“Admit it, you just can’t stay away from me, can you?” He chuckles, showing half a mouth of rotten black teeth.
I cock an eyebrow in response. “I work here, it’s not like I can avoid you.” I push past him and he grabs my ass in a painful grip. “Remove your hand. Now!”
“Lighten up, SJ, I’m just having a feel. One of the perks of being the boss.” He laughs and heads off to the freezer.
I take a few deep breaths and wipe the tears from my eyes. Letting out a long breath, I start my day.
I make it to lunch before I have to see Gary again. I suddenly can’t wait for the children’s play scheme to finish next week. I only have to see Gary once a week then. He might be a prime candidate for a sexual harassment case, but he understands I have children to look after and has agreed to me only working Fridays—dropping Wednesday and Thursday until the twins go back to school. I could have dropped the two days I waitress at the diner, but in all honesty, I’m hoping they will offer me a full time position soon and I can leave this place for good.
“Where are you going?” Gary asks.
“To get some lunch,” I reply.
“You said you would work through your lunch breaks for the rest of the week to make up for leaving early yesterday,” he says.
“I was just going to—” I start but he interrupts me.
“I couldn’t make you work without something to eat, so I brought us both lunch from home. Corned beef sandwiches,” he says as he opens the greasy Tupperware container.
“Thanks for the offer, but I don’t like corned beef,” I reply. Truth is, I don’t mind corned beef but I’m not eating anything from that container, especially if it was made by Gary.
“Well you better go get something to eat, but be quick,” he says.
I run out the door and down the street, happy to just be out of that place. I can’t afford to get anything to eat, so I just take a brisk walk around the block. Just as I’m approaching the butcher shop again, my cell rings.
“Hello,” I answer.
“SJ, it’s Samantha,” my boss at the diner says. “I know you usually do a couple of hours on Monday and Tuesday but because you missed it this week, a contracted member of staff has picked up those hours. I’m so sorry.”
“Not a problem, do you still need me this weekend?”
“Yes please, and as soon as anything becomes available, I’ll pencil your name in straight away.”
“Thanks, Samantha,” I say, trying to sound unbothered about the loss of the extra shifts and failing miserably.
“Bye, SJ.”
“Bye,” I say and hang up.
“What took you so long? I said be quick,” Gary says as soon as I enter the shop.
“Sorry, I got a call from my other boss. Unfortunately she can’t give me any work next week,” I tell him and suddenly wish I hadn’t.
“If you need extra hours, I need to get that freezer fully cleaned out.”
I really want to say no, but I can’t, I need the money. “Thanks, Gary,” I reply.
I spend the rest of the day pretending not to notice Gary staring at me. I check the clock and see it three o’clock. Time to clock out. I wait for Gary to go to the freezer and run out back to grab my coat and bag.
“I’m leaving Gary, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I shout.
“SJ, wait!” he says, but I move as quickly as my feet will allow. I’ll apologize in the morning and say I didn’t hear him.
Today has just been one horrible thing after another, surely nothing else can go wrong.
Obviously I spoke too soon.
I pull into my parking space and notice a familiar, unwanted face getting out of her car as I exit mine.
“Julie, how can I help you today?” I ask my social worker.
“I’ve just come by for a chat, SJ. Don’t panic. I just want to stay up to date with the eviction process and to see if I can help,” she says. I don’t believe a single word she says. She was the original social worker who tried to separate me from the twins and I can’t trust her.
“Fine,” I reply and walk toward the door of my building.
“Where are Mitchell and Maddison?” she asks.
“With my neighbor upstairs, why?”
“I was just wondering, there’s no need for suspicion or hostility, SJ.”
“Can you blame me?”
“No, but the last time I was here, the children seemed happy and settled and I don’t want to disrupt that. I just want to see if I can help,” she reiterates, stopping outside my front door.
“Okay, did you want me to get them?”
“Yes, please,” she replies.
I knock on Rita’s door and she answers almost immediately. “Hey, come in, come in,” she says, looking hassled.
“I can’t, Julie is here,” I tell her.
“Why?” Rita asks, panic crossing her face.
