The Line That Binds Series Box Set
Page 45
I opened the files. The name Tanner was one of the few documents stored in a folder for May of next year. “Where do you want the file moved?”
Simone walked in behind me and set a paper beside my keyboard. “It gets moved from the May file to date pending.” After I moved the file she said, “Now we just go into the main schedule and remove their names from their original date.”
I complied, pleased I understood their general program. “Is that everything?”
She backed away from my chair when I finished. “For that couple, yes. Now I should go over some basics with you.” She crossed her arms loosely and tilted her head a bit. Her little brown eyes squinted as she considered what she wanted to say. “I’ll show you everything Emily does. On days she isn’t here, you can log more hours and work until five with me. On days she is scheduled, I’ll cut you out when she shows up. I think it’ll make things easier for everyone this way.”
Her eyes studied me after her statement. The separation was a smart move. She knew about the fight at school, but I had no idea if she knew about the incident on the stairs last week. Either way, it didn’t matter. It was a logical decision.
“I’m good with that,” I agreed. There was no need to elaborate.
“Good.” She straightened up and moved back to her desk. I followed when she jerked her head, indicating I do so. “As you know, we have some part-time employees and temps on the payroll. They help setup and teardown for larger functions and are called in to work some full events. Because we don’t have a full-service staff, we occasionally outsource, especially when clients choose all inclusive packages that require us to handle everything for their event. A good portion, though, hire their own planners. Most of the local planners are familiar with our property rules so they don’t push the boundaries. Unfortunately, about half of our business is from out of town. That’s where we run into a majority of our problems.
“In addition to normal duties, you’ll also supervise some events. The events that are fully managed by us, or some smaller ones that don’t have planners, usually require at least one of our staff to be on site in case any problems arise. It gives clients peace of mind knowing someone can be easily located. The sooner you start doing them, the better. They’ll give you a well-rounded perspective of the business.”
I stood beside her desk and stared at her for a long moment, processing the information. “So that’s basically like babysitting, making sure the clients are happy and that they don’t screw up the property.”
She smiled.
She smiled! Wow. Her bright, white teeth almost blinded me. It was the first time I’d seen them this close up. “Yes, I suppose it is a glorified babysitter. But, seeing as how it’s only considered babysitting if it isn’t your child, this won’t actually be babysitting for you. This property will be your baby soon enough.”
Oh. Was that a sarcastic smile? It was hard to tell because it had already disappeared from her face. I guess now was the best time to discuss the tension that had been hanging around since I’d moved here. “Simone, I don’t know you very well so I could be reading this all wrong, but I want you to know that I intend to do the best I can with the property—”
She waved her hand up to cut me off. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It was a funny analogy, and it fits. You’ll see exactly how much when you sit your first event. People tend to get a little crazy during wedding receptions.”
Now it was my turn to smile, relieved she wasn’t being harsh. “I’ve seen my fair share of crazy. I’m from Vegas,” I said with a laugh, which faded as thoughts of my mom popped into my mind. I was willing to bet I’d seen more crazy in the comfort of my old house than any wedding party here could compete with. Unless of course the bride was jacked up on coke and decided to nail the best man under the trellis or something. I guess I’d find out soon enough.
She picked up a pen and tapped its tip lightly onto a note pad a few times. “I’ve realized that you have good intentions for the property. For one, you decided to do the Co-op program. That shows me that you’re not just willing to learn more, you want to learn more. Also, I saw how you worked the grounds. Lloyd and Randall were pleased with your work ethic, and Ben has relentlessly sung your praises.”
I flinched at his name as her eyes dropped to the pen, tapping the notebook again. I pulled in a quick breath, happy she hadn’t seen my reaction. “I try my best.”
“Good,” she said with a quick glance to me. “Have a seat and we’ll start going over the standard event application paperwork.”
She was back to business in a heartbeat, which was encouraging. I was here to do a job, to learn what has become my future. For the next hour, we discussed the basic applications as planned. Over the next few, she spewed quick rundowns of event rules and standards, our affiliated companies, employee wages, and the average annual costs to maintain the business and property. My head was spinning by the end of the work day.
“We’ll get a little more in depth tomorrow,” Simone said, shouldering her leather satchel and following me out of the office.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to handle it,” I replied. It was honestly more information than I anticipated. I had to hand it to her, she knew her job.
The clacking of her heels echoed through the deserted building as we traveled down the stairs. “You seem to be doing well so far. I don’t see it being a problem.”
At least she felt confident. I knew I could learn it all, but with everything happening lately, I was a little concerned. “Thanks,” I replied awkwardly.
Halfway down the stairs, she let out a breathy laugh. I glanced sideways at her, wondering why she was amused. Her eyes widened when she noticed my reaction. “Oh, I’m sorry. That wasn’t directed at you. I was just thinking about something someone said to me recently.” She chuckled again without sharing what was funny.
A headache ripped through my mind out of nowhere, jackhammering my skull. I grabbed my temples and continued walking the steps, not wanting Simone to see my pain.
