by Beth Rinyu
“Joey’s costume is on her bed. I’m not gonna be able to make it. My professor is letting me retake a test tonight I bombed on the other day.”
I knew he was straight-up lying not only from the bar-like sounds in the background, but also from his tone of voice. I could always tell when he was drinking and right now he was pretty wasted.
“Really, Cole?” I snapped, shouting a little louder than I had intended. I looked around to make sure I was still alone in the office before continuing to lay into him.
“I’m sorry, Deenie, but he’s doing me a huge favor by letting me retake it.”
“Oh, so you’re gonna retake it when you’re drunk?”
“What are you talking about? I’m not drunk,” he slurred.
“Yeah, and I’m not stupid or maybe I am for thinking you actually gave a shit and were being honest about wanting to make things work between us.”
“Deenie, come on…don’t—”
I hung up the phone before he could even finish.
“Hey, are you okay?” Gabe asked, walking in on the tail end of my conversation.
I nodded and sucked in a deep breath, trying to pull it together. “Did you need me for anything else?”
“Oh, no.” He shook his head.
“Okay.” My voice cracked with emotion, and I looked away as I fought with the burning in my eyes. I couldn’t believe I was letting Cole do this to me. Just knowing he was sitting around in a bar shucking off his responsibility enraged me.
“Thanks so much for everything this afternoon. I would have never been able to even get him to look at that software if it weren’t for you.”
“No problem. I’m glad I could help.” I tried my hardest to force a smile, battling with the lump in my throat as I struggled to hold back the tears.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Just feeling a little overwhelmed.”
“Oh, shit, I’m sorry—”
I put my hand up to stop him. “No, no, no. It has nothing to do with this place. It’s just personal stuff.”
“Oh.” He sounded relieved.
“Well, I’m gonna get going. Happy Halloween.” This time I was able to manage a smile.
He looked at me in surprise and something told me he had forgotten what day it was. I didn’t know why I found it so hard to believe. If I didn’t have Joey doing a countdown every day for me, I probably would have forgotten too.
“Oh yeah, Happy Halloween,” he replied, giving me a quick flash of his adorable dimples.
“There’s the lady of the hour!” Chad shouted as he walked in just as I was about to exit. “Where ya going? I have to buy you that drink, remember?”
Gabe shook his head for him to stop, picking up on the fact that I was about to turn into an emotional wreck.
“I’ll have to take a rain check. I have to pick my daughter up and take her trick-or-treating.” A knot formed in my stomach, thinking about the look on Joey’s face when she found out Cole wasn’t coming with us.
“Okay, but Friday night…happy hour. You’re going!” he ordered.
“Yeah, sounds good.” I brushed him off. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” I muttered hastily, making my way out the door.
The burning in my eyes finally alleviated once I reached the parking lot and allowed the tears to flow. How could Cole be so selfish and only think of himself? Joey had been talking about trick-or-treating with the two of us all week long. I was so angry at him for letting her down and even angrier at myself for letting my guard down and allowing him into my life in this way. I was able to handle him hurting me, but when it came to hurting Joey that was where I drew the line. She was my entire world, and I would never allow anyone to hurt her…especially her own father.
Chapter 14
Gabe
My stomach growled when I got in my car after finishing up with work. It was no surprise. It was almost eight, and I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. Against my better judgment, I stopped off at the pizza place on my way home. I tried my best to eat only healthy foods, but I was way too hungry to wait until I got home to make something.
When I walked into the pizzeria, I immediately set my eyes upon a very familiar looking little girl. She looked in my direction and gave me a toothless grin. When her mother turned around, it finally dawned on me where I had seen this kid before.
“Hey!” Faith exclaimed, her smile matching her daughter’s.
I was glad to see her looking much happier than she did when she had left work just a few hours ago.
“Oh, hey,” I replied once I got closer.
“Joey, this is my boss, Mr. Samuels.”
“Hiya!” she exclaimed as she swayed back and forth.
“She’s had way too much sugar tonight. I’m hoping some real food will help dissolve it or something.” She laughed.
“Oh, yeah. Did you get a lot of candy?” I asked, feeling out of sorts having a conversation with a pint-sized human being. Kids freaked me out in every way imaginable.
She nodded as she took a sip of her drink. “But M-o-m-m-y wouldn’t let me bring it in. I had to leave it in the car.” She crossed her arms and pursed her lips at Faith.
“Are you just getting done with work?” Faith asked.
“Yeah, I had to get caught up on a few things.”
“Oh.”
An awkward silence passed between us, and I realized I was staring at her a little longer than I should have. But there was something about those deep brown eyes I kept getting lost in.
“Excuse me, mista! Wait, what was your name again?” Her daughter tilted her head and looked up at me.
“You can just call me Gabe.”
“Oh...okay. Are you getting pizza, Mr. Gabe?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at her. “Yeah, I am.”
“Mommy and me ordered a whole giant one…you can just have some of ours, right, Mommy?”
Faith was taken a little off guard by her daughter’s invitation. “Oh, yeah, sure. If he wants to.” She recovered.
Her daughter slid farther into the booth and tapped on the seat next to her. “Come on, I don’t bite.”
