Matter of Time: A Workplace Romance

by M. E. Carter

  A strange look crosses her face before she moves away from me and turns her whole body so she faces the television again. The air shifts around us and I get the feeling I’ve said something wrong.

  “What?” I ask, feeling a small desperation to fix whatever I just broke. “What did I say?”

  Nicole worries her bottom lip, like she’s battling herself and how much she wants to say. “It’s more than that Kade. More than friendship.”

  I feel my eyes blink a few times, but it’s out of my control. More than friendship? That couldn’t possibly mean what I think it does, could it?

  “You make me feel like I’m in control,” she continues. “Like I can be myself completely. Like I can let my guard down with you and I’m not afraid that you’ll hurt me.”

  “I would never.”

  “I know. And someday I hope I’ll be able to feel that way about all our friends. I’m just not there yet.” She looks up at me with an expression I’ve not seen from her before. It almost looks like… longing. “But I’m already there with you.”

  All my breath leaves my body. I’ve never been the guy girls fall for. Never even been the one they flirt with, except a few at the bar who want a drink on the house. But I’m almost positive Nicole is saying she likes me. Likes likes me. I don’t understand how it’s possible for a girl like her to want a guy like me but I want to know more. I have to know more. As much as I know she deserves someone so much better, I can’t resist her pull and the way my heart wants to protect hers always.

  All reasoning flies out the window, too engrossed in this moment and wanting to know more, to hear more, to feel more.

  “What other things are you hopeful you’ll be able to feel in the future?” My words are barely a whisper as I hold what little breath I have back, waiting for her answer.

  Her eyes get glossy and she turns back to the television, as if she’s ashamed of her answer. “I want to hold someone’s hand without flinching.”

  I can’t help it. I reach over slowly so as to not startle her and slide my hand under hers. I need her to know she can remove her clasp from mine whenever she chooses. That she’s in control of this contact, no matter how innocent it may be.

  Nicole looks down at our hands and a slow smile crosses her face as she intertwines our fingers. She never looks at me, just stares at the television, a look of contentment on her face as we sit side by side on the couch, just holding hands.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Nicole

  “What’s wrong with you?” Paul asks as he moves around me to grab the bottle of liquor he needs.

  For the first time in ages, he, Kiersten, and I are working together. That means Lauren and Annika are here for “girls’ night” while poor Heath got stuck at home with my nephew. Not that he minds. I’m sure they’re having some male bonding over building trains and chocolate milk.

  “I just hate central Texas weather this time of year. It puts me in a bad mood.”

  It’s unusually warm and sticky for November. I hate it. Inevitably it happens around the holidays every year, and it always irritates me. I want snow and cool temperatures to ring in the holiday season. Instead, the air conditioner is blowing a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving because the humidity is so bad, so I feel sticky even indoors.

  Paul chuckles at my irrational mood. “I can crank the A/C down a little more so you can wear a sweater if that’ll help.”

  “Maybe if you hire someone to bring in a truckload of snow. You know Carson would love that.” I absentmindedly scoop ice into a couple of glasses while I think of all the things we could do with a truckload of flurries. “We could make snow angels and a snowman. Maybe have a snowball fight.”

  “And practically bankrupt me with the expense of it all…” Paul adds for good measure.

  Pulling my shirt away from my body to try to find some cool air, the fantasy dies. “It wouldn’t be so bad if the humidity wasn’t so high right now.”

  He shrugs and places his drinks on a tray for Kiersten. “It’ll be gone soon enough.”

  “Yeah, just in time for January and then I’ll be in the Christmas spirit after it’s all over,” I grumble. He just laughs again. Glad he finds me so amusing these days. At least he isn’t hovering as much anymore.

  Well, that’s not actually true. He just sends his friends to do the hovering now. Every time I work, at least one person he knows and trusts is here in bouncer mode. I could complain, but even I have to admit it allows me to breathe a bit easier.