“I wish I had the guts to tell him how I really feel,” Simone’s voice spoke in my mind.
So it was true. She was getting some. I smiled through the pain. Was this person the cause for her happy moods lately? If so, maybe it was best she had the guts she wanted. It wouldn’t just be good for her, it would make my work environment a lot more pleasant.
Why not?
I grabbed her hand when we got to the bottom step, effectively stopping both of us. Her eyes darted to our hands, shocked by the sudden physical contact. My body and mind rippled with the emotional surge of the curse, granting her wish and giving me the blissful feeling I was happy to accept.
“Sorry,” I said, dropping her hand after a couple seconds. “I thought I heard a strange noise or something.” Since all the other employees had already left the building, the lie wasn’t too crazy. I knew she believed it when she shrugged, indicating she hadn’t heard anything.
After we moved to the entrance, I grabbed the handle of heavy front door. It swung open before I pulled and I stumbled backward. Just as Simone grabbed my right arm, Ben’s hand caught my left, steadying me.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize anyone was coming out,” Ben said. He dropped my arm and shoved his hands into his pockets.
Simone let my other arm go and looked back and forth between Ben and me.
I looked down at my hands so I didn’t have to look at him. “It’s okay,” I said. That’s when I felt the blood drops trickle from my nose. I finally looked up and Ben’s eyebrows scrunched together. He freed his hands from his pockets and gripped the bottom of his shirt, ready to be chivalrous once again. I pinched my nostrils together quickly, not only to stop the blood but to stop the tears too. I turned to Simone. “Thanks for today. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Sure. It’s nothing,” I squeaked out, stepping sideways to make my escape. I glanced at Ben, watching his hands drop the edge of his shirt.
I gave a small smile to Simone and jogged up to the house. I had to get away from him before I lost all clarity. It didn’t help that he saw my nose bleed and almost gave me his shirt, again. My feelings were still too raw and exposed for him to play the good guy. There was so much hurt that I had to fight not to drown in it. And anger lingered just below, churning and resurfacing whenever I thought of the sweet taste of mint on his lips or the way his arms felt around me. Maybe being near him would get easier eventually. Maybe one day I’d be able to look into his dark eyes without tears welling behind mine. Only time would tell.
Right now, though, I wasn’t that strong. I was a broken mess, my heart and mind torn into fragments from the well, from my mom, and from Ben. I was ready to be numb, to reach that facet of sorrow where misery consumed everything good, leaving nothing to care about. Hurt disappeared there. That was where I needed to be.
After watching LJ run to her house, I turned back to Simone. She folded her arms across her chest and gave me a pointed look. I knew what she was thinking. I just didn’t want to talk about it.
“Here,” I said, tugging the rolled-up Co-op paper and a pen from my back pocket and handing them to her. “I need you to sign this.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on?” she asked, looking at the paper.
“Nope.”
Her eyes peered up at me. “And why should I sign this? After what happened at Friday night’s party, I’m not exactly sure you’re entitled to a positive bonus like extra hours or early school dismissal.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. “I already apologized for that, Simone. It won’t happen again. And I’m fine with having the same amount of hours. Whatever.”
“Did Lloyd agree to this?”
“Yeah. He’s fine with it.”
She sighed and her eyes darted up toward LJ’s house. “Does this have anything to do with LJ? If so, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“That’s none of your business,” I said, crossing my own arms. She had no right to worry about the reasoning behind my decision.
“I think it is my business if there are issues between two of my employees. What happens if I needed you to work together? What then?”
“We would work together.”
“Are you sure about that?” she asked through a breathy, condescending laugh. “You could barely look at each other a second ago.”
“You sure you want to get personal?” Wanting an answer because of business was one thing, but poking my life with a stick was not a good idea. Unlike her other employees, I wasn’t afraid to turn the stick around, after I sharpened it.
“If I think it’s necessary.”
“Really? Was it necessary to tell Carson about my old relationship habits?”
Her eyes widened for the briefest of seconds before she shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Yeah, right. “It’s pointless to lie. I saw you kissing him Friday night. If you wanted it to stay a secret, you shouldn’t have made out in front of the event house.” I smirked, knowing I’d hit a nerve as soon as her cheeks flushed a nice shade of pink. Simone, embarrassed? Who knew?
She took an audible breath, positioned the paper on her thigh, and scribbled a quick signature. “Here,” she said, thrusting the paper and pen back to me.
“You stay out of my business and I’ll stay out of yours. I also want to know what you told him.”
She scrunched her eyebrows as if she’d just realized something. “Is that why you and LJ are no—”
“That doesn’t matter.” I cut her off. I didn’t care if her thought process was off point, I didn’t want to hear the last words. No longer together. I thought of those words too much already. “Why would you tell him shit about me, Simone?”
“I didn’t say anything bad, Ben. He mentioned that you guys were getting serious so he asked me about you. He’s just a concerned father.”
“What did you say?” I seethed. I didn’t know why I cared so much. LJ and I might really be over. None of this probably mattered, but I couldn’t let it go.