Faith smiled at me and shook her head. “I’m sorry. She’s five going on eighty. We would love to have you join us for pizza, if you’d like. If not, that’s totally okay too.” She turned her attention back to her daughter. “That’s how you ask politely, Joey.”
“Pretty please, will you have pizza with Mommy and me, Mr. Gabe?” She batted her long eyelashes up at me, and I couldn’t deny her request.
I never cared to be around kids, but the last hour spent with Faith and Joey had me thinking a little differently. Faith was totally right. Joey was an eighty-year-old woman trapped in a five-year-old’s body. I found myself laughing a lot over the stuff that would come out of her mouth. No wonder my grandmother didn’t mind babysitting her. They were on the same level.
“Miss Joey, how was your pizza?” the old man who had been working behind the counter asked in a thick Italian accent as he came over to the table.
“It was good,” she replied, patting her belly.
“You need to come see my wife. She has some candy for you.”
Her eyes lit up, and she looked at Faith for approval. “Mommy, can I go in the kitchen and see Sabina?”
“Fine,” Faith relented.
I started to get up to let her out, but she was already crawling under the table and standing by the old man’s side.
“Not too much candy, Tony,” Faith warned.
He nodded and took Joey’s hand, leading her into the kitchen.
“Wow, she is something else,” I said.
“Yeah, she is. I wish I had half of her energy. It’s like nonstop from the minute she wakes up.”
“She’s a riot.”
“Oh yeah, that’s because she’s been surrounded by senior citizens her whole life. I’m hoping now that she’s started school and is around other kids her age, she’ll start acting more like a five-ye
ar-old. So, the meeting today…everything turned out the way you had hoped?” She switched gears.
“Yeah, it was actually even better than I had hoped, and we wouldn’t have been able to pull it off if it weren’t for you. Thank you so much again.”
“Not a big deal. I’m happy I could help.”
I found myself staring at her once again. A habit I was finding hard to break whenever she was around. What the hell was it about her that had me so intrigued? She seemed so genuine. Something I wasn’t used to with most women. They all had some type of hidden agenda, but I didn’t sense that with her. She truly cared about helping others and didn’t expect anything in return. I found it hard to believe I was actually sitting here analyzing a chick. I never cared to get to know much about the inner workings of any woman. Not even the one and only woman I was in a long-term relationship with. Yet here I was, wanting to know so much more about the girl sitting across the table from me.
“Sabina gave me more candy, Mommy!” Joey came back to the table and broke me from my daydreaming.
“Great,” Faith muttered, letting out a reluctant sigh at the bag of candy Joey had in her hand.
“What’s your favorite kind of candy, Mr. Gabe?”
“Umm…I don’t really eat candy anymore, but I used to love Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.”
“Hey, they’re my mommy’s favorite too!” She dug through the bag in her hand and pulled out a peanut butter cup. “You can have this…I have lots of them in my bag in the car.”
“Thanks, Joey.”
She took a seat next to Faith and looked up at her sadly. “Mommy, are you still mad at my daddy?”
“No, Joey.” Faith’s face reddened, and she became visibly flustered.
“Then why did you call him the A word when you were talking to Natalia on the phone? I heard it…you thought I didn’t because you had the music turned up in the car.”
Faith shook her head, relieved when the waitress brought the check over, creating a diversion so she could avoid answering the question. I grabbed it from the table just as she went to reach for it. “We invited you to dinner. Remember?” she lightly scolded.
I ignored her and reached into my pocket for my wallet.
“Oh, oh, oh! Can I take the money up to the cash register?” Joey pleaded.
“As long as you don’t throw it in with the animal shelter donations.”
She looked at me in confusion while Faith let out a giggle.
“Thank you for having pizza with us tonight. It was a lot of fun,” Faith remarked as we waited for Joey to get done paying.
“Thanks for inviting me.”
“You can thank Joey for that.” She smiled just as Joey came skipping back to the table. I threw some money on the table for the tip, and we got up to leave.
“Do you want some more candy?” Joey shouted once she reached her mother’s car.
“Nope, I’m good.”
“Okie dokie,” she responded, causing me to let out a slight chuckle. “See ya, Mr. Gabe.” She crawled into the back of her mother’s car.
“See ya, Joey.”
“Thanks for dinner,” Faith said as she stood outside of her car.
“You’re welcome. That was the least I could do after all your help today.”
She bit her bottom lip and gave me a bashful grin. I didn’t want her to feel uncomfortable. I wanted to leave things just the way they were tonight. It was the most relaxed I had been in a very long time and it felt good. “See ya tomorrow, Faith.”
“Yup, see ya tomorrow.”
I got into my car and sat there for some time. What the fuck just happened? I just socialized with one of my employees outside of work. This never happened before, especially with someone who worked directly for me. Chad was the only person I was on a personal level with outside of work. I didn’t need to know if my employees were married or divorced, where they lived or how many kids they had. All I cared about was if they showed up for work and did their job. The less I knew about their personal lives, the better. But there was something about Faith that made me feel differently. Yes, she was a beautiful girl. But as beautiful as she was, she still wasn’t the type I dated. The girls I was normally with were much more high-maintenance. Why was I thinking about this anyway? I would never date someone who worked for me. Not to mention she probably had a boyfriend. And I definitely would never date anyone with a child. That was where I drew the line. But the more I was around Faith, the more I found I was willing to step over some lines I wouldn’t normally cross.
