Danny gulped and tried to meet Jack’s eyes but then quickly lowered his head and stared at the floor. “You’ve been a bit of a grumpy bear lately.”
A grumpy bear? Him? How ridiculous! He was a teddy bear. A gorgeous, 6’ 3” teddy bear with blond hair and sparkling blue eyes to be exact. But then again, he had been feeling out of sorts lately. His best friend, Izzy, recently married hot as sin detective Noel, leaving him feeling a bit adrift. He used to drop in on Izzy whenever he was bored, in need of a bit of excitement, or had a craving for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Izzy still encouraged him to stop by whenever he wanted, especially now that she wasn’t working. But one time catching the two of them going at it while Noel had Izzy bent over the dining room table was enough to not only ruin his appetite but develop a habit of calling first and knocking really loudly before entering their house.
Shaking his head to smother that memory because yes, it was just that disturbing, he found Danny still staring at him. “Um sorry about that,” Jack mumbled and then turned and fled the store. He dialed Izzy as he walked down the corridor toward his office.
“Hi, Jack-a-roo! How are you?” Izzy giggled, but Jack just shook his head.
“Whatcha doing Iz?” he asked but then heard dogs barking in the background.
“I’m at the shelter. What’s up?” When Jack didn’t reply, Izzy added, “Are you bored again?”
No, he hadn’t been keeping his boredom or grouchiness hidden very well. “Just a bit.” His voice sounded frighteningly similar to a five-year-old boy.
Izzy’s laugh was carefree. “I’m at the shelter all morning, but Noel’s home. He’s got the day off. Why don’t you go bother him?”
Jack smiled at the chance to tease Noel. Although Noel was actually really cool about his wife’s best friend being a gay man, Jack could never resist the opportunity to make googly eyes at the man. He was a hot detective after all. It drove Noel absolutely nuts, but he would never let on and make Jack or Izzy feel uncomfortable about their friendship.
“That sounds like an absolutely awesome idea!”
“Don’t give him too hard a time,” Izzy chimed and hung up before Jack could respond.
Jack grabbed his car keys and headed over to Izzy and Noel’s house without bothering to warn Noel he was on his way, knowing there was no way he’d walk in on a live porn show with Izzy working. Their house used to be Izzy’s grandma’s, but her grandma had recently been murdered. After Izzy, Jack, and grandma’s friends had cracked the case (okay maybe Detective Noel helped a bit), Izzy and Jack upgraded the house and moved in before getting married.
Noel answered the door in a ratty University of Oklahoma T-shirt and cut-off sweats. “Good thing you’re hot, because that outfit is not,” he commented as he strolled past Noel, smiling as he noticed the blush on Noel’s face.
“Izzy’s not here,” Noel informed Jack as he followed him to the kitchen.
“I know. I just talked to her. She said I could use you all day.” Jack wiggled his eyebrows provocatively at Noel.
Noel was too smart to respond to that comment, but he shook his head and smiled. “Want me to kick your ass in pool?”
“Oh babe, you can kick my ass anytime,” Jack cooed as Noel laughed and grabbed two beers from the frig before heading toward the man cave.
♥♥♥
Jack and Noel had moved on to video games by the time Izzy got home for dinner. She joined them in the basement that, although named man cave, allowed entry to women, which was a good thing really because Izzy still didn’t like the idea of her best friend and her husband being best buds. She wasn’t worried about any awkwardness if her relationship with Noel ended anymore, but she just didn’t trust the two men to stay out of trouble, even if Noel was a cop.
The group lounged on the comfy sectional sofa in the inappropriately named man cave after a dinner of pizza and barbecue wings, but Izzy was never any good with relaxing and keeping her mouth shut.
“So, how do you and Wyatt manage to work together when you were once lovers,” Izzy asked for like the millionth time.
“Guys are different, Iz,” Jack answered exactly as he had the million times before. But then, for reasons unknown to him, he continued, “It’s not like Wyatt was the great love of my life or anything.” He shrugged. “I’m the one who broke it off. I think that makes it easier.”