I shrug. “She says she wants to help.”
“Be careful around her,” Rita warns.
“I always am,” I reply.
“Umm-hmm. Mitch! Maddie! Time to go!” she calls through.
“I will be. I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her,” I whisper.
“Mommy!” the twins squeal when they see me. I have to admit, I love this part of the day. I open my arms and bring them both into a big hug.
“Did you have a good day?” I ask.
“Yep, I did jumping in mud puddles,” Mitch tells me.
“I did gluing and sticking,” Maddie answers. “And I drawed a picture for you, Mommy.”
“I can’t wait to see it.” I smile. “Get your stuff, Julie is waiting to see you.”
They run off to get their things together and are back at the door in less than thirty seconds. “Now why can’t you do that in the morning when you’re getting ready for day camp?”
“Hi Julie,” the twins greet the social worker. Maddie wraps her arms around Julie’s waist.
“Hey there,” Julie says hugging her back and turns to Mitch. “Hi Mitchell.”
“Shall we go inside?” I suggest, wanting to get this over with.
“Sure,” Julie replies. “I see the bathrooms are being repaired. Does that mean the new owner isn’t selling?”
“I wish that weren’t the case but in all honesty, I don’t know why he’s doing it,” I reply as we take a seat on the couch. I should probably find out what he is up to because if he still plans on tearing down the building, those bathrooms are going to be a complete waste of money. I wonder if he will come by tonight. He probably won’t, but I can hope. I think I’ll pay him a visit Monday and find out about the new bathroom suites. At least it gives me something to look forward to. Of course it has nothing to do with the fact that you get to see him again. I squash that thought. Men like him don’t go for single mothers like me. He probably has a pretty blonde on his arm every night of the week. Why would he want a simple and plain, Sarah-Jayne? my mother’s voice says in my head.
“SJ, are you listening?” Julie says, bringing me out of my thoughts.
“Sorry, I was thinking about something,” I reply. “What were you saying?”
“I said, there’s this really lovely foster home for children in Washington Highlands,” she repeats.
“Why are you telling me that?” I ask suspiciously.
“Hear me out—”
“No!” I instantly stop her. “You want to separate me from the twins.”
“Not at all, I just thought it would be a nice temporary home for them until you get back on your feet.”
“So I can stay there with them?” I ask sarcastically.
“Well... no, not really. It’s just a stop gap.”
“You want to take them away from me.”
“Let’s be honest SJ, you were never really in a position to raise one child, let alone two.”
“I’m perfectly capable of raising the twins. Why can’t you be supportive and help? I don’t beat them, I don’t do drugs, and I’m not an alcoholic. Are
n’t there plenty of people out there that you can harass and just let me get on with raising my children?”
“I may suggest your mental health be assessed.”
“What? Why?”
“You have the children calling you ‘Mommy’ and you call them your children when they’re your siblings.”
“Mommy, what’s a si-ling?” Maddie asks.
“Guys, can you go to your room for a bit and play while I talk to Julie?”
“I’m hungry,” Mitch whines.
“I’m going to make dinner shortly, okay?”
“Okay,” he replies. Taking his sisters hand, they walk off to the bedroom.
I turn back to Julie and lower my voice. “I have guardianship of them. I didn’t correct them because it’s too confusing at this age for them. Their teachers at preschool fully understand, and I intend to explain the situation to them when they’re a little older, until then I’m their mother.”
“No, you’re their sister and I’m going to do what I can to make sure they have a healthy upbringing without all this disruption and confusion,” she threatens.
“The court granted me guardianship. What is your problem?”
“I don’t like seeing children raised in an unhealthy environment. Come on SJ, you’re twenty-one and have your whole life ahead of you. Why do you want to be stuck raising your brother and sister? I can find the twins a nice home together so they won’t be split—”
“It’s not happening!” I yell. “You said you came to help me, but you clearly aren’t helping me and now you can leave,” I say, standing up and walking toward the door. I open it for her and wait for her to cross the threshold. “Don’t come back unless you have a real reason to be here. I’m going to call the child protection agency when you leave and tell them how you’re harassing me and trying to manipulate me. I’m also going to make an appeal to the court to have my social worker changed.”
