Ms. Sampia crosses her arms and glares at me, unmoved by my random wallpaper selection. “You know, I could’ve covered my eyes and pointed at something, too. You didn’t even look.”
“I-I-I did!”
“And, you think that would be appropriate for my bedroom? Are you trying to be funny?”
I hastily look over at the wallpaper I pointed out and gasp in horror. It’s a print clearly meant for a children’s room, a deep cerulean blue covered with childlike drawings of fish, sharks and mermaids.
“Ma’am, I am so sorry. I’ve had the worst, I mean the worst, day. I’m sure we can find something that suits—.”
“Normally I wouldn’t be so hard on a person, but I came here expressly because all my friends recommended this store as top of the line in design and customer service. Everybody has bad days, and we make the best of them.” Her tips were tight and her cheeks pink. “If you don’t like your job, perhaps you should consider another profession, because it’s clear design isn’t the one for you, if you can’t even pick out wallpaper.”
I cringe at her scathing assessment. “I’m really sorry,” I mumble dejectedly.
“As a matter of fact, I’d really like to speak with a manager about the quality of service I’ve received. This was supposed to be a treat for me. I help people all day…”
“Please, I’m already in enough…” I trail off. Ms. Sampia pushes past me in a hurry to be a tattletale. Hank appears out of nowhere at the end of the aisle, and my spirits sink even lower because I know exactly what this means. “Trouble.”
Chapter 35
KITRINA
My vision blurs as I stare down at the figures swimming on the page, numbers that add up to way more than what I’ll have before the bills are due. As if to mock me, my textbooks and electronic tablet sit in a pile next to me, and I have assignments due that I’m not in the right frame of mind to tackle. Never mind that I’m off work early thanks to being Fired with a capital F.
“What am I gonna do?” I ask in a hollow, scared voice. Gnawing on a loose nail, I look around at my house and see nothing but failure. The entertainment center Jayson helped build, the furniture he helped pick out, the very house he renovated—I’ll lose it all if I don’t figure out a way to dig myself out of this mess. Every single memory hurts. I’ve already lost him. “Why is this happening to me?” I squeeze my eyes shut and count to ten to keep from breaking down. I’m, like, ten seconds from losing it.
Out front I hear Grace’s car squeal to a halt on the street that passes my house. I know it’s her because it sounds like the car comes in on two wheels, and she’s the only one who drives like a bat out of hell on this quiet, sleepy boulevard. Seconds later, there’s a pounding at my door. I hop up from the kitchen counter and throw the door open. Grace flies at me, wraps me in a tight hug. It threatens to wring the life out of me, but I need the comfort. “Oh, honey!” she croons.
My tears fall immediately. “He-he said he had to let me go!”
“I know, Kit. I know. I heard everything. I can’t believe that woman complained about something so trivial. Wallpaper, for goodness sake!”
I pull back, battling sniffs and blubbering. “It’s not her fault. It was mine. I was totally off my game tonight. But now I—now I don’t have a job!” I wail.
Grace eases the door shut behind us and patiently ushers me to the sectional to let me cry on her shoulder. I sob until the pain in my chest eases, leaving me with nothing but this weight on my shoulders and a grateful sense of not having to go it alone. At least for the moment.
“We’ll figure out something,” she murmurs soothingly. “There are other jobs. You don’t have to give up hope. Now, I want you to take deep breaths and try not to think about the problem right now, alright? We need to get you centered. Breathe in, breathe out.” She closes her eyes and starts to hum, with her fingers pinched together as if holding up the air around me. I take one look at her and cry even harder.
“Oh, Grace, I can’t not think about it!” I squeak. “I tried to get everything right, but I just screwed everything up. What is wrong with me? Am I cursed? Is that possible? I lost Jayson. I lost my job. I’m about to lose my house. And, I’ve been so out of it lately that my grades have taken a hit, too. We’re a month into the spring semester with midterms coming up soon, and I’m behind in every single class. Do you think I’ll flunk out? Do the thing, Grace! Tell me if you see certain doom in my future.”
