by Beth Rinyu
“I think we should go out for drinks to celebrate.” Lucy grinned as we sat around the small conference table in my office having a working lunch.
“Sounds like a plan to me!” I beamed.
Marisa was silent, staring down at her bowl of soup. Lucy shrugged as we exchanged glances, both wondering what had been bothering her as of late.
“Marisa, is everything—”
“Marisa, when you’re done with your lunch, can I get your help with something?” Alex interrupted, sticking his head in.
“Oh yeah, sure. I’ll be there in a sec.” Her voice cracked with emotion.
“Thanks.” He caught her gaze and stared at her questioningly, seeming as if he picked up on the same aloofness Lucy and I had.
“Don’t forget we have a date tonight,” I teased just as he turned around to exit. I looked over at Lucy and we both giggled. I could only imagine the look of dread on his face over the prospect of spending the evening with me. “Not even he could put me in a bad mood today!”
“Let me go and see what Alex needs.” Marisa stood up and gathered her things.
“Marisa, is everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, it’s fine.” She forced a smile. “I’ll be right back.” She pushed in her chair and made a hasty exit.
“I have no idea,” Lucy answered my question before I could even ask it. “She’s been sort of out of it all morning.” She turned her attention to the FedEx guy standing in the doorway, nearly knocking her chair over as she stood up.
“Whoa, easy there.” He laughed, causing her to blush.
“Oh, you’re here for me…let me see if I could track down that envelope I have for you.” I stood up and walked out of my office, leaving the two of them alone in hopes that my plan would work. I stood by the copier, stretching my neck around the corner, getting a glimpse inside my office at the two of them laughing. It was working.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped at the sound of Alex’s voice, sneaking up behind me.
“Oh…nothing. Just trying to find an envelope.”
He looked in my office and then back at me with the same disapproving glare I had grown so accustomed to from him.
“Jerk,” I whispered under my breath as he walked away. I continued with my spying and couldn’t contain my smile when I watched the FedEx guy take out his phone and type something into it—hopefully Lucy’s phone number. Once I was certain the connection had been made, I headed back to my office.
“It’s the weirdest thing. I don’t know what happened to that envelope,” I said as I walked in to the two of them making goo-goo eyes at each other.
“Oh, no problem,” he replied, never taking his eyes from Lucy.
“Sorry to have made you waste a trip.” I poured it on thick.
“Believe me, it wasn’t a waste.”
Lucy tried her best to stifle her giggle and failed miserably.
“I’ll talk to you soon, Lucy.” He backed his way out of my office.
“Watch the—”
He banged into the wall like a lovesick puppy dog before I could even get the words out with the grin never leaving his face.
“What did I miss?” I feigned naivety once he was gone.
“Let’s just say we have double the reason to celebrate!” Lucy exclaimed.
Chapter 14
___________________
Alex
SIX FOURTEEN AND NO sign of the princess making her appearance to greet the peasants. It was just as well. Now maybe my uncle would finally get off my back about bringing her along. I was about to head inside when I cringed at the sound of my name. I turned around and there she was, hopping out of the cab.
“Sorry I’m late. It took a little longer than I expected at the nail salon.”
Why was I surprised? Hair, clothes, and nails all took priority with girls like her. She was a walking fashion plate. At least she had changed from what she had on earlier in the day. The close-fitting skirt that hugged every inch of her body was now replaced with a pair of tight jeans, and the white translucent blouse that showed part of the lacy bra she had on underneath was changed out for a white tank. The six-inch heels she had been wearing all day still remained, and I couldn’t wait to see how her feet fared after being on them for the next few hours. She was so clueless. Practicality was a word that wasn’t in her vocabulary. Little did she know, these people couldn’t care less about her nails or her expensive shoes. They were just trying to make it through each day.
“Are we gonna go in or are we just gonna stand out here all night?” she asked.
I cleared my throat and snapped out of it, pissed over the way I had been checking her out, even more so because she had caught me doing it. I trudged forward and held the door open for her.
“Wow, so you do have some manners,” she teased as she walked in ahead of me. The sly grin she had on her face just moments ago was now replaced with dread and disgust as she took in her surroundings.
“Alex! I’m so glad you could make it tonight,” Jermaine, one of the coordinators, greeted me with a firm handshake.
“Jermaine, this is Rose, she’s a coworker of mine.”
“Rose, it’s so nice to meet you. Thanks so much for coming in. We could certainly use the help.” Jermaine held out his hand to her, but she was half-paying attention, still seeming disoriented over her surroundings.
“Oh, yeah. No-no problem.” She forced a quick smile and returned his handshake.
“So normally Alex would help out on the men’s side and I’d send you to help out with the women and children, but since this is your first time—”
“Wait, there are children here too?” Rose asked.
“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Jermaine replied, and for a brief second, a hint of remorse adorned Rose’s face. “So, like I was saying,” Jermaine continued. “Since this is your first time here, I think it would be best to have you stick with Alex, and the two of you just help serve dinner.”