“Good luck with that, SJ. Who do you think they’re going to believe?” She concludes before sauntering off down the stairs.
I close the door and fall back against it, quietly sobbing into my hands. What the hell am I going to do?
Chapter 4
Sitting in my office early Monday morning I’m alerted to a commotion happening outside my door. “You can’t just go in,” I hear Debbie say and then I hear the most beautiful sound.
“Please, I just need two minutes,” SJ responds. I stalk toward the door and swing it open.
“It’s okay Debbie. Come in SJ,” I say and she moves quickly past me and into my office.
“Why did you do that?” she asks. I’m pretty sure I know what she’s talking about but I fake ignorance. “You know what I’m talking about Caleb, all the new bathrooms.”
“Oh that, yeah I thought I’d replace all of them. When I checked it out, it looked really old and outdated,” I explain.
“But you’re tearing the place down in a couple of months, all that money is being wasted,” she says and I don’t know if she’s happy or upset about it.
“I’ll donate the bathroom suites before we tear it down.” I watch her visibly relax.
“Really? That makes me feel better then.” She calms down, but is still shaking.
“You don’t like money being wasted, do you?” I ask and her eyes lock with mine. “The other night, I could see it on your face when I handed you the second pizza.”
She closes her eyes and turns away from me. “I’m sorry if I offended you, I thought I kept the emotions off my face.”
“It wasn’t your face that gave it away, it was just the way you spoke to Mitchell about it.” She frowns, clearly trying to remember what she may have said. “I wasn’t offended in the slightest, seeing the other woman’s face light up, knowing she could now feed her children was worth bringing the extra pizza over.”
“Claire,” she mumbles.
“What?”
“The woman’s name is Claire,” she says and I nod. “She has three children under five years old.”
“She has her hands full,” I say. “Does she have a job?”
“Not at the moment, her ex husband found her at the last four she’s had and now she’s too scared to go out.”
“Why?”
“She’s a victim of domestic abuse, each of her children were conceived after she was raped by the man who was supposed to love her. He beat her black and blue. When we found her she was pregnant. We managed to secure her an apartment in our building and are trying our best to help her.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to understand what a small act of kindness can do for someone like Claire. The day after we gave her the pizza, she went for a job interview and another two the day after that. We’re all keeping our fingers crossed for her.”
“Where did you find her?”
“In the hospital. Social services was there trying to decide if the children needed to be taken. The old landlord always kept social workers informed of unoccupied apartments, so when he got a call looking for accommodation for a family, he asked me and Rita to help her settle in. With him being a man, he didn’t want to scare her off.”
“Did Rita help you settle in too?” I ask.
“No, I was there before Rita,” she answers.
“How did you end up there?”
“That’s a story I’m not ready to share. Let’s just say, our old landlord understood a thing or two about living on the streets and tried to keep as many people off of them as possible. He didn’t ask for a security deposit and gave everyone their first month rent free, giving us enough time to settle in and sort ourselves out.”
Was she on the streets? Did she have her kids at the time? I want to ask, I want to know but I know she’s not ready to tell me that yet.
“Are you okay?” I ask, noticing she seems less bubbly than usual.
“I’m fine,” she says with an unconvincing smile. Why is she lying to me? “Anyway, I need to get to work. I just wanted to thank you for the new bathrooms and plumbing, everyone was so excited to use the new stuff.”
“You’re welcome, SJ. I hope to see that smile on your face again soon,” I say and she bows her head, blushing profusely. “Actually SJ, are you busy Saturday evening?”
“I don’t know, depends if any overtime comes up. Why?”
“I would like to take you to dinner,” I say.
“Can I let you know?”
“Of course and thank you for stopping by—you’ve really made my Monday morning better.”
She smiles, giggles and waves before walking out the door. I sit back in my chair and smile to myself, my stomach feels like a net of butterflies have been let loose. I suddenly sit upright in my chair, shocked at what I’d been thinking. When did I start getting these feelings for her? And when did I turn into a hormonal teenage girl with a crush? Butterflies Caleb, really?
