Love Me Last

by Parker, Weston

  Hayden nodded at me. “I’m sure I can figure out the problem,” he said confidently.

  “Good,” I said. “I guess the only thing left to do is to talk about the terms of the contract, then.” This was the part that I hated, honestly. I didn’t even know how much his services might be worth. I had talked to Charlie, and he had given me a rough ballpark figure, but since he was salaried and this guy was freelance, it was hard for even Charlie to really know what a fair price would be.

  And now he knew how invaluable his services were to us. Would Hayden try to push up the price because of that? I wanted to think that he wasn’t the kind of guy who would do that, but then again, you just never could tell.

  “Four weeks until the IRS starts auditing you, and eight years of material to go through,” Hayden said, nodding sagely. He started to talk about how many hours that would probably take him, but ultimately said, “I’m okay with a per-project rate, rather than an hourly rate, if that’s what you want to do, though.”

  I frowned, thinking it over. Was he trying to cheat us? But Charlie and I had talked about a per-project rate before when he had first told me that he might know someone who could help us out. So now, I told Hayden the number that Charlie and I had agreed should be fair. Or at least, close enough that we could agree upon a number with just a little bit of negotiation.

  Hayden scoffed immediately, though. “I’m sorry, Mallory, but for what you’re asking, you’d need to pay me at least double that,” he said.

  I frowned, but I remembered that Charlie had said there would probably be at least a little negotiation. “We can probably agree to maybe 5% more than that,” I told Hayden, but he shook his head. “10%?” I asked, still wondering if he was bluffing.

  But Hayden made a noise of disgust. “Look, I’d like to help you, but I haven’t worked for a rate like that since I first got into this business,” he said. “I’m sure you can find someone to help you out for that price, but I’m not sure if they’re going to be able to do that in the month that you have.”

  I sighed. “We’re just a mom-and-pop business,” I reiterated. “I know that other people have probably paid you more, but we just don’t have that kind of money to throw around. All of the profit that we make in a given year is either put into changes for the coming year or else saved for a rainy day. The winery industry isn’t like other businesses.”

  “I get that it’s seasonal,” Hayden said impatiently. “But it’s all in how you budget.”

  “It’s not just that it’s seasonal,” I said, starting to feel frustrated. Maybe he wasn’t the best person for this job. He might know the books, but it sounded like he didn’t know anything about the wine industry, and he definitely didn’t know anything about working with smaller businesses. I wasn’t sure that he was the kind of person that I wanted to let into this.

  Maybe Mom had been right. Maybe I shouldn’t be bringing someone like him into the business. But there was no one already in the business that I could trust to do what Hayden could, theoretically do. And there was no one outside the business that I could trust either.

  So maybe I had to make do.

  I struggled for a way to explain to him. “The business is seasonal in that our sales are markedly better at certain times of the year than others. But most of our rainy day funds go to bad years with the crop. Let’s say a wildfire takes out the entire crop; that’s a year that we don’t make wine really at all. Or if it’s a really rainy year, maybe our crop doesn’t taste the way that it should. And we have to change out our casks regularly. The years with new casks, the wine just doesn’t taste quite as woody and earthy, so a lot of that wine is relegated to cooking wine and nothing more. So, we always have to be prepared for any type of year.”

  “That makes sense,” Hayden said, nodding. He cocked his head to the side. “Sorry if I sound like I don’t know anything about wine. It’s not really my strong point. But books are books. I’m sure I can figure out what’s going on around here and get everything fixed up.”

  I stared at him for a moment. Again, it was refreshing to hear his honesty. Maye there were perks to what Ace had said about his brother before, about how he wasn’t like any other professional. He didn’t make it feel like he was trying to sell himself. If we wanted to keep working with him or not, it was up to me. He made sure I knew all the good and the bad of the decision.

  And I liked that. I still didn’t love the fact that he had baldly admitted to being late before. Nor was he the kind of guy that I would ever want to date. But if he really could fix things for the business before the IRS got involved, maybe it was worth setting aside my personal reservations. No one was asking me to date him. Not even Ace, not anymore. So what the hell.

  “We could maybe do 25% more,” I finally told Hayden. “But I’m afraid that’s the most that I can offer you.”

  Hayden stared at me for a long moment. I could practically see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible,” he said. “Not if you want this done in four weeks. I have other things to consider.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Like what?” I asked him. He was a freelance worker, and even though I knew that he must have a life outside of the work that I was asking him to do here, I just couldn’t imagine that there was that much more that he had to do.

  Hayden gave me a look. “I don’t think that’s any of your business,” he said, his tone surprisingly frosty.

  “All right,” I said, taken aback. There was a part of me that wanted to pry. To say something about how as his employer, maybe I deserved to know. But I didn’t know how to say it. Instead, I resolved to let him keep his secrets, at least for now. If he agreed to work here, then I was sure I would find out soon enough.

  But Hayden still looked unhappy. “Look,” he finally said, “I’d really like to help you out, but I’m not sure that I can for the amount that you’re quoting me.”