He looked my way for approval, and I gave him a quick nod. Not that I wanted to be stuck with Rose for the next few hours, but I knew this could be a somewhat dangerous place, especially for a woman as naïve as her.
“Okay then. Alex, you know what you’re doing from here. I’ll let you two be on your way. And again, thank you so much for helping out tonight, Rose.”
“No problem.” The self-assured, conceited behavior she normally possessed was now stripped down to uncertain and scared.
“Hey, hey, pretty lady…come here,” one of the residents shouted.
Rose stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the scraggly old man in bewilderment.
I grabbed her arm and pulled her along. “Just keep walking and don’t pay attention or take offense to anything they may say to you.”
“Oh, so treat them like I treat you every day.” She smirked.
I put my head down and looked away so she wouldn’t catch my grin.
Two hours and too many dinners to count later, and we were done. I hated to admit it, but I was kind of impressed with the way Rose handled herself. She was compassionate toward the residents, especially the children, and worked her ass off serving the food, in her killer heels and all.
I decided to be a nice guy and make sure she made her way out and into a cab safely. After all, if something were to happen to her, my uncle would kill me. We were almost at the door when I noticed William standing all alone, looking confused. William was well into his seventies, and a Marine who had served in Vietnam. He lost everything to drugs and alcohol years ago, including his family. But through it all, he was still proud and only came into the shelter when he absolutely needed to. I tried to help him get assistance through the VA, but he declined—in addition to being proud, he was stubborn.
“William, how are you?” I approached him.
He was going downhill fast from when I had seen him just about a month ago. It was clear that he was struggling with Parkinson’s, and since he refused to see a doctor that
battle would only become worse. His hands shook, and he struggled with his words. “Getting by.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He nodded and gave Rose a toothless smile. She shocked me once again when she acknowledged him with a warm smile of her own instead of looking away in disgust.
“Hi, I’m Rose,” she greeted.
“Rose. Beautiful name for a most beautiful woman,” William responded just as he went into an uncontrollable coughing fit.
I guided him over to a nearby bench to have a seat and bent down next to him. “William, you need to see a doctor.”
“I don’t need a doctor,” he mumbled. “I’m fine.” He smiled up at Rose when she handed him a cup of water. “I just need some water. That’s all.”
“I think Alex is right, you really should see a doctor. If you can get some medicine to help get rid of that cough, wouldn’t you want to?” Rose asked.
“I’m an old man. I don’t need medicine,” he argued. Even though he seemed to take an instant liking to Rose, I knew not even she’d be able to get him to change his mind.
“If you won’t see a doctor, then you need to promise me you’ll be back here on Sunday afternoon when I come in, so I can check up on you,” I requested.
He waved his hand in a dismissing manner and mumbled something incoherent under his breath.
“What if I come on Sunday afternoon too, then will you stop in?” Rose chimed in.
I looked up at her in confusion, knowing this gig was supposed to be one and done for her. She keenly studied William’s face, waiting for a reply.
“Fine…fine,” he grumbled.
“Promise?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah…yeah,” he griped.
“William, just wait here. I’ll be right back.” I placed my hand on his shoulder.
He nodded and took another sip of water.
“Okay, William. I’ll see you on Sunday, and don’t you let me down by breaking our date,” Rose shouted as we made our way out the door.
“You know, you didn’t have to commit yourself to coming back here again. You served your time,” I said to Rose as we stepped outside.
“I know, but maybe I wanted to.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled.
“You know, Mr. Andrews, despite what you think of me, I’m really not that heartless person you have me made out to be.”
I tilted my head back and stared up at the star-filled sky. “I never said you were heartless.”
“Well, sometimes words aren’t needed to convey how you’re feeling.”
My eyes shifted downward until I was staring into hers. “Fine. I’m sorry if you felt like I was conveying that message toward you.”
She placed her hand over her heart. “Wow, did you just apologize to me?”
“If that’s what you want to call it.”
“Look, Mr. Andrews, we don’t have to be friends, but maybe we can learn to at least be civil to each other.”
“I guess that can be arranged, Miss Perkins.”
“Okay, good.”
“But on one condition…can you please stop calling me Mr. Andrews? I’m not my uncle.”
She nodded and walked the few feet to the cab that had just pulled up. Opening the door, she turned back around to me. “You’re right, you’re not your uncle…your uncle is much nicer,” she shouted with a playful grin just before hopping in and closing the door behind her.
I bit back a smile as I watched her drive away.
Chapter 15
___________________
Rose
“BROCK?” I CAUTIOUSLY APPROACHEd the somewhat stranger as I entered the dimly lit SoHo bar. I was happy he showed, and even happier I was actually able to locate him, sitting at the bar that seemed to go on for miles.
“Hey, you came.” An adorable smile stretched across his face.
