by Beth Rinyu
“What?” I guffawed at that ridiculous thought. “You are delusional!”
“No. I’m not. If you want to land this deal you’ll do it. You may have designed the software, but you don’t have the skills to sell it like I do. You did your job, now let me do mine. We need Faith at this meeting today more than you. I’m telling you, if there’s any doubt in their mind, she will seal the deal.”
“No way, Chad. I’m not spending the next few hours of my life watching some kid.”
He placed his hand on my shoulder and spoke calm and coolly. “Okay, let me break this down for you. Two hours of subjecting yourself to princess movies and baby dolls in exchange for a multimillion-dollar deal.”
It took a few seconds to register, and as much as I hated to admit it, I knew he was right. Chad knew the ins and outs of the software just as well as I did, plus he had the selling skills I lacked. I knew I had some stiff competition with Lincoln Software, so maybe his sales tactic with bringing Faith along might work. It certainly couldn’t hurt. Two hours would go by in no time. I hoped.
A half hour into my babysitting detail seemed like eternity. Joey was an inquisitive kid, that was for sure. I didn’t think it was possible for a human being her size to be loaded with so many questions about irrelevant things. I was exhausted with trying to answer them all. What’s my favorite color? What’s my favorite animal? Chocolate or vanilla? I admired anyone who had the patience to deal with this on a daily basis. In a way it helped to keep my mind from wondering about what was going on at the meeting. I had so much riding on this company. If they didn’t sign the contract for the software then my whole European market was going to tank. Joey had finally settled down with a movie on her iPad, allowing me to get some work done…or at least I thought she did.
“Whatcha doing?” she asked as she walked behind my desk and looked at the computer monitor.
“Working,” I replied.
She crinkled her nose and studied the characters on the screen. “Is that in a different language?”
“No, it’s computer coding.”
She eyed it up a little longer before becoming bored. She headed back out to Faith’s desk, belting out the song from the movie she’d just been watching while digging through the bag she had brought with her. Before I knew it, she was sitting in the chair on the other side of my desk with a juice box in one hand and two Barbie dolls in her other hand. “You wanna play Barbies with me?” This kid had a way of batting her eyelashes that could convince you to do anything.
“Uh, no thanks.”
“Well, you can be the pretty one. She looks like my mommy.” She turned the brunette doll around and examined her, exposing her deep dimples in her cheeks. “I’ll be this one.” She picked up the blonde doll laying on my desk. “My friend Sylvia says this one looks like a hooker.” She let out an annoyed breath. “What’s a hooker, Mr. Gabe?”
“Umm—”
“I know it’s something bad because when I asked Sister Catherine at school she scolded me and asked me where I heard that word from. I didn’t want to get Sylvia in trouble with Sister Catherine, so I told her I heard it on TV. But what’s it mean?”
What the hell was wrong with my grandmother, teaching this kid words like that? “It is a bad word you don’t need to know and you shouldn’t repeat. Your friend Sylvia shouldn’t have taught you that, and you can tell her I said so.”
“But she doesn’t even know you, silly!”
“That’s okay. You can still tell her.”
“We’re gonna have birthday cake and decorate our Christmas tree tonight!” She smiled as she twirled her Barbie around by the hair.
“Whose birthday is it?”
She covered her mouth in shock. “It’s my mommy’s! You didn’t know?”
“No. I didn’t.” Not only did Faith give up her Saturday for me, she also gave up her birthday.
“Well, it is! Every year, we decorate our Christmas tree and eat birthday cake on her birthday. Mommy said next year we can have a big Christmas tree because we’re getting a huge house with a back yard!” The happiness in her voice did something to me I’d never felt before.
“I know, that’s cool.”
“Mmm...hmm. I’m gonna get a swing set like my friend Sophie has in her back yard.”
“Hey, what kind of cake does your mom like?”
