Necessary Roughness

by Julie Brannagh

  “Anyone would be scared.”

  “This was worse than scared. It’s not fun to start off the morning with a stranger in your room.”

  His dad took a sip of his beer. “It’s your life, son, but you might want to take care of a couple of things. You need to apologize to Jordan, if you haven’t already.”

  “I told her I was sorry. She—”

  Jordan chose that moment to stroll onto the deck. “Hi.” She reached out to shake his dad’s hand. “It’s really nice to see you again.”

  His dad was already enchanted, if the expression on his face was any indication. “It’s great to see you too, Jordan.”

  She was in full Disney-princess mode today. Her smile could melt any heart. She said something else to his dad that made him laugh, but Tanner noticed her eyes were red.

  “Maybe I should go and ask Christine if there’s anything I can help her with,” Jordan said.

  Christine hurried onto the deck. “I have everything to set the table with, so all you have to do is relax.”

  “Mom, let me help.” Tanner got to his feet. “You shouldn’t be doing this stuff, either.”

  “It’s almost done. Would you and your dad like something else to drink with dinner? Jordan, what would you like?” Christine was bustling around while the conversation had come to a standstill. Tanner wasn’t looking in Jordan’s direction. She refused to look at him too.

  Russell got to his feet. “Let’s see if this grill is ready to go,” he said.

  ***

  JORDAN DID HER best to appear as if she didn’t have a care in the world. Tanner’s parents were great. They kept the conversation going. Tanner gave short answers to their questions and bent over his meal like someone was going to take it away from him. She smiled until she thought her face was going to crack. The worst part wasn’t having Tanner at the table; she wanted to cry every time she looked at him, but she could deal with it. The worst part was the knowledge she was putting on a show for his parents by pretending nothing was wrong. They didn’t deserve it. She should have made an excuse and not come upstairs for dinner at all.

  “Jordan, I’ll bet you’re looking forward to a break since Tanner’s almost done with his physical therapy,” Christine said.

  “I saw him about half an hour a day, usually when I got home in the evenings. I enjoyed working with him,” she said. “It’s always a good feeling to know the clients I work with get better and go back to their lives. Plus, he’s not quite done yet. He’ll continue getting treatment at the clinic I work at.”

  She glanced over at him. A month ago (or maybe because his parents were sitting at the table with him) Tanner would have tried to bluster and distract from admitting he’d screwed up. He thought she didn’t know he was leaving. She put her fork down on her plate. If she took a bite of food right now, she might end up spewing it across the table.

  “I’ll have to see if I can get a referral to a clinic in Atlanta,” he said.

  “Atlanta? I’m confused,” Jordan said. “What’s in Atlanta?” She could see Christine’s eyebrows shoot up out of the corner of her eye.

  “My coach called late this morning. They have an assistant-coach trainee position open. I planned on going into coaching when I retired, and it’s happened a little bit sooner than I planned.” He put his own fork down and looked into Jordan’s eyes. “I found out a few days ago. I must have forgotten to tell you.”

  “That’s really exciting,” she said. “It’s great that they have an opening for you.”

  “You can live in the guest room for as long as you want,” he blurted out. “I know you’ve been looking for a place.”

  He’d told her last night there was nothing definite. He made it sound like it wasn’t happening for a long time. She understood it was a last-minute phone call, but she wished he’d told her before his parents showed up.

  His parents were watching them like they were viewing a tennis match. It also occurred to Jordan that she couldn’t spend one more minute sitting at this table, or she was going to burst into tears.

  She put her napkin down beside her plate and said, “I’m so sorry, but I need to be excused. I have some things to do. It was really nice to see you both again.” She glanced at Tanner. “Thank you for the delicious dinner.”

  She managed to hold back her tears until she was in the guest room with the door shut. She threw herself onto the guest bed, but she could still smell Tanner.

  ***

  THE SUNNY SUMMER evening on Tanner’s deck had turned into dark clouds with a chance of thunderstorms in less than a minute. His mom waited a grand total of two minutes or so before she leaned across the table and said, “What the hell was that?”

  “I don’t know what you mean,” Tanner said.

  “Don’t play dumb. What is going on between the two of you? You told me that you were barely friends a month and a half ago. How long have you been seeing each other?”

  “We’re not seeing each other—”

  “Yes, you are. Women don’t cry because some guy they dislike is leaving. I also know you didn’t bother telling her you were leaving until you had no other choice,” his mother said.

  “That’s not true.”

  “You should have seen the look on her face earlier when I asked her how she felt about your possibly moving to Atlanta.”

  “Don’t lie, son,” his father said.

  “I hadn’t gotten around to telling her yet,” Tanner said.

  His mom should have gone to law school or something. He’d rather face a federal prosecutor when she was on a roll, and right now, she wasn’t backing off.

  “Let’s see here,” she said. “You’ve been seeing each other for a while now. You didn’t bother to tell her you were leaving. To someone else that wasn’t involved with you, that would be mildly irritating. She’d been crying before I went into that room. You claim that there’s nothing going on between you? Honey, I realize you’re an adult and free to do what you want, but there are clothes all over your bedroom floor that don’t belong to you.”

