma opens her car door and I open mine. The cool ocean breeze brushes over my skin and yet it does nothing for the anger and confusion pulsing in my chest. I follow Emma into Bliss Boards, that now, is really quiet. Without summer surf camp, the place is nearly deserted by early evening. We walk up the stairs to the second floor side by side. “At first I wanted to believe he said no because I’m a woman, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that it’s because of Jack. And you. And—”
“Us?” Emma’s head jerks back. She’s completely shocked by my words. We stand in the hall just outside of Jack’s office. Lucky for us, everyone is gone for the day, because with the open seating plan they’d know even more of my business.
“Family means everything to Matt,” I say. “He took the last year off because his sister Sarah needed help with Teddy, his nephew. Then he lost his scholarship because he took the time off and now he lost this scholarship because of me.” I swallow. This feeling of unfairness creeps up into my chest and it’s laced with anger. Because, really Matt is the very best guy for helping all these people and I want him to finish school and I don’t want him to give up his scholarship and I want him to take the help I’ve offered, but it’s pretty clear that none of those things are going to happen. “I offered to help him with his tuition, but he said that he wouldn’t be able to look my family in the eye if they thought that he was taking my money.” I shake my head.
“What did you say?” Emma peers at me. Her eyebrow raises and she tilts her head.
I look up and there is Uncle Jack stands just inside his office doorway.
“What good is having a money if you can’t use it to help the people you love.”
Uncle Jack slides his arm around Emma’s waist and looks into her eyes.
“She does listen to me,” Jack says.
“That’s one of the lines you say almost every day,” Emma says and gets up on her tippy-toes and plants a kiss on Uncle Jack’s mouth.
I sigh. Yes, Emma and Jack are older and yes, I understand that they have a loooooong history together. But that history had to start somewhere. They dated through the formation of Bliss Boards. I follow Emma and Jack into Uncle Jack’s office. I turn and close the door.
“This isn’t fair,” I say. “Matt and I didn’t know
we worked together. He didn’t know, I didn’t know—”
“The first night,” Uncle Jack says. “After that you knew.” He settles into his office chair.
“When did you become such a hard-ass?” I ask. I press my lips together and stare at Uncle Jack.
“Ash, I may be your Uncle but I’m still your boss.”
I plant both palms on his desk and look at Uncle Jack. “You just kissed the CFO of Bliss Boards Corporate in the hallway of this store? So, seriously, when did you become such a stickler for rules? Before your accident, wave-runners towed you into waves taller than office buildings. Huge risks. No rules. Wild wild west…do you remember telling me that? All those stories, that Mom tried to get you to stop telling me?” I glance and Emma and then back at Uncle Jack, “Do you remember how you’d wait until we went for ice cream or you were babysitting me and then you’d tell me more stories about waves and Tahiti and Mesquale and—”
“We can’t do it,” Uncle Jack says. “Think about how you supervising Matt will look to the rest of the staff,” he glances past me to Emma. “We’ve talked to business affairs and there’s no arrangement that works well for the company. We open ourselves up to a potential lawsuit.”
“Matt won’t sue the company,” I say.
“Matt isn’t the only employee,” Uncle Jack says. “Look, we’re becoming more and more corporate with this expansion, and eventually we may have an IPO. We can’t jeopardize that.”
“Are you serious?” I ask. “I mean come on? You two fell back into love when Brett sent you,” I nod toward Emma, “to fix Uncle Jack’s store.”
“Ashley we went through this,” Uncle Jack says. He glances away from me and opens his laptop, “besides, it doesn’t really matter now.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t matter?” I glance from Uncle Jack to Emma. “It matters to me.” They exchange a look. “Wait…what is it? Why doesn’t it matter.” I take a step back. “Did you fire Matt? Do not tell me that you fired Matt”—my eyes widen. Would my Uncle be such an ass to actually fire my boyfriend?
“Give me some credit, Ash,” Uncle Jack says. “If I was going to fire anyone, it’d be you.”
I tilt my head to the side. “I’m not sure how to respond to that statement.”
“Well I mean, you’re not going to sue me. You’re related to me, and you were going to be Matt’s boss, so you’re really the one that causes the biggest problem for me.”
“Okay if I’ve got a job and you didn’t fire Matt; how is this not a problem anymore?”
“He resigned,” Uncle Jack says. “Came in this morning. Gave me his notice. I thought you knew.”
“Oh my god, but that means…” I glance from Uncle Jack to Emma. “That means he doesn’t get the scholarship right? That the tuition goes to someone else?”
Uncle Jack nods, “Yeah.” He doesn’t look happy about this fact and he glances from me to Emma. “It absolutely does. Kind of crazy what a guy will do for love.”
“No,” I say to Uncle Jack and shake my head. “No, he does not quit,” I say. “He stays.”
“Ash—”
“No, I’ve finished school, I can find another gig. Matt stays. He gets the scholarship and I quit.” I say.
I run my hand over my curls. I nod my head. I don’t know if what I’m doing is crazy-good or crazy-bad and it suddenly doesn’t matter that I’m still irritated with Matt about last night. I don’t want him to do this for me and if he won’t let me help him, then, well, I’ll just make him keep his job and his scholarship.. “Listen, you said it yourself, I’m the problem here, not Matt. So I’m quitting, you got that, I am quitting, contingent upon you re-hiring Matt and giving him the scholarship that you already awarded him, okay?” I glance from Emma to Uncle Jack.
He shakes his head and rolls his eyes, “Oh my god, you two? Really? You two are this much in love?”
A giant smile widens across my face. “Abso-fucking-lutely. Do we have a deal? You’ll give Matt his job back? You’ll give him his scholarship?”