She tapped her index finger on her cheek and stared up at the ceiling, deep in thought. “I think it’s vanilla cake with chocolate icing and strawberry ice cream on the side. When I get big enough, I’m gonna make her a giant one all by myself! I made her one once with Nona and it came out really good! And next week, Sylvia and I are going to make cookies for Mommy and I’m gonna put them in a really pretty basket to give them to her for Christmas.” She grabbed her juice box with both hands and took a sip, wiping her lip with the back of her hand before placing it back down on my desk. “I think she’ll like that a lot.”
“Do you want to surprise her with a cake when she gets back?”
She tilted her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. “How are we gonna bake one here? This place doesn’t even have a kitchen!”
“We can go to the store and buy her one.”
She gasped. “Nona says the cakes from the store aren’t any good. That’s why she always bakes hers.”
“Yeah, well, it’s okay to buy them from the store once in a while.”
She seemed a little unsure of herself before hopping off the chair. “Okay, but I can’t let Nona know I did this. She wouldn’t be happy about cake from the store,” she said in a loud whisper.
We walked out into the freezing cold parking lot, and I opened the door for her to get in the back seat. “Get in,” I said when she paused.
She crossed her arms and looked up at me with half her eyes covered by her hat. “There’s no car seat. I have to be in a car seat until I’m seventy pounds, and I’m only forty!”
“The store is right there. Look, you can see it from here. I’ll drive slow.”
She let out a reluctant sigh. “Okay, but if a police officer catches us, I’m not going to jail.”
“I promise I’ll take the full responsibility.”
She finally got in, and I buckled her up.
“See that, Joey, we made it.” I looked in the rearview mirror as we pulled into the parking lot, talking to the pom-pom on the top of her hat.
“We were very, very lucky!”
I shook my head and couldn’t help but laugh at her. She was undoing her seatbelt as I opened the door to let her out. She squinted up into the bright sunlight and took me off guard when she reached for my hand. She had obviously been in this food store before as she led the way to the bakery section.
“Her favorite color is pink. Look at this one! It has chocolate icing and pretty pink flowers. Oh, she’ll love that, Mr. Gabe!”
“Then let’s get her this one.”
She nodded in agreement. “Now we gotta get ice cream.”
I grabbed the cake in one hand while she pulled on my other, leading me into the frozen food aisle.
“Gabe?”
I didn’t want to turn around, knowing who that voice belonged to. She looked as beautiful as the last time I had seen her. Her long chestnut brown hair was a little shorter than I remembered, now just touching her shoulders. Her eyes were still a mesmerizing pool of blue.
“Alyssa, how are you?” I cleared my throat, fighting off the awkwardness of the moment.
“I’m doing pretty well.” She forced a smile and shifted her eyes down to Joey, who was still gripping tightly to my hand. “And who is this little cutie?” she asked, her smile now much bigger and genuine.
“I’m Joey. Mr. Gabe is babysitting me, and we’re getting some cake and ice cream for my mommy’s birthday.”
“Well, that sounds like fun!” Alyssa beamed, directing her attention back to me. “You’re babysitting? I never thought I’d see the day.” She grinned. Kids were another sensitive subject in our relatio
nship. Alyssa wanted to start a family as soon as we were married, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever want one. God, when I look back now and see the stark differences between us, I can’t help but think maybe her cheating on me was the best thing that could’ve happened.
“Yeah, well...it’s a long story.” I looked down at the ground and let out a deep breath, raising my head just in time to catch the sparkle on her left ring finger as she pushed her hair behind her ear. She was engaged once again. A little over a year of calling off our engagement and she had already committed herself to a lifetime with another man. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t hurt a little, but I knew it was for the best. I wasn’t sure if I should acknowledge it or just let it go. I knew I didn’t have a choice when the short, muscle head guy who looked like he had just come from the gym snuck up behind her and kissed her on the cheek before throwing something in the cart. What the hell was she thinking? She could do so much better than this dude.
“Oh, Gabe, this is Joe. He owns Fitness World Gym.”