Chapter 15
Faith
After his Halloween slipup, Cole was on his best behavior in the weeks that had passed. He was going above and beyond to prove to me he wanted to make things work. We were even taking the next step and looking at some bigger apartments to move into. My mother was still not pleased with our living arrangement, but she was keeping her opinions to herself for the sake of our relationship. She and my father were taking most of the load off Sylvia, watching Joey four days a week after school. Since Joey had gotten attached to Sylvia and vice-versa, I made sure to leave one day a week for them to spend together.
My job was going just as well as my personal life. I was learning so much in the short time I had been there. Gabe was a great teacher and an even better boss. It seemed to take all of my co-workers by surprise that I had lasted this long, and I couldn’t understand why they all found him so difficult to work for. There was something about him I admired, and we just clicked.
Cole, on the other hand, wasn’t as pleased with my working relationship with Gabe. That was confirmed when he showed up at my work one day to take me to lunch and was finally introduced to Gabe. I wasn’t sure if he was intimidated by Gabe’s good looks or the fact I always spoke so highly of him. But as we sat at the diner eating our lunch that day, he remarked I failed to mention how young my boss was. I sensed a hint of jealousy in his voice, but I didn’t care. I actually kind of liked it. In a weird way, his wariness made me feel like I truly meant more to him than just the mother of his child.
It was hard to believe Thanksgiving was in a couple of days. I was even more excited to be spending it with Cole and Joey together instead of dividing our time with her like we always had in the past. We were having dinner at my parents’ and dessert with his family. Spending Thanksgiving dinner with my family was just another way in which Cole was taking the extra step in our relationship, and it made me happy. I didn’t care if my mother, Natalia, and even Darius still had their reservations about the two of us. I didn’t have any doubts and that was all that mattered.
It had been a crazy Monday at work. I decided to spend my lunch hour stopping at home to grab a bite, wash the breakfast dishes that were still in the sink from this morning, and maybe get caught up on my favorite soap opera in between.
When I walked through my apartment door, I froze at the sound of voices coming from the bedroom. Immediately breaking out in a cold sweat, my hands began to tremble as I frantically dug through my purse for my phone. A loud female giggle and then the familiar undeniable sound of Cole’s voice now turned my fear to anger, which was tethering on rage. I took a few deep breaths, prepping myself for what I was about to see as I marched into my bedroom. My chest tightened and the bile rose up to my throat when I opened the bedroom door to find Cole and some bimbo getting it on in my bed.
“You fuckin’ asshole!” I shouted.
“Ah, fuck,” he shouted back, pushing the girl off him.
“Get the fuck out of my apartment, both of you!” I screeched as the girl frantically jumped out of bed and dressed. With a smirk on her face, she threw on her clothes as quickly as she could, rushing out of the bedroom and exiting my apartment half dressed.
“Deenie—” Cole pleaded as he got up and pulled his pants on.
I couldn’t even look at him. I hated him for doing this to me.
“Don’t talk to me. Just get your shit out of my place by tonight or I’ll get rid of it myself.” My
eyes were burning with tears that I was desperately trying to hold back. I didn’t want him to think he got the best of me.
“I’m so sorry…I—”
“It’s bad enough you did this, but you had to do it in my bed. God, I’m so stupid for not seeing you as the loser you really are.” I ripped the sheets from the bed and threw them in his face. I closed my eyes, swallowing the golf-ball-sized lump in my throat. “All this time, I thought you were being sincere with really wanting to make things work between us. It was all a lie.”
He came closer and tried to grab my hand.
“Don’t touch me! Don’t you dare touch me! Just get out! Get the fuck out!” My voice was strained from screaming so loudly.
“All right. Okay.” He held up his hands and backed away, grabbing his shirt and sneakers, pausing as he walked past me for one brief second before making his exit.
I waited until I heard the door close behind him before I allowed myself to expel the tears I was holding back. I felt like such a fool. Most of all I felt like a horrible mother for allowing this to happen, knowing how much it was going to crush Joey.
Puffy eyes and black lines of mascara streaming down my face greeted me when I stared at my reflection in the mirror. How the hell was I going to go back to work? I felt like I had been kicked in the gut. My heart was breaking for me and even more for Joey. I hadn’t a clue as to how I was going to explain to her why her father was no longer living here.
***
Luckily Gabe had meetings outside of the office all afternoon, allowing me to get through the rest of the workday by pretty much keeping to myself. I waited until I was in my car and heading to Sylvia’s before having another meltdown.
“Why don’t we go in the kitchen? Joey’s movie is almost over.” Sylvia insisted as soon as she opened the door and undoubtedly noticed I’d been crying.
I poked my head into the living room where Joey was engrossed in a Disney movie. It was one she’d only seen about half a dozen times already, but for now, I was happy it was keeping her occupied. I took a seat at the kitchen table, and Sylvia immediately turned on the tea kettle.