  I stared at him for a long moment, wondering if this was a bluff. Would he change his mind? If I refused, would he still work for us?

  I took the gamble, shaking my head. “When I talked to Charlie this is what we agreed upon,” I told him. “And like I said, we’re a small business. It’s really more than we can afford.”

  Hayden stared at me for a moment and then shook his head. “I’m sorry,” he said, and he sounded pretty honest with the way that he said it. He pulled out a business card and slipped it across the desk towards me. “If you change your mind, call me.”

  I stared after him as he got up and started to walk out.

  All of a sudden, the work that I’d been worrying about came flooding back into my consciousness, and I could practically feel my shoulders tensing up. “Wait,” I said before he could walk out. He paused, glancing back over his shoulder.

  “150%,” I told him, feeling reckless and desperate—two things I never felt when it came to business. “That’s the best I can do.”

  Hayden paused as he considered it. Then, he nodded. “All right,” he said.

  “But I want you in here at 9 a.m. on Monday morning,” I added.

  He smirked at me and then gave a cheeky salute. “See you Monday,” he said, giving no sign that he would be here at all on time. But what choice did I have? I watched as he walked out, then sighed and shook my head.

  Charlie came into my office almost immediately after Hayden had left. He raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m surprised to see him in here again,” he said.

  I sighed. “I guess I realized that we really did need to have his help,” I admitted. “But he’s going to be a handful over the next month, I’ll have you know.”

  Charlie was quiet for a moment, considering that. Then, he shrugged. “Maybe,” he agreed. “But at the end of the day, I think that a month of dealing with him will be worth it. For the sake of the company.”

  I knew that he was probably right. Without Hayden’s help, I didn’t think that there was going to be any way for us to figure out
where the discrepancy in the books was, not before the IRS realized that there was a problem. I knew that it was probably worth it, having Hayden on the books. Even if we had to pay him a lot more than I’d originally anticipated.

  But all the same, I felt a little nervous about all of this. I knew that Charlie was sure Hayden could make things right for us. But what if he couldn’t? And what if he managed to uncover the truth, only to find that one of my loyal employees was at the heart of all the problems, intentionally?

  I tried not to think about those things. It was enough to know that for now at least, I could focus on my own job and not worry as much about the IRS audit.

  I was still going to worry. I knew myself better than that. But at least there was the possibility that there might, at last, be some light at the end of this tunnel. We just had to hope so.

  Chapter 11

  Hayden

  I had given Booker the chance to come up with the plan for this weekend, and I stuck by that. Even when he chose for us to drive a couple of hours to get to the penny arcade. There was no going back on it now; I had promised Booker that he could choose. And honestly, although it involved a fair amount of driving, the penny arcade would be fun for both of us.

  Or all of us, rather. When Ace found out what our plans were, he had decided he wanted to join us, too.

  “I never get to spend time with my favorite nephew,” he joked.

  I rolled my eyes but grinned at the idea of him joining us. It had been a while since Ace and I had spent a good day together. And at least this time, I didn’t have to worry about him trying to hook me up with some random woman on a date. Honestly, it would be kind of fun to have him along. I loved spending time with Booker, but sometimes it was nice to have adults around as well.

  “So, how are you adjusting to the new gym and the new clientele?” I asked Ace that day, trying not to be too obvious about the fact that I was really trying to get a gauge for his feelings about Mallory, in particular, as a client.

  Ace shrugged. “You know, I loved working for the last place, but I do think that this is probably a better fit for me.”

  “How so?” I asked in surprise.

  Ace shrugged. “The clients are a little less prissy, and the management is better,” he said. “I’m sure you know what it feels like to be working for good management.”

  Surprisingly enough, my brain immediately bounced to thoughts of Mallory behind her desk. If that wasn’t good management, I didn’t know what was. She was strong and in control. She clearly knew her business well and knew what to expect from various personnel. I suppose she was my boss now.

  But I wasn’t going to tell Ace about any of that, not if I could help it. I was sure he would ask me, sooner or later, about how the previous day’s meeting with her had gone. Wondering if I had the job or not. But I wasn’t going to bring it up, and more than that, I wasn’t going to tell him that when I thought of great management, she was the one that came to mind.

  Instead, I handed Booker a handful of tokens. “Don’t spend these all in one place,” I joked.

  He laughed and shoved his coins in his pockets. “Will you play air hockey with me?” he asked.

  “I will,” Ace said, knowing that I hated air hockey. It was a bit better, playing against Booker, but I had grown up playing against my brother, who always seemed to have better reflexes than I did.

  Booker cheered and led the way over to the air hockey table.

  “So, how did things go yesterday with Mallory?” Ace asked, a little while later.

  I rolled my eyes. “Why do you care anyway?” I asked him. “Look, I went back in there. Isn’t that as far as your involvement goes?”

  Ace held up both hands. “Hey, don’t chew my head off!” he said. “I was just curious. Remember, Mallory is one of my clients.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said. “I don’t know, though, you just seem weirdly invested in this one. I don’t remember you being this weird about me with any of the other women you’ve ever tried to hook me up with.”