“He just asked if you’d had many girlfriends. I told him I didn’t keep track, then changed the subject because I didn’t want to talk about you.”
I laughed miserably. “And you left it at that? No wonder he was worried. You made it sound like you’d lost count.” Not that I’d counted much myself, but she still should’ve phrased it differently so I didn’t look so bad.
“What do you want me to do? Tell him I was wrong?” she asked, regaining her stiff attitude.
“No. It’s not a problem now anyway,” I said, shrugging it off. “You can still make it up to me, though.”
She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms defensively again. “Really?”
“Is the event house booked Friday night?”
“You’re not having a party here,” she said, leaping ahead of the conversation.
I shook my head and lifted a corner of my mouth with annoyance. “Not what I was going to ask. I’m having some friends over to ride out back. Just thought I’d be considerate and let you know in advance, even though it’s on my property and I can do whatever the hell I want with it,” I snapped. I couldn’t care less about her feelings right now. I was getting sick of caring.
Her eyebrows scrunched as she considered my statement. “Nothing’s scheduled on Friday night.”
“Good,” I replied and backed away. “Thanks for signing.” I held up the paper before shoving it my pocket and walking away.
After I finished raking leaves by the main road, I walked back toward the house for dinner. Heavy clouds blanketed the sky, bringing dusk long before the setting sun. The wind gusted, sending a chill through me and fluttering the leaves of the gazebo’s moon vine. I stepped closer, noticing one flower had opened before the rest, eager for the night. It would be one of its last evenings. The vine would die with the cold soon enough. I gripped the flower’s base between my fingers, thinking of the way LJ looked when she stood in this spot on my birthday. Even if I couldn’t save us, I wanted her to remember. I flicked my fingers along the petal again before grabbing its stem base and popping it off the vine. I’d find a way to save this for her.
When I walked into the house, Pop was sitting as straight as he could on the worn cushions of our faded gray couch with his arms pushed inside a battered cardboard box. He was so focused he didn’t hear me close the door.
I hadn’t seen him since we’d talked yesterday morning. He needed time to process all the information I’d laid out for him: the day LJ was cursed, realizing it was all real, LJ and I finding the first stone and the journal. His reactions were limited while he listened, speaking only a few times to ask questions. I explained LJ’s mental and physical experiences as well as what I’d felt when she granted my wish. Pop mentioned feeling something similar when Janine granted his. At the time, he’d chalked it up to emotions since she’d never explained the actual process to him.
Our talk ended with his forceful words, reiterating his disappointment. Any other time, they would’ve had a more serious effect on me. This time they barely registered because his words could never compare to the look I’d seen in LJ’s eyes. The disappointment there was soul crushing. I’d lost her love. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get it back.
“Hey,” I said.
I thought he might’ve been ignoring me until he finally said, “Hi.” His face stayed fixed on the box. He pulled files out, thumbed through their contents, and set them on the coffee table before moving on to the next.
I watched his progress for a minute before ducking into the kitchen. “Find anything?” I asked loud enough for him to hear. I eyed the new case of beer in the fridge and wondered if he’d stocked the basement too.
“No,” he replied.
After grabbing a bag of chips, I returned t
o the living room. He was still digging. “Need some help?”
“No, this is the last one for tonight. I snuck a couple of boxes out of the event house because it’s too risky to stay over there and go through them.”
“Didn’t you already search the event house?” I asked, opening the chips. I tipped my head back and emptied half of the tiny bag into my mouth.
“Last month,” he said, flipping a few pages between his thick fingers. He paused to look more intently at one then continued, “I don’t trust that I looked well enough.”
I nodded, thinking of everything I’d looked through inside of LJ’s house and wondering the same thing.
“Did LJ talk to you today?”
And there goes my appetite. “Not really,” I replied, tossing the bag of chips onto the dining table. There was something else I’d rather fill my stomach with later anyway. I let out a sigh and said, “I’m trying to give her some space.”
“Probably the best course of action for now,” he admitted.
I knew he was right, but I still wanted to force her to talk to me, to beg her forgiveness over and over. “Right,” I mumbled, trying to close that part of my mind even though I knew I never could. I moved back to my bedroom and picked up my helmet and jacket. Riding wouldn’t kill all the shit in my head, but it would help keep me busy until I had to face the silence of the night, when regret and worry shredded what was left of my heart.
I strode through the living room to the front door, glanced back to him, and said, “I’ll be back later.”
“Be careful,” he replied his usual warning. He still didn’t look up.
The week was agonizing in more ways than I cared to count. Seeing Ben every day before Chemistry wrecked me the most. And it was unavoidable. I tried running through the hall to arrive early and waiting until the last possible second before the bell, but it didn’t matter. He was there. Every. Day. I still lacked the nerve to look directly into his eyes. I kept my head down, watching him through my peripheral vision those few short moments before class. His hair was messier, and his usually confident posture slouched as though he’d been broken in the worst possible way. He didn’t have the right to claim that, though. I did.