Chapter 13
Later that day, at exactly 12:19 p.m., Charlie entered the café shop while on her way to work for her one o’clock shift. Her familiar routine of grabbing a coffee before going to work was somehow comforting, and despite her hatred for pickles, she was actually looking forward to doing something mind-numbingly frustrating and boring. As she walked in and approached the counter, she inhaled deeply of the scents of fresh coffee brewing and appreciated that ordinary moment. Lisette was working that day and greeted her as she approached the counter.
“Hi, Charlie!” said Lisette, her voice as bright and perky as ever. “It’s been so strange not seeing you on your way to work for a few days. Are you still seeing that guy from the other night? Because what a catch, Charlie!”
“Actually, I don’t know if it’s going to work out between us,” said Charlie, hoping Lisette would drop the subject.
“Really? Oh that’s too bad,” Charlie noticed that in the way Lisette responded, she thought he was the one breaking it off with her, but she didn’t bother to correct her since that would have been the most logical explanation. “He seemed like a really nice guy.”
“He’s amazing…” Charlie admitted.
“Well, don’t worry about it. If a hunk like him saw something in you, then that means you got to be pretty special. I’m sure you’ll meet someone else!”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” said Charlie, now wanting just to get her coffee and leave.
Thankfully, after paying for her drink and saying farewell to Lisette, the rest of the walk to work was just as it had always been. The smell of the bakers and the flower shop tickled her nose, her hot drink warming up her hands against the increasingly chill autumn breeze, and the familiar cramming of people in the elevator while choking on the scent of that same man’s cologne, brought her a sense of ease. As always, she walked onto her department floor and into her little cubicle without anything out of the ordinary happening.
Well, almost.
“Charlie,” said Mr. Director, his greasy voice floating from down the aisle, “it’s good to see you back at work. But before you get started, there’s someone I want you to meet. She’ll be your new supervisor on this unit.”
Charlie turned to face her boss and when she did, her entire uninteresting world came to a screeching halt. Standing before, dressed in a very expensive-looking business suit, was her new supervisor.
Roxy.
Charlie stared into Roxy’s grinning face and wondered how this could have possibly happened. Her boss tapped his foot in annoyance of her stunned expression.
“Well,” he said, “aren’t you going to welcome her into the fold? She’s got a very impressive resume and I believe she’s a perfect candidate to help our research move along nicely.”
“It’s a pleasure meeting you, Charlie,” said Roxy, a smug grin on her face. “I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Charlie couldn’t bring herself to words, her anger and frustration at this woman’s nerve and persistence, enabling her only to simply nod in response.
“Fantastic!” said Mr. Director, “Now I’ll just leave the two of you to get to know each other a little better while I go and have a drink… of coffee! I mean coffee. Right.”
Once Mr. Director walked outside of earshot, she whirled on Roxy and demanded an explanation. “What do you think you’re doing here?!”
“I’ve got a job to do, sweetie,” said Roxy, “and when push comes to shove, I shove back hard. So unless you want to have a work shift from hell, I suggest you give me what I want.”
Charlie sighed, wondering if she’d ever catch a break. Even if she intended on ending things with Rowan so she could get her normal life back, she didn’t plan on going ahead and handing him over to Roxy. She still liked Rowan – a lot, as a matter of fact. She had a feeling things were about to get messy.
“I’m ending things with Rowan,” said Charlie. “I don’t want anything more to do with this craziness. So please, just leave me alone and leave my job out of this.”
“You don’t expect me to believe that, do you?” said Roxy. “Fine. If you want to do this the hard way, let’s play. Because as I recall… I still owe you for last night.”
Roxy turned on her heels and walked away into a new office with her name on it that was constructed just for her. Charlie began mentally preparing herself for whatever trouble she was going to have thrown at her, and sat down in her chair to log into her computer to start making calls.
Charlie Cradle's Wonderful Existence: A Novella Page 14