“Yes,” Uncle Jack says and sighs.
I back toward the door, “Okay, then!” I say.
“But it’s not that easy,” Uncle Jack says.
My stomach spins and suddenly I go from super-happy to worried, because there is a look on Uncle Jack’s face, a look that’s familiar and one that tells me that I’m not going to like what he says.
“Why not?”
Uncle Jack glances at his phone, “Because I think Matt’s on a plane to Alaska.”
My throat tightens. Am I going to vomit? “No,” I shake my head and back toward the office door. “No, no, no, no, he’s not leaving…he said that he was leaving next week and—”
“He got a spot on a boat,” The corners of Uncle Jack’s mouth turn down. “When he was here, he seemed like he was heading straight to the airport.”
No, I will not let this happen. Absolutely not. Matt is not going to Alaska, if I have to go to LAX, tackle him, and drag him back to Bliss Boards. He is not leaving today.
“I’ll be back,” I say to Uncle Jack and Emma, “And I’ll have Matt with me.” I back out of Uncle Jack’s office and turn. The entire Bliss Board staff, in the open office area has returned from where they were and they all look at me. So much for privacy and me thinking that everyone left early today. I look at Presley and she gives me a thumbs up.
“Excellent job,” Presley says. “I’ve never been so happy to see someone I like so much quit their job. And for all the right reasons.”
“Right, thanks,” I say.
“Well go on,” Presley says. “Go get Matt. Go and tell him to get his ass back here. Tell him he isn’t going to some stinky-ass fishing boat in Alaska. That he needs to get his ass back to the beach pronto!”
“On it,” I say and I dash down the stairs and out the door. Wheels, I need wheels. I turn in the parking lot. Mmhmm…I still have Uncle Jack’s spare set of keys. I dash to Uncle Jack’s car and pull out my keys. He won’t mind? Will he? I mean this is urgent, an emergency really. Matt is supposed to fly out to Alaska…I’m not sure when. I press the button on my phone and try to call Matt. Voicemail? “Who the hell turns their phone off when they’re leaving for Alaska?” I mumble as I slip into the car and fire up the engine. Shit, I’ve got no time to get to LAX. I pull out of the parking lot and punch it. “Please, please, please, let me get to the airport in time!”
* * *
“You just missed him,” Sarah says. Teddy stands at her feet with his arms around her leg.
“Seriously?” I press the button on my phone. “And straight to voicemail again?”
“Sometimes he turns it off,” Sarah says.
“Who does that?”
“I know! Right?” Sarah says. “Look, I think you can still catch him. He just left and his flight doesn’t take off for another two hours. If you hurry you can get there before he gets through security. I mean security at LAX is a nightmare.”
“But if I have to park…” I shake my head. Tears prick my eyes.
“We’ll come with you, that way you can hop out and we’ll circle,” Sarah says.
“Car seat?”
“Leave your car and let’s take mine. Faster than trying to get Teddy’s car seat out of the car and into that.” She leans down and scoops up Teddy. “Ready to go find Uncle Matt?” Sarah asks.
“Yeah! Teddy says. “Uncle Matt needs to come home now!”
“He absolutely does, buddy, he absolutely does!” I say.
* * *
I’ve never felt like a car was going so slowly in my entire life. Yes, Sarah drives above the speed limit and yes we’re trying to get there but O.M.G. it feels like we’re traveling in reverse or that perhaps instead of an engine her ancient Saturn had a gerbil on an exercise-wheel under the hood and that gerbil is super-tired.
“Almost there!” Sarah says. She pulls into the upper circle at LAX for departures. I hold onto the door handle. “What airline?” She asks.
“S
outhwest?” I glance at Sarah. “I think it’s Southwest…oh my god, do I not know what airline? I think he texted me or emailed me or—“ I whip out my phone and start panic-scrolling looking and looking and looking. Sarah stops the car in front of the Southwest terminal which looks like the entrance to Nordstrom’s during a dollar sale. “Oh my god, all the people?” I say. I look at Sarah and shake my head.
“I’ll keep trying to call him,” Sarah says.
I open the door and hop out. I lean back into the passenger window.
“If we’re not here when you two get back,” Sarah says, “we had to circle…they make you do that. They won’t let you stay here for very long.”
I turn. My heart falls to my toes. A blob/mob of humanity is massed in front of the entrance. I’m going in. I start to wade through the mob scene still texting and dialing Matt thinking that at some point he’s got to realize his phone is off.
“Lady, that’s my foot!” A guy says.
“Sorry!” I grimace. I continue wading through the people. Oh my god, I don’t even know if I’m at the right terminal? I finally get inside the door. I turn to the departure board and scan all the flights leaving for Anchorage…and there is…nothing?
My heart beats in my chest. Tears prick my eyes. I am totally going to cry. How is this happening? Why is this happening? Just because I told him that I wanted my job? That my career meant something to me? That I wanted to help him pay for his tuition? Because he’s this great guy who wants to finish school but doesn’t want me to have to help or lose my job? “Well guess what,” I mumble and press my fingertips underneath my eyes where the tears are collecting, “I’m suffering.” I can’t even go to the front desk to ask because by the time I wait in that giant line, whatever flight Matt’s on to his first stop will have already taken off.
Okay…now what? I press his number one more time hoping, hoping, hoping, that this time he’ll pick up. But it rings and rings and still goes to voicemail.
I close my eyes. I’m so in love with this guy. I can’t imagine being in LA without him. And now I have to go back to Sarah and Teddy and tell them I couldn’t find him. Me. The reason Matt left. The reason he gave up his scholarship and his job and moved all the way up to Alaska for the next twelve months.