  “I’m not trying to be weird,” Ace said seriously. “Honestly, I just think she seems like a sweet girl, and she definitely seems like she needs help.”

  “Yeah, I guess she kind of does,” I admitted, thinking back to the conversation I’d had with her the day before. I honestly hadn’t thought she would really agree to hire me, especially not after the amount she was looking to pay for the project. It was an okay rate, and I knew that, but at the end of the day, I knew I could do better elsewhere. Not only that, but it didn’t really come close to the amount that I would charge as a sort of ‘rush fee’.

  If she wanted her books sorted out within the month, she’d have to pay more. I had been fully prepared to walk out of there. I was sure that Charlie could find someone else who would help them out, so really, I had helped all that I needed to.

  But as I’d thanked Mallory for her time and stood up to leave, she had upped her offer to more like I would have expected it to be in the first place. And I’d found myself nodding and agreeing.

  It wasn’t everything that I might have wanted, but something told me that I wouldn’t regret taking on this project. I could tell that Mallory already appreciated me for what I had agreed to do. And appreciation could always lead to her passing on my name to other people. Word of mouth was how I got a lot of my work.

  Anyway, the amount that she was looking to pay me would tide me over for at least another month or two. And I planned to make sure that she didn’t cause too much of a fuss over my perceived tardiness. She needed me, after all.

  As long as you get the job done, she had told me. Well, I was going to make sure that I got the job done.

  I’d be there on Monday. Maybe not right at 9 a.m. like she had asked, but I would be there. And I would show her that I could get the work done. There would be nothing she could complain about, I was sure.

  Watching as Booker lost the first air hockey match to Ace, I smiled as he didn’t give up. “We have to play again,” he declared. “I’m going to win this time.”

  I grinned, but meanwhile, my brain was miles away, still thinking about Mallory and this new job. I was a little nervous about it, in ways that I normally wasn’t when it came to jobs. I knew what I was doing, and I was pretty confident that even with nearly a decade of files to go through, I was going to be able to figure things out. But at the same time, something about Mallory made me want to do things correctly. The way that she wanted things done.

  And that made all the difference, I found. Yes. That made all the difference.

  Chapter 12

  Mallory

  Spending the whole day with my mother could be challenging. Especially when there were doctor’s visits involved. I knew that Mom didn’t want me to know anything about her illness. But at the same time, it wasn’t like it was avoidable. She couldn’t drive herself to her various appointments, and I wasn’t about to leave everything to her in-home care nurse. Besides, as challenging as these days were, I knew that one day, I would be glad for all the time I had gotten to spend with Mom.

  Even though right now, all she could talk about was finding me a boyfriend. “What about someone like him?” Mom asked, pointing to the guy currently crossing in front of my car. He was a hippie-looking guy with a man-bun. Nothing wrong with that, but he just wasn’t my type.

  Still, the bigger problem here wasn’t the fact that Mom was trying to hook me up with random dudes, just because they were dudes. The bigger problem was, “Mom, you realize that I’m probably never going to see that guy again, right?” I asked her as the light turned green and I started driving again. “I mean, it would be one thing if we were, I don’t know, at a restaurant or something, but random strangers off the street that I know nothing about? There’s no chance in the world.”

  I didn’t have to look to know that Mom was rolling her eyes. “Always something wrong with them,” she muttered under her breath.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, even t
hough I wasn’t sure I really wanted to get into it with her.

  “It means, it seems like every guy out there, you find some reason to fault him,” Mom said. “You’re too critical sometimes.”

  I sighed. “Isn’t it a good thing that I have standards?” I asked.

  “Not if it means you end up alone for the rest of your life,” Mom said. She shook her head. “I just want you to be happy, you know that.”

  “And I am happy,” I said, through gritted teeth. “I don’t need some guy to make me happy, you know that.”

  “I know, you always say that,” Mom sighed. “I just think that if you met the right guy, you would realize exactly what you’re missing out on. You know that I was never all that boy crazy until I met your father, either. And look how that turned out.” She looked wistfully out the window for a moment. But I should have known that thoughts about Dad wouldn’t deter her from continuing this conversation along the same lines.

  “You know, I thought your New Year’s resolution would be to lose a little of that weight,” Mom added. “Like I keep telling you, there’s someone out there to love you, curves and all. But if you could just get serious about a workout regime, I think you’d be surprised how much better you would feel. And guys notice that kind of self-confidence, you know.”

  “Okay, I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” I said. As though I had ever wanted to have this conversation in the first place.

  “I’m just saying, it’s not like you’re getting any younger,” Mom said. “You should be taking care of the body that you have.” She shook her head. “I guess I learned that the hard way.”

  As though her cancer had anything to do with her weight or her love life. I fought the urge to sigh as I turned into the hospital parking lot. “We’re here,” I was happy to announce. For a moment, I felt hopeful that the doctor visit would give us more important things to talk about than my lack of a boyfriend or my weight. But then, I immediately felt horrible for hoping that. The last thing I wanted was to go in there and get even more bad news about her illness.