  “Watch this! Watch!” Lauren yells from her place at the bar, a few too many drinks in her already. One of the ESPN college stations is randomly rerunning her last National Championship gymnastics meet from a couple of years ago. It’s making her even more excited than normal. She smacks Annika’s arm a few times, a little too hard if the look on Annika’s face is any indication. “This is Ellery’s winning bar routine.”

  Kiersten drops her empty tray on the counter for Paul or I to put back. “Spoiler alert. What if I didn’t know Ellery won that event?”

  Lauren gives her a pointed look. “You were there live. If you missed it, you must have fallen asleep which makes you a bad friend. Come to think of it, all of you were there.”

  “I wasn’t,” Paul announces, getting in on the ribbing. “And now you ruined it.”

  Lauren rolls her eyes and her head lulls back. Annika immediately puts an arm behind her in case she falls off the stool. Surprisingly, she doesn’t. She just quips back at Paul. “You’re such a pain.”

  “Speaking of,” I ask as I place the last couple of drinks Kiersten needs on the fresh tray. “Do you still keep in touch with Ellery?”

  Lauren finishes a swig of her Apple Pie ale before answering me. “A little on social media but you know how it is. People grow apart. We weren’t really great friends to begin with. More thrown together because of our mutual love of the sport.”

  I nod in understanding. “I get that. Some people are in your life for a reason…”

  “And some for a season,” she adds.

  “And some last for a lifetime,” Kiersten interjects. “Because you can’t get rid of us.”

  Lauren and Annika clink glasses, although Annika’s makes more of a thunk since it’s a water bottle.

  They go back to chatting and watching all the gymnastics they’ve already seen while the rest of us get back to work. I’m not sure if the weather is a factor, but it seems all the sports teams in the area had the same idea tonight and are here to cool off a bit.

  The door opens and I groan as a wave of humidity hits me again. The feeling is short-lived though when the person who enters begins screaming.

  “How could you? How could you do that to him?”

  She’s wearing a sweatshirt that’s several sizes too big, and I vaguely recognize it from Jeremy’s wardrobe. Her brown hair is pulled up into a messy bun and her face is swollen, like she’s been crying.

  And the screaming—it’s directed at me.

  Several patrons look our way, recognizing something is happening, especially when Kiersten races over. Before she can get in the middle of this though, I stop.

  “Wait, Kiersten.” I hold my hand up in front of her, halting her steps.

  “What do you mean wait?” she hisses in my ear. “I’m not going to let Jeremy’s new side piece come in here and throw a punch.”

  I can’t take my eyes off the woman. Her distress is so intense, I realize how deep into the relationship she is. I can’t help but wonder if she’s more upset with me or with Jeremy. She can’t take it out on him, though. That would put her in a dangerous position. Considering how humid it is outside, the giant sweatshirt makes me wonder what she’s hiding underneath.

  “She’s not going to hit me,” I say quietly to my sister, not wanting to draw any more attention to us.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “I do.” I grab her hand and squeeze it. “She’s hurting, not angry. Let me talk to her.”

  �
��You can’t be serious—”

  “I am. It’ll be fine. Paul is here and so is Alex. If she so much as flinches, they’ll intervene.” I finally take my eyes off the woman to look at my sister imploringly. “She’s his latest victim, Kiersten. She needs to know she’s not alone.”

  Kiersten closes her eyes and purses her lips, but finally nods. “Fine. But I will call the cops if she so much as glares at you wrong.”

  “I know.” Turning back to the woman, I approach slowly. I don’t think she’ll be spooked—she came looking for me after all. But I don’t want her to think I’m here for a fight either. And I admit being a little nervous even if I know this is the right thing to do.

  I stop a few paces away from her and keep my hands at my side. “Since you’ve tracked me down at work, I’m assuming you know who I am.”

  “Of course, I do,” she spits out, eyes still wild with intense emotion. “You’re Jeremy’s ex-girlfriend Nicole and the cause of all of our problems.”