“Why wouldn’t I have? We did agree to meet, did we not?” I gave him the once-over and made a mental note that if and when we started to become more comfortable with one another, a shopping trip would be in order. He seemed to dress too average for someone with his type of money. Not that he looked bad, sporting a pair of khaki shorts and a black polo shirt, but I knew I could definitely add more style to that look.
I eyed up some of the other patrons sitting around the bar and then looked down at the floral sundress I was wearing. “Did I overdress?”
“No, you look…perfect.” That smile of his made me lose all sense of reality. The skunky scent of stale beer wasn’t ascending into my nostrils. I wasn’t standing in a dive bar where I was afraid of catching some disease from sitting on the seat. I wasn’t getting an instant headache from the multiple conversations going on, each group trying to over talk the other as well as the baseball game blaring from multiple televisions. Nope. Instead, I was lost in the handsome man staring up at me through his deep brown eyes and long lashes like I was the only woman who ever existed.
“Have a seat.” He stood up and pulled out the empty barstool next to him.
“Oh…okay,” I replied, giving the seat the once-over for bodily fluids. Still not satisfied it was safe, I grabbed a napkin from the bar, opened it up, and spread it across the barstool, creating a barrier between me and whatever germs were more than likely lurking on the surface. “Sorry, I’m a bit of a germophobe.”
“I can see that.” Brock flashed me a dimple and took a chug of his beer.
“So, do you come to this place often?” I asked, looking around in disgust. This wasn’t exactly the type of place you’d take a girl you were trying to impress, especially if you had the kind of money he did. Then it dawned on me like a lightbulb instantly clicking on. He was testing me to see if I was only after one thing…the same thing his ex was after. I’d play the game for as long as it took to assure him I could slum it if needed.
“Sometimes, it’s nice to escape and be around normal everyday people who live paycheck to paycheck and worry about how their bills are going to get paid.”
I shrugged. I never thought much about it. Whatever bills I had were taken care of by my father’s checkbook. “I guess.” I was hesitant with my reply.
“What do you want to drink?” he asked.
“Oh, umm…I’ll have a Pinot Grigio.”
“You got it.” He flagged down the bartender and gave my order.
“With a straw, please,” I added to the bartender. “Germophobe, remember?” I replied to Brock’s raised eyebrow.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” He chuckled.
“So, Rose, since I blabbed incessantly about me the other night…what about you?”
“What about me?”
“What’s your story?”
I twisted my mouth in confusion. “I really don’t have a story.”
“Come on…everyone has a story.”
The bartender placed my wine in front of me and I wasted no time sucking down a sip from the straw. I hadn’t thought much of what my story was going to be to him. I certainly couldn’t tell him where I worked, but if things were going to progress, I was going to have to eventually. There was no room for lies in a relationship. But for right now, I’d just divulge a little about myself and see if that would suffice. “There’s really not much to tell. I lived in California my whole life, and I’m staying with my aunt here in New York City for a while.”
“What part of California?”
“Oh, it’s a town called Atherton. It’s about thirty miles or so south of San Francisco.”
He nodded and took another swig of beer. “I’ve been to San Francisco before…great town.”
“Yeah, it is.” I smiled, battling with a temporary bout of homesickness.
“I spend a lot of time in the San Diego area.”
“Oh, for business?”
“Yeah, I guess you could say that.” I caught a hint of a smirk as he lifted his beer bottle up to his mouth again. “So, what brings you to New York?”
“Umm, well…I just needed a change of scenery.”<
br />
“A change of scenery is always good.” He placed his elbow on the bar and rested his hand in the palm of his hand, studying me in a way that would normally be awkward. But his strong gaze seemed to have the opposite effect on me…he made me feel beautiful.
After a few more glasses of wine, I was totally loosened up. I wasn’t analyzing every word that came out of my mouth and his, and I removed the napkin from the chair and the straw from my wine glass. My stomach hurt from laughing and the muscles in my face were strained from smiling. “We should get going. I have an early meeting tomorrow,” Brock said, looking down at his watch.
“On a Sunday?” I asked.
“My work doesn’t recognize any days of the week.” He stood up and I followed suit, getting my heel stuck in the bottom rung of the barstool and falling to the ground. Humiliated didn’t even begin to describe how I was feeling.
“Are you okay?” he asked as I swiftly lifted myself up from the dirty floor.
“Yeah, I’m…good.” I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed.
“Are you sure?”
I nodded and wasted no time making my exit.
“Your knee is all scraped up and bleeding,” Brock remarked when we stepped outside.
“It’s fine.”
“Wait one second,” he requested as he ran back inside the bar.
You are such a klutz. I can’t believe you had to go and embarrass yourself like that! My inner-voice silenced when Brock reappeared with some napkins and a bottle of water. He poured some water on the napkin and bent down, blotting my knee and applying some pressure as he looked it over.
“All better.” He stood up and smiled. My head was woozy, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the wine or him as I watched him walk over to the trash can a few feet from where we were standing and throw away the napkin.
“I’m so stupid. I can’t believe I did that.” My face burned with embarrassment once again just thinking about it.