He obviously knew who I was just by the way he was examining me. “I’m Alyssa’s fiancé.” He made it clear as if he were marking his territory.
Alyssa looked down at the ground and pulled in her bottom lip.
“Oh, congratulations.”
She lifted her head and her teary-eyed gaze met mine.
“It was really good seeing you, Alyssa.”
“Yeah, you too,” she whispered.
“Bye!” Joey shouted as we walked away to focus on more important things like ice cream. “Mr. Gabe? Who was that lady in the food store?” Joey asked as we arrived back at the office.
I put the car in park and looked in the rearview mirror. “She was an old friend of mine.”
“You’re not friends with her anymore?” Her voice came across as saddened.
“Umm…no, not really.”
“Is that why she looked so sad?”
This kid was more astute than most adults I knew. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Well, why aren’t you her friend anymore? You guys should just make up and be friends again. Me and my friend Kara stopped being friends because she said I talk too much, but now we’re friends again.”
“It’s not that easy sometimes, Joey.” I got out of the car and walked around to the other door to let her out. “What are you doing?” I asked when she placed her hand on my forehead as I went to unbuckle her.
“You’re not hot!”
“Why would I be hot? It’s freezing out.”
“Because my mommy always tells her friend Natalia that you’re so hot.”
I looked away, trying to stifle my laughter.
She hopped out of the car and looked up at me. “You’re not gonna stop being friends with my mommy, are you?”
A genuine smile spread across my face. “No, Joey. I’m not.”
“Good!” She expelled a relieved breath. “’Cause I think my mommy really likes being friends with you.”
Oddly enough, I really liked being friends with her mommy too.
Chapter 24
Faith
“Great job! Taking one for the team, Faith!” Chad was all smiles as we drove back from our lunch meeting.
I guess you could say that. I wined. I dined. I laughed when appropriate. I showed off my Italian and flashed a little cleavage when needed. Chad and Gabe were hoping for a two-year contract, so to get them to commit to three years was huge. I was happy to do my part. I owed this to Gabe after all he’d done to help me out.
I was moving into my new place in just a few weeks thanks to him, and every time I thought about it I smiled…my very own place. It was all still so surreal. A giant boost of confidence had lifted me up into its cloud after years of playing it safe. I would have never had the courage to take this next step if it weren’t for Gabe encouraging me to do so. Things were looking up in that area of my life.
In other ways, things were just as bleak and dismal as before. Cole hadn’t made any attempt to see Joey in the past week. It was as if he was trying to punish her after I had it out with him about the last weekend they were together. Joey only asked about him once, when he failed to show up at her Christmas pageant. I couldn’t believe how much he had altered his relationship with his own daughter for that bitch he had procreated with. Even his parents were frustrated by his behavior. My blood boiled just thinking about it, but I never let Joey know how I was feeling. I would fester that anger deep inside and unleash it at the appropriate moment when I got Cole alone. I went on like normal where Joey was concerned, taking her mind off things by keeping her preoccupied with Christmas and our new house.
Chad wanted to tell Gabe the outcome of our meeting in person. He pounded on the elevator button like an anxious kid when we entered the building, with the smile never leaving his face as we ascended to the third floor. I couldn’t help but wonder how Gabe had made out with Joey. I was pretty certain she talked his ear off the entire time, but I was sure all that would be forgotten once we gave him the good news. Chad was like a child on Christmas morning when we walked through the door of GS Software and headed for Gabe’s office, ready to surprise him with the news, but as we entered, it was me who got the biggest surprise of all. Gabe and Joey were waiting with balloons and birthday cake, which I automatically presumed were for me. My eyes began to swell with happy tears. My sweet baby girl must have told Gabe it was my birthday and they went out of their way to make it special for me.
“Surprise, Mommy!” Joey exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.
I placed my hand on the side of my cheek in awe. “Oh my goodness! Is this for me?”
“Hold the phone…it’s your birthday?” Chad asked.
I nodded and walked over to check out the cake.