  That’s not true and we both know it so I let the dig slide. “All I know about you is that you’re his girlfriend. What’s your name?”

  “Faith.” She sniffs and wipes her nose with the sleeve of the hoodie. She shifts back and forth like she has pent-up energy she’s not sure what to do with. I suspect I know where the adrenaline comes from.

  “I’m guessing he was arrested today?”

  Faith’s eyes snap up to mine and she glares at me. “Yes. But you knew that didn’t you?”

  I didn’t, actually. The only time I talked to the DA, he said they were moving forward with pressing charges again. I’m still not entirely sure why they feel like a year-old domestic violence case is a priority but with an election coming up and a botched domestic violence case just a few months ago that led to some bad press, I suspect it has less to do with me and more to do with looking better to the public.

  I shake my head in response to her question. “I knew it was coming at some point, but I didn’t know when. That’s not up to me.”

  Faith wipes her eyes and continues to fidget, seemingly unaware of how many people are watching this exchange. “But you can stop it. You can make them drop the charges. You just have to say you were lying.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  Kiersten pushes her way past me and flashes her phone in front of Faith’s face. “Does this look like a lie?” From her wince, I can only assume there’s a picture of me in the hospital on the screen.

  “Kiersten, stop,” I plead but she ignores me.

  “He did that to her. And you want him to get away with it?”

  I look over at Paul, hoping he’ll intervene but he doesn’t look all that upset by Kiersten’s intrusion. Thankfully, Lauren is on it.

  Slinging one arm over Kiersten’s shoulder, Lauren tries to lead her away. “Come on K. Nicole’s got this.”

  “No!” Kiersten practically screeches. “She needs to know what he did to her.”

  “I know,” Lauren says gently and pulls her harder, remarkably sober all of the sudden. “Come here and cool off for a minute.”

  Kiersten mumbles something about hating that no one cares her baby sister was hurt so bad, but to her credit, she walks away.

  I look again at Faith who has a fresh set of tears sliding down her cheeks as her fingers fidget together.

  “Listen, Faith, I know this is hard. And I’m sorry for that. You must really like him to be this upset.”

  “He’s just…” Her eyebrows furrow as she tries to hold back her emotion. “He loves me. No one has ever loved me like he does. How could you take that away from me?”

  I expect her words to hurt more than they do. It’s almost shocking to realize for the very first time I’m truly over him. I have absolutely no emotion good or bad, I’m indifferent to Jeremy and the course of his life.

  It feels strangely good to recognize I have no desire for revenge or to get back at him. My motivation is truly about protecting myself and maybe giving Faith an out. That’s it. Nothing more and nothing less. The realization feels like a giant weight lifting off my shoulders.

  But it doesn’t take away the fact that Faith is right in the middle of it all. Her involvement and her pain are why I feel like I need to handle this moment with sensitivity.

  “I didn’t take it away from you. But, Faith,” I sigh, hoping she really hears what I have to say. “At some point, he will ruin all your illusions. You just saw the picture my sister showed you. It was of my face wasn’t it? When I was in the hospital? He did that to me with his fist.”

  Faith scoffs and wipes her eyes again. “There’s no proof he did that.”

  I take a small step closer, lowering my voice so only she can hear me. “You know I used to wear long sleeves when it was hot out, too, so no one would see the bruises.”

  She looks at me quickly, then looks around, terror suddenly filling her eyes. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Maybe not. But if he is hurting you, now is a good time to get away from him before you end up like I did.” She doesn’t respond so I take a chance and push a little bit more. “Faith, if you need a place to figure out how to get away, you can always come here.”

  Her body suddenly goes rigid and she takes two steps back. “I won’t.” Her eyes blaze with anger. “You’ve ruined everything. You get to live with that, do you hear me? I never want to see your whore face again.”

  She turns and stalks out the door. I take a moment to breathe in, two, three, four… hold, two, three, four… out, two, three, four… hold, two, three, four.