“Let’s not get too worked up, Kit. We’re trying to center.”
“No, I’m trying to figure out what I need to do. You’re the one humming at the cosmos. Tell the dang cosmos to fix this mess.”
“What you need to do? Nothing. You do nothing tonight. You curl up in your bed and sleep on it. In the morning, you’ll feel rejuvenated and ready to face the world, and—who knows—you might even dream up your next move. Kitrina, dear, this is only your first heartbreak. From what I hear, you’ll come out stronger for it.”
I chuckle humorlessly. “I’m so broken down that there’s no lower to go from this point. Of course I’ll come back stronger.”
“Here, let me help you up to your room.”
Groaning, I let my best friend tug me up from the sectional, push me up the stairs to my bedroom. Still in my work clothes, I don’t bother to change out of the khaki pants and loose blouse, and she doesn’t force me. Why bother? I won’t have cause to wear them again. Grace folds back my covers and pats the mattress. My tears start up again at the sight of the big bed, no Jayson on his side to help take up space.
“I don’t want to sleep alone,” I hiccup.
Grace snorts with laughter. I play back in my head what I just said and giggle softly too. “Girls night?” she suggests.
That’s how we wind up downstairs with a fort made with the pillows from the sectional. I turn on the television and we watch old DVDs deep into the night. She listens to me vent about the whole ordeal, including the breakup with Jayson. After all that’s happened, I have no venom left, and she doesn’t have any more advice for me. She simply supports me.
The next morning when I wake, exactly as Grace predicted, I know what I need to do. “Grace,” I murmur. She pauses with a coffee mug to her lips. I pick over my scrambled eggs, debating on whether I’m ready to tell her my plans or not. I take a deep breath and go for it. “I think it’s time. I think it’s time for me to go back home to my mom.”
Grace blinks in surprise. She twists her hands in her lap anxiously, eyeing me as if she wants to tell me it’s a bad idea. I know exactly what she’s thinking. Grace advocates my independence. She was the one who encouraged me to move out in the first place. Well, I did it; look what it got me. I square my shoulders and prepare myself for a debate that doesn’t come.
“Are you sure?” she simply asks me.
I nod dismally. “I don’t think there’s anything else for it. If I try to stay here, I’ll lose everything. Maybe if I go back to Candace, she’ll at least help me keep the house.”
“Now a moment of silence for the death of a brilliant rebellion,” Grace jests lightly. She hops up from the couch and pads into the kitchen. I hear the clink of glasses, look up and see her pulling down a bottle of wine, a special bottle I bought for New Year’s. (I spent New Year’s Eve watching TV and eating an entire pan of brownies.)
“Oh, Grace, it’s the middle of the day!”
“You know what they say. Besides, we both need this. You having to give all this up is a tough pill to swallow. Hopefully this spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
We laugh together, albeit sadly, and drink half the bottle. When the shock of the decision wears off, Grace sticks around to help me pack up my few portable belongings. Neither one of us bothers with classes for the day, which I know is a bad thing, but I simply don’t have it in me. It takes several more hours of watching movies, talking about inane stuff to avoid the topic before I finally feel I can avoid it no longer.
“I’m about to call he
r. I think you better go.”
“I can stick around for moral support if you’d like.”
“No, it’s something I need to do alone, Gracie, but thank you. I just…I know there’s going to be a lecture, and you’ve already seen me cry enough.” I smile sadly, and Grace pats my hand reassuringly before finding her things so she can leave.
When the house is finally empty and quiet with nothing to keep me company but the sound of my heartbeat in the dreadful silence, I reach for the phone that weighs a million pounds and dial my mother’s number as if walking to the guillotine.
The phone rings once, twice. She answers. “Good afternoon, Kitrina.”
Her tone is so civilized I hardly recognize her as the woman who told me I was as good as dead to her. I swallow my pride and tamp down on the instant irritation. Now isn’t the time for a squabble. “Hi, Mom,” I murmur. “Are you busy?”