  Tanner dropped his face into his hands. His mom leaned over the table like an avenging angel wearing Lululemon.

  “It’s your life, honey, but I have a few things to say to you on this subject. I don’t understand what you are up to right now. I don’t understand why you didn’t tell Jordan you were moving to Atlanta. I realize this means little to you, but Jordan is the only woman you’ve introduced us to since you were in college that we hoped you’d see more of.”

  She let that sink in for a few minutes.

  “I’m going to get the dirty dishes into the dishwasher. If you’d prefer we don’t stay tonight, we’ll grab a room and head back in the morning.”

  “Mom, no. I want you to stay. You don’t have to do the dishes, either. I’ll take care of it. The guest room across from the elevator is ready for you and Dad. Please stay.”

  She reached out to stroke his face. His mom and dad gathered up the dinner dishes and vanished into the kitchen.

  Chapter Nine

  TWO DAYS LATER, Jordan left her parents’ house for the clinic. She’d arrived late Saturday night on her parents’ doorstep after sneaking out of Tanner’s house. They’d welcomed her with open arms and chocolate chip cookies.

  “You can stay here as long as you need to,” her mother said.

  The physical therapy clinic would be a relief after the drama of the weekend. Tanner’s appointment wasn’t until tomorrow, so she had a day to lick her wounds before she had to face him again. A few minutes later, she was on the quiet street heading toward the freeway. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

  She turned her radio up. She wasn’t going to crumple like a wet tissue when she had a setback. She had had twelve hours or so to cry about it. She had clients to see and more than enough activities to occupy her time. She could follow up on the apartment applications at lunchtime. Mostly, she hoped for a good day at work. She was going to be fine.

  “I can
do this,” she said aloud. “It’s not a big deal.”

  She’d broken up with guys before. This wasn’t really a breakup, though. They hadn’t been together long enough for a breakup. They’d slept together only once. She’d sneaked out of his house instead of thanking him for allowing her to stay at his house for a month, which she still needed to do. The money she saved was almost enough for a down payment on a tiny condo forty miles from Seattle that Harrison had found.

  She pulled into one of the employee parking spaces at the clinic after a visit to the Starbucks drive-through. She didn’t make it to the break room before she was intercepted by Marco.

  “Hey, Jordan, good to see you. Did you have a fun weekend?”

  “Sure,” she said. She knew from previous experience that he really didn’t want to talk about her weekend. “What’s up?”

  “Let’s go into the break room and sit down for a few minutes. I have something I’d like to talk to you about.”

  She hadn’t seen any other employees’ cars in the parking lot yet on her way inside. He was being weirdly friendly. She didn’t think she’d done anything to get fired for, but things didn’t look good so far.

  “Have a seat,” Marco said as they walked into the break room. “Want a cup of coffee?”

  She held up her Starbucks cup. “I already have one, but thanks.” She took a deep breath. “Is there something I can help you with, Marco?”

  He sat down at the table with a cup of coffee.

  “Actually, there is,” he said. “I have been thinking about this for a while now. I haven’t said anything because the time wasn’t right. I’m sure you understand.”

  She gave him a nod. She didn’t understand at all, but it was better to let him talk and figure it out later.

  “My wife is retiring. She’s been at Microsoft for over thirty years now. Her stock is vested, and we have enough money to start a new life.”

  “That’s great,” she said.

  “I know. It’s exciting. We can spend some time chasing our dreams for a change.” He sipped his coffee. “I’m sure you can guess what’s going to happen as a result.”

  “I—I’m not sure.”

  “Initially, I was going to let everyone go and close the clinic. I don’t want to think about this place when we’re traveling the world.” He took another sip of coffee. “I really don’t need the money from a sale. Someone else would take my client list and close the place anyway.”

  “Oh,” she said.

  “Don’t look so serious! It’s not that bad. I think I have the solution, and that’s where you come in.”

  “How can I help?”

  “I’d like you to buy the clinic. You’ll keep the place open, you won’t sell off the client list because you’d have to lay off all of your coworkers, and you can give me a down payment and a monthly percentage of the profits.”

  If Jordan hadn’t been sitting down, she would have fallen down. She took another sip of her latte.

  “What do you think? I’m prepared to offer excellent terms,” he said.

  “It sounds like a great opportunity, but I don’t have that kind of money, Marco.” Was he insane? She wasn’t a multimillionaire. Mostly, she was shocked he was talking to her about this in the first place.

  “You’re not thinking big enough here,” he said. “You need some investors. You retain fifty-one percent of the business, you sell off forty-odd percent. The clinic has been increasing in profit for the past ten years. Why don’t you think about it for twenty-four hours?”

  The thought that it would be her fault if she told him no (and he told all her coworkers she was the reason why they were going to lose their jobs) flashed through her mind. “Yes. I’ll think about it,” she said.

  “That’s a girl. One more thing before everyone else gets here. Don’t tell the other employees. You can consult with a lawyer or whoever, but I don’t want this getting around in case the staff decides to quit. The business won’t be worth as much without them.” He reached across the table and patted her hand. “I hope you’ll make the right decision. Have a great day.”