“Why did you break it off?” Izzy nearly panted at the chance to finally get some answers. “You guys were so hot and heavy, I thought my house was going to spontaneously burst into flames whenever you two made out on my couch.”
Jack collapsed against the sectional sofa and groaned. “Don’t get me wrong. The sex was great.” And then because he couldn’t resist, he leaned forward and looked Noel in the eye as he continued. “The sex was off the charts hot.” Noel didn’t fall for the bait, however, and Jack fell back against the sofa again before continuing. “But that’s all it was. Sex. There wasn’t anything more to it.”
Izzy snorted. “So? You aren’t ready to settle down anyway.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jack paused a moment before admitting. “But the cross-dressing turned me off.”
“But you own a clothing store for cross-dressers!” He had Izzy’s attention now.
“I don’t care if men cross-dress. I don’t judge, but it turns out, it’s a complete turn-off for me.” He shrugged.
“So you dumped him for being a cross-dresser?” Even Noel sounded surprised.
“It wasn’t only that, but he spent all his time and money running around the state of Oklahoma and beyond looking for outfits. It was like his whole life and I was totally not into it,” clarified Jack.
“But you started a store for cross-dressers?” Izzy nearly jumped off the sofa in surprise.
Jack shrugged again. “After seeing how much Wyatt and his cross-dressing buds were willing to spend on costumes, plus the lack of stores, it was kinda a no-brainer.”
“Huh,” Izzy grunted and fell back into the sofa right into Noel’s arms.
Chapter 2
A hard-on wasn’t a turn-on
The next day, Jack found himself once again sitting in his office bored and restless. This was not the type of habit he wanted to acquire. Maybe handing over all of the day-to-day management of the store to a general manager wasn’t such a good idea after all. A loud crash caused Jack to jump to his feet and run toward the noise coming from the general manager’s office.
Jack didn’t bother to knock but opened the door to chaos. Papers covered the area where Jack assumed the desk was. Brown liquid drowned at least half of the papers and a coffee cup lay in a million pieces on the floor next to the desk. Looks like someone had an accident. The general manager, Eric, stood behind the disaster area that used to be his massive desk with his hands laced behind his neck and head bowed.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked as he strolled over to the corner to grab some paper towels to mop up the coffee.
Eric looked up, surprised to see Jack in the room, and dropped his hands. “I just can’t do it anymore.”
Jack’s heart nearly stopped. “Do what anymore?”
“Everything!” Eric yelled and threw his hands in the air. “It’s too much – the ordering, the invoicing, the personnel….” His voice trailed off and his eyes widened as he suddenly realized to whom he was speaking. “Oh shit. No, I can handle it. It’s fine.”
Jack raised an eyebrow in question but didn’t speak. Instead, he handed the paper towels to Eric and took a seat in the chair facing Eric’s desk. Eric squatted and began to clean the coffee from the floor while picking up the shards of the broken coffee mug. After the papers were retrieved and the mess cleaned up, he collapsed behind his desk and sighed.
“Now,” Jack began as he steepled his fingers. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
Eric groaned. “I’m just a little stressed and overworked.”
Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “Overworked?” He’d been sitting in his office browsing catalogs
for the new season while his general manager was overworked. How had he not seen this?
Eric leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “The store has been doing a really good turnover lately and I’ve gotten behind on things.”
“How can I help?”
Eric’s eyes sprung open and he squinted at Jack. “Help? You want to help?”
Jack held in his sigh and grunted instead. “What can I do?” He repeated after deciding to ignore Eric’s surprise.
“I could really use an assistant.”
“An assistant?” That idea didn’t appeal to Jack at all. Was he jealous that Eric would have an assistant but he wouldn’t? No, he shook his head, that’s just childish. Still, he didn’t like the idea.
Eric’s head bobbled as he nodded several times. “Yeah, someone to help me with the bookkeeping.”
“But I thought you had experience with bookkeeping?”