***
“Come in,” Grayson calls from the other side of the door.
“Hey man,” I say as I enter his office.
“Big brother, to what do I owe this visit?” Grayson says without looking up—he’s too busy meticulously arranging and rearranging everything on his desk.
“Well, little brother,” I mock him. “I need advice.”
He looks up, mouth agape and starts to feign hyperventilating, while flapping his hands around. “Oh God, Caleb Slate wants my advice.” I raise an impatient eyebrow and he stops instantly.
“Are you finished?” I check.
“Yep.” He smirks, going back to precisely positioning the phone on his desk. “What’s up?”
“I think I’m developing feelings for someone,” I say as I furrow my brow.
“Wow, so the tin man really does have a heart,” he replies with such sarcasm, I almost lean across the desk and punch him. I settle on narrowing my eyes instead.
“Apparently so,” I respond as lightly as I can.
He seems to be happy with the placement of everything on his desk and
leans back in his chair, resting his foot on his knee, placing his elbows on the arms of his chair and linking his fingers together in front of his chest. “What can I help you with?”
“Well—” I start when I’m interrupted by a knock at the door. I look to Grayson and he shrugs.
“Come in,” he calls out, sitting back up in his chair and straightening the lapels of his suit jacket.
“Grayson, you wanted to see—” The man who enters the room stops dead when he sees me, clearly unsure of what to say.
“Logan,” I address my youngest brother with a nod of the head. You would think from this reaction that there’s animosity between us, but in fact it’s the complete opposite, though Logan seems to get really nervous around me lately.
“Caleb, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” he answers.
I go over and give him a hug, patting him on the back. “You know I still work in the building, right?”
“Yeah I know, it’s just this is Grayson’s office.”
“And you can’t pretend you haven’t seen me and walk off,” I say. He gives me a perplexed look. “You’ve been avoiding me since we last spoke.”
“No,” he replies while looking at his feet. Where Grayson and I have blue eyes, fair skin and stand at six foot two inches. Logan has brown eyes, tanned skin and stands at a mere five foot ten inches. His accent is also American, while mine and Grayson’s are Irish with an American twang. That’s probably to do with the age we moved here from Ireland. I was fourteen, Grayson was twelve, and Logan was only nine. Logan grew up with our father, his new wife and step children. Grayson and I grew up together in boarding school, so not many people believe we are all brothers. “I was going to swing by and see you this week.”
“Has your nose always been that big or you lying to me?” I goad him and begin to chuckle. He just diverts his eyes back to the floor. “It’s okay Logan, I may not understand your reasons for stepping down as the CEO, but it was your decision.”
After finishing school, I stayed with Edward for a couple of years while I waited for Grayson to graduate. I tried many times to contact Logan, but our father insisted Logan didn’t want us in his life, so Grayson and I went back to Ireland for six months before receiving a call to say our father had died suddenly. The circumstances surrounding his death were suspicious, but I wasn’t coming back to find out what happened to him. I was coming back to support my brother. After all, my father was the underboss of one of the most notorious crime boss’ in America. As far as I was concerned, it’s one more piece of trash off the street. At the reading of his last will in testament, Logan was left everything. As you can imagine, our father’s wife was not impressed, but his children and step-children really weren’t bothered. After giving a good chunk of money to our step-sister, two step-brothers, and leaving the house to our father’s wife, he asked us to join him at Slate Security and severed all ties to the New Jersey crime family. That was until Vitale asked for our services. Something was off from the moment Logan stepped into the Slate Security building. He’d see someone, become pale and cower in the opposite direction. It didn’t take long before he handed the day to day running of the company over to me and six months ago I handed it to Grayson. Logan remained the CEO until a few months ago, when he also just handed it over to Grayson. I know Logan has a side business of sorts similar to me and works out of Slate Security, but no one knows what he does. He just became very secretive all of a sudden. When I questioned him about stepping down as CEO, he only told me that his priorities had changed.
Caleb (The Unseen Series Book 1) Page 4