“I’m forever busy, but I can always spare a moment for you. I’m on the way to a business brunch with…an investment banker friend of mine, no one you would know. What do you need?”
I idly wonder what she’s doing meeting with an investment banker in the middle of the day instead of working at the hospital, but mother has all sorts of friends and an unpredictable schedule. I draw together my frazzled nerves and try to tell her what’s going on without actually telling her. “Well, you see, I’ve run into a little trouble with my, uh, job.”
“Yes?” she prompts. Is it my imagination, or did her voice just tick upwards with a hint of anticipation?
“And...” I sigh. I have to force myself to say it. “I got fired, Mom. My back is against the wall. I really just need to come home and revamp if—well, if the offer still stands.”
“Kitrina Anne, you know my door will always be open to you.”
“That’s not what you said the other day.”
“Ah, yes. We both said some things we didn’t mean. For instance, I take it your knight in shining armor turned out to be the stable boy if you’re crawling back to me.” She chuckles, and I cringe at her choice of words. She just couldn’t resist making a verbal jab at Jayson. I shake my head, knowing some things will never change.
“Jayson and I aren’t together anymore. I hate to say it, but you were right about him. He turned out not to be the man I thought he was. So, if you don’t mind, I’d rather never speak about him again. Please,” I add.
“That’s understandable. Take it from me, Kit, he’s not even worth your breath. Now, what time should I expect you so I can have dinner ready when you get home? I can cook something you like. I left your room exactly as you had it with the exception of refreshing the sheets. I knew you’d come back.”
“Don’t you mean you knew I’d fail?” I state glumly.
“Don’t be silly, Kit. You haven’t failed at anything. You lost a part time job and a shiftless boyfriend. You still have a lovely place to call home and a mother who loves you very much. Now, it’s time you put your head in the game. Let’s get you finished with school before you slip up and make this mistake again. I trust you learned your lesson.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I grit my teeth to bite back anything acerbic about what I “learned.” All I know is love hurts, money doesn’t grow on trees and eating crow means a tough bird to swallow. “I’ll wrap up some things over here at my place, and I’ll probably make it to your house around the same time you get off work.”
“Your place? My house?” Mom snickers. “Are you still holding out hope of keeping that distasteful little dwelling of yours? Oh, fine. It’s your money, your loss.”
“I plan to pay you back,” I remind her. “I may need a little more time.”
“Kit, I’m not concerned with the money you owe me. I only want you to be happy, and you’ll be happiest back where you belong. If you’re able to keep your love nest in the process, kudos to you. I have to go now. See you when I get off.”
I hang up the phone and stare at the wall as time inches forward while I feel like I’m stuck in the past. I see Jayson sitting next to me, smiling. The Christmas tree in the corner. We open gifts, giddy with plans for the new year, plans that have vanished into nothing. It’s like coming out of a a heart-stopping movie into an ordinary afternoon full of teenagers on skateboards . Who would’ve thought so much could change in a month? I wonder where he is and what he’s doing.
Chapter 36
JAYSON
“I want to be sure we have a good understanding, Mr. Zephyr. In exchange for leaving my daughter alone, you have my continued backing and support, which begins today with this meeting with the banker, Mr. Thorenson. However, if at any point you renege on our agreement, the information contained in this record will be made common knowledge…for Kitrina and anyone on the list I gave you of potential clients.”
“Understood.” I shift in the high-backed dining chair to surreptitiously sweep the upscale restaurant one more time. The important new client should be here any minute. You’d think Candace Schneider would be done gloating over her triumph, but it appears she intends to wave it in my face to the very end.
Beside me, Castiel leans in closer to whisper, “Look at her. She’s like a cat toying with her prey before the kill. I got news for you, buddy. We’re the field mice in this story. How the hell do you trust this?”
“Let’s just see how it goes, alright?” I whisper back. Candace eyes us both as she sips from her wineglass with a pleased smile.