Eric shrugged and nodded at the same time and it was all Jack could do not to laugh at the man. Eric was a straight man caught up in a gay world. Unlike with Noel, Jack didn’t provoke or tease Eric. He needed Eric’s experience and hard-work ethic too much to risk losing him over teasing and silly jokes.
“I’m not a bookkeeper” was Eric’s simple response.
Jack tilted his head and stared at Eric. He couldn’t remember what the manager had said during his interview all those years ago, but he did know that he and Wyatt had only wanted someone with bookkeeping experience as they had none and hiring the job out was expensive. “Why don’t we hire a bookkeeper then?” When Eric didn’t respond, Jack continued, “Instead of an assistant for you.”
Eric narrowed his eyes, but his response was nonchalant. “Sure. I can do that.”
Jack shook his head. This was a project he could dig his teeth into. He had the time after all. “No worries. I’ll handle it.” He got up to leave, but Eric’s voice stopped him before he could get too far.
“You’re going to handle it? Placing an ad, interviewing, all that?” His voice didn’t even attempt to mask his astonishment.
Jack turned and stared at Eric. Why was Eric acting so weird? He didn’t respond to the weirdness but just nodded. “Sure, I’ve got some time. When do you want someone to begin?”
“As soon as possible.”
“Okay,” Jack agreed and headed out the door to his office. After shutting himself in the room, he quickly grabbed his phone and dialed Izzy’s number.
“Hi, Jack!” Izzy sounded out of breath and immediately Jack’s mind flashed to the memory of him walking in on Izzy and Jack messing around on the sofa. They hadn’t rounded all the bases yet but were past second and clothes were no longer part of the scene. Seeing Noel with a hard-on wasn’t the turn-on Jack had thought it would be. Jack groaned at the memory. “Is something wrong?”
Jack shook his head. “Um no. I was wondering if you could help me with something.”
“Sure!” Izzy’s breathy voice was now full of enthusiasm.
“When you still worked for that one company, didn’t you help with hiring and stuff?” Before Izzy inherited a bunch of money and a house from her grandma, she was a graphic designer. When her first husband was still alive and costing her a pretty penny, she had a job with a company an hour away from their small Oklahoma town.
“Yeah sure. I ran my own team of ten designers.”
“I need to hire a bookkeeper,” Jack deadpanned.
Izzy didn’t immediately respond. “I thought Eric was a bookkeeper,” she carefully commented after a long pause.
So Jack wasn’t entirely forgetful. “He says he’s in over his head with our increased turnover and wants to hire an assistant.”
Izzy snorted. “An assistant?”
“That’s what I thought. I compromised and said I would hire a bookkeeper. Can you help? I need to write an ad for the newspaper.”
“No one uses the newspaper to look for jobs anymore,” Izzy countered. “I’ll help you with some online job markets. Shall I come to your office tomorrow?”
Jack smiled. “Yeah, but not too early.”
“Pff.. who do you think you’re talking to?”
“I don’t know what I was thinking, your highness. Come whenever you get your lazy butt out of bed.” He hung up before she could respond.
Chapter 3
I could really use some eye candy
Izzy arrived at Jack’s office bright and early. Jack had only been in for five minutes when she breezed in carrying a box of donuts and two take-out cups.
“You are a godsend,” Jack sighed as he grasped a take-out cup of coffee in his clutches.
“True that,” Izzy responded and dumped the box on the conference table in the corner of Jack’s office. She plopped into a chair pulling out her tablet and a pad of paper already filled with notes. “Come on, let’s get started.”
Jack sauntered over to the table and sat across from her. “Where’s the fire, Iz?”
Izzy clicked the pen in her hand while the fingers of her left hand drummed against the table. “Fire? No fire.” She took a visible breath and then made a face of disgust as she took a sip of her coffee. “Sorry. I’m just jumpy.” She laid the pen down and grabbed the pad of paper to steady her hands.
Jack shook his head and pointed at the notepad. “You’ve been busy.”
“Yeah. I did some research on the qualities and qualifications of a bookkeeper.” She cleared her throat. “I wanted to make sure we’re prepared.”