  “You okay?” Paul comes up behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders. Kiersten, on the other hand, is still scowling but grabs a tray and gets back to work.

  I glance up at him and give him a weak smile. “Yeah. I’m good. Really good, I think. I mean there’s more to come, but I don’t know. She just needed to be treated with a little kindness. I guess I’ve come a long way, huh?”

  He swivels me around into a hug and pulls me close, kissing the top of my head. “You did the right thing. I’m proud of you kid.”

  His words feel good, but what feels even better is the fact that I’m proud of me, too.

  Chapter Twenty

  Kade

  “Put it down slowly,” Jaxon demands, completely unconcerned with the fact I have a face full of branches.

  “I can’t. I’m being poked in the eye with a pine needle, you dick.”

  “Quit your bitching. This was your brilliant idea, not mine.”

  He’s got me there. I’ve never had a Christmas tree in my life, but for some reason, it seems important for me to make the apartment festive while Nicole is staying here. I’ll never admit that to him, though.

  “Give me just a second.” I fight with the tree trunk to get it in the base of the stand and try to unwedge myself from underneath the sappy branches. Maybe this wasn’t such a hot idea after all.

  As soon as I’m clear, Jaxon pushes it upright with a grunt.

  We both stand back to admire our work.

  “You know it’s crooked, right?”

  “Don’t care,” I say and walk over to the couch to drop myself on it, exhausted from all the exercise. “As long as it doesn’t fall over, I’m not fixing it.”

  He drops down next to me and grabs a controller off the couch. I take that as my cue to turn our game on. “You plan on decorating it or just leaving it there to rot.”

  “Undecided. I’m starting to regret the whole thing.” I begin pressing buttons to get everything set up so we finally do something I’m good at. Decorating is apparently not it.

  “Yeah, well, in your excitement to impress your woman, you jumped the gun and got the tree about a month early.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask without looking at him, too engrossed in what I’m doing.

  “I mean it’s the middle of November. That sucker is going to dry up and become a fire hazard before you can jingle your own bells.”

  “Are you serious
? Why didn’t you tell me when I bought it?”

  “I was having too much fun watching you make a fool of yourself.”

  I turn my avatar around and shoot his in the face.

  “That was uncalled for you asshole.” I have the distinct impression he thinks it was worth it for him to rib me.

  “Shut up and play the game.”

  He chuckles and we both sit back, getting comfortable as we fall into the mindless rhythm of bank robberies and middle of town duals. It’s rare that Jaxon has a day off that he’s not spending with Annika, so as much as I want to be angry at him for letting me spend all that money on a tree that has a shorter shelf life than I realized, I’m too busy enjoying his easy company.

  Brother or not, he’s become one of my best friends over the years. Which is why I don’t usually punch him in the nuts when he starts asking me personal questions.

  “Have you asked her out yet?”

  Usually.

  I ignore his question, not wanting to discuss the elephant he’s suddenly brought into the room. But of course, he won’t let it go.

  “Don’t ignore me, Kade.”

  I grunt in irritation, partly from the topic and partly from losing focus. “No, I haven’t asked her out. And like I told you, I’m not going to.”

  “Why not?”

  “I’m not right for her.”

  “Says who?”

  “Says everyone? Says society? I don’t know how to answer that question. I’m just not. Get that wild boar right there. See him?”

  I direct him to where I’m looking and he takes him out. Looks like he found our fake dinner.

  “So, because she’s gorgeous and you’re just a normal dude who plays video games on his downtime, you’re not right for her?”

  “You do get it.” My fingers move rapidly over the keys as I check out the animal and make sure he’s alone. Those shitheads have been known to come in packs before unexpectedly.

  “No, I don’t get it,” he argues. To his credit though, he takes out a copperhead while he does. “Do you see who I’m married to? Annika is a sports trainer for a professional football team. She’s smart as fuck and the most beautiful woman in the world. I was on the practice team because I was good at reading stats. I wasn’t just not a starter, I was like fifth string.”