For two weeks, I’ve managed to keep myself away from Kitrina, not because I gave a shit what dirt her mother had on me, but because I felt it was the right thing to do. I let her believe what she believed about another woman, because the alternative was bashing her mother—whom she needs. I know my noble sweetheart—she’d damn herself to stay with me and I don’t want that. I don’t want to hold her back with a serious relationship when she should be focusing on her studies. Accepting a plug from Candace is simply a bonus, in my book. With my family dependent on me, I can’t afford to refuse any help that will expand the business.
Candace Schneider called a dinner meeting at one of the fanciest restaurants in the city to pair me up with an investor who might be able to help me expand Zephyr Brothers. I look over at Cast, grateful he decided to come with me, because the decisions made here today will affect him and the rest as much as they’ll affect me. I sigh and smooth the lapels of a new suit. I glance at my watch. I shift in my chair again. All tiny little reactions to the very loud voice in my head screaming at me that I’m selling my soul to the devil.
Yet, my momma’s voice rings loudest. You’ve gotten this far on your own.
Cast nudges me, and I look up and see a portly older gentleman coming toward our table with the greeter. My heart pounds beneath my ribcage, my palms get sweaty. I’m not nervous. I’m ready to bolt. This doesn’t feel right. As Mr. Thorenson makes his way closer, the sense of falling into a trap persists, and I spend the last five seconds before he makes it to us considering exactly what’s off about the picture.
Well, for one, it’s blackmail. And, what’s to stop Candace from pulling this move over and over in the future, every time she wants me to jump to her music? I think about the loan she gave Kit that she has her paying back, despite the fact she’s well aware Kit’s struggling to pay, and that’s her own damn daughter. What on earth would stop her from violating this “verbal agreement” with me? As my younger brother so eloquently put it: How the hell do you trust this?
“Hey, Candy!” The banker’s voice booms out over the restaurant, and several of the people sitting nearby look over at us. I squirm uncomfortably, wondering how to get me and my brother out of this place without causing a scene.
Candace titters flirtatiously and dabs at her rouged lips with a pristine napkin, leaving not a trace of lipstick. She tosses her white-blonde hair and half-stands for two air pecks on the cheeks from the banker. “Vic! Pleasure to see you, darling!” she greets him familiarly.
Castiel grumbles something I don’t quite catch, bu
t I get the gist of it—time for us to bail. These two know each other too well, and any friend of Candace’s is likely an enemy of ours. Cast and I share a look, like we used to when we were kids.
It’s a look that says, “On three, go!”
“No, no, don’t stand, gentlemen. Any friends of Candace’s are friends of mine. Do you know this fine woman was with my mother to the very end? Finest geriatric doctor I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. We’ll have no formalities here,” he beams magnanimously as he shakes my hand, then my brother’s. “I’m Vic Thorenson.”
“How ya doin’? Castiel Zephyr.” Cast rises to his feet with me and pushes his chair back from the table.
“Jayson Zephyr,” I introduce myself. I don’t sit down as instructed. “And, actually, we were just leaving.”
Candace narrows her eyes at me. “Excuse me?”
I swallow and stand my ground, even though Vic’s eyes dart between Candace, Cast and me like this is an unexpected development. He came here to do business with me, but I don’t intend to stick around to do business that involves Candace. In fact, I can’t believe I considered it in the first place.
“I, er, was under the impression we were here to negotiate some things, Mr. Zephyr. Can I call you Jay? I don’t want to get you two mixed up, heh! Don’t rush off. Let’s sit and chat a while,” Vic insists. He waves me to my chair when I hesitate. Candace slides the file folder containing my criminal history to the top of the table, a mute threat. My lips firm, but I sit back down. Cast overdramatically rolls his eyes and scowls at me, but he sits down, too.
“Yes, sit, Jayson,” she says in a cloyingly sweet voice. “You and I just discussed the terms of our agreement. There shouldn’t be any surprises.”
Jayson: A New Adult / Coming of Age Romance Page 27