“So what do we do?”
An hour later, the duo had finally agreed on a job description for the ad. Izzy started uploading the job announcement into various Internet employment databases.
“Oh,” Jack interrupted. “Don’t forget to ask for a picture.”
Izzy’s head whipped up. “What? No! You can’t discriminate based on looks.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Hello! We’re a cross-dresser store. I can’t have anyone ugly working here.” He wrinkled his nose in mock disgust.
Izzy raised her eyes to the ceiling and prayed for patience. “I understand your point of view. I don’t agree, but I understand. Still, you can’t ask for a picture and face potential discrimination charges.” Jack huffed in response. “Why don’t you wait for the interviews? If you find someone’s looks ‘unworthy’ of working at your store, you just don’t hire him or her,” she suggested using her fingers to make air quotations of unworthy. The stern effect was a bit undermined though when she wiggled her eyes in what she thought was a provocative manner at Jack.
“Her?” Jack’s face turned an unseemly red. “I don’t want a female bookkeeper!”
“Why not?” Jack didn’t respond, but his face turned an even darker shade of red. Izzy burst out laughing. “The interviews are not for your boyfriend or boy toy or whatever. You need to find a bookkeeper.”
Jack sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “I know, but I could really use some eye candy.”
Izzy just shook her head before heading out the door.
♥♥♥
Not surprising for a small town with few job opportunities, they had a stack of candidates a mile high within two days. Jack printed out all the cover letters and resumes. He started to go through them but quickly became bored. With a sigh, he called Izzy. “Can you come out to play?” He asked when she answered the phone.
“Sure,” Izzy said before Jack heard retching and then Noel’s voice on the phone. “Hey, Jack.”
“What’s going on?” Jack asked, a bit sick himself at hearing the obvious sounds of someone throwing up in the background.
“Izzy’s not feeling well,” deadpanned Noel.
“No shit. Did she eat her weight in tacos again?”
Noel laughed even as Jack continued to hear retching in the background. “Something like that. Should I have her call you later?”
“Nah, that’s okay.” Jack hung up and went back to the piles of resumes. He didn’t remember running the business being this boring before. Okay, he was
obviously in a rut. Hmm, well, maybe he just needed to get laid. Yeah, that was all. After deciding he’d hit the one and only gay bar in town that night, he felt much better.
Izzy arrived as Jack was finishing off his second cup of coffee. She plunked another coffee in front of him before dropping into the chair opposite Jack. She took a sip from her mug and made a face. “Gross!”
“Seriously, Izzy, you must be really sick to not be making love to your coffee.” Jack was actually kind of worried now.
Izzy shook her head. “It’s tea. The smell of coffee makes me nauseous.” She replied while staring at the stacks of responses from their employment ad.
Jack raised his eyebrows and responded with mock sternness. “You need to lay off the margaritas, young lady.”
Izzy nodded but didn’t say anything. Instead, she pointed to the stacks. “Are these all the responses?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow. Let’s get started.”
“How do we do that? There are so many,” Jack’s voice had a distinct whine to it.
Izzy giggled at Jack’s immaturity. “Starting is the easy part.” Jack raised an eyebrow at her. “First, eliminate anyone who doesn’t meet the educational criteria. Easy peasy.” She reached forward and grabbed a stack of responses from the pile. “Let’s go.”
Within an hour, the pile had been whittled down to ten candidates. “I really wish we had some pictures to help us make the decision.”
Izzy reached across the table and slapped his arm. “There’s more to a person than their looks Jack!”
Jack shrugged. “So sue me.”
“That’s what I’m trying to avoid, knucklehead.” She shook her head and sighed like a long-suffering mother.
“But how do we decide between these last ten, then? They all seem the same to me. Boring, boring, boring.”
Izzy looked up sharply. “Everything is boring with you lately, Jack. Is everything okay?”
Jack raised one shoulder and scrunched his nose. “I’m just restless.”
The Gray-Haired Knitting Detective Series: (Books 1 - 3) Page 16