  He was up off the chair and out the door in seconds. He moved surprisingly fast for a guy who was still recovering from a serious knee injury.

  She slumped in her chair. Nothing like being handed an impossible situation to get her day off to an excellent start.

  ***

  HER PARENTS LOVED her, she loved them, but she tried to solve her own problems. She hadn’t asked her dad for advice for a long time now. Her mom had told both her and her sisters that their dad wanted them to ask for help. Her sisters had been out of the house and married for years now, but they both bugged him so much she had resolved to ask only when she really needed help.

  Right now was a good time to ask. She dialed her mom’s cell phone number.

  “Mom, do you and Dad have plans later?”

  “How come, sweetie?”

  “I am wondering if I could get some advice from Dad. I need his help.”

  “He’s been hoping you’d ask,” her mom said. “I’ll have dinner on the table at six thirty. We’ll see you then.”

  The rest of her workday was uneventful. It was amazing how the knowledge that her broken heart was a small problem in comparison with the prospect of losing her job helped her focus. Her last client’s appointment was over at five thirty PM, and she went into the staff locker room to grab her things and go to her parents’ house.

  Britt was sitting on the bench in front of her locker.

  “Weren’t you out of here half an hour ago?” Jordan said.

  “I was going to leave, but I wanted to wait for you,” Britt said. She glanced around. “Marco told me not to tell anyone. You’ve always been really nice to me, and I will miss you.”

  “What happened?”

  “I got another job offer about a week ago. I told Marco earlier that I was giving my two weeks’ notice, and he told me to leave today.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. I wanted to say good-bye, though.” Britt reached out to hug Jordan. “I hope things go great for you.”

  “I hope you’ll love your new job. Maybe we could have a drink soon.”

  “That would be awesome,” Britt said.

  They made their way to the employee parking lot. Jordan watched the taillights of Britt’s car as it drove away. She’d better move it; she didn’t want to be late for dinner. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to buy Marco’s clinic, but one thing she would love to offer the people she worked with if she could: the opportunity to work for someone they liked and trusted. It was worth a try.

  ***

  WHEN JORDAN WAS growing up, family dinners were noisy and chaotic. In a good way, of course. The pea-throwing and general mayhem of dinnertime gave way to almost socially correct behavior when her sisters started bringing guys home to eat with the family. By the time Jordan moved out of the house, dinner with her parents was calm and quiet unless the grandkids were visiting.

  Her parents had money now, but when she was a kid, they took their daughters camping and to the fair instead of expensive vacations. Her father had risen through the ranks at his job over the years. Now James Mueller II was a partner in an internationally prominent law firm whose main offices were in Seattle. Hopefully, he could point her toward someone who could give her some advice right away.

  Jordan got up from her chair after she and her parents finished eating. “Mom, Dad, I’ll take these in the kitchen. Should I make some coffee for you?”

  “I’ll get it. It’s already done. Plus, there’s a special surprise tonight,” her mom, Kerri, said. “I picked up an apple pie.”

  Both parents beamed at her.

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  “It’ll give us a chance to visit a little before you have to go to bed.”

  The coffee was served, the pie slices were handed around, and Jordan refused a cup of coffee. She’d be lucky if she slept tonight at all.

  “Your mom said th
at you might need a little advice,” James said.

  “I do.”

  He got up to grab a blank legal pad and a pen off the little table next to the TV set in their family room. “Tell me what’s on your mind.”

  She told her parents the story of what had happened that morning with Marco, and she listened to the pen scratch across the paper as her dad made notes. When she finished, he turned to her and said, “What do you need from me, jelly bean?”

  “I don’t know what to do. I don’t have the money to buy a business. If I don’t, he claims he’ll lay everyone off and tell them it was my fault because I didn’t do what he wanted.”

  He reached out to take her hand. “I’m going to think about the advice I can give you, but I’d like to do something in the meantime.”

  “What’s that?”

  “One of the other guys in the firm owes me a favor. I’m going to ask him if he would please call this Marco tomorrow and ask him what his price might be, what the terms are, and if he’s willing to submit them in writing. He can’t expect you to give him an answer like this in twenty-four hours without any kind of possible contract or discussion of terms. We’ll see how serious he is.”

  “What if he decides he’s going to close the place and lay everyone off instead?”

  “It’s an empty threat. I know it’s frightening, but it’s what he is counting on. He thinks you won’t ask anyone else for advice.” He leaned forward to kiss Jordan’s forehead. “I’ll read this over again, and I’ll let you know in the morning before you leave what I have in mind. How’s that?”

  “I—I would love that. Thanks, Dad.”

  “You’ve always done a great job of making your own decisions. I’m glad you asked me for help with this one, though. We’ll handle it,” he said.

  ***

  TANNER HAD SET his alarm the night before, but he knew he was kidding himself. He was going to what he knew was the last physical therapy appointment he would have with Jordan this morning. He tossed and turned most of the night and gave up on sleep before six AM. He knew his parents got up early, but it wasn’t an excuse to make a huge amount of noise and act like an ass.