“Me and Mr. Gabe went to the store and picked this one out. See, it’s chocolate with big pink flowers.” Joey paused, took a deep breath, and then shook her head in concern, looking up at Gabe. “And don’t be mad at Mr. Gabe, but I went to the food store without a car seat. He drove carefully.”
“Guilty.” Gabe grinned, with his hands in his pockets, exposing those deep lady-killing dimples.
“This is just…thank you so much!” This was truly the best birthday surprise ever.
“Well, we have even more reason to celebrate,” Chad chimed in.
“Why’s that?” Gabe stared at Chad in anticipation.
“Because we not only got them to sign the contract, but we also got them to agree to three years.”
Gabe’s eyes widened and so did his smile. “Three years? How the hell did you pull that off?”
“Thank the birthday girl for that one!” Chad beamed. “I think Mr. Clemente’s nephew has a little crush on Faith. Told you it would work!”
“Wow, I don’t know how to even thank you for this.” His words were solemn. His gaze intense. Why did he have to be so damn hot when he looked at me that way?
“I’m happy to help. Besides, I owed ya! I’d be renting another place in the ghetto if it weren’t for you. Remember?”
He shook his head and remained silent.
“So, you and Joey survived?” I asked, clearing my throat and breaking up the awkwardness that lingered.
“Yup! We did!” Joey answered. “Do you like your cake, Mommy?”
“I do. I love it. It’s the prettiest cake ever!”
“Don’t tell Nona we got a cake from a store. She’d be very angry.”
Chad stuck around for a little while and had some cake before heading out. Joey kept the conversation going between Gabe and me with her never-ending questions.
“Does Santa still come to your house, Mr. Gabe?” Joey asked.
He chuckled.
“Joey, Santa doesn’t go to his house. He’s Jewish.”
Her smile broadened. “Just like Sylvia! I want to be Jewish too, but then that would mean Santa wouldn’t come to my house anymore.”
“He might. He still came to my house when I was younger,” Gabe advised.
Joey’s eyebrows came together in confusion. “But how? Christmas is Jesus’s birthday, and Sylvia and Sister Catherine said Jewish people don’t believe in Jesus.”
“It’s not that Jewish people don’t believe in him. They just don’t believe—” He stopped himself, noticing the growing bewilderment on Joey’s face. “My mother wasn’t Jewish, so I got to celebrate both Christmas and Chanukah.”
“Wow! So lucky! Mommy, can we celebrate both?” She batted her eyelashes at me, crossing her arms and sticking out her bottom lip in a pout when I shook my head. “So do you have a Christmas tree, Mr. Gabe?” She picked up with the next question without skipping a beat.
“Oh, no. Not anymore.”
“But doesn’t your mommy want one?”
He looked away, taken off guard with that question. “Umm...my mother died.”
My heart sank over the sadness in his voice.
Joey and her questions! Joey covered her mouth with her hand and burst out in tears. “You don’t have a mommy?” she cried.
“Joey, he still has a mom. She just lives in Heaven now,” I intervened, trying to calm her down.
“But mommies aren’t supposed to be in Heaven. I don’t ever want you to be in Heaven, Mommy.” She cried even harder.
I bent down and hugged her tightly, while mouthing I’m sorry to Gabe.
Joey finally calmed down and wiped her tears. “Mr. Gabe?” she whispered with a hoarse voice as she rested her head on my shoulder.
“What’s up?” He tried to be upbeat.
“Do you want to come and decorate my Christmas tree with me and my mommy tonight, since your mommy isn’t here to decorate yours with you?”
He was speechless, staring down at the ground.
“Oh, Joey, that’s very sweet of you, but I’m sure he has other plans for his Saturday night,” I interjected for him.
“Actually, I’d love to, Joey.”
I gaped at him. Never in a million years did I expect him to accept her invite.
“Yay!” Joey shouted, running from my embrace and wrapping her arms around Gabe’s legs. “Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom.”
